Death of Hawkman #6

By Marc Andreyko, Aaron Lopresti, John Livesay, Blond, and Josh Reed

What is there to say about DC’s latest attempt at writing a successful character death besides “meh.” That is the unfortunate consequence that comes with reading Death of Hawkman #6 from Andreykko and Lopresti. The death comes as  little surprise given the title of the series, but the arc “Out of Time” has really gone to no effort to add any depth or nuance to the inevitable fate of Hawkman.

Hawkman is a real comic legend; he has been a staple superhero for DC since the 1940’s. He is often overlooked and sometimes downplayed when compared to his partner, Hawkgirl, who gets more recognition due to her depiction in DC’s animated Justice League series. With that in mind, this book does feel a little underwhelming considering the prestige that should accompany a Death of Hawkman title.

The story itself from Andreyko feels all over the place, like the main story is Adam Strange trying to get to Despero while trying to shut down the Zeta portal with a huge assist from Hawkman. Death of Hawkman feels like an Adam Strange series that was a crossover title to the main series comic of Hawkman. There is so much inner dialogue from Adam Strange and his face takes up every panel, that there is little focus or gravity brought to the huge sacrifice Hawkman is making. The panel layouts from Lopresti feel uneven at best, with little focus outside of Adam Strange. There is really only one page worth a damn in the whole book, included below, the rest just feels bland.

The art has some bright spots with some cool depictions of Hawkman almost decaying during battle with Despero, but all in all the art feels really uninspired and a missed opportunity to draw some gnarly battle sequences. This entire story is a continuous battle, with Despero and Hawkman going to town on one another while Adam Strange is trying to close the Zeta portal and not kill the mind-controlled civilians. The art team has Lopresti on pencils, so it is surprising there was not more detail and care given to the story.

This book reeks of disconnects. As in lack of communication between all the parties involved with making this book and also from the comic fans to DC about expectations for comic events. For a miniseries, this book lacks any real emotional anchor or tremendous art to give it any special feel. Death of Hawkman really was not enjoyable, but also reminds readers of the DC we thought was a way of the past, the era before Rebirth. This series is certainly reminiscent of that time filled with huge events, that were led with no direction or inspiration that only took away from the reputation and credibility of not only the mythos around their own characters, but the creators involved as well. This series was a huge disappointment because we know DC can do better.