A Little Anti-Climactic

JSA Classified #22
Written by Walter Simonson
Art and cover by Simonson

I must say that even though Hawkman was a long time member of the JSA and will be again in the near future, this was the most un-JSA issue of JSA Classified. There was not even a mention of the Justice Society in this issue. I am not complaing; just making an observation. This was a decent issue. Nothing really to write home about. Hawkman of course defeats Blackfire in the end and re-unites with Hawkgirl in the end. Their re-uniting after a year of being apart was a little anti-climactic and not nearly as emotional as one would think. In fact, it wasn’t emotional at all. Hawkgirl was a little mad that Hawkman did not let her know why he hadn’t returned to earth yet. I guess I can understand her point but I mean come on…he can’t just send her a letter he was across the freaking galaxy for gods sake.

JSA Classified 20 and 21

JSA Classified #20
Written by Scott Beatty
Art by Rags Morales and Michael Bair

This issue was really gross and gory, but ultimately very cool. It really shows how far people will go to be beautiful in our culture and how crazy it would be if we were a culture plus metahumans. I hope Endless Winter comes back someday because she is a compelling villain and this was a really great story. Oh and as always, Rags Morales’s art is amazing.

JSA Classified #21
Written by Walter Simonson
Art and cover by Simonson

Well, the art is kind of annoying in this story and I never got excited about anything having to do with the Rann-Thanagar War, but just like the last issue of Hawkgirl, this was pretty good surprisingly. So it looks like Hawkman has been on Rann for over a year now and the war is still kinda going on. Blackfire is still a bitch too lol. I wonder how she ends up getting a hold of his wings. It was cool to see the Absorbascon, makes you wonder why Hawkman does not use that more often. I also look forward to seeing his reuniting with Hawkgirl and I wonder how Hawkgirl is going to stay solo after he returns to earth. Or will she?

Girl Fight

Hawkgirl #59
Written by Walter Simonson
Art by Renato Arlem

I am not sure why, but I think this is the best issue of Hawkgirl yet. I think it was the art, which i really liked. Arlem should be on more books, I don’t believe I have ever heard of him before. Story-wise this was also pretty cool, Kendra talks about how much she misses Hawkman and we get a nice fight with Blackfire. Hawkgirl even goes to upgrade her armor a little bit. It is cool to see Blackfire with Hawkman’s wings (even though we all know she did not kill him, despite what she says) To be honest, I think Simonson is getting better at writing Hawkgirl but I think so many people have left the book and are not going to try it out again unless it gets a new writer, so that is what I think DC should do. In a perfect world, Simonson would be able to continue but if you want to save this book from cancellation, he has to go.

Hawkgirl 53 - 57

Hawkgirl #53
Written by Walter Simonson
Art by Howard Chaykin

This issue was pretty weird. I think because of Chaykin’s art. He draws a pretty messed up villains this issue. The whole weirdness factor doesn’t mean I didn’t like this issue because I did like it. I liked how Hawkgirl was shown on patrol, not enough heroes are shown like that these days. I am a little dissapinted that Grubs is dead now. I thought he was becoming a good character.

Hawkgirl #54
Written by Walter Simonson Art by Howard Chaykin

Now this issue I really enjoyed for some reason. I was really getting into it. St. Roch is perfect for zombies and I can’t wait to see Hawkgirl kick some zombie ass. All in all, I am beginning to be glad that Hawkgirl is the star of this book now and she can get some much needed characterization. Despite what the cover makes it seem like, Carter doesn’t appear until the last page. Oh and I really like the idea that the villain can cause people to go mad when one looks into her eyes.

Hawkgirl #55
Written by Walter Simonson Art by Howard Chaykin

This issue wasn’t quite as good. The art started to bug me again and I was pretty confused. I do like the idea of Hath-Set coming back, we haven’t seem in a long time. Exploring the Hawks’s past is always interesting. I just found this to be a sort of “in the middle” issue.

Hawkgirl #56
Written by Walter Simonson
Art by Howard Chaykin

I liked this issue but it leaves us with more questions than answers. What exactly was the thing in the basement? And why does it want to kill the hawks? And it safe to say now that Hawkgirl is not against killing her adversaries. Okay issue.

Hawkgirl #57
Written by Walter Simonson
Art by Joe Bennet
Cover by Howard Chaykin

This issue was another okay one. Not much happens, Kendra is locked up by some folks led by Blackfire that believe her to be a traitor from the Rann/Thanagar War. I feel like this was a pretty decompressed issue. It could have been better. Now that art though, Bennet is a hell of an improvement over Chaykin and I hope he stays on the book for a while. He drawes Hawkgirl to look cool, like she should look.