Hawk & Dove 1

ALL THAT YOU FEARED… AND LESS

Presumably whatever DC was hoping for with this slightly demented line-wide relaunch, it wasn’t to instil a feeling of dread in the reader. Yet that’s exactly what welled up within when gazing upon the first page of Hawk and Dove 1. In fact I had to put it down, make a cup of tea and try again later.

Why? Because in the ‘DCnU’ (bleurk) it’s 1990 all over again, and notorious penciller Rob Liefeld is back working for one of ‘the big two.’ It’s like he’s never been away, unfortunately, because while times have changed Rob’s art hasn’t. Actually, that’s a bit unfair. As one of one of the staff at my local comic shop said “at least he’s drawing feet now.”

I’m no fan of Liefeld’s art, but even I was taken aback by how ropey some of this is. The jaw-droppingly bad panel of people ‘looking shocked’ speaks for itself – while Liefeld’s aversion to drawing backgrounds, or interiors, or anything other than men grimacing, is as well evidenced as ever.

I wanted to give this series a go, as I enjoyed writer Sterling Gates’s work in Supergirl. He took what was a generic super-strong juvenile jezebel and made her a well rounded, sympathetic character. Sadly things don’t seem to be off to a similar start here. There’s a subplot about Dawn (Dove) having had some sort of relationship with Don (dead Dove) in the past, which has potential soap opera-esque intrigue. Sadly though the rest is pretty thin gruel.

Half the comic sees Hawk fly a plane into the Washington Monument (tasteful, in light of this September’s anniversary) while Gates sets up the duo’s new enemy, zombie-growing ‘science terrorist’ Alexander Quirk. As Generic Cop Man (Washi Watanabe, ‘special crimes, DCPD’) says “He’s been slowly building an army of men and monsters to further his political crusade.”

I guess Gates is using ‘political’ in its loosest sense here. Who’s going to vote for the man with the evil zombie army??

On this evidence, the future for Hawk and Dove doesn’t look good at all, and I won’t be back for issue 2. Fingers crossed that Sterling Gates lands a book which better showcases his writing talents soon.