Following my Static Shock Vol. 1 Captain Atom Vol. 1 write-up, Savage Hawkman Vol. 1 is up on the read list.
Tony S. Daniel — Writer
Philip Tan — Artist
James Bonny — Writer
Published 24 Oct 2012
Collects Savage Hawkman 1 – 8 (28 Sep 2011 — 25 Apr 2012)
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Art
I really enjoyed the watercolor style.
Story
This book is also a two-parter. It starts with Carter Hall trying to put the Hawkman identity behind him by taking the wing harness and helmet into the woods and setting them on fire. This backfires with the Nth Metal from the Hawkman costume coming to life and attacking him, causing him to black out. Carter wakes up to him himself back in his apartment a week later with no memory of what happened in between and his employer banging on the door because of a wild new discovery at work.
At work, the discovery turned out to be a tomb for a hostile alien force named Morphicus, which is accidentally released and starts attacking the staff. Carter jumps in to help, only to find that the Nth Metal was actually absorbed in his body and resurfaces as wings, armor, and weapons to help him. However, he does not have much control over it, and the alien starts to siphon the Nth Metal material from Hawkman, weakening him.
Morphicus flew off, only to be brought down by another alien, and taken to a secret lab, where we find that the discovery and accidental release were not accidental at all, but planned by Dr. Hogarth Kane, who is collecting aliens for something sinister called the “extinction virus.” Hawkman stops by and fights everyone — he refreezes Morphicus and takes Dr. Kane’s briefcase of alien samples.
Everything seems resolved, but Carter starts getting visions of everyone around him being undead. He learns through a mysterious book at work that there is an ancient artifact called the Mortis Orb that was used to fight undead, but it was hidden away because of its great power. Turns out, the Gentleman Ghost wants to use the Mortis Orb to gain eternal life, at the expense of all the lives in New York, and he wants Hawkman to find it because the Nth Metal is somehow drawn to it. Realizing it is the only way he can fight Gentleman Ghost and his phase-changing spirit attacks, Hawkman finds the Mortis Orb in the grave of a warlock outside of the city and activates it by touching it with the Nth Metal. Gentleman Ghost quickly takes it from him and goes back to the city, leaving a trail of undead. Static Shock appears and helps stop the zembies, leaving Hawkman to fight the ghosts. The Mortis Orb makes it so Hawkman can better fight the phase-changing ghosts, but the battle suddenly ends when the ghost of Julius Gates attacks Gentleman Ghost and they all get sucked into a portal. Hawkman cannot reactivate the shield over the Mortis Orb, so he drops it “live” into a glacier.
In a surprise move, Askana comes to Hawkman and asks for his help fighting off alien bounty hunters coming after her for helping Dr. Kane release Morphicus. They fight well together, but Hawkman realizes that the aliens are focusing their attack on him rather than Askana, and Dr. Kane must have convinced the aliens that Hawkman was the one responsible.
Connections
This book first introduces Katar Hol “Carter Hall” (Hawkman), Hank, Professor Ziegler, Terrance, Emma Ziegler, Dr. Benson, Morphicus, Dr. Hogarth Kane, Agent Murphy, Askana, Waker, Mr. Gomez, High Council Judge, Darius Digby, “Gentleman” Jim Craddock (Gentleman Ghost), Singh, Julius Gates, Abigail Gates, and Taylor Manning. We are also introduced to the alien races of the Vexaphons, Xenusians, and Thanagarians. Pandora gets her cameo in the lab fight as Hawkman manifests his new armor for the first time. We learn a bit about Dr. Kane’s organization NLAS (Non Lethal Alternative Studies) and the ones who froze Morphicus in the first place, the High Council.
Static Shock comes in for a team-up, and it seems to be the first time Static and Hawkman have met or even heard of each other. Because of this context, I am shuffling this book in before Static Shock Vol. 1, so that is now “next.”