| Hawkman | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | The Brave and the Bold #34 (February–March 1961) |
| Created by | Gardner Fox Joe Kubert Revamped by: Timothy Truman |
| In-story information | |
| Full name | Katar Hol |
| Species | Thanagarian(current)Human[1]/Thanagarian hybrid(originally) |
| Place of origin | Thanagar |
| Team affiliations | Elite Hawkmen Force Justice League Justice League America Justice League of America Justice League United Justice League International |
| Partnerships | Hawkwoman Atom (Ray Palmer) Adam Strange |
| Notable aliases | Carter Hall |
| Abilities |
|
Hawkman (Katar Hol) is aDC Comicssuperhero. He is theSilver Age,Bronze Age andNew 52Hawkman. Created byGardner Fox andJoe Kubert, he first appeared inThe Brave and the Bold #34 (February–March 1961). There are two versions of Katar Hol, the Silver Age/pre-Crisis version and the post-Hawkworld/post-Crisis version.
The Silver Age Hawkman (Katar Hol) was first introduced inThe Brave and the Bold #34 by artist Joe Kubert and writer Gardner Fox. At this time DC had already rebooted many of its characters such asthe Flash andGreen Lantern. Hawkman's first appearance sold well and spawned five more tryout issues inThe Brave and the Bold. During these issues, he teamed up with his wife,Hawkgirl, to battle foes on earth as well as on his home planet Thanagar.[2]
After Hawkman had concluded his appearances inThe Brave and the Bold, he starred in a side strip withinMystery in Space. He appeared in four issues of this series, and teamed up withAdam Strange in some of these adventures.[3]
In 1964, Hawkman was given a bi-monthly solo title.Murphy Anderson took over the art for this series with Gardner Fox continuing as writer. Hawkman occasionally teamed up withAtom and Strange in his title. Together, Hawkman and Hawkgirl battled such enemies as theMatter Master, theShadow Thief andLion-Mane. Hawkman's comic book continued for less than five years before it was canceled at issue #27.[4]
After declining sales forced the cancellation of his solo magazine, Hawkman teamed up with the Atom and starred inThe Atom and Hawkman for seven issues. This series was canceled as well.[5]
During the 1970s and early 1980s, Hawkman continued to appear as a member of theJustice League of America, which he had joined back in 1964.[6] He also made regular appearances inWorld's Finest Comics andDetective Comics, along with a three-issue story in the pages ofShowcase. It was not until the mid-1980s when Hawkman received his own title again. In 1986, DC published a four-part miniseries called,The Shadow War of Hawkman.[7] Due to the decent sales of this series, Hawkman received another monthly solo series. It lasted seventeen issues and oneSpecial before it, too, was cancelled.[8]
In 1989,Timothy Truman decided to reboot the Silver Age Hawkman in a three-book series titledHawkworld.[9] This was the start of the post-Hawkworld version of Katar Hol. While this series was originally meant to just be a retold origin of Hawkman, it spawned yet another Hawkman series. In 1990 DC created theHawkworld monthly series. This series had two volumes, but was eventually canceled.[10]
During the mid 1990s–2010s Hawkman had more on-and-off series. However, none of them were of much importance. With all of the different series, Hawkman had been part of, his origin and story had become rather complicated and confusing. At the end of his 3rd series, Hawkman was physically dissolved into nothing.[11] Eventually Hawkman came back, but this time, rather than being thealienpoliceman that he was in the previous series, he wasCarter Hall, the reincarnated Egyptian prince. However this added even more complexity to Hawkman, and the series was canceled.[12]
In 2011, the Silver Age Hawkman was rebooted again as part ofThe New 52 reboot. His new comic book was titledThe Savage Hawkman. Although this Hawkman was the most simple version of the complex character, the series sold poorly and ended after twenty issues.[13] In 2016, Hawkman returned again as part of theDC Rebirth relaunch, in a series titledThe Death of Hawkman, which concluded after six issues.[14]
A newHawkman title, by Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch, debuted in June 2018. The series focuses on Carter Hall, the reincarnated Egyptian prince version of Hawkman, rather than Katar Hol.
Katar Hol was the imperial prince of his home planet of Thanagar. His father was Paran Katar, renowned ornithologist and inventor.
When Katar Hol was eighteen, an alien race called the Manhawks invaded Thanagar and began looting the planet. Paran sent young Katar Hol to infiltrate their nest and bring back information on the aliens. Using this information, Paran created a hawk-like battle suit containing advanced technology like his "Nth metal". Katar used this hawk-suit and Paran's advanced weaponry to drive the Manhawks away from Thanagar.
That, however, was not the end of the problem. SomeThanagarians had learned the concept of stealing from the Manhawks. Due to the amount of crime, the Thanagarian government created a police force. In honor of Paran Katar and his achievements, the new police force began using his hawk-suit and equipment. Paran headed this new police force, named the Hawk-Police (or Wingmen), and his son became one of the first recruits.
Katar soon became one of the most skilled of the Hawk-Police. When a group called the Rainbow Robbers began committing crimes, Katar was teamed up with rookieShayera Thal to track and apprehend the criminals. During the case, Shayera saved Katar's life, and the two soon fell in love. A few weeks later, Katar proposed to Shayera and the two got married, working together as partners-for-life in the Hawk-Police.
After ten years of marriage and in the force, the pair were sent to Earth to capture the shape-shifting Thanagarian criminalByth Rok.[15] During their mission, they meet George Emmett, commissioner of the Midway City Police Department, and told him their alien origin. With Emmett's help, the pair took over his retiring brother Ed's place asmuseum curators. They adopt the identities as Carter and Shiera Hall. After capturing him and sending him back to Thanagar, they elected to remain on Earth to work with authorities to learn human police methods. The two acted publicly as the heroesHawkman andHawkgirl (later Hawkwoman).
The rest of Hawkman's supporting cast consist of Mavis Trent, museum naturalist and diorama artist who flirts with Katar; Joe Tracy, the museum's publicist; his commanding officer Andar Pul; a large red hawk named Big Red who lives in nearby Hawk Valley; and teenage orphan Charley Parker, theGolden Eagle. Katar gained a variety of unique villainous opponents such as theShadow Thief, theMatter Master, Ira Quimby (I.Q.), Konrad Kaslak, Chac, the Raven, the Criminal Alliance of the World (or C.A.W.),Lion-Mane,Kanjar Ro,Hyathis,Fadeaway Man, andGentleman Ghost.
Katar joined theJustice League of America, where he befriended theAtom. As Hawkman was a conservative, he frequently verbally sparred with his fellow LeaguerGreen Arrow, a left-wing liberal.
Hol left the Justice League for a time when Thanagar was hit by the Equalizer Plague, which caused all Thanagarians to change so that their physical and mental talents, and even their heights, became the same. With the help of the JLA, he was eventually able to reverse the effects of the plague.
However, in the wake of the plague, Thanagar adopted an expansionist outlook, and went to war with the planetRann, which orbitsAlpha Centauri. This forced Katar and Shayera to choose to fight for or against their own planet, and they elected to oppose Thanagar, becoming exiles on Earth. Around this time, Shayera herself joined the JLA, and took the name Hawkwoman.
Following the truce between Thanagar and Rann, Thanagar began to secretly try to take over the Earth. Hol opposed their efforts in a furtive "secret war" for several years.
Following the events of DC's miniseriesCrisis on Infinite Earths, the histories ofEarth-One andEarth-Two are merged. As a result, both Golden Age and Silver Age versions of Hawkman andHawkgirl/Hawkwoman live on the same Earth. Initially, the Silver Age Hawkman and Hawkwoman were kept in continuity unchanged. They took Superman to Krypton,[16] briefly joinedJustice League International, teamed-up with Atom,[17] and helpedAnimal Man defuse a Thanagarian bomb duringInvasion. However, DC reversed this decision andrebooted Hawkman continuity after the 1989Hawkworld miniseries. Originally,Hawkworld retold the origins of the Silver Age Hawkman and Hawkwoman, but following its success, DC Comics launched aHawkworld ongoing series set in the present, resulting in a complete reboot of Hawkman continuity. By doing so, several continuity errors regarding Hawkman and Hawkwoman's Justice League appearances needed to be fixed.
Katar Hol wasrebooted in 1989 in the prestige format miniseriesHawkworld byTimothy Truman. A regular ongoing series of the same name followed from 1990 to 1993, which was then followed up byHawkman (vol. 3) from 1993 to 1996.
In this new version,Katar Hol was a young police officer on the planet Thanagar, and a child of a privileged family being the son of Paran Katar. Thanagar was a planet which conquered and mined other worlds for their resources to maintain its high standard of living, and Hol realized that this was wrong. He rebelled against the system and favored the old days of Thanagar. He became a student of history and archaeology, and admired Thanagar's legendary hero Kalmoran. Hol became addicted to a recreational drug, was manipulated by the renegade police captain Byth into killing his father, and was sent into exile in the Isle of Chance.
During that time, he found one of the island residents in robes fashioned a pair of wings. Katar, disillusioned, killed him and took his wings. He learned the wings were meant for Hol and that the robed man had natural wings on his back. Horrified on what he has done, the brother of the man he killed helped him deal with withdrawal symptoms from his drug addictions and he made peace with himself.
When his sentence was up, Hol was sent to Downside. However, he managed to escape and uncover and defeat Byth, who had gained shape-shifting abilities. As a result, he was reinstated in the force and given a new partner, Shayera Thal - a young woman from a lower class of society.
Just afterFel Andar left Earth, Katar and Shayera were sent to Earth, where they served as goodwill ambassadors for their home planet and remained for some time fighting both human and alien criminals in places like Chicago'sNetherworld. Dubbed by the press asHawkman III, Katar and Shayera, Hawkwoman II, had a tempestuous working relationship, and eventually, Shayera broke away from Katar, who continued alone.
Katar metCarter Hall andShiera Sanders, who returned from Asgard with the rest of theJustice Society. He learns that his father came to Earth duringWorld War II, under the alias "Perry Carter". The Golden Age Hawks, Carter and Shiera Hall, were friends with Paran, and were the inspiration of the Wingmen. In one adventure, Carter took an injured Katar to be healed by an old friend, aCherokee shaman named Naomi ("Faraway Woman"). Katar discovers that she had known Paran Katar, his father. She and Paran fell in love, and the two eloped with the Halls serving as witnesses.
During theZero Hour: Crisis in Time! event, Katar Hol was merged with Carter, Shiera, and a "hawk god" creature in a new Hawkman version—a living avatar of the hawk god who adventured for a brief time, continuing to prey on criminals and deal out his own brand of justice. He later went insane and was banished toLimbo byArion andMartian Manhunter.
As part of DC's 2011 company-wide title relaunch,The New 52, Katar Hol was re-established as the DCU's Hawkman, using the name Carter Hall. His origin has yet to be fully explained since he appears to not know his alien heritage, believing himself to be human. Issue #0 explains that Katar Hol was once a proud member of theThanagarian race, adopted son of their king Thal Provis and lover to the princessShayera Thal. Unlike other Thanagarians, he was a pacifist; desiring to find an end to centuries of war, he convinced the king to hold a peace conference. However the Daemonites took advantage of this to spread a deadly disease that destroyed the Thanagarians' wings and killed their king. The new ruler, son of Provis and Katar's adoptive brother, Corsar, came to believe that only theNth Metal could save them, but this desire for power sacrificed hundreds of lives, which was apparently rewarded when Katar was accidentally fused with it creating a full body armor and regenerating his wings. But seeing his brother's increasing insanity, Katar refused to let the metal power be distributed, leading to fighting between them and the death of Corsar. Shayera then vows to hunt down Hawkman, also blaming him for her father's death. He runs away in a stolen ship that ends up crashing on earth.[18] During theRotworld storyline, Animal Man travels to a post-apocalyptic future where he is attacked by a Rot-corrupted Hawkman; this version is killed bySteel,Beast Boy, andBlack Orchid.[19]
Thanagarians attack the royal house of Rann and seemingly murdersSardath. With assistance from Hawkman,Adam Strange determines that the real culprit isDespero. Using his psionic powers, Despero controls the citizens of Rann, Thanagar, and Kalanor as part of a plan to attack Earth. Hawkman sacrifices himself to defeat Despero, who is banished to the edge of the universe.[20]
Katar Hol / Hawkman appears inAll-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold #9.[citation needed]
