Hawkworld

Hawkworldis acomic bookseries published by American companyDC Comicsfrom 1989 to 1993. The initial storyline was published as a three-issuemini-seriesand then, based on the high sales and interest level generated by this limited series, launched as an ongoing monthly book.Katar HolandShayera Thalwererebootedin the prestige format limited series.

Hawkworld
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Mini-series Ongoing
Publication date	1989–1993
No.of issues	3 (limited) 32 (ongoing)
Main character(s)	Katar Hol Shayera Thal Byth Paran Katar Andar Pul
Creative team
Created by	Tim Truman
Collected editions
Hawkworld	ISBN978-1-56389-021-5

Publication history

The three-issuelimited serieswritten and drawn byTimothy Trumanand inked by Enrique Alcatena was published in 1989. The ongoing series lasted for four years (1990–1993) and included 32 issues, along with 3 annuals. Timothy Truman contributed to the plotting of the first six issues, which were scripted byJohn Ostrander.Ostrander was the sole credited writer for the remainder of the series. After theHawkworldongoing series ended in 1993, a new series simply namedHawkman(vol. 3) picked up the story line and ran from 1993 to 1996. Ostrander wrote the first six issues of this new series, tying up some dangling plot threads fromHawkworld.

Plot

Katar Holwas a youngpoliceofficer on the planet Thanagar, and a child of a privileged family. But his homeworld had the policy to conquer and mine other worlds for their resources to maintain its high standard of living, and Hol realized that this was wrong. He rebelled against the system, and was sent into exile. 10 years later, he escaped and got the help of Shayera Thal, a young officer from alower classof society, to uncover and defeat the renegade police captainByth.As a result, Hol was reinstated in the Wingmen Force and given a new partner, Thal.

Themes

The primary themes Timothy Truman focused on in the limited series were social inequality and class. When John Ostrander took over the writing duties with the monthly series he continued to develop and expand upon Truman's original ideas. After relocating the setting of the series from Thanagar to the city of Chicago, Katar and Shayera were exposed to the founding documents of the United States as part of their education on America's criminal justice system. Neither characters were familiar with the concept ofnatural rightsand found the contrasts between America's founding principles and the reality of pragmatic governance perple xing. Their different ways of coming to terms with these ideas and the possibility of spreading them back to their home world drove the story lines of the series. Katar was inspired by the possibilities he found in this new way of thinking while Shayera initially rejected them as unrealistic and unworkable. During the series both characters eventually concluded that, much like Thanagar, the United States was also a "Hawkworld", a predatory society in which the powerful oppress the weak; despite this, they came to see American society as offering more long-term hope for social justice through its embrace of natural rights, even if these values were only embraced on a rhetorical level by most.

Continuity

Along with its contemporariesThe Man of Steel,Batman: Year One,Aquaman Special#1, andGreen Lantern: Emerald Dawn,Hawkworldwas intended to reviseDC Universecontinuityfor the post-Crisiscontinuity that explored the origins of theSilver AgeHawkmanandHawkwoman.However, DC editors decided that it was not just an origin story; rather, it was occurring in the present, concurrently with the rest of DC's output (similar toWonder Woman: Gods and MortalsandThe Power of Shazam!). This meant that the Hawks' entire history from the Silver Age onward had to be disregarded, including their memberships in theJustice League(including his brief membership inJustice League International). This began a series ofretconsto theHawkmancharacters that ended with a newHawkmanreturning in the pages ofJSA.

During theBrightest Daystoryline (2010), Hath-Set has collected the bones from all of Carter's and Shiera's past bodies and created from them a portal to Hawkworld. He was followed, however, by Carter and Shiera. While there, it is revealed that Hawkworld is now under the rulership of Shiera's mother, Queen Khea. There is also a tribe of creatures that resembleLion-Maneliving on Hawkworld.

External links

• Hawkworld (mini-series)at the Comic Book DB (archived fromthe original)
• Hawkworld (ongoing)at the Comic Book DB (archived fromthe original)