Hawkman swooped onto the scene in the first issue of FLASH COMICS in 1939. He was Carter Hall, an American collector of ancient weapons who one day discovered that he was also the reincarnation of an Egyptian prince named Khufu.

There was, of course, a lot of backstory generated between the debut of the character and the end of his first series of adventures in 1951, but none of it has much to do with SHOWCASE PRESENTS HAWKMAN: VOLUME 1, because the character – as presented in this collection – is the rebooted version from 1961.

That year’s March issue of THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD reintroduced Hawkman and Hawkgirl as police officers from the planet Thanagar who chased a shape-changing villain to Earth, assumed the aliases Carter and Shiera Hall (real names Katar and Shayara Hol), got their man (uh, Thanagarian), and then decided to remain on Earth to study local police methods.

The new backstory was concocted by the creator of the original characters, Gardner Fox, who was an essential comic book writer, scribbler of more than 4,000 stories and supreme master of Silver Age science-fiction tales. But even earlier than that, Fox could spin a yarn that would knock you on your kiester. His “Batman and the Vampire” – reprinted in BATMAN CHRONICLES: VOL. 1 – is one of the loopiest Dark Knight stories you’ll ever read.

Fox was also the creator of The Flash, Zatanna, Starman, Batgirl, Sandman (the 1939 version), Doctor Fate, the Justice League of America and, um, The Gay Ghost. Well, even Babe Ruth struck out sometimes. Look for Fox’s trademark: a word or concept that is explained in an “editor’s note” in every story.

Joe Kubert is the lead artist on display in this Hawkman collection, even though he was replaced by Murphy Anderson early in the 1960s run. Anderson’s specialty was kiddie-level science fiction – he had drawn the “Buck Rogers” comic strip – and his pencils were more to the liking of young readers than were the darker imaginings of Kubert (ENEMY ACE, THE HAUNTED TANK, TARZAN, SGT. ROCK).

Hawkman and Hawkgirl, to my taste, are the most striking-looking superheroes of them all. Their costumes – which are standard-issue Thanagarian police uniforms – are certainly over-the-top, but there’s really nothing about them I would change. Their helmets resemble the heads of hawks. Their wings are not for getting them off the ground – their belts contain a special anti-gravity metal – so the wings are for steering and locomotion. As for their fighting accoutrements, they borrow ancient weapons from the museum where Carter is curator.

The stories are frequently structured like Fox’s stories for the JLA. An impossible situation is established and the Hawks have to find a way to stop the villainy. In the premiere story, when the characters were reintroduced, that Thanagarian shapeshifter – who commits crimes not for gain, but just for the hell of it – decides to steal a tunnel running through a mountain. This he prepares to do by turning himself into a gigantic Thanagarian bird while he’s inside the tunnel, and then flying away with the tunnel on his back. If that’s not a classic Fox scenario, I don’t know a sly Fox when I see one.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS HAWKMAN is prime proof that comic-book stories can be at their most enjoyable when they’re just plain old imaginative fun. –Doug Bentin

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS SERIES:
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS BATGIRL: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS BATMAN: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS BATMAN: VOLUME 2
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD BATMAN TEAM-UPS: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE ELONGATED MAN: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS GREEN ARROW: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE HAUNTED TANK: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY: VOLUME 2
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS JONAH HEX: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS METAMORPHO: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE PHANTOM STRANGER: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS SHAZAM!: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS SUPERMAN FAMILY: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER: VOLUME 1
• SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE WAR THAT TIME FORGOT: VOLUME 1