Polite Dissent

A few months after their first appearance in Showcase #75, the Hawk and the Dove got their own series (the eponymous The Hawk and The Dove). First published in August/September 1968, it ran for a total of six bimonthly issues. The writing on this first issue was handled by Steve Skeates while Steve Ditko took care of the art.

No character emerges unscathed from this issue. Don is a worrywart and ultimately breaks his vow never to become Dove again (admittedly, he does to save Hawk). Hank is impulsive, single-minded and violent. Ironically their father, Judge Hall, shows his stubbornness and inability to compromise when it comes to Hawk and Dove – the same traits he criticizes in his sons.

We are allowed a peek into the thoughts of the brothers. Don is the epitome of the angst-ridden hero. He worries about everyone: himself, Hank, their father, the crowd and even the criminals. Hank’s thinking is more concrete: become the best Hawk he can in order to stop criminals. Ultimately, Don comes out ahead in this issue as he is willing to compromise some of his beliefs in order to save his brother, though neither of them would ever admit it happened that way.

The story begins shortly after the events of Showcase #75. Hank remains interested in becoming Hawk to fight crime, but Don does not want to become Dove again for fear of becoming a social outcast (not that he was Mr. Popular to begin with).

Hank, Don and their father are in the midst of a crowd when a multi-colored gang of thieves known as the Dropouts attack. Hank demands Don become Dove and help him capture the criminals. Don declines, so Hank decides to stop them all by himself. In a secluded hallway, he changes into Hawk then charges into the room and starts brawling with the crooks. He puts up a good fight, but is outnumbered and takes a beating. Several innocent bystanders are injured in the melee as well. Don spends the whole fight concerned. He’s not anxious for his brother’s safety, but instead worried that Hawk will screw up and embarrass him and their father.

After the brawl, Judge Hall is interviewed by reporters and soundly criticizes Hawk for his illegal vigilante activities. His words polarize the town. Half of the public feel that Hawk is right and the Judge is wrong, while the other half feel the Judge is right but they are too pacifistic to say anything (I’m not making this up). Hank, of course, always seems to encounter his father’s supporters, while Don is surrounded by his detractors.

Hank decides that he didn’t fight well as Hawk because he is not strong enough as Hank. He begins to obsessively work out and lift weights. Meanwhile Don attends an art show at the local college. The Dropouts burglarize the show while he is there and he finds himself faced with a dilemma: should he change into Dove and stop the thieves? Ultimately he chooses not to become Dove and lets the crooks escape, rationalizing this by saying that the police will catch them soon enough.

Several days pass, and Hank has somehow managed to find discarded costumes that lead him to the gang’s hideout. Worried that his brother will get seriously hurt fighting the Dropouts, Don engages in some Spider-Man-esque fretting, reasoning that if he had helped Hawk capture the Dropouts in the first place, then nobody would have gotten hurt. Deciding that Hawk needs his help, Don uses deductive reasoning (and an old girlfriend of the head thief) to locate the gang. He arrives just in time to see Hawk staggering under their blows. Dove enters the fray and begins to fight the Dropouts. However, he refrains from using violence, instead using his powers to tire and confuse the crooks. Hawk gets his second wind and the duo manage to capture the entire gang and escape just before the police arrive. Hawk, of course, takes all the credit, saying that he didn’t need Dove’s help. The pair continues to argue all the way back home and late into the night.

NOTES:
1. For their original appearance in Showcase #75 and for the length of this series, the pair is referred to as “The Hawk” and “The Dove”. Ultimately, this is shortened just to Hawk and Dove.
2. Despite this being only their second appearance, Hawk and Dove seem fairly well known already. In the first scene, one of the crooks shouts “It’s the Hawk!” when he appears. Later in the book, when Dove shows up, the crooks know who he is and already know that he’s (in their words) “a push-over.”
3. A big deal is made in this issue of the Dropouts trying to convince the public that they are college students (as opposed to the ordinary thieves that they are). I think this is mostly a relic of the turbulent times this comic was written in, when many people considered college students little better than hippies.
4. This is the first mention of the fact that their costumes cannot be removed while they are Hawk and Dove. This is explained away as “magic” at this point.
5. Though Don may triumph in the end of this issue, the views he represents are never taken seriously. The logo on the cover shows Hank shouting but shows Don meekly looking down and away. While Hank’s aggressive views are criticized, Don’s pacifistic views are ridiculed – by both characters and narration. The crooks are afraid of Hawk (initially anyway), but regard Dove as a “push-over”.