I had a couple of interesting Hawk-queries so I pulled out the appriopiate Archives and Showcases to get some more and by Polaris, I did! Starting with a real world one....
- Why weren't the Joe Kubert issues a success at the time? Beginning with Brave & Bold #34 (Ma'61), Kubert gave Hawkman a very primal and different look than most DC heroes. Was he ahead of his time? Did it look too "adult"? Now they are considered very highly and rightfully so but how did readers react then?
- When the Hols arrived on Earth, Commissioner Emmett gets them jobs as Midway City Museum directors, to replace his retiring brother. Again with no credentials and somehow getting approval from whoever ran the museum. You have to figure that there were people in the museum biz who had to ask who Carter Hall was? No one went to school with him, he had nothing published. In short no history, no reputation and no connections.
- As an aside, it's lucky that Comm. Emmett's brother wasn't the produce manager at the A&P!! "Strange, these tomatoes are glowing with a weird radition!" Or " Shiera, these squash have been replaced by near perfect duplicates!"
- Was Shiera a museum director, too? In the first story, she was Carter's secretary but later ones had her more involved. Then again, it would bring up her credentials, too!
- If they could communicate with birds because they learned their language via the Absorbascon, why not with mammals? Mowgli talked to wolves, Tarzan to apes and Aquaman to dolphins. I know that's his motif but it seems illogical. Of course, the Golden Age Hawkman taught bird language to his fellow JSAers!
- In B&B #35 (My'61), Katar states that " all my ultra-powers--LIKE (emphasis mine) my extra-keen sense of smell--are coming back to me." Were there supposed to be more? Were they thinking about boosting Hawkman's abilities? Did Shayera have them, too?
- Why was Mavis Trent who looked vaguely Lois Lane-ish allowed by the Comics Code to try to romance a man that she knew was married? And why didn't Shayera tell her to back off?
- How did The Shadow Thief's power worked? He entered another dimension with his shadow still on Earth. But the geography's the same? He still has travel the same distance. Is there a bank in the same spot on both worlds? It never made much sense to me, as opposed to just becoming a living shadow! ;-)
- The second run in B&B starting with #42 (Jl'62) was very heavy with Thanagar. Was this a possible new direction? Were the Hawks going to split their time between planets? And were we supposed to believe that the Wingmen of Thanagar were only around for ten years? And branching out already?
- In Mystery In Space #88 (D'63), it was established that Thanagarians don't wear wedding rings. Did Carter buy one for Shiera while they were on Earth? Just so guys wouldn't be hitting on her all day!!
- How much did Gardner Fox want Hawkman in Justice League?? He was nominated for membership in JLA#4 (Ju'61) three months after his debut!! The Golden Age Hawkman appeared in the first three JLA/JSA team-ups. In #27 (My'64), when the JLA thought that they had to disband, both the Atom and Aquaman mention that the Winged Wonder who they met in The Atom #7 (Jl'63) and B&B #51 (Ja'64), respectively, would not be able to join! And Hawkman's enemy, the Matter Master fought the team in #28 (Ju'64) which was brought up BIG time in Hawkman #9 (S'65)!
- FINALLY the Feathered Fury joined the team in #31 (N'64), bypassing, of course, his Bird-like Bride! But he immediately becomes an elite member like Superman, Batman, Flash and Green Lantern, playing major roles in #32, 33, 34, 36 and 39!
- In #41, Hawkgirl makes a major contribution and Katar uses the Absorbascon to learn the JLAers' secret identities to save them from the Key! And in #43, again with Hawkgirl, he comes up with the cure against the Royal Flush Gang!
Not bad for the Schwartz revival hero whose book got cancelled with #27 after three tries to get one!
So send me a carrier-pidgeon with any comments!
HAWWWWKKKKKAAAAA!!!!! *Yes I know it's the wrong hero but Katar should have yelled it too!!
Replies
Regarding Mavis Trent, I think Shayera didn't get jealous because--unlike most Silver Age comics females--she was very, very secure in Katar's feelings for her. I think Shayera was more amused by Mavis's attempts at flirtation than annoyed.
Of course, this is one of the reasons I always loved Shayera. She wasn't a pose and point character--in fact, she could give as good as Hawkman and would have done just fine without him. I do wonder if a mistake was made in not featuring her more--sure, Hawkman was the guy, but as Hawkgirl Shayera really stood out.
Yes, Shayera had nothing to worry about. Katar always fell apart when she wasn't there! But I was wondering why the Code allowed it!
One of Hawkgirl's big Silver Age moments was, for me, when she guest-starred in Brave & Bold #56, helping the Flash and Martian Manhunter with no Hawkman in sight!
Philip Portelli said:
Because nothing in the code prohibited it.
I went over the 1954 Code criteria---which were in effect at the time of Hawkman stories---and the nearest thing that comes to the situation of Mavis Trent hitting on a married man is this:
Illicit sex relations are neither to be hinted at nor portrayed.
Since Mavis' attentions never went beyond the flirting stage (O.K., with a little "manœuvring", too), and in any event Carter Hall never returned them, there were no "illicit sexual relations" to censor. And none of the other criteria even comes close to applying.
I never heard about them not being a success. They got the book going, even though it took a while. I totally agree with you about his version of Hawkman and I was personally pretty disappointed in the Murphy Anderson version (as much as I liked him otherwise). I would imagine Kubert didn't follow Hawkman to his own book because he was not one of Julie's stable of artists. His history with the GA Hawkman made him an obvious choice for the tryout but he was probably too busy elsewhere to commit to a regular series. Unfortunately for Hawkman.
Uhhh...it was a comic book? As a 10 year old, what did I, or anyone, know or care about credentials? Get to that giant dragon in the Midtown Tunnel, I say!
Andy
I agree that the Kubert Hawkman issues were really distinctive, and I think he would've been a much more interesting character if they'd kept up his alien-ness. Those are way more fun than the more pedestrian main title, at least in hindsight. However, I have to think that they didn't sell well enough, given how they moved to round off his edges and make him more of a standard super-hero.
Carter's Absorbascon made him an expert on all of human history, which made him a good choice regardless for the museum, and he had the police chief's recommendation.If we want, we can suppose that Carter put together a resume showing he had all kinds of credentials and even faked some journal articles with the printer on his Absorbascon.
The CEO of Yahoo was just caught faking his credentials, and I'll be he didn't even have the recommendation of the local police chief! And c'mon, how long does it take Yahoo to look something up? Back in the '60s, it wasn't quite so easy to detect such lies, especially when the chief of police would vouch for you.
How did The Shadow Thief's power worked?
If he were a Doctor Who villain, I would surmise that he reversed the polarity of the neutron flow. As it's a Julius Schwartz comic, I'm sure there is an answer with many scientific terms, possibly "steady-state universe," "molecular resonance" and "adrenal glands." They all boil down to the same thing: Keep Moving, Nothing to See Here.
Thanagarians don't wear wedding rings. Did Carter buy one for Shiera while they were on Earth? Just so guys wouldn't be hitting on her all day!!
He could have, just to avoid such questions. As with the other questions, he didn't seem that insecure, and she wouldn't have had a hard time telling guys to put an egg in their shoe. Speaking of which, I always like the explanation guys give for why they don't wear a wedding ring. They're usually pretty creative.
How much did Gardner Fox want Hawkman in Justice League??
Since these were Julie books, I wouldn't attribute the motivation to Gardner so much in any event. But I think the goal was more to make the DCU look like it was full of exciting super-heroes, any of whom could be joining the JLA soon.
That the pickings were slimmer than it seemed was obvious once we started considering the options, but, as usual, the goal wasn't to make us stop and think about things, the goal was to fill us up with lots of cool, kinda-thought-out ideas.
But he immediately becomes an elite member.
He was probably fun to draw, because he looked so other-worldly, and his powers didn't really tip the scales in favor of the team against any villain too much. But they also probably felt they had to justify his position in such a super-group, much as GA played a key role in a few adventures right after he joined.
I think Hawkman and Atom became a team both because they were introduced at the same time and because they were such contrasts, between the big bulk of Hawkman and the tiny size of the Atom. That also helped get fans of each interested in the other, neither of which really took off despite some really nice artwork.
-- MSA