Hawkman #8 Review

by Hussein Wasiti on January 16, 2019

Written by Robert Venditti
Art by Bryan Hitch
Inking by Andrew Currie and Andy Owens
Colouring by Jeremiah Skipper
Lettering by Richard Starkings and Comicraft
 
I've been enjoying this book a great deal, mostly from an artistic perspective as Bryan Hitch and the rest of the art team are doing phenomenal work here. Despite the lack of action, Hitch and Jeremiah Skipper in particular reach a level of visual beauty that honestly surprised me. Skipper's colouring has vastly improved over the course of the series, and this is his best work yet, in that this is the best work I've ever seen of his in general.
 
Based on the ending it seems that this issue was designed to have a more melancholy and quite tone going into the bombastic events that are sure to take place in the next few issues, and it worked well for me. However, there was a fair bit of repetition as Robert Venditti recounts the events of the last few issues through a conversation between Hawkman and his Kryptonian reincarnation, Catar-Ol. It was an enjoyable conversation nonetheless, and I wasn't bored at all in this issue.
 
I give all the credit in the world to Hitch for this, since this issue is essentially entirely a conversation with  some different scene breaks here and there. He keeps it interesting and the man is a master at emotion and acting. Hawkman and Catar-Ol feel like completely different people, and in a way they are, but he does this through body posture as well as facial design and emotion. It's amazing, and I think any artist who wants to learn the ways of constructing dialogue scenes needs to read this issue until it's in rags. His work is that good.
 
Not much happens here. The recap annoyed me but Bryan Hitch's art just sends a jolt through my body. His pencils, along with inks by Andrew Currie and Andy Owens, coupled with Jeremiah Skipper's amazing colours, give us one of the best-looking books currently being published, hands down.
 

Our Score:

8/10

A Look Inside