The only thing I ever really knew about Hawk and Dove for the longest time was that one was a fighter and one was a pacifist, though I never really knew why. Also when I first heard of these heroes they were both men, and then when I finally started following DC titles they were both women, so that was a bit confusing. However, one of the benefits of the Blackest Night event was that it shined a light on these characters and it made me want to learn more about them. Dove in particular became an important part of the story continuing into Brightest Day, and I was a big fan of the interesting relationship that was formed between her and fellow hero Deadman. Needless to say I was hoping they didn’t erase all of this great character building in the re-launch and was looking forward to reading about them, especially once I learned that Deadman WOULD in fact be a supporting character in the series. Unfortunately in order to keep up with these characters I was going to be forced to endure the artistic stylings of the infamous Rob Liefeld. BLEGH.

Boy was THIS book disappointing. The first issue is fairly light on dialogue for most of the issue and focuses on some action as Hawk and Dove try to stop a plane full of genetic zombies from crashing into the Washington memorial. YOU HEARD ME. We also get a brief origin story for our Hawk, Hank Hall, and the original Dove, his brother Don. The origin is kind of LAME and I would have thought with a re-launch they might have come up with a less “silver-agey” feeling origin, where Don essentially just gets really made and wishes for superpowers… and gets them… weeee! We don’t learn much of anything about Dove other than she IS still dating Deadman, so that aspect from before the reboot is still intact. What we DON’T know is what else is carried over. Hawk seems to indicate at least ONE of the Crisis events have occurred by mentioning the circumstances of his brother’s death, but at the same time doesn’t seem to indicate HE ever had a problem with the whole dying thing, as he was resurrected recently in Blackest Night, the same story the whole Dove/Deadman relationship was established! Lots of head-hurty continuity here, folks. The second issue doesn’t give us much more to enjoy as it is, once again, primarily zombie-punching. We do however get introduced to a new mystery about the purpose and nature of “avatars” as apparently Hawk and Dove aren’t the only two embodiments of abstract concepts floating around, and neither are they the only ones named after birds! We also get introduced to Condor and Swan, two stupid looking reoccurring villains who look like Hawk and Dove with their costumes dyed a different color. Super lazy character design party! We don’t really know what they are up to other than they are crazy and apparently EAT other avatars for power. All in all this book is REALLY weak in all departments, from story and characters to lack of proper utilization of the reboot. However, I have yet to mention the WORST thing about this book…

THE ART. Dear GOD the art. It is horrible. I mean, I know it is kind of played out to insult Rob Liefeld on his art, but it is TERRIBLE here. The action is draw is such a disinteresting way it is just baffling. Not only that but ALL of the characters look the same. When Hawk is out of costume he looks exactly like every other normal guy in the book, just with different hair. Same goes for Dove and all of the women. And speaking of hair, everyone has that pseudo-90s looking wild-hair that Liefeld just can’t help but draw on everyone. Everyone looks mad all the time with scowls and angry squinty eyes when they are just having normal conversation. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if Hawk, Osprey, and Condor all look EXACTLY the same because Rob was just lazy and didn’t want to design any interesting new costumes for dumb throw-away characters. The worst is when Hank and his father are on the same page. These two guys, despite being DECADES apart in age, look EXACTLY THE SAME. Why? Can you not draw old people, Rob? You can’t just give someone white hair and expect readers to believe that guy is like 20-30 years older than another character. Awful. Just awful.

Needless to say, I am NOT recommending this book and I will not be following it any further. I beg you to do the same. I really hope this is the low point of my New 52 experience… but I somehow doubt it.

Green Arrow was one of those characters who was just popular enough for me to have picked up his basic character info and premise from the Justice League cartoons, but never someone I actively sought to read about. It’s not that he was a bad character or didn’t have any story potential (quite the contrary if you watched the cartoons), but I just never clicked with him. It didn’t help that as a Marvelite I was already getting my bow-an-arrow fix from Hawkeye of the Avengers, nor the fact that some of Green Arrow’s foundation seemed a tad too similar to Batman’s for my taste. But, again, this was a hero that I had seen used well in the cartoons, so the re-launched Green Arrow title was the perfect excuse for me to give him a chance in the books, even if the solicitations seemed to sport a drastically re-imagined Oliver Queen. Let’s get to it! (SPOILERS!)

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The bat-train continues to roll as we hit the first of MANY Batman titles to review. There was a bit of controversy surrounding this particular title, as many comic purists were extremely upset to see that Detective Comics, a book that has been running since the 1930s, was going to be re-numbered starting with a brand new #1 with the re-launch. The same negative reaction came involving other long standing titles like Action Comics, and many people were upset to see that DC was needlessly toying with the legacy of these historic books. I don’t have an opinion one way or another about it, as I assume they’ll just revert back to the old numbering when it becomes marketable (i.e. when these books hit milestone issues like 900 or 1000 by the old numbering). I’ll have some more thoughts about how I think DC should handle this title later in the review. (BAT-SPOILERS!)

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