The Savage Hawkman #7

Fuck! It looks like I was wrong about nobody helping in the zombie invasion of New York. Is that Static?!

Last issue ended with a zombie apocalypse about to shamble across New York City. My initial assumption was that Hawkman wouldn't have any help even though there are many super heroes in New York. But I'd forgotten that this is the New 52 and any chance they get to have guest stars, they shove them into the story line. I'm just surprised that the cover doesn't have a big Guest Starring Static line on it so that all the Static Shock fans could pick up this issue. Because the Static on the cover just looks like some homeless adult in a Static costume that was swept up in the undead attack.

The beginning of this comic --

reminds me of my old webcomic, The Brainfest Club, which I never came close to completing:

You know. Because they both involve reporters on location in a zombie invasion.

Everyone on the Brooklyn Bridge is running from the zombies. It's "TOTAL CHAOS!" But the zombies don't seem to be attacking anybody. Is this what a true zombie invasion will end being? The dead will rise and begin going about their business but everyone will remember all of those zombie movies they saw and begin killing them just because they're different. Maybe these zombies are more like the zombies from the French movie, Les Revenants?

On the page with the credits, it lists Cliff Richards as the Illustrator. But he isn't listed on the cover! And I was wondering why Philip Tan's work was looking a smidgen less water colory. Also, the four or five pages surrounding this credit's page explain everything I need to know to be caught up on the story. I really think I could just read the last issue of each story arc and be able to follow the story! It sure would save a lot of time.

Eventually, the zombies show their true colors (bile? Is that a color?) and begin attacking the slower people on the bridge. Hawkman beats a few with his mace and dumps some others in the river. I wonder if Batman would have done that? My guess is that Static will arrive soon to take care of the zombie threat so that Hawkman can go find the Gentleman's Ghost.

And that's exactly what happens.

Now the only question is will Hawkman and Static fight with each other for a few pages before realizing that they can work together?

They actually have a little love fest and decide to work together although Static does most of the work. He easily takes out the zombies by disrupting the electrical impulses in their heads. Now I'm usually not one to argue whether or not some fictional method for taking out a fictional threat would work or not (who the fuck am I kidding? That's ALL I do!), but it seems these Zombies are being animated due to their proximity to the Mortis Orb. And that probably means they're animated due to magic. And I highly doubt the magic is using the physical laws of the universe to get the job done. Maybe magic uses the easiest possibility and that would be to give the zombies a little bit of electricity in their brains to get them to motivate. But it's only enough for their instincts to kick in which is why they're attacking people as well as moving toward the source of power. So I think I just argued myself into believing Static's ability can take out the zombies. Shoot!

The two heroes triangulate the point where the zombies are converging and it looks to be Central Park. That's where I would go if I were an 18th Century dead man's ghost using a magic orb to bring me back to life.

Once they get to Central Park, they do that thing that I thought they were going to do earlier where Static takes care of the zombies and Hawkman goes after the Ghost who is in Belvedere Castle. I've never heard of this place before! But then I've never been to New York. I wonder if the Castle and the surrounding area all smell like piss?

Hawkman discovers that he can now kill the apparitions that he couldn't touch before due to the power of the Orb. So he kills them but then Gentleman Jim blasts Hawkman before Hawkman can figure out if Gentleman Jim is corporeal or not as well. And then Hawkman fails! He doesn't stop Gentleman Jim at all!

Julius Gates returns from the dead to save the day! There's a lot of that going on in the New DCU lately.

Hawkman takes the Orb as all the ghosts disappear into Julius Gates' vortex and all the zombies collapse in rotten heaps all over New York City (what else is new?). He flies to Antarctica and tosses it into a big hole in the ice. And then he returns home to find Emma and his neighbor Singh waiting for him. They're relieved that he's okay and this is where the comic should end. Next issue should be some down time to pull some of the threads of Hawkman's past together. Time to make the reader care about Carter Hall! But no, what am I thinking, no way, more action needed! Askana the Shape Shifter from the Morphicius story appears to begin a fight with him. And that's where it ends. Whee.

The Savage Hawkman #7 Rating: No change. I'm actually being very kind by not dropping it a rank but it doesn't deserve to be beneath Captain Atom or Grifter. I should deduct a point though! This entire story line needed Hawkman for simply one thing: his Nth metal to activate the Orb of Mortis. And Gentleman Jim's Ghost could have just as easily gotten Deathstroke to bring Ravager's Nth Metal blade to the grave site! Or rummaged through the Blackhawk's base until they found some Nth Metal there. Because once the Orb is activated, Hawkman does nothing. Static easily handles the zombies. And Julius Gates defeats Gentleman Jim's Ghost! If Hawkman weren't here, Static probably would have taken the Orb to STAR Labs and they could have contacted Cyborg to Boom Tube the thing into the sun. Hawkman does absolutely nothing in this story and serves no purpose. No wonder I've never been a fan of this chump!