Polite Dissent

The Hawk and the Dove didn’t just appear in their own short-lived series but also appeared together in several issues of the Teen Titans. As you may recall, the Teen Titans make a brief (very, very brief) appearance at the end of The Hawk and the Dove #5 which leads into Teen Titans #21: “Citadel of Fear.”

Chasing the same smuggler, the Teen Titans and Hawk and Dove stumble into each other in a warehouse. The Teen Titans suspect that Hawk and Dove are villains and the obligatory super-hero fight breaks out. Dove recognizes the Titans and tries to stop the fight, but Hawk is happy to hit anyone. The fighting only stops when Hawk manages to save Wonder Girl from some falling crates and the two teams reluctantly agree to work together.

The smuggler has escaped through a teleporter. It has two settings, but no one knows which one the smuggler used. Hawk, Dove, and Wonder Girl teleport to one destination, while Robin, Speedy, and Kid Flash travel to the other. Both groups find themselves in a trap. Hawk, Dove and Wonder Girl are gassed and imprisoned, but Dove figures out a way for them to escape. Robin, Kid Flash and Speedy are attacked and knocked-out by a giant robot. Robin and Kid Flash are carried off before Hawk, Dove and Wonder Girl arrive to help Speedy defeat the robot. At the end of the battle, the robot crashes down on top of Speedy and only by combining their power are Hawk and Dove able to rescue him.

The group sets off in search of Robin and Kid Flash, but the tunnel they’re following forks. When Hawk suggests that he and Wonder Girl go one way and Speedy and Dove go the other, Speedy gets mad and punches him. After Wonder Girl dresses down Speedy for hitting someone who saved his life, the teens split off down the two tunnels. Both groups arrive at the villain’s hideout at the same time and battle the smuggler’s henchmen. The smuggler himself is captured when he tries to blow up the hideout. Although the heroes are victorious, some questions remain: Who was the voice that was controlling the smuggler? And where are Robin and Kid Flash?

Unfortunately, Hawk and Dove won’t be around to help find the missing Titans. As soon as the smuggler was captured, they began to change back to Hank and Don and had to make a hasty exit.

Neal Adams provides both the script and the pencils. He is ably inked by Nick Cardy. The art is quite good with dramatic angles and exciting action sequences. The issue as a whole has that unmistakable Adams look to it. The cover art is credited to Nick Cardy.

The script does a good job with Hawk and Dove. Their various strengths and weaknesses are well shown and neither emerges as the superior hero. This issue even manages to mention Hank’s fear of heights, a topic that had been neglected in the Hawk and the Dove title. The Teen Titans themselves don’t fare as well. Kid Flash is injured early on and Robin and Speedy are shown as particularly stubborn and pig-headed. Wonder Girl is there to look pretty.

The Hawk and the Dove return to their own title for its final issue (The Hawk and the Dove #6), but will show up again in the Teen Titans with issue #25.