The central concept which was originally inspired by the emerging political divides of the 1960s (see war hawks and war doves) traditionally revolves around two young heroes with contrasting personalities and diametrically opposed ideologies who, by speaking their super-heroic aliases, are transformed and granted power sets of heightened strength, speed, and agility. With Dove representing reason and nonviolence and Hawk representing force and aggression, they complement one another and find a state of balance in order to effectively combat evil. With Dawn's introduction, it was revealed that Hawk and Dove receive their powers from the Lords of Chaos and Order, respectively, and that their powers are mystic in origin.
Though the duo's ongoing titles have all been relatively short-lived and their guest-appearances in other titles sporadic, the heroes have experienced a storied and often tragic history. Multiple characters have worn the respective titles of Hawk and Dove at one time or another, and the legacy has endured deaths, resurrections, and even Hank's own descent into madness and subsequent transformation into the mass-murdering despot Monarch and later Extant. A third incarnation of Hawk and Dove debuted in their own 1997 mini-series, though this group featured entirely unique characters and was only linked to their predecessors thematically, if not in namesake alone. Dawn's estranged sister, the British and fiery Holly Granger serves asHawk III in Hank's absence until her own death in 2009's Blackest Night event.
Spinning off from their Showcase debut, Don and Hank Hall received their own series titled The Hawk and the Dove. Created by Steve Ditko and Steve Skeates, Ditko plotted only the first issue and left after the second. In a 1999 interview, Skeates expressed dismay with changes that would be made to his script by Ditko and editorial, citing a tendency to neutralize Dove's abilities as a crimefighter in favor of Hawk's:
It was strange. A lot of changes would happen after I turned in a script. Quite often, my idea of what to do with the Dove was have him do brave stuff – and then it would be changed by either Dick [Giordano] or Steve into the Hawk doing that stuff. They’d say it was out of character for the Dove. They seemed to be equating Dove with wimp, wuss, coward or whatever. And I don’t really think it was because they were more hawkish. I just don’t think that they knew what a dove was.
Although Skeates attempted to change the direction of the series after Ditko left and artist Gil Kane joined the creative team, Skeates himself left after the fourth issue, leaving Kane to take on both writing and art responsibilities until the book's cancellation due to low sales after only the sixth issue.
The original Hawk and Dove made sporadic appearances in different DC titles throughout the 1970s and 1980s, primarily within the Teen Titans and New Teen Titans, joining the original incarnation briefly from Teen Titans (vol. 1) #25–30 (Jan–Oct 1970), under the guidance of writers Dick Giordano, Robert Kanigher, and artist Nick Cardy. Skeates also provided scripts for some of these issues they appeared in. The brothers also teamed up with Batman in The Brave and the Bold (vol. 1) #181 (Dec 1981) in an out-of-continuity tale written by Alan Brennert and drawn by Jim Aparo.
The original Hawk and Dove's last appearance together was in Crisis on Infinite Earths No. 12 (March 1986), in which Don Hall was killed and became one of the last of a multitude of characters to meet their demise throughout the series, including Flash (Barry Allen), Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), and dozens of others.
Following Dove's death, Hawk and Dove would appear together in various flashbacks while Hawk would appear alone in occasional guest-appearances in the Teen Titans titles, including his own solo two-part story in Teen Titans Spotlight #7–8 (February and March 1987) by Mike Baron and Jackson Guice.
In 1986, Karl Kesel and Barbara Kesel began collaborating on a revival of Hawk and Dove, with the idea of creating a second Dove, who would this time be a female that would later become Dawn Granger.
I was inking the figure of the dead Dove on George Pérez’s "Crisis" spread in The History of the DC Universe not crying tears over the death of the guy since he was pretty much a minor hero, but regretting the end of a really interesting team. I always liked Hawk and Dove. I always thought how they’d say “Hawk!” and “Dove!” and transform was really cool. Then it hit me: The mysterious voice that gave Hawk and Dove their powers could easily give the Dove powers to someone else! Maybe… a woman! I called Barbara as soon as I could. She sparked off the idea instantly and before even we knew it, we were co-writers.
The revival was approved for a five-issue mini-series, and the Kesels were joined by then-up-and-coming artist Rob Liefeld. The mini-series, shortened from its 1968 title to simply Hawk & Dove was published in 1988–1989. The revival veered away from the duo's Silver Age political leanings and told a more straightforward super-hero story with human trappings, introducing a number of supporting characters and villains that were loosely based on many of the Kesels' friends and family. Their portrayals of Hank and Dawn themselves were modeled on Barbara Kesel's brother and Karl Kesel's sister, respectively. This new direction was well received by fans and sold out, which then spurred the launch of an ongoing series with Hawk & Dove (vol. 3) in June 1989, co-written by the Kesels with Greg Guler replacing Liefeld on art chores. The Kesels also wrote a Hawk and Dove feature in Secret Origins No. 43 (August 1989) that elaborated on the origin story of Hank and Don, revealing that Hawk and Dove's powers were given to them by the Lords of Chaos and Order and that Hawk and Dove themselves were Agents of Chaos and Order, respectively.
Despite its strong start, the relaunched ongoing was eventually cancelled after 28 issues and two Annuals, with No. 28 being published in October 1991. To date, this is the longest any Hawk & Dove ongoing series has lasted.
References:
^ Brightest Day #4 (August 2010)
^ Skeates, Steve. Interview from Comic Book Artist Magazine No. 5, 1999.
^ Kesel, Karl. Introduction to Hawk and Dove: Ghost & Demons TPB.
^ Kesel, Barbara. From intro to Hawk and Dove: Ghosts & Demons TPB.
^ Manning, Matthew K. "1980s" in Dolan, p. 234: "Written by Barbara and Karl Kesel and drawn by future superstar Rob Liefeld, this five-issue miniseries reestablished the famous pair for a new generation."
^ Hawk & Dove Vol.2 #14–17
^ Titans vol. 2, No. 1 (June 2008)
^ Blackest Night No. 2 (October 2009)
^ Blackest Night: Titans #1 (October 2009)
^ Blackest Night: Titans #3 (December 2009)
^ Blackest Night No. 3 (November 2009)
^ Blackest Night #7 (February 2010)
^ Green Lantern Corps vol. 2, No. 46 (March 2010)
^ Blackest Night No. 8 (March 2010)
^ Titans vol. 2, No. 23 (March 2010)
^ Brightest Day No. 5 (July 2010)
^ Brightest Day No. 6 (July 2010)
^ Brightest Day No. 7 (August 2010)
^ Brightest Day No. 9 (September 2010)
^ Brightest Day No. 12 (October 2010)
^ Brightest Day No. 13 (November 2010)
^ Brightest Day No. 14 (November 2010)
^ Brightest Day No. 17 (January 2011)
^ Brightest Day No. 23 (April 2011)
^ Brightest Day #24 (April 2011)
^ Birds of Prey vol. 2 #1–2 (July–August 2010)
^ "Image of Wonder Woman's all-female superteam". DC Comics.com.
^ Kushins, Josh (12 January 2012). "DC Comics in 2012–-Introducing the "Second Wave" of DC Comics The New 52". The Source. DC Comics. Archived from the original on 14 January 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
^ "Geoff Johns: Inside Blackest Night – Part Two". IGN. 14 August 2009.