Showcase Presents Hawkman VOL 02 [Paperback]

Like Showcase Presents Hawkman: Volume 1, Showcase Presents Hawkman: Volume 2 nicely chronicles the Silver Age Hawkman through the short life of the series. Not only does it contain the stories from the Hawkman series itself, but it also includes cross-over stories from the Atom and The Brave and the Bold. To get all of these stories, albeit in a black-and-white TPB, for $16.99 is a real bargin for collectors with limited resources. And, unfortunately, that's the only really positive thing I can say about this book.

Reading Showcase Presents Hawkman: Volume 2 is like watching a train wreck in slow motion in that it chronicles the demise of the Silver Age Hawkman as a series. Volume 1 takes the series from its The Brave and the Bold try-out issues, with the awesome art of Joe Kubert, to Hawkman as a "back-up" in Mystery in Space, with the artistry of Murphy Anderson to Hawkman actually being awared his own series with Anderson at the artistic helm.

Volume 2, naturally, picks up where Volume 1 leaves off. With Hawkman Issue 22, Murphy Anderson leaves the series and Dick Dillins takes over as artist and Gardner Fox leaves as writer. Somehow the magic of the series evaporates away. I don't care for Dillins' interpretation of Hawkman, particularly the mask. Dillins' rendition of the mask eliminates the whites of the eyes and depicts them as eye slots as opening whereby you can see Katar Hol's eyes and eyelids. After the precedence established by Joe Kubert and carried on by Murphy Anderson, this variation somehow degrades the character.

With Issue 27, Hawkman, as a series is cancelled, and becomes a back-up/second fiddle to the Atom's series. The only good thing about Hawkman together in the Atom series is Gardner Fox returned as writer and for the art, Joe Kubert did the pencils and Murphy Anderson did the inks. Artwise, it was almost the best of both worlds. Almost, because I think that Kubert's pencils would be a challenge for any inker. Anderson does magnificently; in fact, I consider these stories and art to be the best in this whole volume, but hey, I'm a Joe Kubert fan.

However, the death tolls for Atom and Hawkman were sounding. After seven issues of Atom and Hawkman together, the series folded.

Like I said, I don't know what was going on editorially at DC at the time this volume chronicles, but it seems like Hawkman wasn't doing well, and the editors didn't know what to do so they half-heartedly tried some half-measured changes, none of which would save Hawkman. Like I said, watching a train wreck in slow motion, bringing about the end of Hawkman.

Both Volumes 1 and 2 of "Showcase present Hawkman" are well put together compilations in numeric and chronological order of the complete set of stories of the Silver Age Hawkman series that ran in the 1960's. It includes the first appearances of the Silver Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl in DC's "Brave and the Bold." It also includes the series run in DC's "Mystery in Space" where the Hawkman series shared the book with the "Adam Strange" series. This dose include Hawkman's team-up with Adam Strange in "Mystery in Space" and the later team-up in the pages of Hawkman's own title comic book.

They have the whole run of the "Hawkman" title (Hawkman's own book). Included also are the appearances of "Hawkman" with "The Atom" in The Atom's own title comic book.

In the later 1960's, the Hawkman title was cancelled and the "Hawkman" series was moved to "The Atom" comic book title with the title being changed to "The Atom and Hawkman" in which "The Atom" and "Hawkman" series shared the book. The "Hawkman" stories that ran in this title are all included.

At the end of this Showcase Hawkman compilation, the compilation is completed with the team-up appearances of "Hawkman" in "The Brave and the Bold" in the 1960's. One story teams up Hawkman with Aquaman and the other story teams up Hawkman with the then feature character of the Brave and the Bold team-ups, Batman.

This is a complete and well put together collection of Hawkman stories from the 1960's.

wow, forgot how well this artist can draw. Fun stories from the mid 60s, with little science and history facts woven into the stories.