Hawkwoman :: The Thanagarian II

"This was always an issue we were going to have to deal with," Geoff Johns said during an interview back in 2003 about the three part arc that ran in issues 15-17 of the Hawkman comic. "It's a Hawkman book and there's still the Hawkworld Hawkwoman out there. Of course, it was intimidating in the fact that we really felt we had established who the Hawks were and we had lots of new Hawkman fans reading the book. It all comes to down to this - I think there's a really fantastic story involving her return to the DCU."

Cover to issue #16 by Michael Watson

"It may have been easier to avoid confusion, but I think to some extent a lot of questions are still being raised with readers. We thought it best to literally layout a simple timeline and tackle the issue head on. Michael Watson had drawn an absolutely stunning Hawkwoman [cover] and I guarantee any fan will be knocked out. Shayera has never looked this good."

Tonner Sighting

A sighting of three mysterious characters in cowls has been reported. These three costume-wearing vigilantes are members of the reknown Super Friends. Two of them wearing capes and merging themselves with the shadows, certainly lead to conclude they are Batman and Batgirl from Gotham City; while the third figure flying through the air can only be the winged wonder from Midway City, Hawkwoman.

This exciting pic is from an exhibition showcasing Batman, Batgirl, and Hawkwoman by Tonner Doll Company. And of course, notice the crazy Harley Queen maliciously spying on the heroes. What a groupshot!

The Art of Ramona Fradon :: Batgirl

Ramona Fradon started her comics career in 1950. She got a job at DC Comics, drawing 'Aquaman', and co-created the character Metamorpho. She also worked on DC titles such as 'Superman', 'Batman', 'Super Friends', and 'Plastic Man'. Today, we continue the Ramona Fradon series revisiting a pin-up of Batgirl presented previously, plus new art in color and pencils. Enjoy.

Batgirl by Ramona Fradon

Batgirl and Wonder Woman by Ramona Fradon

Blackest Night # 3 - Mera

Mera, Flash, Firestorm, and Atom have been left by themselves to fight the menace of Black Lanterns J'onn J'onnz, Firestorm, Hawkman, and Hawkgirl. Firestorm Ron Raymond takes the lead against the heroes and splits Firestorm Jason Rusch and Gehenna.

When Jason merges with his Black Lantern counterpart to stop him from hurting Gehenna, he has visions of events taking place in other corners of the universe: He sees Dawn Granger Dove fighting against Hank Hall Hawk, the Sinestro Corps in battle with the Qward Thunderers; he sees the desacrated grave of The Question, as well as Black Hand, the Guardian Scar, Ragman, a scythe-lantern, and Mera impaling Hawkgirl.

Even after merging with Ron, Jason is unable to stop him from converting Gehenna into salt and ripping her heart out. Jason's emotions are at a peak, which is exactly what Mera had warned him about, and in doing so, the young man is increasing the power levels of the Black Lanterns.

A swarm of Black Rings enters the Hall of Justice and passes by the already overwhelmed Mera, Flash, and Atom to make its way to the bodies of dead enemies who come back to life: Alexander Luthor, Copperhead, Madame Rouge, Maxwell Lord, Doctor Light, Psychopyrate, Brainwave, and more! What are the heroes going to do?

Blackest Night # 3 - Mera

Green Lantern, Flash, and Atom are overwhelmed with the combined menace of six Black Lanterns, who are not just living dead, but also powerful former friends and teammates. When Black Lantern Sue Dibny is about to rip out the Atom's heart, the Indigo-1 Lantern appears and saves the heroes. Indigo-1 is able to sever the Dibnys' connection to the black battery and vanishes them; then teleports herself, her companion, and the three heroes away.

Back at the Hall of Justice, Mera is talking to Firestorm when Green Lantern and his companions materialize. Flash recognizes her and asks her whether she is alright. She tells the group what happened to Tempest, and then along with the other heroes question Indigo-1.

The Indigo Lantern talks about the origin of the universe and how darkness was overcome by light at the beginning, but then started to fight back and splintered it into the seven colors of the spectrum. Now darkness is attacking again and is trying to reclaim what once belonged only to it.

At first the heroes believe that the Black Lanterns are not really their deseased friends, but after Mera explains that Aquaman knew everything Arthur Curry did, the Atom concludes that perhaps the rings took over the dead to attack the living under some kind of programming. Indigo-1 advises that representatives of all the seven corps must come together to replicate the original white light and defeat the Black Lanterns.

When Green Lantern makes a dismissive comment about Death, Flash lectures him on how insensitive he is being to Mera and Atom's recent ordeals. After a brief argument, both friends make amends and decide that it is time to fight back; but suddenly, the Black Lantern Justice League appears, and Indigo-1 and her companion take Green Lantern away leaving Firestorm, Atom, Flash, and Mera by themselves.

To be continued...

Blackest Night # 3 - Mera

As the dead continue to rise across the universe, Green Lantern and Flash find themselves fighting against the Black Lantern Justice League, composed of J'onn J'onnz, Hawkman, Firestorm Ron Raymond, Hawkgirl, Elongated Man, and Sue Dibny. Soon, the two heroes are joined by the Atom, who was exploring Hawkman's black ring in search of information.

Meanwhile, in Washington D.C., Firestorm Jason Rusch arrives at the Hall of Justice after receiving an alert signal through his JLA communicator using Aquaman's code. Both, he and his matrix companion Gehenna are surprised to see in the monitors how the dead are rising throughout the world; suddenly, a redhead woman attacks Firestorm and nails him to the wall with her trident.

It is Mera, who was able to make it to the Hall of Justice and trigger the signal for help. She tells Firestorm that he and his companion must remain calm. After being forced inland by Black Lantern Aquaman, Dolphin, Tula, and Tempest, she realized that they lost her when she was able to keep focused and centered. She explains they cannot panic or feel anything at all, otherwise, the dead will sense them and find them.

I love how Mera was able to find a clue on how to evade the Black Lanterns; I am sure this will be important later on. It is also great that there was no mention of "I need to be back in the water before an hour or I'll die"; that is such a crutch for the Aqua-characters. More and more Mera is taking on a leadership role; that certainly fits with her apparition in issue # 1 where the title for her scene was "Leaders". Oh, and what about "Not Aquawoman. Mera"? That was awesome... someone needs to put that in a T-Shirt and sell it!

To be continued...

The Art of Dan Jurgens :: Batgirl

The first time I saw the art of Dan Jurgens was in 1994 during Zero Hour -which also had Batgirl as one of the main characters- and I simply fell in love with it. His characters are so crisp and clean. I've never understood why we have not seen him more often in DC Comics.

After the weekly series 52 ended, Geoff Johns and Dan Jurgens collaborated in a spin-off starring Booster Gold. The premise of the book has Booster Gold traveling through the new 52 universes and interacting with familiar faces, but in very different circumstances. One of his adventures took him to a universe where Batgirl had not been shot by the Joker.

I don't collect the series and didn't even buy the issues where Batgirl was a guest star, but it is great to see her still around even if it's only in a parallel universe. As always, the art of mister Jurgens is impeccable and the colors vibrant.

Hopefully one day DC will realize that Barbara Gordon is the one and only Batgirl and bring her back to greatness. Forget you Cassandra Cain, you are better as an assassin; forget you Stephanie Brown, you should stay as Spoiler. Bring Barbara back as Batgirl please!!!

Hawkwoman :: The Thanagarian

When Geoff Johns revitalized the world of Hawkman, he reintroduced the Golden Age version of the character -Prince Khufu- and his eternal partner and love -Princess Chayara-, which in modern times were reincarnated as Carter Hall and Kendra Saunders.

Johns did a great job in streamlining the convulted history of Hawkman, and made it a cohesive, understandable, and fun concept. This, along with the fact that the Silver Age Hawkman -Katar Hol- had died, made this modern version feel right. There was only one loose end that had not been tied yet, though: Hawkwoman!

Shayera was reintroduced to the DC Universe in Hawkman #14 after several years of absence in an arc titled "The Thanagarian". Here, officer Thal, who had stayed under the radar after her husband died, finally returns and confronts the earthmen calling themselves Hawkman and Hawkgirl, while at the same time she tries to accomplish the task that brought her to Earth in the first place: Capture the criminal Byth.

Johns gave Shayera an opportunity to shine one last time before giving her -and us- a sense of closure to her story. Shayera and the hawks remained in good terms, and once Byth was captured, she returned to her home planet in the Polaris star system.

I was excited and happy to see Shayera one more time, but at the same time I was sad because it was evident she was being given a good-bye. We were able to see Hawkwoman again during Infinite Crisis, but that's astory for another time. For now, enjoy this great image of officer Thal.