Action Comics #588 (May 1987)
Action Comics #588 (May 1987)
Superman helps Hawkman and Hawkwoman stop an invasion from their own planet of wing-wearing warriors, Thanagar. The Hawkcouple came to Earth years ago chasing a Thanagarian criminal and sorta took a liking to the place, so when they learned of the invasion they betrayed their people and called Superman for help. Supes spends most of the issue flying around space and punching invader ships, which is as awesome as it sounds.
Hawkman finally figures out how to stop the invasion by teleporting all the ships to distant corners of the universe – unfortunately Superman was out there with the ships when that happened, so he ends up stranded millions of light years from Earth, without air. Welp, guess that’s it for the Man of Steel. He had a good run.
Plotline-Watch:
The Hawkpeople’s appearance in this issue isn’t just an inconsequential cameo; this is actually the conclusion to a long-running storyline in Hawkman comics (spanning across a miniseries, a special and ten issues), which is kind of an odd move, right? It’s like ending Death of Superman in a Flash comic.
Oddly enough, a few years later the “real” Hawkman would be introduced, and it was decided that this was guy just some asshole pretending to be him (and, uh, saving the world in the process?). So all through this issue, we’re just watching some imposter. Thankfully, DC Comics is now beyond pulling this type of shit.
WTF-Watch:
We are treated to some nice panels of Hawkman slapping his wife around. It’s actually a shapeshifter posing as Hawkman (or posing as the guy posing as Hawkman), but I’m surprised they didn’t put that image on the cover.
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