Polite Dissent

One of the better issues of the series, and not just because it accomplishes the nearly impossible: it manages to fit the horribly out of continuity Brave and the Bold #181 logically into the main Hawk and Dove storyline. For those of you who don’t remember, that issue of The Brave and the Bold featured a middle-aged Hank and Don Hall being stripped of their powers because they didn’t fulfill their destiny and they fought with each other too much. It did have nice art by Jim Aparo, though.

Hawk & Dove #25starts just as the story from The Brave and the Bold is ending: Batman is swinging away and Hank and Don are discussing the loss of their powers. Hank returns home to his estranged wife Linda, who welcomes him with open arms…

…but then before his eyes she morphs into Ren. Not quite the same Ren we know and love, but a hippie version of her, including bell bottoms, tie-dyes, and psychedelic posters on the walls. Confused, Hank stumbles outside…

…and finds himself back on the Georgetown campus. There’s a crime in progress, but Hawk and Dove are already there. Only it’s his late brother Don, the original Dove, and a female Hawk. They capture the criminals, make snide remarks about the SCU, and then change back into their civilian identities. Hank confronts the two of them, protesting that he is supposed to be Hawk. You get the feeling this is an old argument between the brothers. Don sadly reminds Hank that while he was saving the children’s lives during the Crisis he was crippled, and subsequently stripped of his powers and a new Hawk chosen. Hank keeps protesting, “I’m Hawk,” over and over again…

…and he wakes up in bed, apparently a victim of nothing more than a bad dream. Then his wife appears, and it’s Dawn. He panics, but Dawn reminds him that they lost their powers on Druspa Tau. They returned home and subsequently married. She pushes Hank into the shower…

…and he finds himself back in the real world as Hawk, punctured by spear growing from a giant blue gem (just like on the cover). Hawk thinks back: he remembers entering the Smithsonian, changing to Hawk, and stealing the sapphire his brother needs to return to life. He remembers dodging the Smithsonian security and heading to roof to hide. He also remembers being puzzled when he didn’t immediately change back to Hank — but then he realized the gem had started glowing. The gem suddenly exploded in size, piercing him with several of its blue crystal arms.

Now that he’s awake, Hawk realizes that the gem is magic and somehow related to Order (the opposite of the Chaos that gives him his powers). It is purposefully warping his mind and memories. He is able to summon the willpower required to break the gem’s hold on him. Then he smiles because the gem has transformed into a giant blue crystal golem, and he realizes that he has something to hit.

Meanwhile, Ren is at the hospital visiting the still recuperating Rodger. She is concerned that she hasn’t been able to get in touch with Hank for a few days, and even more worried that it might have something to do with Dawn and Dove. Rodger does his best to reassure her.

Speaking of Dawn, she is on a date with Captain Arsala. They are sitting in his car, watching the sunset and eating burgers when his pager goes off. Hawk is robbing the Smithsonian and Arsala and the SCU are needed there. He offers to drop Dawn off at home on the way, but she declines and tells him she’ll get a ride home once they get to the Smithsonian.

The SCU team arrives at the museum grounds to find Hawk battling a blue crystal monster. He defeats it, and it reverts back to the sapphire he stole from the Smithsonian. Arsala orders him to surrender. Dove appears and asks Hawk what happened. He is surprised to see her, and tells her that he can’t explain, but asks for her just to trust him. He runs off, gem in hand. Arsala demands that Dove fly after him, but she refuses, saying that Hawk must have had a good reason for his actions.

The issue ends with Hawk alone in an abandoned warehouse, staring at the gem he stole, and wondering out loud if it was worth it.

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The writing was very good this issue, and the Kesels manage to weave action and soap opera together seamlessly. The opening alternate histories of Hawk and Dove are extremely well done, and each story has a distinctive voice — but then I’ve always been a sucker for alternate history stories. Each of the different versions has art by a different team, with the regular Guler/Hannah team handling the art on the main story.

It was clever of the Kesels to reconcile the Brave and the Bold story by explaining it away as one of the alternate histories shown by the gem. I’m not sure who provided the art on this section (the comic only all the artists involved, not who did each section), but they did a good job replicating the Aparo art from the original story. The second alternate history basically serves as a segue from the counter-culture late ’60s, when Hawk and Dove debuted, to their reappearance in the ‘90s. It sets up the most powerful of the alternate histories, the third one, where Hank has lost his powers. In this version of events, Hank went back to save the kids during Crisis on Infinite Earths instead of Don. Since Don didn’t die, he’s still Dove. Unfortunately, Hawk was crippled saving the children and a new Hawk appointed. Trivia buffs should note that this is the first appearance of a female Hawk, though I doubt she is anyway related to the current female Hawk as she goes by Kath and not Holly. The art is very somber The final alternate history presents Hank and Dawn as a married couple. In this reality, they lost their powers after the death of T’Charr and Terataya, but returned home from Druspa Tau to fall in love and get married. I did recognize the art on this section — it’s by Kevin Maguire, who also drew Hawk & Dove #20. I like the little touches like the wedding pictures on the wall with Hank in a blue tux.

Sadly, this is the last really good issue of Hawk & Dove. There are great moments in the remaining three issues (and one annual), but no single issue stands out.

All Previous Hawk and Dove Reviews

Tags: comics hawk dove jim aparo kevin maguire