Side Bets: Hawkman vs Hawkman

[Princess Ivy]

I understand why the crisis on infinate earths was done, although i think it was not nessecary, we lost a lot of good characters. I also understand taht superhero's need to occassionaly grow up, and as many of them are disturbed, this will naturally lead to grittier stories. But the damage done to some of my child hood favorites still bites. And so i propose a side bet from the main competition, starting with Hawkman vs Hawkman
on the first hand we have carter hol, archeologist extrorodinaire. he found a magical scarab and built his own wings and helmet.

on the other hand we have the tough cop from thangar, with plans within plans and a very bleak outlook.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

If it helps, here's an article on the original Hawkman, Carter Hall: http://www.toonopedia.com/hawkman1.htmAnd another on his succesor, Thanagrian cop Katar Hol: http://www.toonopedia.com/hawkman2.htm


The wikipedia entry points out there are at least 3 versions of Hawkman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawkman

I'm most familiar with the Thanagarian Hawkman. I reckon he'd do better, because Katar Hol has that space ship and various Thanagarian weapons, while the only power Carter Hall seems to have apart from flight is sharp vision and the ability to talk to birds.

 

[Princess Ivy]

see, i remember names but not spellings. i hat to say that Karter would probably win, although not because of advanced weaponry, but rather the tough cynicism of the badass cop. Carter on the other hand, while able to stand up for himself, and later his hawkwoman, wasstill a misty eyed HERO, with all of the superman virtues and valour. he would never sucker punch to win...

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

That's kinda what I figured too.

 

[Princess Ivy]

but lets see what 'they' think. maybe we're two old cynics and wrong. maybe carter will win by the gods protecting silly HERO's from sucker punches?

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

This is one of my major frustrations with (primarily) DC comics.
The need to "re-image" their heroes origins every couple of years or so.
I have no beef with 2 heroes having the same name or even similar powers but this airbrushing of their own back catalogue history leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

But on the topic, I think Carter Hall would win - Golden Age heroes always did, didn't they?

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Golden Age heroes always did, didn't they?

Damn! Can't argue with that!

Some character re-inventions work, others don't. I especially don't understand why they got rid of Supergirl. The character was clearly popular enoughthat they've since had to have at least two 'revivals'. Oh sure, it was an attempt to underscore the 'last son of Krypton' tag, but Supergirl was around for long enough to be an important part of the mythos and I think there have always been people who will miss her. Just like, after crippling Barbara Gordon, the Batman folks have eventually had to give us a new Batgirl. A lot of DC characters work on that hero-female counterpart-kid sidekick model, and it's something that works. It gives everyone someone to identify with, it's fun and it gives you a cool group dynamic to work with, while leaving room for solo tales. It only gets out of hand in cases like the Silver Age Superman, who seemed to be metting enough Krpytonians to repopulate the planet, or recent Batman whose entourage seems to be ever growing (there's the current Robin, the Huntress, the new Batgirl, Oracle, Catwoman and Nightwing drops by to help out now and then).

 

[Princess Ivy]

supergirl was replaced by Laurel, the daxamite from L.E.G.I.O.N, and never sat well with me. I'm never sure though is Oracle is the same as the one from the suicide squad?

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

It is the same Oracle - who is atually Barbara Gordon, the original Batgirl.

I'm not at all surprised that DC re-introduced Kara last year. All those other lame post-Crisis Supergirls were such desperate attempts to fill a real void in the DC mythos, this is one backtracking that was needed.

 

[Princess Ivy]

the surpise was that they took her out. i agree there, and am glad to hear that she is comming back into the fold.

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

Well, the whole Superman chronology is messed up, even 'post-crisis'.
And now they have a clone of Superman (Superboy) running around as well as giving human form to the Eradicator - kind of argues against 'Last Son of..' doesn't it?
The last I heard about Supergirl was that she was still around but now came from a parallel earth or something? And that she's a shape-shifter?
Its hard to keep track of all these constant re-imaginings. I thought it was brave of them to kill Superman, but it would have been braver to keep him dead (but then again withdrawing your greatest product from the market doesn't make much economic sense does it?)

I think a lot of older comic book fans are turning away from these comics now as they re-tell the same story over & over again and rarely seem to give them proper character development. I only 'dip' in every now and then to try and keep track, but I tend to look out for more innovative comic titles these days.

This has really gone off course from the original premise hasn't it?

How about Marvel's 'Falcon' vs Hawkman?
The social worker from Harlem versus the reincarnated Egyptian prince....now there's a clash of cultures!

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Re: Supergirl, late last year writer Jeph Loeb re-introduced a Supergirl From Krypton, for the first time since Crisis. Yes, it is hard keeping track of all this for a ling-term fan - I thought John Byrne's reboot would be 'it' in the 80s, then everything changed again, and then you had Supers' 'death' and his return, and a variety of short-lived 'looks' along the way - it's all a bit much. What I particularly don't understand is that the Superboy who is today a member of the Teen Titans is the sam as the clone Superboy created by Project Cadmus, the lad who moved to Hawaii and had his own comic for a while - but he looks completely different! What's going on???

Back on topic: Falcon Vs Hawkman would sure be an interesting battle! He seems an even match for the Earthling Hawkman, although the Thanagarian Hawkman might have superior weaponry.

 

[Princess Ivy]

i'm not really up on the Falcon, but he can have whoever wins this one