Did They Not Get the Memo About the Revamp?
In this new Hawk & Dove relaunch, Sterling Gates appears to have completely missed the point of the big DC revamp while Rob Liefeld does his thing. It is a weak start to a series that doesn't show much chances of improvement.
We know Batman has gone relatively untouched by the revamp. We know Green Lantern has as well. I think many readers approve of that and even more at least understand the reasoning. But what about Hawk & Dove? Inexplicably, they seem to have gone untouched by the big continuity revamp and try to pick up where they left off from Brightest Day, unlike just about everything else from that series. The logic behind this completely escapes me. No one can honestly argue that Hawk & Dove were fine as they were, because it is not like they had a successful series going before the relaunches.
Even worse, what this results in is a first issue that is choking to death on continuity. It desperately tries to summarize the history of the characters, but there is just too much of it to do so effectively. Hawk and Dove really are such obscure DC characters that you can't gloss over their history like this and simply expect readers to understand and especially care.
I really can't tell what it s Gates is trying to do with his new series. What premise he is trying to establish her just completely escapes me. If he is trying to focus on the odd couple aspect of the duo, he's doing it wrong. Their friction fails to be charming or entertaining. It comes off simply as annoying. More than that, they don't come off as particularly likable individually. Hawk is especially unlikable. Yes, he is supposed to be a hard to get along with kind of character, but fiction is filled with characters with such flaws who are still likable despite them. Gates depicts Hawk as just a one-note, angry complainer. The only reason Dove comes off any better is because she doesn't have much of a personality on display.
Like seemingly everything else, Dove's relationship with Deadman is still in tact. The strange thing about it here is that we see them talking, though. Can Deadman now communicate with the living in ghost form, or is this something he can only do with Dove? Either way, it's an awful idea that really sucks anything compelling out of their relationship. Why would you remove the key aspect that makes a relationship tragic and complicated, otherwise known as interesting? There was a lot of potential to it. Just imagine Deadman having to regularly possess Hawk to communicate with Dove. Now, that would have been a nightmare of awkward tension and an interesting one at that.
Then there is the art by Liefeld. Should I even say anything? I actually think it is better than his usual work, but nothing to a degree that will change anyone's opinion on it.
A book like Hawk & Dove needs to be a character-focused series that sells itself to readers with its interesting and entertaining dynamic between the lead characters. Gates and Liefeld do not provide this here. It is instead an issue that spends most of its time trying to sort through all of the continuity of the characters, despite that being completely counter to the point of the relaunch. There is no revamp here, at least not one that is substantial enough to matter. This is just an ill-conceived attempt to throw Hawk and Dove out there and see if anyone cares. With writing and art like this, it is hard to imagine many people will.
