Polite Dissent

In Hawk & Dove #5, both of our heroes take a day off. Dawn is at home, sick in bed, having caught the flu from her pre-dawn plunge in the Potomac River in Hawk & Dove #3. Hank, on the other hand, has gone to the beach for a day of fun in the sun with Ren.

Sniffling and sneezing in bed, Dawn is being cared for by her father. He gently scolds her for sneaking out that night. After he leaves, Dawn is astonished to see Don Hall, the original Dove. He sits down on the bed next to her and the two of them talk. She apologizes for killing him. He brushes her apology aside, telling her that it was a brick wall that killed him, not her. He tells her that she makes a much better Dove than he ever did — she stands up to Hank, does more with the same powers, and she looks much better in the costume. He then disappears and Dawn in left to wonder whether he was ever really there.

Meanwhile, Hank and Ren are enjoying a day at the beach when an over-muscled beach bum starts hitting on Ren. He shoves Hank aside and literally picks up Ren. Enraged, Hank changes to Hawk and punches back. Unfortunately for him, this is no ordinary beach bum. Instead, this is a metagene-enhanced beach bum who goes by the name Sudden Death. Oh yeah, and he explodes when struck. He and Hawk have a grand battle, with Hawk initially taking more damage than he’s giving. Then he seizes upon the idea to “overload” Sudden Death so he hits him until he’s ready to explode and then keeps punching him and punching him before ditching him in the water where he harmlessly explodes. One more punch and Sudden Death is unconscious and ready for the SCU to arrest while Hank and Ren walk off into the sunser. “Look, Ren,” Hank explains. “Sometimes the right thing to do is the wrong thing to do — you know what I mean? gives you an edge. Makes you unpredictable. An’ I’m better at doing the wrong thing than almost anybody!” A little foreshadowing maybe?

This is one of my favorite issues of the series. Hawk’s explosive fight stands in stark contrast with Dawn’s thoughtful discussion with Don. The overall plot of the series is advanced in that we get the first hint of what Hawk looks like under his costume. The past is also addressed: Dawn’s talk with Don brings closure to his role as Dove and his approval further legitimizes the new Hawk and Dove team.

The art by Chris Wozniak (with inking assist from Karl Kesel) is impressive. Wozniak has very clean and expressive lines and they do a good job with both the quiet scenes and the action-filled ones. Whatever happened to him? He did this issue of Hawk & Dove and a few early “cross-time” issue of Excalibur, but then what? I always liked his style.