Comic Info
Comic Name: Hawk & Dove (Volume 3)
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Rob Liefeld/Sterling Gates
Artist: Rob Liefeld/Marat Mychaels
# of Issues: 8
Release Date: 2012
Hawk & Dove (3) #4
Reprints Hawk & Dove (3) #1-8 (November 2011-June 2012). Hank Hall and Dawn Granger are the Avatars of War and Peace known as the superheroes Hawk and Dove. When Hawk and Dove are targeted by Condor and Swan, they learn that they could be part of a bigger circle. Now, due to Dawn’s relationship with Deadman, they find themselves being hunted, teaming up with Batman and Robin, and facing death in an enemy called D’khan.
Written by Rob Liefeld (with Sterling Gates) and also illustrated by Liefeld (with help from Marat Mychaels), Hawk & Dove 1: First Strikes was part of DC Comics’ New 52 relaunch after Flashpoint. The “Volume 1” aspect of the comic is a bit of a misnomer in that it is the only volume with Hawk and Dove cancelled after being reviewed as one of the weakest comics of the New 52.
Hawk and Dove first appeared in Showcase #75 (June 1968) with Hank and Don Hall as Hawk and Dove. Don was killed during Crisis on Infinite Earths and Hank eventually was teamed with a new Dove in Dawn Granger (in a popular limited series by Leifeld in 1993). Hank went mad for a period as Extant but with Brightest Day and the New 52, Hawk and Dove was reestablished as a team.
Hawk & Dove (3) #6
Hawk & Dove is a great example of why an artist shouldn’t necessarily write their own book. The book feels like a ’90s Image book with no writing and all flash. The story feels very segmented, uneven and clunky. The episodic nature of the story doesn’t have much of an arc and that was also hindered by the quick announcement that the story was coming to an end…with a last issue that feels incomplete and rushed.
While Liefeld was known for his art in the ’90s, his art is now just bad in comparison to the artists who evolved from the Image boom. The bodies of the characters are all distorted and everyone is grimacing all the time…everyone seems to be in pain with every movement. It is bad, and Liefeld is no longer the artist who made New Mutants and X-Force a big hit.
Hawk & Dove was probably my least favorite book in the New 52 relaunch. DC had to know from the first issue that the series was in trouble. It was a bad combination of bad writing and bad art that killed series but also casts a shadow on all of comics…steer clear of Hawk & Dove at all costs.
