Thursday, January 21, 2016

Animated World of DC Comics: Hawkman vs. a Peril From Pluto (1967)

With Hawkman soaring into primetime as part of Legends of Tomorrow, debuting tonight, let's take a trip back to 1967 when the Winged Avenger (Gilbert Mack) faced a "Peril From Pluto":




There were some differences between the comics and the three shorts Filmation produced. Chief among these was the absence of Hawkman's wife/partner, Hawkgirl, who wouldn't make her cartoon debut until 10 years later. Plus, on Earth as Carter Hall, Hawkman was a museum curator and archeologist, not a scientist. He did have an avian friend, but it was named Big Red, not Skreel. Writer George Kashdan knew all this, but bowed to what Filmation felt was more suitable for the kiddo's, especially leaving Hawkgirl out of the mix, since it would be too similar to Mera joining Aquaman on his adventures on the same show.

Rating: B.

2 comments:

Silverstar said...

Turnabout is fair play: decades later we got Hawkgirl without Hawkman on DC/Warner Brothers' "Justice League", though Carter Hall would turn up later on "Justice League Unlimited" as a sort of 'stalker' fanboy of Hawkgirl, as the show's producers were shipping Shayera Hol with Green Lantern John Stewart (not the Daily Show host!) at the time, a pairing that I wasn't particularly fond of; don't get me wrong, I'm all for mixed couplings (I think there should be more ethnic mixing and diversity in animation and media in general), just seeing Hawkgirl without Hawkman by her side was just weird and didn't feel right to me. Thankfully, we got to see the 2 of them as a proper couple on Cartoon Network's "Young Justice" and some of the DC DTVs. They also will appear together in the CW's "Legends of Tomorrow".

hobbyfan said...

Oh, indeed. The Hawks, as depicted on Legends, and prior to that, on Flash & Arrow, aren't exactly totally in love. Yet.

I'd seen the JLU eps you referenced. I too get the idea of mixed couplings, since it is something common in today's society, dating back decades. Funny thing is, in the books, John had been married for a time to Katma Tui, from Sinestro's homeworld of Korugar, in the late 80's, but for some reason, Katma wasn't available to the DCAU crew, so they subbed Shayera for Katma, but stopped short of having John give her a ring.