As revealed exclusively to the Washington Post, Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch will debut a new “Hawkman” ongoing series at DC Comics come June. Spinning out of “Dark Nights: Metal,” the character is set to return to its place of prominence at DC, says Venditti.
“Hawkman is a foundational character in the DCU. Over time I think he’s lost some of that central importance to the DC universe, and we really want to bring that back and make him a marquee character,” Venditti said. “And to do that we’re going to take him to a lot of unexpected, unexplored places and introduce a lot of new mythology for the character.”
Venditti has been writing “Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps” for DC since the start of ‘Rebirth,’ and has worked in the Lantern corner of the DCU since mid-2013. Hitch recently wrapped up his time on “Justice League,” both writing and illustrating one of the flagship DC titles.
Hawkman, aside from the “Metal” tie-in “Hawkman: Lost” one-shot by Jeff Lemire and Hitch, has been more or less absent from DC’s ‘Rebirth’ era. In the New 52, Hawkman had both a solo series, “The Savage Hawkman,” and a spot on Geoff Johns and David Finch’s “Justice League of America” title. Created by Garner Fox and Dennis Neville in 1940, Hawkman found his most resonant success under the pencil of Joe Kubert later that decade, which set the character up as one of the more prominent heroes off the Golden and Silver Ages.
One of the reasons the character’s popularity has never quite reached the heights of some of his fellow Justice Society/Justice League teammates is due to the extremely confusing nature of his origin. Depending on when you starting reading Hawkman comics, he was either a reincarnation of an Egyptian prince, an alien from Thanagar, or both.
Venditti and Hitch confirmed that Hawkgirl will also be a part of the series, but not necessarily in a romantic role. At least, not yet.
Read the full press release below.
ROBERT VENDITTI TO GIVE HAWKMAN WINGS IN JUNE
Celebrated Writer Joins Forces with Fan-Favorite Artist Bryan Hitch for All-New Ongoing Series Featuring the DC Universe’s Winged Wonder
This June, Robert Venditti (THE FLASH, GREEN LANTERN, HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS) continues his exclusive agreement with DC by writing a new HAWKMAN ongoing series with artist Bryan Hitch (THE AUTHORITY, JUSTICE LEAGUE).
“Hawkman is one of the richest, most storied characters in comic book history, a cornerstone of the DC Universe,” says Venditti. “His adventures have taken him from ancient history to the far-flung cosmos, and everywhere in between. It’s been too long since he had a series of his own, and I’m excited to bring him back to the DC Universe.”
Spinning out of the events of DARK NIGHTS: METAL and HAWKMAN: FOUND, Carter Hall resumes his role as an explorer of the DC Universe’s ancient and unknown. As Hawkman, Hall is on a quest to find out the true nature of his many incarnations throughout time, but he quickly finds out that elements from those past lives want to keep that secret hidden at any cost.
“Hawkman has one of the most amazing visuals in comics,” explained Hitch. “He’s the greatest warrior in all of the DCU, and with such a robust history to (literally) draw on, the sky’s the limit for how far we can take this.”
HAWKMAN #1 arrives in stores and will be available for digital download on June 13. For the latest information on HAWKMAN and all other DC news, check out the website at www.dccomics.com or the DC YouTube channel.
