Hawkman and Hawkgirl
Reading Order
(4 years ago)
Unfortunately
Hawkgirl’s comic book history is mainly tied to Hawkman’s, which is very messed up
This topic is on Hawkgirl, not Hawkman.
So this is the important series that explore the various Hawkgirls
1940 Flash 1 Carter Hall, Shiera Sanders. Reincarnated
1941 All Star 5 FIrst appearance of Hawkgirl
1961 The Brave and the Bold 34 Katar and Shayera Hol, married police officers from the planet Thanagar
1989 Hawkworld Reboot of Thanagar. Katar Hol, Two Shayera Thal (fFirst, Rich Heiress, Second, Orphan adopted by father of first, who becomes a Cop)
1999 JSA: Secret Files and Origins 1 First Kendra Saunders
1999 JSA 3 Kendra Saunders
2001 Justice League Animated Shayera Hol Thanagar
2002 Hawkman Kendra Saunders Reincarnated
2004 Justice League Unlimited Shayera Hol Thanagar
2017 Dark Nights: Metal Lady Blackhawk Kendra Saunders Reincarnated
2018 Hawkman Carter (and later Shiera) reincarnate in Time and Space, not necessarily in time sequence, totally revised origins for both
Link to polls of
Favorite Hawkgirl episodes
Justice League Animated
Justice League Unlimited
At
All polls remain open
This post’s Links and Images are at the bottom
This is the transition from the Animated version of Hawkgirl Shayera Hol to Comic Book Hawkgirl Kendra Saunders.
Part of the Hawkgirl timeline in a previous post is:
1999 JSA
Kendra Saunders
2001 JL Animated
Shayera Hol
Why is Hawkgirl in JL?
Why isn’t Hawkgirl the Kendra version?
At the time, DC Superheroes were infrequent on TV or Movies
So when the TV series Lois and Clark went into production
DC management ordered that the planned Lois and Clark wedding be abandoned, which resulted in the Death of Superman issues.
Why was the Kendra version created for the JSA series?
The previous attempts at reviving Hawkman, never a best seller, was so messed up; that DC gave up on the character.
Kendra in JSA was a young, fresh new character, with no other series to limit her use.
Shayera could kick butt, but Kendra could be more aggressive.
The Justice League was most successful with seven characters, the latest being the original Big Seven by Grant Morrison.
That group was largely used
Except for
John Stewart as Green Lantern
Hawkgirl replaced the Peter David version of Aquaman, who guest starred in a few episodes.
Hawkgirl was much more versatile in action sequences
With her ironic mask and wings, her mace smashing through many obstacles.
John and the two female heroes increased much needed diversity in the JL.
Jonn Jonzz was vital to the JL Origin Story, which was the first three episodes.
Only Batman and Superman had appeared previously, so five new characters had to be quickly introduced.
Saying Hawkgirl was from the planet Thanagar was easy to explain, especially with the alien origins of Superman, Jonn Jonzz and the Green Lantern Corp.
Kendra’s origin became that of Reincarnation, which took two episodes of JLU in Season 3 and required the use of Hawkman.
Kendra was not in the Justice League until 2007 JLA, by Brad Meltzer.
Shayera was a JLA member
Real Reason
Paul Levitt wanted one member to die or betray the team.
Which required
An expendable character
A plot that character could easily be used in
The planet Thanagar was drastically revised in the
Hawkworld series
From a nice, friendly planet to a
Violent fascist one, who conquered other planets
Which is the main plot of the final JL episodes Starcrossed
So the Hawkgirl in Justice League Animated
Though called
Shayera Hol
Is a combination of characteristics of
Silver Age Shayera Hol, including her costume
Kendra Saunders
Shayera Thal of Hawkworld (Cop daughter)
Kendra vs Shayera Thal
Hawkman 2002
Issue 15
Links
Secret Origin History of DC Comics (Death of Superman 1 hour 14 minutes in)
Messed up Hawkman
Hawkworld
Why Shayera in JL Animated
1999
JSA Secret Files 1
Kendra Saunders
Hawkgirl Origin
Complete
Short
Simple
No talk of reincarnation
Just use
Grand Aunt’s
(1st Hawkgirl 1940s
Shiera Sanders Hall)
Uniform
Nth Metal Belt
Wings
First flight of Hawkgirl
JSA 2
Hawkgirl Kendra Saunders
First Appearance in JSA Title
Again Simple
(Except for the dreams of Ancient Egypt)
(And that the
Original Hawkman
Carter Hall
Is her Grand Uncle
By marriage, not blood
Makes a later relationship between the two
Very … Problematic)
JSA 25
But that is later
Back to JSA 2
JSA Series
JSA
Issues 43 44
Kendra
Mr Terrific
Captain Marvel
Time travel to
Ancient Egypt
And meet
Prince Khufu
Lady Chay-ara
Black Adam
Nabu (Dr Fate)
And fight
Vandal Savage
A Metamorpho
Kendra is a co star in
The Hawkman 2002 Title
By Geoff Johns
My favorite pages are Carter as an Indiana Jones professor and Kendra’s entering his class room
Hawkmam 2002
Has everything
A Hawkman fan would want
Dynamic Art
An Akward Relationship
Exotic Lands
Doctor Fate (Their Son)
Old Friend
Frenemies
Old Enemies
Past Lives
Thanagar
Spacecraft
Hawkwoman
Hawkman 2002 ends with issue 49
Issue 50 is renamed Hawkgirl
The summary for issue 49 is
It is one of those
“End of everything”
Issues
And has no impact on current DC Continuity
Here are the final pages
Of issue 49
Hawkgirl 50
Summary
Non Random Sample Pages of this series
Hidding pages
Why?
You’ll know why
If you look
Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Warning recieved, and ignored, looked anyway.
Added a review of first part of series at end
Agree with review?
As to the over sexualization, yes just about every scene not in costume is in lingere, as to being well written it was not up to either of Simonson and Chaykin best. Though the art itself was good as was the basic story.
The Solo Hawkgirl Title was the high (or low) point in her comic book history
Afterwards, Kendra would only appear in team books or crisis events
One team up was
Birds of Prey 104 108
By Gail Simone
Who was also writing
Secret Six
At the time
In these issues
The two teams clash
(Including Harley Quinn)
The Birds of Prey recruited new members so the odds would be more equal
One was Kendra, who does her mace and fists thing.
Meltzer only wrote issues 0 and 1 to 12
Having 10 members did not allow them all to be explored
Emphasis was on Red Tornado, Vixen, and Black Canary
Roy and Kendra left the series in issue 31
By then
Their only sub plot
Was their romance
The series added an unseen daughter, Mia
2009
Blackest Night
The End of
Kendra Saunders
At least this version
The last page
Is my favorite
Since I started reading Hawkman in 1961
I felt 11 years old again
At least for a moment
As the lady bird said
“Oh how I’ve missed you.”
I am not crying
Okay a little
And then came
The End of Brighest Day
Flashpoint
New 52
And this
Eternal Love
Was gone again