Reviewing Back Issue magazine #97 (July 2017)

About 9 months ago we received an inquiry from one of our readers on our twitter about an interview we posted with Jack C Harris a few months prior.  We're actually BIG fans of collaborating with other comic enthusiasts, so we did our best to help him with a research question he had.

Not too long after that, we received an e-mail from Back Issue magazine editor Michael Eury requesting permission to use an image from our website (which we happily obliged). Eury was a DC editor in the late 80s/early 90s, and we selfishly took this opportunity to pick his brain about his behind-the-scenes work at DC comics during this era -- which led to this fantastic interview. [Eury is actually a very patient and friendly chap, and we couldn't have asked for a more interesting interviewee.]

We thought that was pretty much the end of our correspondences with Back Issue magazine, but last week this suddenly showed up in our mail:

cover of Back Issue #97 -- why yes, that IS a George Perez illustrated Hawkman on the cover!

To date, I have never purchased a physical copy of Back Issue magazine. I've viewed a few samples pages from the digital version, saw they were good, and made a mental note to grab an issue if I ever saw any at my local comic book shop -- but the opportunity has never presented itself to really take an in-depth look at one.

Right off the bat, this appeals to me because it was shipped in a flat cardboard box (the same way you'd ship a vinyl record in the mail) and didn't get folded in half. I've subscribed to a few mail-order magazines in my day, and there's nothing as discouraging as finding a permanently curled magazine in your mailbox (even if it was just GQ magazine). I appreciate this, Tomorrows Publishing.

shipped in a rigid cardboard mailer

Just flipping through without really reading anything, I immediately notice that it's a really gorgeous, well laid-out magazine. Back Issue magazine is full-color and makes use of images that compliment the articles -- you're going to see a lot of DC house ads from that era, original art, a few comic interiors and various comic book covers. Every now and then, a recent head shot of a creator (writer, editor or artist) will be included in the article, which I find to be a nice touch since it's always nice to put a face to a name.

crisp colors and nice layouts

Since Hawkman is on the cover, I'm expecting to see a lot of Hawkman coverage in this publication. This issue does not fail to deliver:

-As this issue's lead feature, Doug Zawisza provides one of the most comprehensive reviews on the Hawkman's Bronze Age history that I've ever read. Zawisza's article spans a whopping seventeen pages and covers everything from Hawkman's early '70s appearances in Justice League of America up to the end of his own ongoing series in 1987. This article goes above and beyond as it not only gives us very detailed background info on the conception and execution of 1985's The Shadow War of Hawkman, but it details everything that happened with Hawkman following the mini up until the end of his ongoing series (this includes behind-the-scenes editorial decisions and comments from series writers Tony Isabella and Dan Mishkin). I assure you, this would've been no easy research feat -- I know because I've tried.  Kudos to Doug Zawisza (and Back Issue magazine) for pulling this one off.

-Marc Buxton provides a detailed play-by-play of Hawkgirl's first adventure (sans Hawkman) in 1981's DC Comics Presents #37.

-Steven Wilber examines the 1989 Hawkworld mini-series and the subsequent ongoing series. This is a nice 8-page feature filled with behind-the-scenes info from editor Mike Gold, artist Graham Nolan and writers Timothy Truman and John Ostrander.

The theme of this issue is 'bird people', so we get a few additional articles about some of DC's avian-themed characters:

-Bryan D. Stroud wrote an extremely inclusive article about the history and evolution of the Penguin (including his mysterious origins and several creators talking about their take on the character). No word of a lie, the Penguin is easily one of my favorite Batman villains (probably as a holdover from my Super Powers Collection days), and was a character I was actually thinking about lately as there doesn't seem to be much info about him floating around out there.

-Michael Eury gives us a very in-depth history [14 pages!] on Hawk and Dove -- everything from their 1960s debut up to the new 52 relaunch. He even includes interview snippets from Dick Giordano, Karl Kessel, Mike Baron, Barbara Randall Kessel and Greg Guler. I really dug this article as it is extensive and gives us a lot of great info about the evolution of the characters.

-There were a few articles that I skimmed through but didn't actually read: an article about Dynomutt and Blue Falcon by Mark Arnold, a look at Disney's 1981 Condorman film by Andy Mangels, and an interview about late 90s Nightwing with Chuck Dixon and Scott McDaniel (by John Trumbull).

Initial thoughts:

I lucked out since this particular issue of Back Issue had a lot of 1980/90s DC comics coverage (i.e., The Shadow War of Hawkman, Hawkworld, Penguin Triumphant, Hawk & Dove). These articles were informative and revealed new details and facts I was previously unaware of. I feel this magazine goes the extra mile by being attentive to the details -- which is important. The interviews with the creators were a very nice touch. If it's written by fans, it'll most likely answer questions fans are curious about.

I would definitely recommend this issue to a Hawkman fan -- this is probably the closest thing you can get to a modern-day full-color Hawkman fanzine. If all other issues of Back Issue magazine are anything like this one, you can count me in. Eury mentions the possibility of a Matt Wagner Grendel issue in the near future -- I'll be keeping watch for that one.

Back Issue reminds us that you can order previous issues of their magazine as physical or digital copies -- but once the physical copies are gone, they're gone. I'm used to reading things on my Samsung tablet, so I really have no objection to obtaining digital copies of this publication -- in this case, however, I'd probably opt for the physical magazine.

Back Issue is a REAL magazine and has large pages than a standard comic book, and it looks much nicer in physical form than it would on my 10.1" Samsung tablet (see pic below). All this to say, since I'm considered to be an 'international' buyer, I'd opt for the less-expensive digital subscription, but if I ever saw reasonably-priced physical issues from a local vendor, I'd pick those up instead. It's worth buying the physical copies. Everything about Back Issue looks great and reminds me that the art of the print magazine is still alive and kicking.

Back Issue magazine vs my 10.1" Samsung tablet

In conclusion, seeing my name mentioned in the credits of an article really went a long way towards boosting my ego. I'll probably frame this issue once I'm done re-reading it.

-Justin

28 years later: An interview with editor Michael Eury

It was only a few months ago that I came to the startling realization that Michael Eury, who edited several titles for DC comics in the late 80s/early 90s, was also the same Michael Eury who is the editor-in-chief of Back Issue magazine (TwoMorrows Publishing) — one of the finest comic book journalism magazines covering the Bronze and Modern Age that you can currently purchase. I love chatting with DC comics editors; they are the unsung heroes of the comic book industry who often played a pivotal role in the overall direction of a series and were privy to business and marketing decisions that ran in the background. Mr Eury is a really cool cat, and agreed to chat with me about a few of the DC titles he oversaw.

Hawk & Dove v3 (1989 - 1991)

Justin: I just finished re-reading and reviewing the 1989 Hawk & Dove v3 ongoing series (in which you were the editor from issues #10 to issues #17). Before you became the solo editor of the series, you were assistant editor to Mike Carlin for several issues. Were you a fan of Hawk & Dove before you were assigned this book?

Eury: Absolutely! I was a child when Steve Ditko's Hawk and Dove premiered in Showcase #75 and remember reading it and a few issues of the short-lived Hawk and Dove series when they were first published. At the time I wasn't old enough to fully understand the political ramifications of the characters' names — I just "got" the concept of ideologically opposed teens arguing with each other... which was, in 1968, a pretty "Marvel"-like treatment for DC's usually harmonious, interchangeable characters.

Hawk and Dove premiered at a time when DC began experimenting with different types of characters and books, under Carmine Infantino's watch as editorial director. The Creeper, Bat Lash, Anthro, plus the one-off Dolphin story in Showcase, were books that excited me as a kid who had been lured to superhero comics because of Batmania engendered by the Adam West TV show.

Justin: How did you end up becoming editor of Hawk & Dove? (I noticed that New Gods was also being edited by Carlin before you took it over)

Eury: I was hired at DC as an associate editor, having been an editor previously at Comico the Comic Company, and worked under group editors Mike Carlin, Denny O'Neil, and Andy Helfer on their books, soon taking over some of them on my own. Hawk & Dove was the first one I got to solo-edit. Not only was I excited about having my own book to oversee, but I felt connected to the characters (although by then it was a different Dove) because of my childhood passions.

Justin: If I had to summarize Hawk & Dove v3, the first half of the series was them trying to establish themselves and learn the mystical secrets of their origins, and the last half of the series (#18 and onward) was them becoming a mainstream DCU book (with lots of interaction from other DCU characters). Between yourself and the Kesels, where there any conflicts about the direction of the book? Or were you both heading in the same direction?

Eury: Karl Kesel, Barbara Kesel, and I had a wonderful working relationship. Not long ago, Karl told me that I made him feel like Hawk & Dove was DC's most important book.

The guest stars were a way to anchor Hawk & Dove within the mainstream DC Universe — another example is a minor, blink-and-you'll-miss-it one, where Hawk & Dove #9 featured a bit tying in to that month's Superman vs. the Flash race occurring in another book.

Justin: Around issue #15, the book turns to a Sword & Sorcery genre for several issues. Were there ever discussions of changing the genre of the series (i.e. Sword of the Atom)? Or was this just a fun thing to deviate and keep the title interesting?

Eury: Hawk & Dove never stopped being a superhero book — it just evolved into a multi-layered one. From the get-go, the Kesels had intended for Hawk's and Dove's connections to the Lords of Chaos and Order to be part of their background... a connection that Don Hall and Dawn Granger were originally unaware of.

Eury: Incidentally, I've written a Hawk and Dove history — covering from the Ditko original and ending with the New 52 version, but focusing mainly on the '80s-'90s version — for my magazine, Back Issue #97, which ships June 14th, 2017:

Behind the Scenes at DC comics

Justin: You left Hawk & Dove after issue #17 and began working on other projects [ex: Who's Who v2, Eclipso: Darkness Within]...?

Who's Who in the DC Universe v2 #9 (1991)

Eury: Actually, my trajectory at DC was a little more involved than that. The looseleaf Who's Who in the DC Universe, which I co-developed, started while I was still editing Hawk & Dove, New Gods, Legion of Super-Heroes, and Huntress. I was promoted to be Dick Giordano's aide in a newly created position called "assistant to the editorial director," forcing me to give up my books. After a year in that role, I wanted to be more hands-on in the editorial bullpen and returned to the editor's desk. That's when I returned to Legion of Super-Heroes, developed its spin-offs Legionnaires, Valor, and Timber Wolf, plus Eclipso. I had a goal of developing more titles set in the the 30th century — really building a bit of a future franchise — but didn't stay at DC long enough to realize them.

Justin: So... I'm placing you as Giordano's aide somewhere between late 1990 and mid 1992?

Eury: I don't recall the exact date, but it was in the early spring of 1990 that I became assistant to the editorial director, a title I held until mid-1991, at which time I went back into the editorial pool.

Justin: Those first few years of the 1990s were a particularly crazy time for comics — the peak of the nineties comic book craze was somewhere around 1993 — and DC had a glut of competition on the market. Most notably were Marvel with it's X-titles and Spider-man, but there were other up-and-coming comic companies like Valiant (who started by publishing Nintendo and WCW comics), Malibu (with it's few indie titles) and Dark Horse (who held licenses for the Star Wars, Aliens, Predator and Terminator franchises). How was head DC editorial dealing with all of this new competition?

Eury: The early '90s were indeed a crazy time, with cover gimmicks and variant covers luring readers to buy multiple copies (of course, we've seen a resurgence in that during the past few years). It was disheartening for some of the DC editors when Marvel's rebooted Spider-Man and X-Men books sold so many copies (I remember at San Diego Comic-Con '91, I presented Keith Giffen with an Inkpot Award and introduced him as someone who has "more ideas per minute than Marvel has covers of Spider-Man #1. That remark earned a "look" from Carol Kalish, who at the time was Marvel's marketing chief.) We even joked around the office that DC was "number two with a bullet," the "bullet" being a gag about DC's logo, the DC bullet.

Justin: During all this, DC remained steadfast in printing it's TSR titles (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Spelljammer, Forgotten Realms, etc), which, I hate to say, didn't really leave a lasting impact on comicdom in general. Would you know why DC didn't discontinue the whole line? Were the sales on these books that great? Or was there a demographic DC was really trying to reach with these books?

Eury: I wasn't directly involved with any TSR books so I can't answer those questions. I do know that DC had its eye on producing comics connected to emerging popular media for some time... remember, in the early '80s DC published a number of Atari mini-comics, followed by the Atari Force ongoing series.

Justin: As an aide to Giordano, were you instrumental in working on any big DC editorial "plans" that never saw realization? Coincidentally, do you have any amusing anecdotes of working with Giordano? (I understand he got very upset when someone leaked the 'secret' ending to Armageddon 2001 and DC had to make a swap at the last minute)

Eury: Dick was a sweetheart of a guy. You might be aware that I wrote his biography, Dick Giordano: Changing Comics, One Day At a Time, published in 2003 by TwoMorrows Publishing (it's now out of print).

Thankfully, copies of Eury's book are still available in digital format.

Dick was fond of telling people during meetings that "Michael keeps me honest." He said that jokingly, and it meant that I was there to help him keep track of discussions (and, I suspect, be his backup "ears," since Dick had a severe hearing loss).

Speaking of Dick's hearing loss, one had to speak loudly and clearly when communicating with him. I began to realize that at time our "private" conversations in his office sometimes attracted eavesdroppers outside of his office door. So when we needed to discuss something confidential, we'd often take an elevator ride!

I don't recall Dick's specific reaction to the Armageddon 2001 leak, but a lot of people were ticked off by that. Unfortunately, the fix (substituting Hawk for Captain Atom as the good guy-turned-bad) wounded the story... but sometimes, you've gotta do what you've gotta do!

New Gods v3 (1989 - 1991)

Justin: As I read over New Gods, I'm realizing that it was very self-contained and more or less focused on Orion and New Genesis/Apocalypse. Let's face it, the series could've been called 'Orion' and nobody would've realized the difference. After the Bloodline Saga concluded (New Gods v3 #13), you became the primary editor. The book had Orion and Lightray in the city, interacting with common day people, and we started to see more interaction with other DC characters (Mr Miracle, Superman, Thanagarians, Mon-El), as well as more attention to Lightray and other tertiary New Gods (Fastbak, Metron), and the introduction of Yuga Khan. What caused that direction change? Was it because the title's sales were slowing down and you decided to make it more integrated? Or was it just something you felt would benefit the series? (I believe the theme you were exploring was 'how Gods compare to humans on earth')

Eury: Those of us in group editor Mike Carlin's camp were trying to better consolidate the DC Universe through crossovers and guest-shots. The direction of the series was really at the discretion of its writer, Mark Evanier — Mark was one of Jack Kirby's assistants back in the early '70s when Kirby was originally producing his Fourth World books, and really, no one was better suited at the time to write those characters than Evanier (with the possible exception of Kirby himself).

As New Gods editor, I did briefly entertain offering the book to Neil Gaiman as writer. This grew out of a pitch Neil made to me, when I was editor of Secret Origins during the end of its run, for a Darkseid origin. I had to tell Neil that Secret Origins was being canceled, but later realized how perfect Neil would be for the Fourth World mythology. Then I got promoted to being Dick's assistant and I regrettably never pursued that.

I must mention that in May 2018, Back Issue #104 will feature a "Fourth World After Kirby" theme, exploring all of the post-Kirby incarnations of the New Gods characters.

Justin: What were DC's plans with the Fourth World characters going into the 90s? There was Cosmic Odyssey, and both Mister Miracle and the New Gods had an ongoing series, the Forever People had a mini-series, the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion had been appearing in Superman titles, and the Female Furies had been appearing in Suicide Squad. Was there any resistance from the Jack Kirby estate on the use of the characters?

Eury: Kirby was still alive during most of what you mentioned, and the characters were DC's property. You could argue that the New Gods, et al., make better supporting characters than headliners. That still holds true today. And Darkseid, in particular, has been elevated to — arguably — DC's number one super villain.

Darkseid pin-up from Who's Who in the DC Universe v2 #1 (1990). Illustrated by Mark Badger.

Justin: The New Gods (as a comic book series) have never experienced that much longevity, I think the New Gods series you edited (which concluded at issue #28) had the longest run. Would you have any hypothesis as to why that would be?

Eury: I never considered its longevity until you mentioned it. Perhaps it was because the characters better interfaced with the rest of the DCU. Other than Superman and Jimmy Olsen, Kirby kept his Fourth World at arm's length from DC's other characters (although before long, other creators started using Kirby's characters, such as the Batman/Mr. Miracle team-up in Brave and the Bold #112 (1974)).

Legion of Super-Heroes

Justin: I'm also going to to point out that Mon-El appeared in a lot of Legion of Super-Heroes titles you edited, was one of Eclipso's main henchman in Eclipso: The Darkness Within, appeared in New Gods during your editorial run, and you were instrumental in launching his first ongoing series in 1992. Is Mon-El (aka Valor) a character you were fond of reading about while growing up?

Eury: When I was a kid reading the Legion in Adventure Comics and then the Cockrum/Grell era in Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes, Mon-El was one of my two favorite Legionnaires (the other being Ultra Boy). Funny how I zeroed in on the two Superboy knock-offs... Mon-El fascinated me, from his original status as Superboy's "brother" to his cool costume to his tragic banishment to the Phantom Zone (I wrote The Brave & The Bold editor Murray Boltinoff back in the '70s asking for a Batman/Mon-El team-up, temporarily liberating Mon from the Zone for a Bat-adventure; sorry that never happened... would've love to have seen Mon-El drawn by Jim Aparo).

Justin: You were the editor for Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #31 (1992) — in which it is revealed that Shvaughn Erin was actually a man the whole time. Was there any complications in running that story? Did Legion fans react poorly or amicably to that 'twist in the plot'?

Eury: Well, it was shocking, especially for the time! Reaction was mixed, as I recall, but today it turns out that the story was revolutionary for its time.


...and that wraps up our interview with Michael Eury. We wanted to thank Mr Eury for being particularly generous with his time. 

We also wanted to spotlight that not only is Mr Eury the editor-in-chief of Back Issue magazine, but he's also authored a few DC comics companion books. A few that you may recognize:

-Justin
Special thanks to contributing editor, Rob Perry, for help compiling the questions.

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)