The Savage Hawkman #6

Gentleman Ghost is part spider?

Sometimes my blogs don't quite serve the purpose they initially intended to serve. After rereading my post on Hawkman #5, I really didn't have any idea what was happening at the end of it. But I also haven't read a Hawkman comic since January! So I reread Hawkman #5 so I'd know what was going on. It was pretty painful having to reread a Tony S. Daniel comic book. But I did it! I'm a hero!

Carter Hall hallucinated zombies at the end of Issue #4 but that clears up at the beginning of Issue #5 and doesn't really go anywhere. I'm guessing it was a foreshadowing vision which allowed for a stupid zombie apocalypse cliffhanger. Later, Carter's boss calls him up to translate a book that was supposedly the inspiration for Lovecraft's Necronomicon, the book of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred. I didn't remember the Arab's name but since I had a book of Lovecraft's stories on my desk within arm's reach, I thought I'd look it up. Take that, Google! While researching this book, Carter winds up in an antique bookseller where he's approached by Gentleman Ghost. And kind of attacked by Gentleman Ghost's ghosts. That's pretty near where things ended.

And now that I'm back up to date, it's time for Tony Daniel to shock me with his innovative and deep thinking story telling!

The first page of Hawkman #6 recounts all of the events of Issue #5! I didn't have to reread it! Hell, I never had to read it at all! Maybe I should make it common practice to just read every other issue of The Savage Hawkman.

Cue the incomprehensible action sequences.

In the panel above, you can see Hawkman suddenly attacking Gentleman's Ghost. Or possibly you can see Gentleman's Ghost attacking Hawkman and Hawkman simply defending himself. They were having such a civil discussion up until this point that I really can't tell who began the violence. One thing I do know: Hawkman thinks you can have eternal life by a healthy diet, vanilla sex, and teetotaling. Yeah, I'm making assumptions about what he means by a clean life. But that's all I fucking do in these commentaries is make assumptions! And point out the truth!

Why is Gentleman's Ghost suddenly Doc Ock?

After this panel, Gentleman Ghost threatens to send Hawkman to hell if he doesn't help him get the Mortis Orb. And that's the moment that I would expect the violence to begin! Once again, I'm assuming something: Gentleman's Ghost is a gentleman. So he wouldn't have begun the violence while having an eloquent discourse. But Hawkman is The Savage Hawkman, so he probably did begin fighting because he's not very good at discourse. That's not an assumption. The proof is his "clean living" line and his "ice water for residents of Hell" comment.

Is that why these two guys are big enemies? Because one is savage and the other is a gentleman? Totally makes sense and invokes images of the greatest rivalry of all time!

My apologies to anyone who prefers the movie duo. And no apologies to all you youngsters who've never seen the show.

The credits for the comic appear on Page Five and now I'm wondering just how much work Tony Salvador Daniel has done on this issue.

What was Tony's part in his? "Issue #6 should have Hawkman fighting Gentleman's Ghost. But remember! Gentleman's Ghost has ghosts on his side that can't be hurt but can hurt Hawkman! And Gentleman's Ghost is a gentleman, so write some words that make him sound gentlemanly. Maybe use "kind sir" and "pardon me" and shit like that. And then I'll end it where Hawkman is about to be killed but not in a way that I can't think up some way for him to get out of it at the beginning of next issue. Make Hawkman say witty and funny things as he fights. That's a new and innovative idea."

Since Hawkman can't win against a bunch of ghosts that he can't hurt but can cut him up easily enough, he retreats. He takes the store owner, Digby, with him. He doesn't do it to save Digby's life. Hawkman isn't a hero! He's just a guy who wanted to stop being a hero but his costume wouldn't let him. Now he's just an angry guy that hallucinates and runs from women. He takes Digby because Digby knows about the book that caused all of the problems. It's the way Savage Hawkmen do research! You kidnap a guy, threaten his life, and then fly off to investigate a house where the book was sold in an estate sale. Because the house probably wasn't sold or remodeled or anything that would derail Hawkman's investigation.

It turns out the man who died had a wife still living in the run-down old house. She's blind and mistakes Hawkman for her husband Julius Gates. Her name is Abigail Gates. She lets Hawkman know that her husband was buried with the Mortis Orb. Well, that was easy! I wonder if there will be a catch?

See? He doesn't want to be a super hero at all!

Hawkman unearths the Mortis Orb even though his visions have suddenly gained voices and are warning him to stop. Digby also believes it's a bad idea to dig up the Orb but he's kind of a coward so why would anyone listen to him? I wonder if he'll become Hawkman's sidekick? I'm obsessed with sidekicks! Every comic book, I want the title character to find a sidekick.

Anyway, Hawkman picks up the Mortis Orb just like the puppet Gentleman's Ghost expected him to be.

How did Gentleman's Ghost know about Nth Metal, know that it would break the spell, and know that Hawkman was full of Nth Metal?

Once Gentleman's Ghost takes the Mortis Orb, the living dead lose their interest in Hawkman. They begin heading for the city, drawn by the Orb's power. Hawkman follows the zombies hoping that they'll lead him to the Orb and to Gentleman's Ghost. He needs to find the Ghost and stop him before he uses the Orb to regain his life since the side effect of using the Orb to restore life is taking the lives of all living things for miles around. But that won't happen until next issue where Hawkman will have to fight through a zombie invasion in New York without any help from STAR Labs or the Teen Titans or Justice League International or the good Justice League or Justice League Dark or Batman (even though Batman is helping everyone else) or Static Shock or Blue Beetle (since he's now in New York).

The Savage Hawkman #6 Rating: No change. Hawkman is standard comic book fare hat doesn't offer a lot of reasons to pick it up. But it currently isn't doing so much wrong that fans of Hawkman will abandon it. I found this story decent except for a centuries old ghost knowing about Hawkman's Nth Metal and how it will reinvigorate the Orb he needs. And Philip Tan's artwork, which I think can be beautiful at times, just seems shoddy in this one. Perhaps it's all the dark green/blue/grey backgrounds he seems to be throwing into nearly every panel. Hawkman, you're nearly at the bottom of the heap. It really wouldn't take much for me to give you a +1 in the rankings. Get on with it! Do something semi-fascinating!