A fluff-coated take on DC's so-called revival of the Golden Age Hawkman

A writer at ComicBook did a sugar-drenched take on DC's "revival" of Golden Age Hawkman Carter Hall, courtesy of the most overrated scribes they employed at the time, Geoff Johns, James Robinson and David Goyer:

Hawkman was the first leader of the Justice Society of America, making him one of the most important characters of the Golden Age. He was joined by his girlfriend Hawkgirl as a hero, something that would be repeated numerous times over the years by other characters. Hawkman is a legend, one who has been abused by the vagaries of DC continuity worse than anyone else, including someone like Donna Troy, which is saying something. One Hawkman retcon was so damaging that it destroyed the character in the eyes of fans. However, 24 years ago, DC would put out a story that would begin the process of fixing the character, bringing him back to the forefront of the DC Universe.

“Return of Hawkman” Made the Icon Tenable Again

JSA was the hottest team book of the ’00s. The book started in 1999 and played off the concept of legacy, bringing together the surviving Golden Age members of the team and the descendants of those who died. Fans loved the book, but there was a Hawkman-sized hole in the team. Hawkgirl was there, but it wasn’t the same. At this point, Hawkman had been destroyed as a character for numerous reasons, with the main one being that the character was much too confusing to work with anymore.

And this is a weak, defeatist take on the subject that completely ignores how, if the publishers wanted to, they could have jettisoned all the storylines that made a horrific mess of any DC Hawk, and simultaneously, they didn't need to publish Zero Hour at all. Though this does make clear that one of the worst crossovers in history - one that also made a horrific mess of Silver Age Green Lantern Hal Jordan - wasn't exactly published for the purpose of clearing up continuity any more than Crisis on Infinite Earths. On which note, does the writer recognize what he says could also be said about Hal and the GL series? And what happened with those was easily worse, morally or otherwise. From what I can recall, unlike Hal, Carter was never turned into a murderous monster named Parallax, nor was Katar Hol, the Silver Age counterpart.

And talk about not being the same when it comes to Hawkgirl! That's because in a way, Shiera Sanders, the Golden Age Hawkgirl, had been all but destroyed as a character too, perishing during ZH when Carter and Katar were "merged", and we're supposed to buy into the notion she'd been reincarnated in the body of her niece, Kendra Saunders. Unfortunately, much like with Hawkman, the issues involving Hawkgirl were handled according to a bad form of "canon" from 1994 that should've been abandoned wholesale, though of course, there was much worse that came down the pike the following decade like Identity Crisis, where even Hawkman was mistreated badly.

The way Geoff Johns and James Robinson wrote their series, in hindsight, was pretentious at worst, as the artwork by Rags Morales was overrated too. Perhaps even Tim Truman's 1989 miniseries was a big mistake as well, because let's be clear. It is possible to write distinctions between the Hawks of the Golden and Silver Ages, and if it really mattered, the editors could've written the Halls into retirement, along with several other Golden Age heroes. And if they had to be sent to the afterlife, it could've been through natural causes or auto accidents.

With this puff piece, ComicBook sure has solidified their place next to CBR in its current incarnation as one of the worst tabloid-style entertainment sites in the business. Besides, they completely ignore that in the past 15 years or so, writing's become awfully woke, even for the Hawks. I've noted before that it was only at the dawn of the 1990s where the backstory of the Hawks became a horrible mess. If all that stuff could be jettisoned, it is possible to make repairs. That's why as of today, I don't consider John Ostrander's Hawkworld series from the 90s a worthy incarnation for Katar Hol and Shayera Thal either. I recently bought the DC Finest archive containing stories of the Hawks from the 60s, and that's decidedly a far better form of canon than what came 3 decades later. If the Silver Age Hawks matter, that would make a better base from which to build premises today. And when the Golden Age Hawks are hopefully reprinted in similar archives, that can provide a good source for building upon as well.