JSA Legacies Project Day 5- Hawkman #JSApril
What is JSApril?
The Justice Society of America made their debut in All-Star Comics #3 in 85 years ago. In celebration, the folks over at Fire and Water Podcasting Network have assembled bloggers, podcasters, and many more creators to honor the world’s first superhero team. Find the full list of participants and more over at Fire and Water Network’s webpage and I truly encourage you all to check out some of the amazing things people have been creating.
For JSApril, I have decided to contribute my art skills to honor the team that means a lot to me. Alongside the X-Men, the Justice Society is my favorite superhero team. The main things I love about the team is that they are a family. As much as they may bicker and squabble, at the end of the day they love and respect each other. Additionally, I find the JSA exemplifies my favorite part of DC comics and that’s LEGACY. So for fifteen days this month I will be posting watercolor art showcasing members of the Justice Society alongside their notable legacy character.
Today’s subject is one of DC’s most infamously confusing characters
Hawkman
The Confusing History of Hawkman, abridged
Hawkman on his surface is a simple character. A man with bird wings smashes bad guy’s faces with ancient weapons like his mace. There were technically two different Hawkmen- Carter Hall of Earth-2 and Katar Hol of Thanagar in the Earth-1 universe. This work fine enough and fit the characters respective eras.
Carter Hall was an archeologist you gains his abilities from relics found in Egypt (It was the style at the time). This is very much in line with the Golden Age’s use of the mystic and occult powersets. Just look at the original JSA roster and you’ll see this on display. Katar Hol was a Thanagarian bringing him much more inline with the science fiction elements of the Silver Age.
Now, let’s talk about the trainwreck that Crisis on Infinite Earths does to Hawkman. When Crisis is resolved Earth-1 and Earth-2 (along with Earth-4 and Earth-S) merge into one continuity. JSA become the JLA’s predecessor in the same universe and that mostly works. Problems quickly arise though. First problem is how do they handle all of the duplicate characters. Jay and Alan get to stay around, but DC decides to have Carter Hall be the Hawkman for both the Golden Age and Silver Age, instead of Katar.
Yet, Katar was still running around. On top of that, DC decides to do the definitive Post-Crisis reboot of the character with Hawkworld, complete with a new version of Katar Hol, nearly 4 years after Crisis wraps up. This causes a bunch of continuity issues with Carter being in Ragnarok with the rest of the JSA and original Katar running about. So, DC retcons the original Katar into a spy named Fel Andar.
Zero Hour
It’s a dang mess and DC keeps digging deeper trying to “fix” it. Zero Hour will see Carter and Post-Crisis Katar merge into one single person named Katar who is the avatar for the Hawkgod. It’s weird but the story is actually kind of fun in the 90’s of it all. I was tempted to use 90’s Hawkman here today, but decided against my EXTREME tendencies.
Later we would see James Robinson and Geoff Johns attempt to “fix” the character by establishing Hawkman as a reincarnating spirit to explain the Thanagarian and Earth related stuff. Johns would then use them as the basis for the Star Sapphires’ rings. It’s weird. Either way that brings us to today’s solo piece. Technically these two are the same character, but not really. Earth-2 Carter Hall is very different from the current version, yet they are now the same. Again, it’s weird.
Robert Vendetti and Bryan Hitch did a wonderful Hawkman series a few years ago that probably fixed the character for the best.Just don’t look at him too hard. He might retcon again. If you want to know more about Hawkman, I personally recommend checking out Hawkworld and their excellent retrospective of the Hawks. Their website is robust and dedicated to the winged heroes.
Hawkman (Carter Hall of Earth-2)
I was nervous about drawing Hawkman when I was planning out this project. Not only are the wings intimidating but the mask was daunting. Especially the original Hawkman mask. Wings on masks, be it the Hawks, Wolverine, etc., is just frustrating for me to draw well. There’s a reason why most Earth-2 versions of the character have him with the simplified yellow mask. Despite all my reservations, this Hawkman came together quickly. I drew this piece based on one by Sheldon Moldoff and that helped me get over the intimidation of the mask’s geometry. Honestly, both characters took less time to draw than it took to get my Jay Garrick pose correct.
The Process
No major reworks had to be done here which is nice. The wings were rendered and colored gray in line with the original golden age depiction. The gray itself was actually made from mixing the cadmium yellow and alizarin crimson alongside some ultramarine blue. I prefer to mix my grays despite having a Payne’s gray in my kit. I find the mixed gray gives a much richer color and allows for the imperfection of the mixing process to create small pops of color. You can see the reds, yellows, and blues alongside their respective secondary colors showing through.
Hawkman (Modern)
I won’t lie to you, when I set down to do this project I truly thought the current Hawkman was Katar Hol. I didn’t realize he went back to being Carter Hall in the 90’s. It doesn’t really matter but it does create a situation where the legacy of the character is also himself. I guess I could have done Hector Hall, but he sucks.
The Process
Same as with Earth-2 Hawkman, I was intimidated by the mask, but honestly I think modern Hawkman was a bit easier to draw. I referenced a Hawkman vol. 4 cover by Andrew Robinson when drawing Hawkman and that helped tremendously. Later, when we get to Hawkgirl, I deviate more from the heavy reference in large part to getting comfortable with the Hawks here. I tried to darken the skin here a bit, but to mixed results. I am fine with it but I do wish I could take that mistake back. Oh well that’s art for you.
Closing Thoughts
This overall piece was a bit daunting at start, but quickly came together. I really like Hawkman as a character. His roots as a pulpy Conan the Barbarian meets Flash Gordon character really resonates with my sensibilities. It’s a shame DC kind of floundered with the character for most of the Post-Crisis era. I am glad they have finally got him on track and his current arc in Lemire’s JSA is really intriguing.
Social Media
You can follow along with JSApril all of the other creators on social media with #JSApril. You can always find me here or over on Bluesky and I contribute weekly to The Beat. If you are new here be sure to check out out the archives. Personally, I’m quiet proud of my History of Heroes Reborn posts. You can see my other JSApril posts here.
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