Therefore, when I returned to comics, I was at first thrilled to discover that, as part of The New 52, +DC Comics had produced a brand new Hawk and Dove series. I knew the characters had been brought back to life and returned to the DC Universe some time earlier (they apparently had prominent roles during the Brightest Day and Blackest Night series, although I was not reading comics when those were published), but I didn't know any details. I wasn't sure what level of "reboot" had occurred with these characters, but since the early-90s Hawk and Dove is one of my favorite series of all time, and Hawk and Dove are two of my all-time favorite heroes, putting this series on my "must read" list was pretty much a slam dunk.
Unfortunately, a quick check of ComiXology and the +DC Comics website showed me right away that this series had ended abruptly, after only eight issues. I was highly disappointed, as I had fully expected to place the New 52 Hawk and Dove on my monthly pull list (it should have been a no-brainer). I was also rather surprised that the series was canceled so quickly, in light of the fact that fan-favorite Rob Liefeld, who had been involved in the original mini-series back in 1988 that had both launched his career and launched the post-Crisis Hawk and Dove team, had done the art and some of the stories in this short-lived New 52 version. Liefeld knew these characters from their heyday; he had worked closely with the Kesels to revamp Hawk and Dove in the 1980s; and he was extremely popular with the fans. So why didn't the book "take?"
I decided to find out how the series was for myself. It may have ended quickly, but here were still eight new issues of my favorite superhero pair, drawn and co-written by a guy who knows them well. +DC Comics had recently put out a trade paperback collecting the entire 8-issue series in one bound volume, called "Volume 1: First Strikes" (I'm not sure why they called it "volume 1" since there can't be any more volumes, with the series being canceled). So, during one of my first visits to the comic-book shop since getting back into comic-book collecting, I picked up the Hawk and Dove trade paperback.
Buying the trade paperback, rather than collecting the issues over an 8-month period as one would during their initial publication has some advantages and disadvantages. The serialization is somewhat lost on the reader, as the individual stories from issue to issue can often "blend" together. On the other hand, reading them all at once can give a larger perspective of the entire series, providing one with an "overview."
I read the Hawk and Dove trade paperback over the course of a single Saturday, but not all in one sitting. Starting around mid-morning (after getting home from the shop), I read one or two issues at a time, and then took breaks to do house work, or continue reading a mystery novel I'd been working my way through. At the beginning of the trade paperback, I was simply in heaven -- reading about Hawk and Dove again after all these years with only old, well-worn back-issues, was a delight. However, it quickly became apparent that something was not right with this series, and by the time I reached the last story (the one from issue #8), I found myself no longer being surprised that the new Hawk and Dove had been so quickly canceled.
After putting the book aside, I will admit all I had was an intuitive feeling that something simply was "not right" about the stories inside. The art had been decent (though nothing spectacular -- I've never been a huge fan of the way Liefeld draws faces, because the noses look too "pinched" on almost everyone). The villains had been interesting. There hadn't been anything technically wrong with the plots of the individual issues. But yet, something had seemed "off" about the series.
The next day, I flipped back through the volume. I did not re-read the dialogue, and I didn't look at every single page. I just flipped through, skimming it, and looking for a pattern or something that might help me figure out what was wrong with this series. And then it hit me: Hawk and Dove spend almost all their time being kick-butt action-jaction superheroes, and hardly any of their time in their Hank Hall and Dawn Granger secret identities.
I'm not sure how many comic-book fans appreciate the importance of "secret identity time" for the heroes, but it is critical. For example, without secret identities, there is effectively no supporting cast for the series. The few normal, non-super people who do show up, are present only for an issue or two and then disappear. We see Hank's dad, but no mention is made of his mom or Dawn's parents, and Hank's father (Judge Hall) appears only in a few panels. We get a few panels worth of Hank's ex-girlfriend Ren, but only in one issue, after which she vanishes from the series. We see Watanabe, the cop, who shows up to arrest villains a few times in the first couple of issues, but then he, too, disappears, never to be heard from again. Instead, for page after page, panel after panel, it's all action, action, action.
Without a supporting cast, even when Hank and Dawn do appear in their secret IDs, we get very little sense of them as human beings. The few Hank/Dawn scenes occur only between Hank and Dawn (on a rooftop, or in a back alley), and in these scenes, almost all they talk about is superheroing. In short, after reading eight full issues of the New 52 Hawk and Dove, I have no idea what kind of lives they lead in their secret identities.
Now, at this point you might be thinking to yourself, "Well, duh, Steve -- it's a comic book. The more action the better!" And perhaps many fans feel that way. But the fact remains that this series was canceled after only eight issues, and in spite of a popular artist headlining the creative team. The action was certainly fast-paced and hard-hitting, so if action is all one needs, why wouldn't this book have sold? No, I think the inescapable fact is that any superhero story needs to be grounded in the real world -- and it's the secret identities and the "normal humans" in the supporting cast that provide this grounding.
I've been an almost life-long fan of the previous version of Hawk and Dove, as written by Barbara and Karl Kesel for 33 issues (a 5-issue mini-series and then a 28-issue regular series). One of the great strengths of that series was its humanity. The Kesels penned many scenes in their version of Hawk and Dove that focused on the supporting cast, and on Hank and Dawn's personal lives. And before you say, "Sure but they had a lot more issues in which to do that," think again. Most of the important and fundamental interpersonal relationships between the main characters and their supporting cast were developed during the 5-issue mini-series. In those five issues, the Kesels conveyed more about Hank and Dawn's personal lives than in 8 issues of the New 52 series. And there were many revealing scenes between Hank and Dawn and their supporting cast - Donna, Kyle, Ren, Sal, and both of Hank's parents, among others. These quiet, often touching or downright hilarious, scenes are among the best moments in the series, and they are what I remember most about it -- rather than the super-fights. It is in these human, normal scenes that character is truly revealed by the Kesels, and these scenes are entirely lacking in the New 52 Hawk and Dove.
And that is why I felt something was "missing" from the new series. I would suspect any fan of the Kesels' version of these characters would feel the same way. We may love Hawk and Dove, the superheroes, and enjoy reading about their super-human exploits, but we also love Hank and Dawn, and all their friends. And without that element to the series, everything else falls apart. I believe that this is why the new Hawk and Dove was canceled so quickly -- the writers didn't hook the audience by making them care about the characters. You need to show the human side of heroes to do that.
Furthermore, lack of "personal time" is not a unique problem in Hawk and Dove. Many of today's comics seem to be all-action, all the time. I love Supergirl, and her series is one of the better-written ones, but in 16 issues, she has only gotten out of her costume twice, and then, only briefly. Supergirl has very few "normal" moments. She's been non-stop superheroing since she arrived on earth. And although that does make for some gripping action, it prevents us from getting to know Kara as a human being. Similarly, Justice League is almost all action, all the time. The human element one gets from having a cast of supporting, normal characters interacting in more normal ways with the heroes is missing from these titles (and many others).
And that's why, since getting back into comic-books, I have felt that some of these new series are good but still "missing something." What they're missing is the characters' human side -- the side that gives us something to root for.
No comments:
Post a Comment