Hawkgirl #1 variant cover, via DC Comics.
Hawkgirl #1 — Jadzia Axelrod, Writer; Amancay Nahuelpan, Artist; Adriano Lucas, Colorist
Ray — 8.5/10
Ray: Jadzia Axelrod is probably one of DC’s most promising new writers at the moment, making her debut with the acclaimed trans-themed graphic novel Galaxy: The Prettiest Star, which absolutely deserves the hype. Not only did it deftly deal with complex topics of identity, but it debuted a number of new alien species. They’re now coming to the DCU proper in this miniseries, which explodes out of the gate with one of the most complex and messiest first issues I can remember. Hawkgirl by her nature is a challenging character to write, given how many lifetimes she’s carrying within her. Not to mention, there’s another version of the character alive out there on Thanagar. Surprisingly, this issue picks up directly from events that happened to Hawkgirl in the Snyder/Tynion Justice League run… which wound up wrapping up all the way back in Death Metal, several years ago.
Stalker. Via DC Comics.
It often feels like we’re picking up on this story in mid-stream, which can be a slightly disorienting experience. Kendra lives a chaotic life, and the arrival of Galaxy in the middle of this chaos — which involves both tiny little furnace-gremlins and a beloved talking corgi named Argus — requires quite a bit of recapping. Kendra talks to Batman and reveals that we essentially have an in-story retcon, with the invasion of the Vane from Galaxy’s story happening and essentially being collectively forgotten by the general population. In the middle of all of this, we also have the debut of a terrifying new villain called Vulpecula, who is playing a long-game involving Nth Metal and coming back to haunt a woman who made a deal with her decades ago. This book often takes on a bit of a storybook tone in the narration, but it’s packed with characters and maybe a bit overly ambitious. But it’s fascinating and I can’t wait to see more.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
