This issue stands out as my favorite of the series thus far. The first story arc offered standard super-heroics, and the two-part Green Arrow team-up story, though fun, felt a little forced, as though it was just trying to capitalize on the Emerald Archer's current popularity. This issue felt much more natural, exploring the title character and advancing Hawkgirl's subplot (which was the catalyst for the premise of this new series).
Setting his Hawkman garb aside for an evening, Carter Hall has a dinner "date" with an old friend. He's a physics professor, but more people know him as the diminutive Justice Leaguer named the Atom, AKA Ray Palmer. Carter and Ray reminisce on old times, and Ray shares the lessons he's learned about love with his friend, given how confused he is about his own romantic situation (or lack thereof). Meanwhile, Hawkgirl teams with a couple of St. Roch detectives to track down her parents' killer, and it leads them to a fellow by the name of Warwhip.
I'm guessing that there are a number of new readers out there who are unaware of the connection between Hawkman and the Atom. This second image ought to clear things up a bit. In the Silver Age, both characters had their own series, but they were merged after a few years. Pairing them up in a single title (usually with separate stories, though not always) translated into a creative decision to make them close friends, but that relationship really hasn't been tapped into all that much in recent years. I'm pleased to see Johns acknowledge that aspect of continuity, but I'm more pleased to see a strong character-driven issue arise as a result.
Rags Morales's do an excellent job of reinforcing a sense of reality. Whether it's a talking-heads scene in a restaurant or a climactic confrontation with a super-villain, Morales makes it all seem possible. Warwhip's unusual powers/appendages are particularly well done. They're creepy, yet they look like they could exist. The organic look may spark some low-brow phallic humor among some readers, but overall, Morales manages to make an entirely new, somewhat generic super-villain seem thoroughly menacing.
In some ways, this strikes me as the real first issue of the series. While Hawkman #1 set up the series, it's in this issue that the story finally gets under way. Johns offers up a thoroughly accessible script that fills new readers in on the new status quo of the title character as well as how he got to this point. And though it's the third team-up story in a row, I look forward to the Dr. Fate appearance in the next issue, as Johns addresses yet another important relationship from one of Hawkman's past lives.
