Hawkman #26 (DC)
Raymond Marais (w) Dick Dillin (a)
One of my favourite comics back in the sixties was Hawkman, who along with Hawkgirl were policemen from the planet Thanagar having adventures on Earth, well a lot of the time.
I picked up this issue because of the terrific cover which isn't quite as misleading as a lot of DC's covers were in those days. This story tells of the Hawks call back to Thanagar where Katar Hol gets framed for betraying his people and has to run to prove his innocence.
Returning to Earth the reason for his plight is an archaeological artefact that is in fact an alien piece of technology which can be used to beat a massive pirate invasion of Thanagar.
Of course the good guys (and girls) win in this "done in one" adventure that made DC an attractive proposition to a young reader with limited pocket money and unable to get continuing adventures that Marvel churned out at the time.
I've always loved the Hawks though following Crisis on Infinite Earths their continuity became almost impossible to follow with the pair suddenly becoming reincarnated lovers from ancient Egypt as the result of a curse. Nowadays the Thanagarians are not benign policemen but a rather fascistic society.
Sadly #26 is the penultimate issue of Hawkmans silver age run before being cancelled. However in a move more associated with British comics he found himself merged in The Atom and Hawkman another failing favourite that only lasted another 12 issues.
The Silver Age Hawkman remains a great read and of course Katar Hol was a member of the Justice League so The Hawks don't quite disappear far from it. But that's for another post at a later date.
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