1989 Hawk & Dove v3 ongoing series part 2

[This is a continuation of our review of the 1989 Hawk & Dove v3 ongoing series. Our previous article reviewed issues #1 to #24 and Annual #1. This article will contain SPOILERS. We at DC in the 80s are big fans of letting readers discover things for themselves. If you have any interest in this series, we implore you to seek it out read it yourself before reading this article. While Hawk & Dove v3 may NOT currently be available in any collected TPB format, the back issues can be picked up for pretty cheap.]

As contributing editor Rob Perry alluded to in our previous article, the Hawk & Dove v3 ongoing series took a drastic turn in tone come issue #25.

A storyline had been building up since Hawk & Dove v3 #22 in which Hawk is receiving phone calls from his deceased brother, Don Hall (aka Dove) [he died back in Crisis, remember?]. Issue #25 begins with a dream sequence in which it appears that parallel timelines are being revealed to Hawk, I'm mainly mentioning this because one of the realities revealed to him was the non-cannon Hawk and Dove story from The Brave and the Bold v1 #181 (1981).

The Brave and the Bold #181 was written by Alan Brennert and penciled by Jim Aparo. This was presented as the LAST Hawk & Dove story — it's set in present-day 1981 and Hank and Don Hall seem to have aged accordingly. In this issue, the 'Voice' that gave Hawk and Dove their powers decides to take it back, since it deemed that the brothers haven't matured whatsoever since they gained their powers 12 years ago.

In hindsight, it feels like this issue was intended for readers who were unfamiliar with the characters: it recounts the duo's origins, mentions how much things have changed since the late 60s/early 70s, explains a lot of their back story, and takes their powers away. In typically Hank Hall fashion, Hawk goes on a destructive rampage, which served as the catalyst for having their powers taken away. Batman's involvement is kind of a moot point [probably to get readers interested enough to pick up the issue], as he doesn't really have any big role in this story. Editor Dick Giordano revealed in the letter column of The Brave and the Bold v1 #186 that the Hawk & Dove story "drew an incredible avalanche of mail; the largest reader response to a single issue in our series in recent memory."

Giordano went on further to explain:

"The decision to publish "Time, See What's Become of Me" was not an easy one. Chronology is important in our DC Universe and I was painfully aware of the fact that I was messing with it. But as the original editor of THE HAWK AND THE DOVE back in the '60s I also felt an emotional obligation to write finis to the pair that were a product of their time. Alan's excellent script allowed me to do this with class."

"It was not the conflict between 'mindless violence' and 'extreme caution and passivity' that we feel renders the Hawk and the Dove obsolete. Starting with the title down to the basic story-lines and characterizations, the original concept was intended to deal, symbolically, with the political and social unrest of the time in which it was published. Moreover, the original version was really a triangle with Judge Hall (their father) providing a third (moderate) point of view to the boys extreme views. With the absence of social unrest and Judge Hall's viewpoint, the question of hawk and dove became academic."

How were Giordano and Brennert messing with DC chronology? Well, when Hank and Don Hall were guest starring in Teen Titans v1 back in the late 1970s, they were the same age as the rest of the Teen Titans. When this issue was published, Don Hall was 27 years old (and his brother, Hank, was roughly the same age) and Dick Grayson was still 19 years old — effectively implying that Hawk and Dove had aged, but nobody else in the DCU had.

As mentioned, this issue is considered non-cannon since Hawk and Dove are seen with powers in Crisis On Infinite Earths in 1985. I do appreciate that the Kesels took the time to reference this gem in issue #25 and provided an 'imaginary' epilogue to it (they even go so far as to thank Brennert and Aparo) — it demonstrates that they did their research and have a respect for the characters.

Issue #25 was a 38 page issue and boasted 'Guest Artists Galore'. I'm not very good at recognizing artists, but I did spot a few pages of Kevin Maguire art in there. The other contributing pencillers were (apparently) Dick Giordano, Tom Grindberg, Dan Jurgens, Jim Aparo, Will Blyberg and Greg Guler. The inkers included Scott Hana, Al Vey, Robert Lewis, Gabriel Morrissette, and Ken Branch. Don't ask me who did what in the issue — I'd only be guessing. Apparently, Jerome Moore illustrated the cover.

Who illustrated and inked these panels above (from H&D v3 #25)? Comment below if you know.

By this point I'm wondering if the Kesels were aware the series would be facing cancellation and were in a rush to get their last MAJOR story arc completed (hence the double-sized issue). Hawk, who keeps receiving phone calls from his dead brother, is instructed to retrieve Sargon the Sorcerer's Soul Sapphire gemstone being held in a museum. This drives Hawk to commit a felony and break into the museum to steal it, causing everyone around to worry that Hawk's gone off "the deep end" again. Everyone is affected by this; Dove's not sure if Hawk is going evil, Hawk's girlfriend [Ren] thinks he's cheating on her with Dove, the Washington SCU is convinced that Hawk is a threat and needs to be taken down. I'm really digging the Sargon the Sorcerer reference. Throughout issue #25, the Soul Sapphire is referred to as an instrument of Order. It looks like the Kesels were laying the ground work for Sargon to be part of the agents of Chaos and Order mythos.

Throughout the previous 24 issues, the Kesels have managed to keep Hawk's 'crazy side' under wraps and portrayed him as someone we should be sympathetic to. Prior to the 1988 mini-series and this 1989 ongoing series, Hawk was more or less portrayed as a warmongering loose cannon (who always had America's best interests at heart) — the introduction of Dove (Dawn Granger) helped downplay this quite a bit. [Here's some foreshadowing for you, folks. ;) ]

The story continues. In issue #26, Hawk is missing and Dawn goes looking for him. She doesn't find him, but we are treated to a flashback of when Dawn had first discovered that she possessed the powers of Dove and tried finding Hawk. This wasn't a retcon, but it was adding new details to things that happened immediately after Crisis On Infinite Earths. We also learn that Kestrel was hunting for Hawk back then.

There's an extensive manhunt for Hawk in issue #27; things inevitably escalate, Hawk behaves more 'out of character' and steals a recently deceased body for his dead brother, Don Hall, to be reincarnated into. The end of the issue reveals that Hawk's been set up, it's not Don Hall he's reviving, but someone else...

...and this leads us to the 48 page finale of the series. Hawk & Dove v3 #28 has a lot going on and it seemed like the creative team was trying to jam five issues worth of story into one issue. If I had to sum up this final issue in one word, I'd go with 'chaotic' — Hank Hall and Dawn Granger's parents reveal that they knew who Hawk & Dove were the WHOLE time, Dawn's love interest [Sal] makes the connection and figures out Dawn and Dove are the same people, the Wildebeest Society attacks Hawk for being a former member of the Teen Titans, Azure returns to go on a rampage (a War of the Gods tie-in), the big 'secret' villain is revealed, and Uncle Sam makes a guest-appearance!

Jonathan Peterson was the editor during the last year of Hawk & Dove v3 and it's a little difficult to tell where Peterson's influences end and the Kesels' begin. At this point in his career, Peterson was the Teen Titans editor extraordinaire — overseeing New Titans, Hawk & Dove v3, Deathstroke: the Terminator, and working on the launch of another Teen Titans spin-off book called Team Titans. The Wildebeest Society charging in on Hawk (albeit briefly) was a tie-in to the Titans Hunt storyline which ran through New Titans #71 to New Titans #84 (Nov 1990 - Mar 1992). Part of Peterson's plan for a Teen Titans resurgence was to create a BIG event that would whittle down the team [according to Peterson, there were too many Titans and honorary Titans running around] and this is what the Titans Hunt was meant to be.

Wildebeest Society attacks!

War of the Gods was one of the big 1991 cross-over events running throughout DC comics [the other big cross-over event being Armageddon 2001, but more on that shortly]. Karen Berger, Bob Kahan and Tom Peyer were the editors overseeing this cross-over, and it ran through 14 DCU titles (notable exclusions included Aquaman, Deathstroke the Terminator, the Justice League titles, Green Arrow, Green Lantern and the Legion of Super-Heroes). War of the Gods was a Wonder Woman-centric cross-over that coincided with the 50th anniversary of the character, Hawk & Dove v3 being included in this cross-over event may have come from a top-tier DC editorial decision (i.e. Dick Giordano) and was something the Kesels couldn't work around.

The 'big reveal' of the villain Hawk had unintentionally revived will catch most (if not all readers) off guard. He's actually a villain from another DCU character's book. [No, we're not telling you who it is — either buy the issue or find out somewhere else. Some things need to be kept unspoiled.] Equally surprising is a guest appearance by Uncle Sam (Quality Comics character; leader of the Freedom Fighters) who appears to trade blows with Hawk, and to deliver an important message to the duo:

So... Uncle Sam shows up to tell Hawk and Dove that they symbolize the 'spirit of America'? And that even their costume color choices [red, white and blue] were indicative of this. Huh. If you consider the politically-charged origin of the original duo, this actually fits quite nicely. If we look at the bigger picture, this could've led to a change in direction for the series (had it continued beyond this point) — not only were Hawk and Dove avatars of Chaos and Order, but they could've been involved in bigger story lines about 'finding America' and battling threats to the American dream. I'm going to go ahead and credit this idea to the Kesels, because at this point I think they were the only ones who gave a damn about the characters anymore.

The issue wraps up in a 'happily-ever-after' scenario as both Hank Hall and Dawn Granger reunite with their respective loved ones. It left an open ending with the promise of nice things to come to both characters — a really nice way to conclude a series.

The end. (But not really.)

At the end of our last article we promised we'd delve into the last few issues of Hawk & Dove v3 and what made this ongoing series so unpopular. Before we get into that, we have to tell you about a little thing called Armageddon 2001.

Armageddon 2001 was a 1991 cross-over event than ran through a large number of the 1991 DC comics annuals. Someday we'll give you a comprehensive review of the entire cross-over event from start to finish, but for now, know that a [1991] modern day character from the DCU goes nuts and kills all of the other DCU heroes. A protagonist from an apocalyptic future [named Waverider] returns back in time to try to determine who the traitor will be and to prevent that disaster from occurring — he does this by entering said character's timeline and seeing their future. This was all framed as a big mystery to keep you guessing who the traitor was going to be, as Waverider visited each DCU hero in his respective annual to look for clues. The event starts with Armageddon 2001 #1 (1991), runs through about twelve annuals, and concludes with Armageddon 2001 #2 (which contains the 'big reveal').

Hawk & Dove v3 Annual #2 (1991) was part of the Armageddon 2001 cross-over and showed three distinct future possibilities in which a) Hawk survives the original onslaught and rises up to battle Monarch, b) Dove survives the onslaught and is now the mother to Hawk's son, and c) Hawk and Dove have a daughter named Unity who possesses a combination of both Hawk and Dove's powers and ultimately defeats Monarch.

Hawk & Dove v3 Annual #2 (1991) - Unity

On its own, Annual #2 was a nice little trio of "What If" stories and was released sometime in early June 1994. If nothing else, it confirmed that neither Hawk nor Dove would end up becoming Monarch, and it maybe even got fans excited with the notion that Hawk and Dove would become an item someday and have a child.

Something went wrong. Somebody [a disgruntled DC comics employee perhaps?] leaked that Captain Atom would be revealed as Monarch. This spoiler was leaked before Armageddon 2001 #2 was released to the public, so DC editorial had time to change the conclusion to the Armageddon 2001 event. A different DCU character had to be revealed as Monarch. So who did they pick?

From a 2006 article by Dylan Brucie in Wizard Magazine #179:

"I remember [editor] Jonathan Peterson saying to us cryptically, 'Do you guys have any future plans for Hawk and Dove?'" Karl Kesel explains, "And Jonathan told us later on that at that point, he knew that Hawk was going to be Monarch and he was just feeling us out."

In a 2005 interview with Jonathan Peterson from The Titans Companion, Bill Walko asked about the identity of Monarch in Armageddon 2001:

Walko: "It’s pretty common knowledge that it was supposed to be Captain Atom, then it became the Titans-based character Hawk. How did you decide on Hawk, of all heroes?"

Peterson: "I remember this now. With Captain Atom, it made sense power-wise, with the atomic powers, and in a weird way, it would echo Watchmen’s Dr. Manhattan. Dr. Manhattan was based on Captain Atom since Watchmen started as the Charlton heroes anyway. Then we could also do a Anakin Skywalker thing. Hawk was this war-like guy anyway. You could just push him off the deep end, bring him to the dark side, and that would be the tragedy, that Waverider’s interference would ultimately be the event to cause Hawk’s transformation. He was a B-level character we could do something with, anyway."

Hawk becoming Monarch wasn't THAT terrible of an idea and, continuity issues aside [see Hawk & Dove v3 Annual #2], even seemed to work — Armageddon 2001 was intended to be a launchpad for Peterson's new Teen Titans spin-off series [Team Titans], so Hawk being the main villain stayed in-step with the whole Titans-verse thing. The real problem was Monarch killing off Dove/Dawn Granger in Armageddon 2001 #2. A future version of Hawk killing off the present-day Dove was completely out of character for any version of Hawk, and not to mention a waste of an excellent character.

Over the span of a several comic book pages, Dove's life went from this:

...to this:

To make matters worse, due to shipping delays, Armageddon 2001 #2 (the death of Dove) would've been released the same week as Hawk & Dove v3 #28 (if not earlier). Some Hawk & Dove v3 readers would've been aware of the true final ending for the duo before they read the last issue of the ongoing series.

Barbara Randall Kesel's opinions on the matter?

"The story I originally got is that Hawk and Dove together became Monarch, which I thought was brilliant because then you had this internally schizoid character. But just the cheap killing off of Dove and making Hawk just be the psycho bad guy I thought was a good last minute save, but not a really satisfying version." (Wizard #179, article by Dylan Brucie, 2006)

As you can see in that last quote, Barbara was just being professional — she reveals how she REALLY felt in an interview with Jennifer M Contino for Sequential Tart:

Contino: "I HATED the ending of Hawk & Dove. What was the real reason that Hank Hall became Monarch and Dawn Granger died? What was the ending that you and Karl had planned for the series?"

Randall Kesel: "Let’s get one thing clear: that wasn’t a planned ending of Hawk and Dove. That awful story was an Armageddon 2000 special created after somebody at DC spilled the beans about Captain Atom’s being Monarch. Then, a small number of people worked feverishly to find some other character to sacrifice, and since H&D had just been cancelled!"

"If you’ve ever pitied anyone, pity Jonathan Peterson, the poor person who had to give me the news. I wasn’t pleased, and wasn’t shy about sharing. If there’s anything I hate with a passion, it’s characters behaving out of character, especially when it involves a smart woman being stupid for no reason. H&D becoming Monarch could have been a clever idea: if they BOTH became the character, their innately opposite natures could explain a schizophrenic villain. As it was… it was a last-minute fix that sucked. The ending closest to what I have in mind was in the Unity story in the H&D Annual #2, but it’s all water under the bridge."

As I was re-reading this ongoing series as a whole [28 issues, 2 annuals and 1 Secret Origins issue] for this comprehensive review, I can honestly tell you that I didn't expect to enjoy this title as much as I did. Admittedly, the first several issues felt a little 'slow', but the unfolding plotline about the mystic origins of the duo's powers kept me powerin' on. To me, this series hits its stride immediately after issue #17: we're getting more guest stars [Titans West, Creeper, Barbara Gordon/Oracle, etc ] and new villains being introduced. This series may have avoided cancellation if it had felt more integrated into the rest of the DCU since its launch (rather than a year and a half into it). Why did it take almost a year before the Teen Titans appeared? I realize that the Kesels were trying to create a stand-alone world for Hawk & Dove with their own supporting characters and villains, but the duo may have been too unknown to a modern audience to establish a strong fan base so early. This is just my opinion of course. I would've liked to have seen this book continue past issue #28 to see where the Kesels would have brought us — the 'Spirit of America' idea seems to show some promise.

Dove was easily the most interesting character in the series and, at a time when DC didn't have too many strong female headlining characters, killing her off in Armageddon 2001 was a major mistake. It's ironic that Dove was killed off as part of a plot device for Hawk to descend to the role of Monarch — this is exactly the kind of thing Barbara Randall Kesel (Dove/Dawn Granger's co-creator and Hawk & Dove v3 co-writer) would've flagged in her original letter to Dick Giordano from the early 80s [i.e. a female character losing her powers/life so her male counterpart could evolve as a character]. Dawn Granger/Dove didn't NEED to be killed off — there must've been some work-around that could've been used to allow her to be a functioning character in the then-DCU. Understandably, this upset a lot of Hawk and Dove fans.

One bold theory I'm putting out there is that DC editorial had Dove killed off to prevent Rob Liefeld from getting royalties. Dawn Granger/Dove was an interesting character and had a lot of potential as far as a leading character was concerned; with the right exposure she could've quickly became one of DC's strong B-list characters. Rob Liefeld is listed as one of the co-creators of Dove/Dawn Granger, and it has been hinted that some members* of DC editorial at the time were not fond of Liefeld. Liefeld has been known to make candid remarks his relationship with DC comics in the late 80s/early 90s was 'interesting', could this have been what he was talking about?

*[Part of DC in the 80s 2017 New Year's resolutions is to NOT get sued for libel, so we're not listing any names here.]

Despite Dove's untimely demise in the pages of Armageddon 2001, she still appeared in 1992's DC Cosmic Cards trading cards released by Impel. It's nice to know that she was deemed significant enough to appear in this card set. Hawk also got a card. This is somewhat impressive since I can think of at least 6 or 7 DCU heroes (excluding Batman-related characters) who had their own title in 1992 that didn't get a trading card.

Do you know who else also got a card? Monarch. It straight up revealed who Monarch was on the card art, too. So much for maintaining the suspense...

Anyways, that concludes our review of the Hawk & Dove v3 ongoing series from 1989. Hawk and Dove/Dawn Granger would be re-united in 2009's Blackest Night crossover event, but that's a little too modern for us, so we'll let someone else cover it.

Thanks to Jennifer M Contino, Dylan Brucie, Bill Walko for interviewing Jonathan Peterson, Karl Kesel and Barbara Randall Kesel in other publications/websites (listed above).

-Justin
(with big help from our new Contributing Editor, Rob Perry)

1989 Hawk & Dove v3 ongoing series

[The Hawk & Dove v3 ongoing series is a bit of an anomaly as it is part of the late 80s/early 90s "lost DC" (usually lumped somewhere with the last issues of Gerard Jones' El Diablo, Roger Stern's Starman, or Joey Cavelieri's Huntress) — all this to say that we know it exists, it's just not very talked about or referred to as anybody's favorite comic book series. I had no clue why it had earned that rep (possibly something to do with DC's 1991 Armageddon 2001 event?), so I kept as opened-minded as possible while reviewing this.]

Hawk & Dove v3 picks up where the 1988 Hawk & Dove v2 mini-series left off; Hank Hall and Dawn Granger, upon discovering that they're agents of Chaos and Order, reluctantly team-up to become a super-powered crime-fighting duo based out of Washington, DC.

As far as picking up where things left off, Karl Kesel and Barbara Kesel are still the writers for this series, Mike Carlin is still editing, but Rob Liefeld is NO longer illustrating (by this point he was penciling for Marvel Comics). Greg Guler is now handling penciling chores on this title. Hawk & Dove v3 would be one of Guler's longest assignments for DC comics.

Since their debut in the 1988 mini-series, Hawk and Dove have participated in the 1988 Invasion! cross-over event and seemed to have grown more comfortable with each other (as far as operating as a team). Something that immediately caught my eye in the first issue were a few flashback panels in which Hawkman and Hawkgirl make small-talk with Dove during Invasion!. This seemingly innocent gesture turns way more sinister when it's revealed a few years later in Hawkworld that the Hawks in these panels were actually TRAITORS. More on that some other time.

The flashback sequence with Hawk and Dove meeting up with the other heroes from Invasion! re-affirmed to readers that the duo was part of the larger DCU. [...and it additionally gave me the hope that we were going to see a lot of interaction with the other DCU heroes throughout this series.] As of the first issue of this ongoing series, I was still undecided if Hawk and Dove were interesting enough to carry their own series or if it would require lots of guest appearances and cameos to keep me looking forward to the next issue.

This series wastes no time and quickly establishes it's own set of antagonists for Hawk and Dove (two new villains within the first issue) and re-introduces the college-aged supporting cast from the 1988 mini-series. Also re-introduced are the Washington Special Crimes Unit (SCU) (from the mini-series) who, around mid-way into the series, would gain more members and start to play a bigger role in the book.

One of the biggest strengths of this series was it's writing - namely it's characterization of the title characters and the supporting cast. Don't get me wrong - there's a nice mix of plot development and bare knuckle brawling action, but Dove is an interesting character and her relationship with Hawk (and any perceived romantic tensions) is something that keeps you turning the pages. The new Dove's guilt about becoming an agent of Order at the expense of Don Hall (the former Dove) is another theme that is explored and resolved within the first 5 issues. The Kesels gave a lot of attention to character development, and you can see that as the series progresses. Hawk and Dove having a college-aged support cast means that there's plenty of opportunity to have sub-plots about young adult stuff like relationship drama, finding your place in the world, and more relationship drama.

Hawk & Dove v3 #8

The first half of this series has the duo battling new villains (i.e. Barter, Gauntlet, Azure, Sudden Death, M.A.C., Scarab, and Shellshock) and a few C-rate villains that have been out of circulation for a while (i.e. Copperhead, the Untouchables/Intangibles, Flaw and Child), while trying to uncover the mystery of their origins and their grand purpose as agents of Order and Chaos. Admittedly, uncovering who and what Hawk and Dove actually are is an engaging mystery and keeps the story interesting.

Hawk & Dove v3 #13 - Dove bleeds light?

Mike Carlin edited the first four issues of this series (sometimes with Jonathan Peterson), and by issue #5 Michael Eury joined Carlin to become the editorial team.  As of issue #10, Eury became the solo editor on the title. In an interview with Bill Walko from the Titans Companion (published by TwoMorrows in 2005), editor Jonathan Peterson disclosed that "[...] Dick Giordano decided to give me the Titans, which at the time was being handled by Mike Carlin. Mike needed more time on his hands to handle the Superman books, and as a footnote, Mike had inherited them from Barbara Kesel, who had left DC’s staff to go freelance when she married Karl Kesel."

The first year of the series ends with the resolution of a plot line that started all the way back in issue #1 and a team-up with the Teen Titans. Hawk and Dove joining forces with the Teen Titans (now renamed to the New Titans) is something that readers had been requesting since the beginning of the series - and I'm a little surprised that it didn't happen prior to issue #11 (considering Barbara Kesel's previous experience as an editor on Tales of the Teen Titans, New Titans and Teen Titans Spotlight). Hawk being a former member of the Teen Titans was a huge selling point for the series, and fans anxiously wrote in wondering if Hawk and the new Dove were going to rejoin the team. (Bette Kane (aka 'Flamebird' from Titans West) is mentioned in issue #3. Nightwing is referenced in issue #5.) While the Kesels weren't shy about name-dropping other DC characters in the series, I get the gist that they were trying to carve out a separate world for Hawk and Dove.

Unlike the original 1968 Hawk & Dove ongoing series, there isn't much 'politicking' between the duo in this series (Hank and Don Hall spend most of the original series squabbling over who's political views are more correct) — most of the focus is on the Chaos and Order properties of the characters. A few Chaos and Order associated characters appear in this series: Flaw and Child (from Amethyst v2), Kestrel (from the 1988 mini-series), T'Charr, Terataya and M'Shulla. When a reader commented on this in the letter column of issue #11, the Kesels reply with:

Issue #15 has Hawk & Dove visit a far-away mystical land called Druspa Tau, and suddenly this title turns into a Sword & Sorcery comic book. [I was initially worried this series was going to pull a "Sword of the Atom" and suddenly change genres. Thankfully, this only lasted a few issues, and Hawk and Dove go back to the modern-day DCU by issue #18.] What's interesting to note is that Barbara Kesel Randall had just began writing for three TSR titles around this point (i.e. TSR Worlds, Spelljammer and Avatar), which borrow heavily from the Sword & Sorcery genre.

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I think this was the first mention of the geographical region Druspa Tau in the DCU. My best guess is that it was part of Amethyst's Gemworld, the dead give-away being the appearance of the Amethyst villains Child and Flaw during the course of the story. [Starting with 1987, Amethyst v3 was one of the titles that got swept up into the Chaos and Order mythos.] Their adventures on Druspa Tau reveal the origin of Hawk and Dove's powers, and confirms that they are the last incarnations of Hawk and Dove and will never have successors. Karl Kessel explained the reasoning for this in his foreword to the 1993 Hawk & Dove TPB:

"Mike Carlin’s one worry about the new Hawk and Dove was that if either one died, the voice(s) could easily replace them. This isn't good in comics. It led Barbara to create the star-crossed lovers M’Shulla and T’Charr and, eventually, to a pivotal story in the HAWK & DOVE monthly series establishing Hawk and Dove as the last of their line."

After Hawk and Dove's mysterious origins had been explained, editor Michael Eury left the series after issue #17 and Johnathan Peterson would remain the sole editor until the bitter end (issue #28).

Prior to Eury leaving the series, Hawk & Dove v3 Annual #1 (which fell somewhere between issues #17 and #18) saw publication. This Annual was a treat to Titans West fans, as it featured the first REAL Titans West reunion since 1989's New Titans #56 and the first REAL story of the post-Crisis Bette Kane as Flamebird. (Beast Boy/Changeling was not in the Annual, as he was being used in Marv Wolfman's New Titans at the time. Instead he was replaced by Dial H for Hero's Chris King.)

Titans West (created by Bob Rozakis and Don Heck) was a Teen Titans spin-off team introduced in 1977's Teen Titans v1 #50 that, due to one reason or another, never seemed to have gained enough traction to merit its own series. A Titans West series is something readers have been requesting since the Marv Wolfman and George Perez' New Teen Titans saw print in the early 80s. The 1986 Teen Titans Spotlight On... series just added more fuel to the rumors and readers suspected DC editorial was just 'testing the waters' to see if there was enough interest in a Titans West book. There was even talk in the late 1980s of Wolfman creating and writing the series, and then it was strongly hinted that Perez himself would be writing it. Needless to say, there was NEVER a modern day Titans West series. Hawk & Dove v3 Annual #1 was the closest thing Titans West would get for a modern day story. (Note: Titans West member Golden Eagle was killed during Titans Hunt nearly a year later.)

Hawk & Dove v3 Annual #1 (1990) was an exceptionally good story with a more 'grown up' version of the Titans West and plenty of previously forgotten DC villains for them to fight against. Dave Hoover and Tom Artis pencilled this annual, while Will Blyberg and Bill Wray inked. Rob Liefeld penciled the cover of this annual (with inks by Karl Kesel), which appeared to be based on an early Hawk & Dove portrait Liefeld had illustrated (also generously included as a pin-up in this annual).

Liefeld's (albeit limited) involvement in this annual was kind of 'full circle', as Liefeld was a big fan of the Teen Titans and had even proposed a new Teen Titans spin-off series [suggested title: Titans Force] in the early 90s that never saw realization. I often like to imagine how the early 90s comic book landscape would've been altered had Liefeld written and illustrated a Teen Titans book. Maybe the 90s would've seen a flood of Teen Titans spin-off titles on the shelves [Titans Force, Titans Unlimited, Teen Titans Adventures, Teen Titans: The Early Years, Nightwing and the Teen Titans, Titans Factor, etc...] and Marvel's X-Men would've only been contained to one or two books? The possibilities.

Starting with issue #18 (and Peterson taking over editorial control of the book), Hawk and Dove gain new powers (Hawk is now super-strong and invulnerable, while Dove gains the power of flight) and there's also the hint of a romantic connection between the two. Around this time, Peterson was also editor for New Titans and Deathstroke: the Terminator, and it would seem that this was the duo's chance to finally get absorbed into the Teen Titans' universe. Now that the mystery of their origins is resolved, we start to see them meet up with other heroes of the DCU.

Issues #18 and #19 were a nice two-part salute to Steve Ditko: Hawk & Dove (originally created by Ditko) team up with the Creeper (created by Ditko) to battle the Mad Men (also created by Ditko). Punch and Jewelee (created by Ditko) also make an appearance. This team-up was actually the winning result of a contest announced in issue #10 (by editor Michael Eury) encouraging readers to submit names of DC heroes or villains who should guest star in an issue of Hawk & Dove v3. The character(s) had to have had appeared at least once in a DC comic book and couldn't be from a licensed book (Star Trek, Doc Savage, Dragonlance, etc). The winner would get a page of original splash page art from the comic they appear in. Punch and Jewelee had appeared earlier that year in the pages of Suicide Squad, and the Mad Men were last seen in Blue Beetle v1 #23 (1988). The Creeper wasn't appearing that often in the DCU (last seen in 1989's Justice League International) — which I felt was a waste of a good character. The Kesels managed to capture the absurd dual nature of the Creeper/Jack Ryder in this story. This was an excellent Creeper story.

Hawk & Dove v3 #18

There were a few filler issues (issue #20 and #21) before the last big story arc we're going to cover in this article. [Contributing editor Rob Perry suggests keeping issues #25 to #28 (along with Hawk & Dove v3 Annual #2) as a separate post, so that's what we're going to do.] Hawk & Dove v3 #20 was a solo Dove story pencilled by Kevin Maguire and inked by Dick Giordano, and Hawk & Dove v3 #21 was a story introducing a bunch of new Female Furies to the DCU (pencilled by Steve Erwin and inked by Scott Hanna). Steve Erwin, who was illustrating Checkmate!, Deathstroke: The Terminator and New Gods (all edited by Peterson), may have picked up this pencilling assignment as a favor to Peterson (who was editing Hawk & Dove v3 at this time as well).

Kevin Maguire and Dick Giordano's solo Dove story (Hawk & Dove v3 #20)

Issues #22 to #24 are a follow-up to a Batgirl story Barbara Kesel wrote in 1982. The Velvet Tiger (created by Barbara Kesel and Trever Von Eeden) first appeared in Detective Comics v1 #518 as a computer savvy villainess who stole her brother's computer program with the intention of wreaking havoc on Gotham City. Her brother thwarts her capture by Batgirl, and the two-part story concludes with the Velvet Tiger proclaiming a "I swear I'll get you" and that's the end of that. Flash forward to 1988 and Alan Moore's Batman: The Killing Joke leaves Barbara Gordon paralyzed from the waist down. Barbara Kesel was not terribly impressed with this development of the character (Barbara was actually hired by DC comics in the early 80s because of a letter she wrote to Dick Giordano suggesting how to write better female characters), and quickly devised ways to get Barbara Gordon back into action. Not long after Barbara Gordon had been shot and paralyzed, Kim Yale and John Ostrander (writers of Suicide Squad) had introduced a character named 'Oracle' into the series who was providing information to Task Force X to assist them on missions. About a year after Oracle's introduction, in Suicide Squad v1 #38 (1990), it was revealed that Oracle was actually Barbara Gordon.

Hawk & Dove v3 #24 - Greg Guler pencils, Scott Hanna inks 

Hawk and Dove teaming up with Barbara Gordon/Oracle to battle Velvet Tiger is pretty significant as it has Barbara Kesel writing Batgirl/Oracle/Barbara Gordon again. If Barbara Kesel Randall should be known for anything, it's for writing intelligent and interesting female characters. Hawk and Dove would become members of Oracle's Birds of Prey in 2010.

Something noteworthy is that a few new villains created for and introduced in this series found life in the DCU afterwards:

• Sudden Death (introduced in issue #5 and created by the Kesels and Chris Wozniak) appeared numerous times in other DC titles (ex: Suicide Squad, Darkstars, Birds of Prey) afterwards, usually as a member in a gang of super-villains.


• Most of the new Female Furies introduced in issue #21 (created by the Kesels and Steve Erwin) found themselves in either Superboy v4 or Guardians of Metropolis (both written by Karl Kesel), or in various Teen Titans/Fourth World related titles.

Hawk & Dove v3 #21 - cover illustrated by Steve Erwin and inked by Karl Kessel

Prior to writing this ongoing series, Karl Kesel was the main inker for Amethyst v2, Suicide Squad, Superman v2 and The Forever People v2 (and most likely part of the creative teams)  — and you can see a bit of those influences in the series (which truthfully just added to the overall feeling of a 'big picture' DCU):

• Issue #9 has an indirect cross-over to the Superman/Flash race from Adventures of Superman #463 (1990). Nether Flash nor Superman appear in the issue, but a bunch of the main and support characters all gather to see the two speed through Washington, DC. (Apparently the idea was that all of the DC titles that month would have some sort of reference to the Superman/Flash race).


• Maggie Sawyer (a Superman-affiliated character) is name-dropped a few times by the other Washington SCU characters. Karl Kessel was inking John Byrne's Superman v2 when the Metropolis SCU was introduced. I'm wondering if Karl took a queue from this and created the Washington SCU for his own series?


• The Suicide Squad and possibly Belle Reve (the prison facility where Task Force X holds its metahumans) are mentioned a few times.


• Bruno Manheim, a Superman/Fourth World villain, is name-dropped a few times in issue #23. Superman actually appears (as a flashback) in issue Hawk & Dove v3 #23, making the connection very obvious.


• Issue #23 also has a reference to the Titans Hunt storyline that what was going on in New Titans at the time: Hawk is informed that "Nobody has seen the Titans lately", prompting him to wonder where the Teen Titans are and if he should go looking for them.


• Child and Flaw were characters from Amethyst v2. Karl Kesel was the inker for the issue Child and Flaw first premiered in [Amethyst v2 #15 (1986)]. I wouldn't be surprised if the land of Druspa Tau was Karl's idea, too. Had the series continued longer, I imagine Amethyst herself may have even made a guest appearance.

To conclude, in keeping with our namesake (i.e. DC in the 80s), we're going to point out a few late 80s/early 90s references in the book that readers today probably wouldn't get if they hadn't lived through that era.

Hawk & Dove v3 #14:

"Liz and Dick" refers to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton — two Hollywood stars who were known for their tumultuous relationship (married and divorced twice... to each other). "Jim and Tammy" refers to televangelist Jimmy Baker and his wife Tammy Faye Baker — in 1987 it was uncovered that he was using fundraising money from his PTL Club for scandalous reasons. "Sean and Madonna" refers to actor Sean Penn and the singer Madonna — they were married from 1985 to 1989 and most people from that era only seem to remember Sean Penn having violent outbursts and going so far as to assault a photographer. That's where the 'dangerous' comes from.


Hawk & Dove v3 #20:

Well, if you couldn't figure this one out - this is a parody of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (who were a marketing juggernaut in the late 80s/early 90s). Actually, this whole issue is a poke at the big toy department stores that were so popular in the 80s — the name of the department store Dove visits is "WE-R-TOYS" [Toys "R" Us, anyone?].


Hawk & Dove v3 #20:

Yep, Oracle and her friend are watching Twin Peaks — a TV mystery/drama that aired on ABC from 1990 to 1991. It was created by Mark Frost and David Lynch, and is probably like nothing you've ever watched before. If you haven't already, you need to watch it at some point in your life.


Join us next time as we take a look at the last few issues of this ongoing series (#25 to #28), the second annual, and the awful thing that happened to Hawk and Dove after this series concluded.


-Justin 
(with special thanks to contributing editor Rob Perry for the guidance)

Reviewing the 1988 Hawk & Dove mini-series

The mini-series (aka 'limited series') was an excellent method for DC comics to test if there was enough interest in a character/team before deciding to commit to a monthly ongoing series. In an attempt to re-introduce an older title to a modern audience, DC published the five-issue Hawk & Dove mini-series in 1988. Hawk and Dove wasn't a totally new concept — most Teen Titans readers would've been familiar with Hawk as he had appeared in several Teen Titans stories in the last few years [New Teen Titans v2 #19 - #21, #24 and Teen Titans Spotlight #7 - #8] as a solo act.

Karl Kesel and Barbara Kesel wrote this mini-series, while Mike Carlin edited (and Renee Witterstaetter was the assistant editor).

As one of DC's more recognized inkers since he started in 1984's New Talent Showcase, this mini-series was Karl Kesel's first credited work for DC comics as a writer (I say 'credited' because I know that he was giving creative input to 1987's Suicide Squad while he inked the series). Among other things, Barbara Kesel (né Randall) had written several Batgirl and Superman stories (as well as most of the copy for the Who's Who in the Legion of Super-Heroes limited series) prior to this mini-series.

Karl and Barbara had gotten married shortly before the publication of this mini-series (between the inking of issues #1 and #2) — just in case you were wondering why they both had the Kesel surname. Along with this mini-series, Mike Carlin was also editing The Shadow, Power of the Atom, Superman, Adventures of Superman, Doc Savage and The Cosmic Odyssey limited series. My best guess is that Witterstaetter was assisting Carlin with whatever projects he was overseeing. According to Barbara, the idea of the new Hawk & Dove was originally pitched with the intent of being used as a feature in a new anthology series being developed, but Carlin saw the potential in the duo and decided to give it the mini-series treatment instead.

House ad for Hawk & Dove mini-series

First, a little background on the head-lining characters:

Hawk & Dove first debuted in DC's Showcase #75 (1968). Created by Steve Ditko and Steve Skeates, Hawk (Hank Hall) & Dove (Don Hall) were two teen-aged brothers who, when they spoke the magic word ["Hawk" or "Dove", respectively], transformed into super-heroes. Hawk was the brash aggressive one, and Dove was the passive, thinking man's hero. If you want to get political about it, Hawk is the 'take no prisoners' macho conservative and Dove is the extreme-left bleeding heart liberal — and you should get political about it, because that's what inspired these characters. As then-editor Dick Giordano explained in the letter-column of Showcase #75:

The creation of these characters was pretty relevant and timely, as the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War caused an uproar of protests (especially among college students) during the mid-to-late 1960s. Don't discount how much of a hot-button issue the Vietnam War was to Americans in the late 60s/early 70s — according to A People's History of the United Stated by Howard Zinn, "In August of 1965, 61 percent of the population thought the American involvement in Vietnam was not wrong. By May 1971 it was exactly reversed; 61 percent thought our involvement was wrong." DC was striking where the iron was hot, and there was no hotter topic than the Vietnam War.

Shortly after their Showcase debut, Hawk & Dove had their own 1968 ongoing series that lasted six issues. I've always liked the idea of Hawk & Dove (maybe it was their colorful costumes or the duality of their powers) — but the execution of their ongoing series was really poor. Being a book from the late 60s, the pacing was slow as molasses and, while Hawk was an interesting character, Dove (Don Hall) really got on my nerves as I just saw him as dead-weight to a potentially interesting crime-fighting unit. A lot of their 6 issue series were spent arguing among themselves about how to deal with criminals: Dove trying to push forward with his pacifist agenda and prove a point to Hawk, while Hawk preached the virtues of violence and force. The story typically ended with no clear resolution on which solution was more effective (aggression or pacifism), so you never really learned anything important from these stories.

panels from Hawk and Dove v1 #2 (1968) illustrated by Steve Ditko

The teen-aged Hawk & Dove guest-starred in Teen Titans v1 several times during the 70s and even became members of Titans West — these stories were quite good (mainly because there was less bickering between Hank and Don since they worked as a team unit). Following that, they kind of meandered around the DCU until Dove (Don Hall) was killed off in Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Crisis On Infinite Earths #12 (1986) - illustrated by George Perez and Jerry Ordway

After Dove's death, Hawk appeared occasionally in the DCU. There was a bit of a sub-plot brewing in New Teen Titans (written by Marv Wolfman) in which Hawk goes off the deep-end and becomes 'unhinged' due to the death of his brother. Following his appearance in NTT, Hawk was becoming a warmonger and could be found charging into the confrontation du jour yelling about 'commies' and 'pinkos' while exhibiting extreme prejudice. In hindsight, Hawk exemplified Reagan-era Cold War values (ex: 'down with the Soviets', 'American technology and values is superior to all else') mixed with a militant machismo attitude. This set the scene for interesting interactions with other super-heroes.

panels from New Teen Titans v2 #20

And now you're all caught up...

Among other things, the new Hawk & Dove mini-series was a chance to update the original duo for a more contemporary audience. This was nothing to be concerned about... quite a few DC characters were being 'redefined' post-Crisis: Aquaman became a magical-based character in his 1986 mini-series, the mantle of Doctor Fate was passed to a new character in his 1987 mini-series, Power Girl was revealed to actually be Atlantean in her 1988 mini-series, the Martian Manhunter had multiple alterations made to his origin in his 1988 mini-series, and Hawkman and Hawk Woman would experience a major shake-up in 1989's Hawkworld (just to name a few).

If I had to sum up this mini-series in as few sentences as possible, I'd tell you that: a new Dove appears in Hawk's life, they team up to battle a new threat, and ultimately discover that they are agents of Chaos and Order. I realize that this is a very blunt summary, but the writing and pacing of this mini-series is top notch and there are many elements at play here that make this a very interesting and entertaining read.

The first issue opens with the introduction of a new villain, Kestrel, who is hunting down Hawk (Hank Hall). Contrary to popular suspicion, 'Kestrel' is not actually the combination of Barbara's married and maiden names ('Kesel' and 'Randall'), but a species of falcon. (Hey, how about that?) The bird motif runs strong in Hawk & Dove, so best to get used to it early.  Barbara mentions in her Forward to the Hawk & Dove TPB that "Kestrel’s name was an inside joke: my friend Ron had used the name (it’s a bird, look it up) as a gaming character- the most peaceful and loving character in the history of role-playing-so we used the name for our vicious mass murderer".

Hawk & Dove v2 #3 - Kestrel

We are then thrust into Hank Hall's life as he attempts to re-enroll in college and get his life back together since the death of his brother (all while playing self-proclaimed protector to Washington, D.C.). As far as character development goes, the Kesels do a fantastic job of getting the reader to sympathize with Hawk as we learn that he's kind of a screw-up and blames himself for Don Hall's demise. The Kesels are careful to include references to Hawk's most recent adventures in Nicaragua [Doom Patrol and Suicide Squad Special #1 (1988)] and his being kicked out of the Teen Titans - which demonstrates that this mini-series is occurring within continuity and is all part of the unified DCU. Since most of Hawk's non-costumed adventures take place in a campus setting with other college students, a strong supporting cast is quickly built up within the first issue - hence providing a chance for some interesting interpersonal relationships to develop.

As quoted from Barbara Kesel's Forward in the Hawk & Dove TPB:

Karl’s sister and my brother were the original models for the characters of Dawn and Hank (but only the good parts!); our parents became their parents; our friends became their friends. [...] Ren started out as my best friend, but just wouldn’t stay her. As writers, we’re always cannibalizing from our own lives in order to create true false reality, and there is, therefore, a lot of us in the mix.

The secret identity of the new female Dove is a mystery that runs throughout the first several issues of the mini-series (the reader is only introduced to her by the end of the first issue) — the Kesels added a few red herrings to the story to keep the reader guessing who Dove's real identity was (most readers were able to successfully guess it by the end of the second issue).

Hawk & Dove v2 #1 - the NEW Dove

As previously mentioned, this mini-series reveals that Hawk and Dove are, in fact, agents of Chaos and Order (respectively). I'm having a bit of difficulty pin-pointing where the Lords of Chaos/Lords of Order idea started in the DCU, but I think it was during Paul Kupperberg's 1987 Phantom Stranger mini-series. Regardless, this was actually a much appreciated addition to the Hawk & Dove mythos. Previously, the Hall brothers mainly spent their time battling petty crooks and combating urban crime, but redefining them as agents of Chaos and Order now gave them more opportunities to battle occult and supernatural forces (which everybody knows makes for more interesting story-telling), and to have a greater connection to the mystical characters of the DCU (i.e. Doctor Fate, Phantom Stranger, Arion, etc)

Along with the idea that Hawk and Dove are agents of Chaos and Order comes a bit of retconning in terms of their origins. We learn that 'the Voice' that gave them their powers were actually 'Voices' (plural). This ties in nicely with the Lords of Chaos and Order reveal — because they're a group of entities who work in unison - and also eliminates the confusion that the Voice that gave the original Hawk & Dove their powers wasn't the same Voice [of God] that gave The Spectre his powers. The mini-series ends with a hint that the Agents of Order may not be the benevolent force they appear to be, as the new Dove deduces that Don Hall's Dove powers were taken away from him and given to her minutes before he was killed in Crisis on Infinite Earths (effectively making him an easy target for a Shadow Demon).

Another nice thing about this mini-series is that it clearly defines Hawk & Dove's powers. Whereas the original origin was kind of vague and open to interpretation...

Showcase #75 (1968)

...the Kesel's mini-series clarified this with a recap of the duo's powers (or at least the new Dove's):

This re-explanation was greatly needed, as I always felt like the original series left Hawk and Dove's powers too ambiguous. As far as I could tell, Hawk had the power of being really angry and attacking recklessly without thinking, while Dove had the power of trying to slow down his brother and getting punched in the face a lot. Truth be told, I still can't tell if Hawk and Dove's powers of accelerated healing was a power they originally started with back in Showcase or if it was a power the Kesels managed to slide in during this mini-series.

All things considered, the new Dove was far more interesting than the original. Unlike Don Hall, who was either trying to 'prove himself' or refusing to resort to violence (and mainly used evasive and defensive maneuvers), the new Dove was a confident and competent character who used martial arts (with an emphasis on turning the opponents weaknesses on themselves) to deal with her foes.

Let's also not forget that she was a woman with no (apparent) family relation to Hank Hall, which left the door open for potential romantic development between the two. Hawk suddenly acquiring a female Dove was quite the surprise among DC fans. If you check the then-current DC comics landscape back in 1988, there weren't too many strong female characters with a prominent lead role in a title. Sure, there was Wonder Woman (in her own title), Negative Woman in Doom Patrol v2,  Wonder Girl and Starfire in New Teen Titans v2, and Black Canary appearing in both Action Comics Weekly and Green Arrow v2 — but out of 50 books being published monthly, that's not an incredibly strong showing. In short, the time was right for a new head-lining female superhero.

In an interview with Jennifer M. Contino for Sequential Tart from 2000, Barbara Kesel revealed that she found a sketch of a female version of Dove while flipping through one of Karl Kesel's sketch books:

"Who's this?" I asked. "Oh," he said, "I always thought Dove should have been a girl character." We chatted, I wrote up the proposal, and poor Carlin got badgered into the series."

One of the most notable things about this mini-series was that it was some of Rob Liefeld's first* published work for DC comics. Actually, it was some of Liefeld's first work for the 'big two' after being scouted by DC comics Executive Editor Dick Giordano at Wonder Con 1987. Liefeld pencilled all five issues and Karl Kesel inked over Liefeld's pencils. Looking back over this mini-series, you begin to notice many Liefeld-isms that would recur in his later work: splash pages filled with energetic and dynamic action poses, characters being loaded up with excessive firearms, careful detail paid to facial expressions and character reactions, and extreme close-ups of large toothy triangular grins. In short, Liefeld brought a fantastic energy to the pages that kept the reader enthralled with visual detail.

* In 1988, a 21 year-old Rob Liefeld had work appear in DC's Secret Origins v2 #28, Warlord #131 and Hawk & Dove v2 #1 - all within several months of each other. Your guess is as good as mine as to which was considered Liefeld's 'first' work for DC.

Readers were quick to pick up on Liefeld's talents and lauded DC for the amazing find (ensuring to mention Karl Kesel's inks which embellished Liefeld's work). One reader even went so far as to suggest that Liefeld might be the next Todd McFarlane (ha! if only they knew).

There's an interesting editorial note from Mike Carlin in the last issue of the series thanking Karl Kessel, inker Keith Williams and inker Bob Lewis for 'sundry assistance during the worst of it' and a reference to Liefeld introducing 'entirely new situations to an Editor who'd thought he'd seen it all'.

Carlin is referring to the fact that Liefeld submitted some of his final pencilled pages for Hawk & Dove v2 #5 in a 'landscape' style [as opposed to the 'portrait' style you see when you read a comic upright]. This led to Karl Kesel and Mike Carlin needing to xerox and lightbox Liefeld's finished panels into an upright position in order to get the book ready for print. I'm assuming Liefeld's submitted work past it's deadline by this point - just to add that extra element of pressure. You can read Karl Kesel's account of this event at Brian Cronin's Comic Book Legends Revealed #36.

Issue #1 of this mini-series was the first appearance of the new Dove as well as the new agent of Chaos, Kestrel. Liefeld played a major hand in designing the new Dove's costume. I've always appreciated the attention to detail in which the new Dove's costume is modeled so closely to Don Hall's costume — preserving a sense of legacy. In an interview with Jennifer M. Contino at Comicon.com, Liefeld revealed that he has a small sense of ownership to the new Dove:

“I designed the character in the late ’80s and originally her costume would reveal no hair at all if I didn’t throw down with the Kesel’s over it. We finally compromised on the ponytail-do, but you have no idea the effort that took.”

...and from the same interview:

"When I co-created Kestrel with Barbara and Karl Kesel way back in the mini-series, he was very predator-like, very much a hostile force of evil working on behalf of the agents of Chaos to disrupt the balance of good and evil, tilting it towards evil."

Karl Kesel's Forward from the Hawk & Dove trade paperback confirms that 1) Rob insisted that they modify the new Dove's costume to let her hair show, and that 2) Barbara created Kestrel, Rob Liefeld designed his costume, and Mike Carlin decided it would be purple.

Kestrel appeared a few more times in the DCU after this mini-series was concluded - once in a 2005 Teen Titans story arc (illustrated by Liefeld) and as a villain in the 2009 Superman/Batman Public Enemies animated movie.

Kestrel as he appears in the 1992 Impel DC Cosmic Cards trading card set

Rob Liefeld illustrating Hawk & Dove (who could both essentially be considered Teen Titans spin-off characters by association) would be a major coup for the artist — he'd been a fan of the Teen Titans longer than he'd been a fan of Marvel's X-Men or Avengers. Liefeld disclosed to Matt Brady in a 2005 Newsarama interview:

"I was a major, big time fan of the Teen Titans as a kid. I loved the comic in the mid 70’s incarnation prior to Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s ’80s re-launch. I loved the Aquaman cartoon because it had the Teen Titan feature on it, the one where Kid Flash’s costume colors were reversed to red on top and yellow legs... I love the Titans, yes."

"A little known fact is that I was an early member of the ’80s Teen Titans fan club, Titan Talk along with my early Youngblood collaborator and current Wildstorm exec Hank Kanalz. And even more little known is that I’m on the guest book in Teen Titans #50, the Wedding of Donna Troy. George [Perez] had my name added to the guest list. If I’d been on time with my photo, George would have drawn me in the book. See, I’ve always been late, deadline challenged... even as a kid."

Liefeld's name in the Donna Troy/Terry Long guest list. Just above Dick Giordano's.

From the same Newsarama interview, Brady asked about other Teen Titans plans Liefeld may have had with DC following the Hawk & Dove mini-series:

"I proposed a new Titans book in 1991, Team Titans was the proposal, Jon Peterson who edited the book approved it, Marv Wolfman signed on to co-write it and then I couldn’t make the deal with Dick Giordano. God bless him, we just couldn’t make the numbers work. So I took my proposal and merged it with an existing indie project I had called Youngblood. Next thing you know, POOF... Image comics was born."

"Shaft was intended to be Speedy. Vogue was a new Harlequin design, Combat was a Kh’undian warrior circa the Legion of Super Heroes, ditto for Photon and Die Hard was a Star Labs android. I forgot who Chapel was supposed to be. So there you have it, the secret origin of Youngblood."

This kind of makes you see Youngblood in a whole new light, doesn't it?

Overwhelmingly positive reader response to this mini-series [apparently it sold really REALLY well] led to a 1989 Hawk & Dove v3 ongoing series that was also written by Karl and Barbara Kesel. Liefeld was NOT the penciller for the new ongoing series (he would begin a regular stint at Marvel comics about 6 months after this mini-series saw print). Liefeld would illustrate Hawk and Dove again in 2011's Hawk & Dove v5 for DC's New 52.

This mini-series had all of the hallmarks of a great book — excellent writing and pacing, fantastic art, interesting characters and support cast, progressive character development, a bit of humor, the introduction of new characters while paying respect to the legacy (lots of Crisis references in here), the creation of bigger over-arching mysteries, a feeling that it was tied to the 'bigger picture' of the DCU — so I'm not surprised it got the green light for an ongoing series.

Barbara Randall Kesel has gone on the record to say that this mini-series was about love and "the way it can invade and change your life without any respect for the way things had been, or perhaps should have been... Our love, and the feeling that a complementary partner is important to our own completion. Love for others, and what it will let you give up or give of yourself...". I totally missed this the first time. Next time I re-read this, I will look more carefully for this.

I would recommend this series to everyone — especially Rob Liefeld fans who want to see some of his early work. This mini-series was last reprinted in 2012's Hawk & Dove: Ghost and Demons TPB — catch it if you can.





-Justin

Special thanks to Titanstower.com for preserving those Rob Liefeld interviews we quoted in this article and those snippets of Forward written by the Kesels as found in the 1993 Hawk & Dove TPB.

Big thanks to Jennifer M. Contino and Matt Brady for having the gumption to interview Barabara Randal and Rob Liefeld about this mini-series over a decade ago — without your interviews, this article would've mainly consisted of educated guesses and speculation on my part.



Read more:

You can read more about the original 1968 Hawk & Dove at Dial "B" for Blog's The Secret Origins of Hawk and Dove.

An entry from Fraser Sherman's blog reveals that writer Steve Skeates had different ideas for the original 1968 Hawk & Dove duo, but was discouraged by DC editorial.