Polite Dissent

This is the final regular issue of Hawk & Dove. It’s an above average issue, and manages to tie together most of the various plot lines of the series.

After being tricked by Barter and an unnamed co-conspirator, Hawk is suspected of causing a car crash and trying to kill Senator Tom O’Neill. Hawk is now in hiding and on the run from the police. He’s also mad at being played for a fool, and wants to take it out on Senator O’Neill — or whoever is in his body now.

Dawn is looking for Hawk as well. She is visited at home by Mrs. Hall, Hank’s mother, who admits that she has long known that Hank was Hawk, and it didn’t take much to deduce that Dawn is the new Dove. She implores Dawn to find Hank and clear everything up. In the middle of the conversation, Dawn’s mother stops by the room and casually mentions that Hawk has been spotted downtown. Dawn and Mrs. Hall head off in that direction.

It turns out that Hawk has been discovered by Azure, the Aztec goddess from issue #2. She has gained increased powers as part of the War of the Gods crossover and wants to take revenge on those responsible for defeating her last time. (She also turned the three Wildebeests hunting Hawk into stone, thus quickly ending the Titans Hunt crossover). As Azure and Hawk’s battle destroys a grocery store, Dove shows up to help capture the goddess. The Washington Special Crimes Unit shows up as well, and is able to trick Azure into losing her powers, just like before.

As the battle ends, Hawk heads for Senator O’Neill’s house to confront him and Dove follows along. Hawk busts through a window and is ready to pummel the Senator when Uncle Sam walks in through the door. Hawk and Uncle Sam have a tussle while the Senator escapes out the window, now exposed as Roscoe Dillon, the Top (remember him from Hawk and Dove Annual #1? He was one of the dead villains the team fought). Dove takes off after him and defeats him relatively quickly. She returns to the house to discover that Hawk has had a change of heart and has turned himself in to the police. Dove wants to turn herself in as an accomplice, but Hawk won’t let her.

The next time we see Hank, he is in a closed session before a judge (because of the “Federal Metagene Privacy Guidelines”). The judge releases Hank into his parent’s custody until his trial. As he leaves the courtroom, Ren and Dawn are waiting for him. Ren promises to stick by Hank forever and asks him to marry her. Seeing the two of them together makes Dawn feels guilty and she calls Sal. They have a long conversation that closes out the book with Dawn admitting to him — just as he suspected — that she is Dove. A happy ending…at least until Armageddon 2001.

The first half of the book has great art, penciled by series regular Greg Guler. The second half is penciled by Curt Swan. I like his Superman art and he is clearly very proficient, but his art here is a jarring change of pace from the usual series art. His character designs (particularly Dove and Sal) don’t fit, and the inking makes his art look muddy. It also doesn’t help that his pages begin with Uncle Sam’s entrance, one of the sillier parts of the book if not the series.

Overall, this is a good issue, but clearly it was rushed a little to meet the sudden end of the series. The sales had been declining for some time and cancellation was probably inevitable, but it was the revelations of Armageddon 2001 that added the time crunch. It shows in the art, and it shows in the writing. I would have liked to see how the Kesels had planned to end the Senator O’Neill storyline if given all the time they needed (I’m hoping the original plan did not include Uncle Sam). Most of the dangling plot threads were tied up — some a little too conveniently — but a few were left dangling (and the best of my knowledge are still dangling today):

• Titans Hunt crossover – Completed.
• War of the Gods crossover - Completed.
• Donna/Kyle – Eloped.
• Ren – Asked Hank to marry her.
• Rodger – Still in the hospital.
• The Top – Still in Senator O’Neill’s body. Last scene, he was back as the Top, post-Identity Crisis. I don’t think this was ever explained.
• Barter – Still free

This is not quite the end of the series (or my recap of Hawk and Dove). There is still Hawk & Dove Annual #2 which ties into the Armageddon 2001 crossover, as well as the two issues of Armageddon 2001 themselves.