HAWKMAN vs. PIKE, an incredible assassin with key info about Hawkman’s past!
Summary
Hawkman faces off with Pike and manages to take him down and carry him back to his ship. Their Pike reveals the conquest of the Daemonites across the universe, the seeming annihilation of the Kherubim and Hawkman’s date with destiny. Pike was playing possum and quickly turns the tides and hands Hawkman and his precious Nth metal over to the Thnagarian army and Shayera, Hawkman’s lady love who vowed to kill him when next they met.
The Good
Pike– Say what you want about Rob Liefeld but his use of Pike in this book as been on point and well executed! Here is a man high skilled and dangerous with ties to the impending Daemonite invasion s interesting. Pike here is a crossbreed between a Kherubim and human. One very big point of the new 52 has been the presence of aliens on earth and Pike has just added two new races to the mix; Kherubim and Kherubim hybrid. Voodoo would make for an interesting foil for Pike, methinks. Also note worthy was Pike’s very sexy sentient Hover Bike. Their back and forth quips added some much needed humor to the issue.
Interior art-Joe Bennett’s art suited the titular character and choreographed the action very well. I loved the use of splash pages which became all the rage thanks to Brian Michael Bendis. Never knew who Joe was before this but I sure do now and will be following his career from here on in.
Action– Rob Leifeld is a man of action and this issue does not disappoint on that front at all. Everything was well choreographed.
The Bad
Cover– Classic Liefeld which I’m not a fan off. Early solicits and previews even had Pike as a Caucasian with clearly some editor making note that he had the wrong pigmentation and correcting it before deadline. The cover is just very flat despite being distinctive.
The Ugly
I was entertained from start to finish though I found the villain Pike more entertaining than Hawkman. Overall: 3/5 good work Rob!
