Hawkgirl is a six-issue miniseries written by Jadzia Axelrod and drawn by Amancay Nahuelpan and Adriano Lucas. It is published by DC Comics, as part of their Dawn of DC initiative.
In the wake of the Justice League disbanding, Kendra Saunders, the current Hawkgirl, has decided that she needs a change of direction, and thus has relocated to Metropolis. Unbeknownst to her, however, she's being hunted by a new villain, Vulpecula, who is seeking a source of Nth metal in order to return to her homeworld. Luckily for Kendra, she's also made some new friends, like the fledgling superheroine Galaxy and her faithful companion Argus.
This series contains examples of:
- Affirmative-Action Legacy: Kendra is a a mixed-race woman who has taken on the mantle of Hawkgirl, which was previously held by a white woman. Of course, it's somewhat complicated in that Kendra is a reincarnation of that woman, and her first incarnation was Egyptian.
- Ambiguously Bi: The first issue hints that Kendra might be bisexual, but she's never really had any opportunity to explore this part of herself because she's been throwing herself into superheroics since she was a teenager.
- Animal Companion: Taylor is constantly accompanied by Argus, her loyal (and talking) corgi.
- BFS: In the fourth issue, after Taylor gives Kendra a power boost in order to fight the dragon, Kendra turns her mace into a huge sword.
- Broad Strokes: In keeping with the post-Dark Nights: Death Metal position that everything is canon, sort of, a couple of continuity nods reference pre-Flashpoint history:
- While insisting that nobody else has the right to tell her who she is, Kendra says she even had an angel try to tell her she was someone else. This references her introduction in JSA, when Zauriel told her she was actually Shierra (as a walk-in spirit, not a reincarnation).
- When Kat makes a joke about a Green Lantern ring, Kendra says they're more trouble than they're worth, then clarifies that hers wasn't green. This is probably a reference to her being a Black Lantern in Blackest Night.
- Continuity Nod:
- Kendra mentions Carter leaving her for Shayera, which particularly stings because her boyfriend broke up with her for a white version of her.
- She also mentions her relationship with J'onn failed because "his body is now made out of a child alternate future versions of us had, which just murdered our physical relationship". This happened in Justice League (2018).
- Several other heroes suggest that the reason Kendra feels kind of directionless is because she's almost always been on a team, and has been going solo since the League broke up in Dark Crisis. The other teams she was a member of are also namechecked, although she prefers not to talk about her time with the Blackhawks.
- Deal with the Devil: This is Vulpecula's MO: find someone with a bad life, travel back in time to when they were a child, and offer them whatever they want most in the world, as long as they always wear a fox-shaped pendent of Nth metal. Then travel back to the present, when their body is now infused with Nth metal, and attempt to use this power to build a portal to the Nth world. This has the useful side effect of turning them into monsters based on their wish, under her control.
- Desperately Seeking A Purpose In Life: At the outset of the series, Kendra is trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life now that she's no longer attached to a team.
- Driven to Suicide: The penultimate issue reveals that Kendra first became aware of her other lives during a suicide attempt.
- Even the Girls Want Her:
- In the fourth issue, Taylor and Natalie are both quite appreciative of the way Supergirl fills out her new bodysuit, with Taylor having to remind herself that she already has a girlfriend.
- In the final issue, Abilene confesses that she would "climb her like a tree" if she thought Kendra was interested.
- Fairytale Motifs: The narration for all the scenes featuring Vulpecula reads like someone reading a fairytale.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Subverted; one of the flashbacks reveals that Kendra got pregnant as a teenager, and it's implied that she terminated the pregnancy via Plan B.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In order to repair the barrier between Earth and the Nth World, Kendra sacrifices all her lives. She only survives herself because Taylor calls in a boon with Aesop to bring her back.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: In order to use her powers on others, Vulpecula must grant them a wish. In her haste to transform Taylor into one of her mooks, she forgets to grant her a wish, and thus her spell on Taylor is broken and the Nth World punishes her severely.
- I Have Many Names: On Galaxy's world, Vulpecula is known as Roch'cianni, the Glad-Grabber.
- Me's a Crowd: Kendra is persistently haunted by all of her past lives, which has filled her with a lot of self-doubt, as she's not always sure if an action she's taking is her own decision or just the decision that one of her past selves would make. Subverted in the final issue, where Kendra sacrifices all of her previous lives in order to repair the barrier between Earth and the Nth world, leaving her a singular entity again.
- Motor Mouth: Galaxy talks a lot when she's nervous.
- Older Than They Look: While Vulpecula looks like she's only in her thirties, she's been alive for centuries.
- Outside-Context Problem: In the fourth issue, Hawkgirl teams up with Galaxy, Supergirl, and Steel to fight a dragon, which stymies all four of them because it seems to run entirely on fairytale logic and thus doesn't respond to attacks that should logically hurt it.
- Pinned to the Ground: The cover
◊ for issue 5 shows Vulpecula pinning down Hawkgirl with her foot on Hawkgirl's back as Hawkgirl desperately tries to reach for her mace. - Reality Warper: Galaxy has an ability possessed by some of her race to transmute matter and energy. It's because of this that she can perceive the unique nature of Kendra's Nth Metal wings.
- Really 700 Years Old: Vulpecula has been around for centuries.
- Shout-Out:
- Maureen's hometown of Gardnertown is likely named for Gardner Fox, the co-creator of Hawkgirl.
- Taylor and her girlfriend live at 64th Pollack Street, named for Rachel Pollack, the transgender writer best known for her run on Doom Patrol in the 1990s.
- Taylor hails from Ozma Gap, which is likely named for Princess Ozma from the Land of Oz, who was born a girl, then got transformed into a boy for a while before becoming a girl again.
- The Stoic: During the brief team-up between Hawkgirl, Galaxy, and Batman, Batman serves this role, keeping a straight face even when Galaxy starts fangirling at him.
- Talking Animal: Galaxy's faithful companion Argus is a talking corgi.
- Twofer Token Minority: Taylor's girlfriend Kat is a black, Jewish lesbian.
- Writer on Board: Axelrod has made no secret of her intention to use the series to boost the profile of Galaxy, a character that she created for Galaxy: The Prettiest Star.
