Broken Frontier

As the Blackest Night spreads across the DC Universe, Broken Frontier unearths the histories of several of the players in the event.

SPOILER WARNING: Read no further if you’ve not had the chance to dig into your most recent Blackest Night titles…

[Author’s note - Given that Hawkman’s story has been an ever-evolving creature (or monster, some would say), many revisions, retroactive continuity changes and revelations of “all you knew was wrong,” have made his history complex.  For the sake of brevity, I’ve tried to keep my focus to lining the character’s history into a single narrative, while avoiding discussing the “behind-the-scenes/real world” business decisions that set them in motion.]

Hawkman’s story began in ancient Egypt, with Prince Khufu, a noble ruler who believed he and his lover (Chay-Ara)’s souls were destined to remain on the mortal plane.  Guided by his closest advisors, Khufu discovered a downed alien spacecraft from the planet Thanagar (JSA #22, May 2001).  Salvaging the mysterious Nth metal from the ship, Khufu crafted several weapons and devices from the metal, which he discovered had the ability to negate gravity.  Before long however, Khufu was betrayed by the priest Hath-Set, who murdered him and Chay-Ara (Flash Comics #1, January 1940).  The two lovers were cast into an endless cycle of reincarnation and finding true love with each other, only to have it cut short by tragic death.

Over the years, Khufu was resurrected in a variety of forms, including as the medieval Silent Knight (first appearance The Brave and the Bold #1, August 1955), the western gunslinger, Nighthawk (first appearance Western Comics #5, September 1948), and then in the early 20th century as archeologist Carter Hall.  Upon discovering Khufu’s Nth metal artifacts, Hall regained the memories of his past and eventually located Shiera Sanders, the reincarnation of Chay-Ara.  Using the artifacts as a starting point, Hall crafted a harness and wings and took on the super-heroic identity of Hawkman (also Flash Comics #1). 

In addition to having many solo adventures, Hall became a founding member and chairman of the World War II era fraternity of heroes, the Justice Society of America (All-Star Comics #3, Winter 1940).  Joined later by Sanders as Hawkgirl (beginning in All-Star Comics #5, June 1941), one of Hall’s greatest adventures resulted in him and his Justice Society allies being exposed to radiation the greatly retarded their aging process (All-Star Squadron Annual #3, 1984).

In 1961, DC Comics re-invented the concept of Hawkman, this time as an inter-galactic police officer from Thanagar named Katar Hol (The Brave and the Bold #34, February-March 1961).  Alongside his partner and wife, Shayera Hol, the pair fought crime in Midway City while concealing themselves from humanity as museum curators, Carter and Shiera Hall.  Although these characters were, at the time, not intended to have any direct relation to the earlier versions, subsequent revisions to DC continuity have assigned all of Hawkman’s adventures published from 1961 to 1989 as having been experienced by the original Hawkman (and not the one from Thanagar).  Hawkman had many adventures in the pages of his own title (Hawkman #1-27, April 1964-September 1968), as well as serving as a member of the Justice League of America (beginning with Justice League of America #31, November 1964).  During his tenure with the team, Hawkman formed his two closest superheroic bonds – and antagonistic relationship with the anti-authoritarian Green Arrow, and a friendship with the astonishing Atom (following the cancellation of their solo titles, the pair both appeared in The Atom and Hawkman #39-45, October 1968-November 1969). 

Around the time of Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Justice Society embarked on a final adventure to save reality from being destroyed.  While the team was successful, Hawkman and the others were trapped in a limbo dimension, seemingly for all time (The Last Days of the Justice Society Special, 1986).  For the next three years, DC Comics continued to feature a Hawkman character from Thanagar, although it was retroactively revealed to be a spy impersonating the hero (his first appearance having been established to be in Action Comics #600, May 1988 and more fully explained in Hawkworld #22, April 1992). 

In the pages of Hawkworld #1-3 (August-October 1989), the Thangarans Katar Hol and Shayera Thal, came to Earth, taking up the mantles of Hawkman and Hawkwoman.  Eventually, Carter and Shiera returned to the present day from limbo (Armageddon: Inferno #4, July 1992), and both sets of Hawkmen continued on their own adventures.

During the period of temporal instability known as Zero Hour, a hawk-type deity intervened, merging Carter Hall, Shiera Sanders-Hall and Katar Hol into a gestalt entity (Hawkman #13, September 1994).  Eventually, the conflicting memories and personalities drove Hawkman insane, and he was banished to another limbo dimension, where he was effectively killed (Hawkman #33, June 1996).

During a cosmic crisis on Thanagar, the cycle of re-incarnation occurred once more, and Carter Hall returned to life (JSA #23, June 2001).  Relocating to St. Roch (Hawkman #1, May 2002), Carter served several stints with the reformed Justice Society, both in official and unofficial capacities.  During an inter-stellar conflict (The Rann-Thanagar War #1-6, July-December 2005), Carter left Earth, becoming closely affiliated with both worlds.  Although Carter did eventually return to Earth (Hawkgirl #60, March 2007), he continued to monitor the instability on Rann.  On one such journey back (Hawkman Special #1, October 2008), Hawkman encountered a mysterious entity who suggested that it may not have been Carter Hall that was resurrected on Thanagar, but rather Katar Hol.

Following his near fatal adventure in Final Crisis #7 (March 2009), Hawkman returned to St. Roch to convalesce.  It was here that he, and Hawkgirl, were ambushed by Black Hand and his Black Lanterns (Elongated Man and Sue Dibny).  Despite his best efforts, Hawkman was savagely beaten down by the Black Lanterns and killed (Blackest Night #1, September 2009).  Since then, Hawkman (and Hawkgirl, who was murdered at the same time) have terrorized the living alongside fellow Black Lanterns (and former Justice Leaguers), Martian Manhunter and Firestorm.

Black Lantern Hawkman’s adventures continue as he faces Indigo Lantern Atom in The Atom and Hawkman #46…