Fight or Flight: A review of the Savage Hawkman #10
Last issue Hawkman was thrown into the arena like some piece to a game. Now he must fight his way out if he wants to live.
Post contains spoilers
Now I am not an expert in pre-52 Hawkman but when DC calls him the Savage Hawkman, they are not joking. Ever since the New 52 started he has been kicking all kinds of ass. He knows when he needs to hold back but when you give him no choice you better watch out. He made a good point last issue, hawks are not ones to be hunted but they are the hunters and that rings truth in this issue. They might have brought him here and thrown him into the Arena, but he has made this place his battleground.
When last issue ended we saw a total of three other fighters in the arena. When this issue starts two are already down and three are standing. While Hawkman might be savage, he is not invincible. He knows he has to end this quick if he wants to live. Thankfully it doesn’t take him all that long to put the other three fighters down. However, that doesn’t change much. Once they have been defeated, Xerxes himself enters the arena. If Hawkman wins he can go free along with Emma. If not well then he is dead. Now apart from looking like Tron the Gladiator, we don’t know a whole lot about Xerxes. I can tell you that he looks nothing like the Xerxes from the movie 300.
The two battle and the crowd around them explodes in cheer. Russell Crowe would be proud of the show they put on. He would have been very entertained. Now like I said before, all this fighting is starting to take effect on Hawkman and Xerxes is no push over. But Hawkman does know what he is doing. He waits for his opening and throws Xerxes into the crowd. In the confusion he is able to grab Emma and smashes his way out of there. For now he is able to escape Xerxes but there is not telling how long it will take for him to catch back up. More importantly, Emma is now also in danger.
Emma, however, is a great sport about this whole thing, even asking Carter if this makes her his sidekick. The two make plans to but distance between them and Xerxes. Before they leave, Carter goes back and checks out the Arena, the whole place has been cleaned out with no trace. There is no real surprise there but it does cause him to worry. Like I said, they have escaped, but there is no telling when Xerxes or someone else will strike. Well actually there is some telling.
The issue ends with a man seen at the arena contacting someone about the Nth metal and how they need much more force if they are going to take down Hawkman. And it seems they already have someone lined up who believes it his destiny and fate to defeat the Hawkman. It seems that calm that Carter and Emma find themselves in is going to be ending very soon.
Now want I really want to know is how Carter even got the Nth metal in the first place! But I might have to wait until issue #0 for that one. I know I say this all the time but I really love the redesign of Hawkman and I have to give credit to art team on Savage Hakwman. They really do a fantastic job at making Hawkman look like a total badass.
