The feature inspired by great cosplay and fan art where I imagine various DC properties taken to the small screen and wonder aloud just what their shows would be like. Today's pitch: Hawkman and Hawkwoman.
Hawkgirl cosplay by: Gina B Cosplay; photo by FirstPerson Shooter; edited by The Nerd Church Podcast (DeviantArt page)
Hawkman cosplay by: Aaron Grigg (Flickr page)
I believe with every fiber of my being that the Hawkman/Hawkgirl franchise has suffered every time the two characters have been apart. Rather than give top billing to either character, the TV show should just take the Hawkworld title, ensuring it's about the PAIRING, and not any one character. And if it's gonna be Hawkworld, then it really needs to be about the space cops version of the idea, and not the Egyptian reincarnations. The 90s Ostrander series is actually a good template for television. TV already knows how to write cop dramas, and the militaristic uniforms designed by Tim Truman have the realistic grit that would sell the idea of winged men and women to the studio execs, but as you can see above, more classic feathered looks are pretty cool too. Katar and Shayera don't even have to be a couple, as per that series, just partners, though my preferred iteration is the sexy married couple from the Silver Age. Maybe it's something to work towards.
And of course, the show would spend at least SOME time on Thanagar where the Hawks' higher-ups and family, Byth, Hyathis and Ambassador Kanjar Ro. On Earth, our heroes would liaise with a local police department, which would account for the rest of a fairly large and complex cast. Villains? The Hawks don't have a particularly large rogues' gallery. Byth is perhaps the template. There are aliens among us and the heroes must help Earth root them out. It's an alien conspiracy story, with crime of the week episodes and plenty of subplots on two (or more!) worlds. Adam Strange would be introduced at some point to set up the season 3 Rann-Thanagar War. Because obviously.
But perhaps you have different ideas. There HAVE been quite a number of different versions of these characters after all.
Hawkman cosplay by: Aaron Grigg (Flickr page)
I believe with every fiber of my being that the Hawkman/Hawkgirl franchise has suffered every time the two characters have been apart. Rather than give top billing to either character, the TV show should just take the Hawkworld title, ensuring it's about the PAIRING, and not any one character. And if it's gonna be Hawkworld, then it really needs to be about the space cops version of the idea, and not the Egyptian reincarnations. The 90s Ostrander series is actually a good template for television. TV already knows how to write cop dramas, and the militaristic uniforms designed by Tim Truman have the realistic grit that would sell the idea of winged men and women to the studio execs, but as you can see above, more classic feathered looks are pretty cool too. Katar and Shayera don't even have to be a couple, as per that series, just partners, though my preferred iteration is the sexy married couple from the Silver Age. Maybe it's something to work towards.
And of course, the show would spend at least SOME time on Thanagar where the Hawks' higher-ups and family, Byth, Hyathis and Ambassador Kanjar Ro. On Earth, our heroes would liaise with a local police department, which would account for the rest of a fairly large and complex cast. Villains? The Hawks don't have a particularly large rogues' gallery. Byth is perhaps the template. There are aliens among us and the heroes must help Earth root them out. It's an alien conspiracy story, with crime of the week episodes and plenty of subplots on two (or more!) worlds. Adam Strange would be introduced at some point to set up the season 3 Rann-Thanagar War. Because obviously.
But perhaps you have different ideas. There HAVE been quite a number of different versions of these characters after all.
Comments
So the way I see it, there are three possibilities. First and least likely: find a way to make feathered wings look reasonable. Second: follow the 90s-era method and make them out of metal, as simple as possible. Third: do it as a comedy.
And yes, Metal wings. Nth Metal wings.
(Can't say I like the new format, but maybe it'll grow on me.)
As for the new look, barely minutes old at this point, I was looking for something that could feature more articles at a glance, without scrolling. When you've got 6000+ posts, that kind of thing becomes an issue.
Mostly, I want to see Hawkman/Green Arrow arguments written by someone more talented than the Smallville staff.
(It's actually nice, but I fear change.)
How I would do Hawkman and/or Hawkgirl. The problem is that, while visually neat, flight is a pretty dull power to focus on. Therefore, shift the focus to something else already in the Hawkman concept.
DC Comics has a number of ancient heroic ages; what if there was a great warrior from one of them named Katar Hol, who once bested an evil sorcerer and took his "enchanted" wings. Then shift him to the present. This puts the focus on his warriorness and time-lostedness rather than "behold, a man who can DEFY GRAVITY!" (If you like, you can set Katar Hol's heroic age on Thanagar in the ancient past.)
The big problem with this is, for all the spins they've tried on Hawkman and Hawkgirl, it keeps coming back to the wings: if you've got a character with wings, how do you not make the wings central to every damn thing the character does? Visuals like those are always going to dominate, and they are likely to drive the storytelling.
Also scary: Comparing Hawkman to Flaming Carrot.
Your point about the wings is well taken, and I'd imagine a TV show version would have them strapping on the wings when necessary, but lots of scenes without them. But I don't think the focus SHOULD be the wings - which has perhaps been a problem with how the character's been written, I don't know - not when there's so much else to focus on. My favorite is the fact this is a crimefighting COUPLE, but there's all the alien stuff, the cop stuff, etc. as well.
Plotwise, the Ostrander era is definitely the way to go, although I'd run a change up on the reincarnation theme: Katar and Shayera come to earth, and learn that they're not the first hawkpeople, but they're not the reincarnations - although hereditary villains will mistake them for such. The resolution can go one of two ways - Thanagarian Chariots of the Gods, or the introduction of the latest human incarnations. Or both, I guess.