Hawk the Slayer was not a very good film. One of a short burst of fantasy-style movies of the late ‘70s-early ‘80s, the only thing about it more limited than its budget was its biggest name Jack Palance’s performance. It was, however, a fun film. The kind of fantastical outing that would go on to immediately capture the attention and imagination of school children looking for an entertaining diversion in the holidays, and one full of notable British character actors trying to do their very best with some often pretty mediocre material.
Not exactly the kind of high profile subject that would warrant a comics sequel then. Especially not one that has taken over 40 years to surface, and yet here we are. Publishers Rebellion, the current rights-holders, have given writer Garth Ennis the opportunity to revisit what is clearly a childhood favourite of his in a project that feels more self-indulgent than commercial and is all the more welcome for that.
If you’ve never seen Hawk the Slayer and don’t want to pay to stream the film then don’t worry. Everything you need to know is neatly summarised in an unobtrusive way, folded into the story without feeling like the reader is getting a heavy information dump. The original focussed on the conflict between two brothers – the noble Hawk and the evil Voltan – for control of a magical sword. There’s an added personal element to events as Voltan is responsible for the deaths of both Hawk’s father and his love Eliane. With a number of allies – including the giant Gort, the elf and archer Crow, and the dwarf Baldin, the heroes set out to free the land of Voltan’s evil influence.
In this first comics follow-up Hawk the Slayer: Watch for Me in the Night (more films were planned in the ‘80s but the poor reception for the first put an end to that) the surviving characters from the original, alongside new allies the warrior Bella and minstrel Wain, team up to once again battle a recently resurrected Voltan and his masters the Black Wizards, expanding on unresolved plot points established at the end of the movie.
Where Watch for Me in the Night succeeds is in Ennis’s world-building skills, taking superficial storylines from the original and interweaving them. The origins of the Mindsword the brothers fought over become connected intimately to other characters and situations in unexpected ways. It gives the world of Hawk the Slayer an unexpected and frankly unlikely depth, while still allowing the sequel to rattle along at a rollicking pace.
Whether there are elements that do not work quite as well depends very much on what you are expecting from Hawk the Slayer crossing mediums. Some of the humour here occasionally crosses a line that takes it outside of the tone of the original and it’s a significantly more violent take on this world. However, in both respects it’s also the case that Watch for Me in the Night is a significantly more inventive and imaginative story than its predecessor could ever have hoped to be.
In that regard Henry Flint’s artwork is quite stunning. His colour choices take the frankly drab hues of the film and imbue Hawk’s realm with a true sense of the mystical and the otherworldly. The choreography of the battle scenes is fluent and animated throughout, and Voltan’s new character design is absolutely chilling. It all builds up into a truly satisfying concluding chapter where everything is tied up with a dramatic flourish but the reader is still left hoping that another trip to the land of Hawk the Slayer could be on the cards one day (and 2000 AD have recently announced that will be the case). That in itself is quite the achievement given the original subject material this story is based on.
Garth Ennis (W), Henry Flint (A), Rob Steen (L) • Rebellion, £16.99/£21.99
Review by Andy Oliver
