Kendra Saunders, the winged warrior better known as Hawkgirl, has been one of the DCU’s greatest heroes for a long time, serving as a member of both the Justice League and the Justice Society. But with the Justice League disbanded, Kendra decides she needs a fresh start and heads to Metropolis to begin a new life. That life is quickly interrupted by a mysterious villain with a powerful connection to the Nth metal that makes up Hawkgirl’s wings and weapons. A brand-new adventure with sky-high action, adventure, and intrigue begins here by Jadzia Axelrod (Galaxy: The Prettiest Star) and Amancay Nahuelpan (Wonder Woman, Detective Comics, The Flash).
What an incredible debut! Vulpecula is an extremely intriguing villain and I’m loving how this book brings so many elements of Kendra’s past together in one cohesive narrative. Feels a lot like I did reading HAWKMAN #1 in 2018. One thing I’ll recommend is to read GALAXY: THE PRETTIEST STAR if you haven’t done that yet, which will add a lot of context.
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I enjoyed it. I was really interested in her backstory and like how, in regard to her past, we get a panel showing up alongside the present during conversations with people like her friend from college. It’s not distracting, and it does inspire intrigue on her mindset and past lives.
It looks like Kendra has something going on in her life that really makes her shut off from most people, and even during a fight where her wings won’t work, she might have a death wish as Kendra Hawkgirl is okay just accepting her death as she can come back, but it’s still upsetting. I kept up with her development for a while to know she wishes she can live only one life, and her accepting her resurrection abilities now is probably part of that development of her becoming fatalistic over her life.
This is all fascinating to me and this is why I like Kendra as a character where her development is focused upon and not connected or squandered in Justice League stories. While they do technically show up in this issue, I was more interested in the interactions with Powergirl character who is an old friend of Hawkgirl when she was in the JSA.
Speaking of the Justice League. While I am strangely glad that Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter ain’t a thing no more, I wonder what happened there? I have ideas, but I have a feeling, much like her time in the Blackhawks, they probably won’t talk about it. 
Galaxy is here and while I do like here in her series, I admit it’s kind of silly how they introduce her. Not bad, just kind of simplistic.
I thought it was lazy how Batman explained everything about her, even if it’s treated as a joke, that was pretty lame. And the explanation as to why the events in her series were important but why no one mentioned it was also dumb.
Come on, writer Jadzia Axelrod. Besides crisis events, alien invasions do often happen, and maybe a better explanation instead of people being so traumatized by it was that it was an event nobody remembered because it didn’t affect them. I think joking about the lame excuse is just lazy.
I honestly like this first issue a lot, but minor problems in the writing make me not love it. I think focusing on establishing the new team-up with Galaxy and Hawkgirl is going to be fascinating. What the villain in this arc is doing is unclear, but I like the fair tale opening to tie both Galaxy, Hawkgirl and this new villain in a mystery tale together. I liked it a lot and hope to read more of it.
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Getting my complaint iout of the way first. I get fan service (especially with the Hawks), but the dialogue bringing attention to it was bit much.
I enjoyed this mystery especially Mareen. I look forward to seeing where it goes. It was great to see Power Girl acting like Power Girl again (I really hated her special).
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That has been the case since she first showed up, though she has opened up many times since.
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I actually wanted to mention that she had experience with something similar in her JSA days, but I thought it would be irrelevant, you know.
I got the impression we are seeing the focus return on the tragic past of Kendra Saunders again from the pre-flashpoint era, and not the stuff from rebirth involving her being Lady Blackhawk from Scott Synder JL series. I think they even joke about that history.
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I probably shouldn’t say anything yet since I haven’t read the first issue. But I do want to say that I’m glad that they are finally trying to establish Kendra as a character. I liked her in the JSA and Hawkman books of the 2000s, but those always seemed to focus either on how her connection to Hawkman is different or just on being paired with him in general. Looking forward to reading the first issue once it hits the service and checking out what they do with Kendra!
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Definitely liked the first issue – the villain that they have crafted for this sounds interesting, feels different from the usual sort of villains that the Hawks tend to get.
I kind of wish we got a little more of what Kendra’s been going through outside of what she mentioned to her super-powered friends and that one gal who dollars-to-doughnuts will be Kendra’s girlfriend by the end of this series. It was funny, my thought process while reading some of that was “Wait, when did Hawkgirl hook up with Martian Manhunter? …Oh yeah, the Snyder run, fair enough. …Wait, when did they break up?!” 
Also interested to see what they do with Galaxy in this, because it seems like they’re not just playing with stuff we saw in her OGN, but stuff that happened way after. Like, this looks like a Galaxy that is YEARS after we last saw her. I wonder if this is something we’ll get more of in this story, or if this is hints at future OGNs with her? I know there’s supposed to be a sequel staring her and Dreamer fairly soon.
So yeah, overall solid first issue. Looking forward to reading more. 
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Paging @Shayera.Hol…what’s our resident Thanagarian mod’s take on Hawkgirl’s latest solo go-around?
As for me, Hawkgirl is among the bevy of female-led Dawn of DC titles I’m excited for and I will dive into it the second the mag’s on Ultra.
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They did not. JSA was more focused on her relationship with Sandman than Hawkman, and Hawkman by Hawk comparison put remarkably little focus on their relationship (partly as they were not together) and focused more on The Atom and Hawkman’s relationship.
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That will be an legitimately cool power to have. Reminds me of this ability Batman of Shanghai could do.
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One of the absolute best DC Nation shorts and then some.
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One more day until issue 2.
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Finished it. I am enjoying the villains way more than the heroes. They are more animated and zany.
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Finally read the first issue thanks to Ultra. Art looks good, does a good job at characterizing Kendra. Good to have cameos from Superman and PG. I feel like it is a bit too soon for me to give a more detailed analysis. But looking forward to more.
Also, I want Abilene & Kendra together romantic styles. I don’t even know why! I just sometimes get that gut desire for fictional characters.
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Unless the writing is particularly bad or gimmicky, I personally don’t care that much if they decide to make a character Bi or Pan or whatever. BUT I understand your point of introducing new characters like that but haven’t been focused on to any significant extent for a while
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Also, can someone explain this Galaxy alien character to me? I thought this was a new character introduced in this issue, but I guess she had her own series?
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