Episode 24: Hawkman’s Golden Wings and Ancient Reincarnation

Simon Carver

Welcome to the show everybody! I am Simon Carver, broadcasting to you once again from a damp, cold, and completely blacked-out London. It is Thursday, June 19th, 1941. The night air over the Thames is quiet, but there is an unmistakable tension in the breeze. While we keep our torches shielded here, our thoughts have been turning to the intense conflict in the Middle East, particularly the British and Free French forces advancing in the Syria-Lebanon campaign. Just today, the Battle of Merdjayoun is raging in those historic, sun-baked hills. It is a striking reminder of how old sands and ancient lands are constantly intersecting with our modern struggles. Joining me from our bright, warm studio in New York on KDCR is my pragmatic partner, George Wilson. George, how are the shores of Manhattan looking tonight?

George Wilson

Well, Simon, New York is glittering as always, though we are keeping a close watch on the shortwave reports coming from your side of the water. While you have got the blackout, we have got the Dodgers fighting hard in the National League, and the hum of city traffic keeping us grounded. But hearing about the fighting in those ancient deserts... it makes a fella think about how the past never really stays buried, does it? It just waits under the dust. And that brings us directly to a brand-new, incredibly expansive run of history we are opening up tonight on Distinguished Comics Radio. We are talking about the grand, winged debut of the phantom of the night himself: the Hawkman!

Simon Carver

Hawkman indeed! Tonight is Episode 24: The Golden Wings of Prince Khufu, and we are embarking on a massive exploration covering his legendary adventures across Flash Comics numbers 1 through 13, and All Star Comics numbers 1 and 2. This is a sprawling, spectacular run of stories, George, and it all began in January 1940 with Flash Comics number 1, published by All-American. Let us open up that landmark first issue and dive right into the origin panel by panel.

George Wilson

Let us do it. We start in the weapon-lined library of Carter Hall, a wealthy collector of antique arms and a research scientist. He has just received a package containing a strange, glass sacrificial knife from an excavation at Jim Rock in Egypt. The moment he places it on his desk, the knife begins to glow, releasing a sickly, hypnotic light that makes Carter dizzy. He collapses to his floor, and as he sleeps, a fantastic, three-page dream of ancient Egypt unfolds.

Simon Carver

That three-page dream is absolutely crucial, George! Carter dreams of his past life as Prince Khufu. We see him captured and whipped by the cruel, yellow-robed high priest of Anubis, a man named Hath-Set. Hath-Set threatens to torture Khufu to learn the secrets of his power, but Khufu stands resolute, declaring his eternal love for his beloved Shiera. Hath-Set eventually has Khufu and Shiera bound to an altar, and using that very same glass knife, he murders them both. But as Khufu lies dying, he gasps a prophetic curse: "I die -- but I shall live again -- as shall you, Hath-Set. And then I shall be the victor!"

George Wilson

That dying prophecy -- that is some heavy stuff for a ten-cent comic book. Carter wakes up on his library floor, staring at the glass knife, and realizes it was not a nightmare, but a genuine recollection of his past life. He locks the knife away, but his mind is racing. He goes out for a walk to clear his head, and suddenly, near a subway exit, there is an absolute panic. People are screaming that the subway rails have turned a glowing blue and a train is on fire!

Simon Carver

The rails turning blue! That is a bizarre, modern electrical terror. But amid the chaotic crowd rushing out of the station, Carter literally collides with a young woman. He looks at her face, gasps, and cries, "Pardon me -- you -- you are Shiera!" And she looks at him in complete bewilderment and asks, "Shiera! How -- how did you know that?" It turns out her name is Shiera Sanders, and she has been having the exact same recurring nightmares of ancient Egypt!

George Wilson

Talk about a cosmic coincidence, Simon. Carter takes her home, tells her the story of their past lives, and then retires to his private laboratory. He has been working on a revolutionary discovery: the "Ninth Metal," a secret element that completely defies the pull of the earth's gravity! He fashions a belt and a pair of massive, feathered wings out of this metal, along with a striking, hawk-like mask. Armed with a wooden quarterstaff, he takes to the skies as the Hawkman!

Simon Carver

The Ninth Metal is a brilliant concept, George. It does not just defy gravity; we learn it is also completely non-conducting! Hawkman flies to a desolate ravine where his scientific instruments have located a giant dynamo. This dynamo is being run by a mad electrician named Doctor Hastor, who is actually the reincarnated priest Hath-Set! Hastor is using his "lightnings of the heavens" to flood the subway rails and terrorize the city.

George Wilson

A million volts of electricity! Hastor spots Hawkman hovering in his skylight and fires a massive blast of lightning directly at him. But because Hawkman's cloak is woven from the Ninth Metal, the electricity is repelled. Hawkman swoops down and smashes the giant turbines with his wooden quarterstaff. But Hastor escapes into a secret room, uses the scent of burning myrrh to hypnotize Shiera from across the city, and drags her to his altar to complete the ancient sacrifice!

Simon Carver

The burning myrrh summons the ancient blood! Shiera walks to Hastor's lair like a zombie, and just as Hastor raises his knife over her, Hawkman crashes through the window. He throws his Ninth Metal mantle over Shiera to protect her from the electrical arcs, and then fires an arrow from a medieval crossbow directly into Hastor's chest! Hath-Set is defeated, and Hawkman carries the unconscious Shiera back to safety. It is a stunning, fast-paced introduction that perfectly blends gothic horror, reincarnation, and weird science.

George Wilson

It really is, Simon. But what is interesting is how quickly the strip shifts gears after that first issue. Instead of staying in the city, Flash Comics numbers 2 through 6 take Hawkman on these wild, international pulp adventures. In Flash Comics number 2, we meet a villain named Alexander the Great -- not the historical figure, but a brilliant, bald physicist who has invented a "weight-gun" that can increase any object's weight one thousand times over!

Simon Carver

One thousand times its weight! That is an incredible, terrifying mechanic, George. Alexander uses the gun to collapse skyscrapers in New York, demanding a massive ransom from the government. He actually invites Carter and Shiera to his estate for dinner to show off his machine. He demonstrates it by placing light ping-pong balls in a tank of water; when he turns the machine on, they instantly sink like lead! He even challenges Carter to lift a tiny wire horse, and Carter cannot budge it!

George Wilson

A wire horse that weighs as much as an anvil! But Carter sneaks back as Hawkman. His Ninth Metal wings are completely immune to the weight-gun because they generate their own gravity-resisting energy. Hawkman uses a flexible meshwork net made of Ninth Metal to trap Alexander, and then smashes his machine to pieces with a medieval mace. It is a great, mechanical puzzle of a story.

Simon Carver

It is. And then in Flash Comics number 3, we get an incredibly eerie tale involving Una Cathay, a brilliant but sinister scientist who has discovered a secret formula for eternal life. She and her associate, Count Torsoff, are kidnapping prominent scientists, drugging them into a death-like coma, and preserving their bodies in giant, liquid-filled glass jars so she can extract their secrets!

George Wilson

Those glass jars -- they look like something out of a nightmarish laboratory, Simon. She even tries to kill Hawkman by binding his wrist with a single strand of hair and reciting a voodoo incantation to make him burn to death! But Shiera spots the hair, cuts it off, and they escape. Hawkman frees the scientists, and when Una tries to flee in her car, he throws a knife that punctures her tire, causing her to crash. It is a grim, gothic ending.

Simon Carver

It really is. But the weirdness escalates even further in Flash Comics number 4 with the arrival of the "Thought Terror." This is a master hypnotist who wears a long, crimson robe and a full face mask with glowing red eyes. He hypnotizes prominent citizens into committing crimes, and his henchmen are so deeply mesmerized that they do not even feel pain -- they keep fighting Hawkman no matter how hard he hits them!

George Wilson

A horde of unfeeling, hypnotized thugs. That is a tough crowd to fight with just a quarterstaff. But Hawkman remembers the ancient myth of Perseus and the Gorgon. He takes a polished, mirrored shield from his collection to reflect the Thought Terror's hypnotic gaze back at him. The villain accidentally hypnotizes himself, thinking he is a "little pussy cat" and starts meowing on the floor! It is a hilarious, bizarre resolution to a very tense story.

Simon Carver

It is a fantastic visual! But in issues 5 and 6, the strip goes full global adventurer. In issue 5, Carter rescues a secret service agent named Ione Craig from a turbaned assassin. He learns of a modern revival of the historic "Sect of Assassins," originally founded in the year 1070 by Hassan ibn Sabah! Carter flies all the way across the Atlantic, resting on desert lakes, until he locates their hidden city of Alamut in Persia.

George Wilson

Alamut! That is a legendary fortress, Simon. Hawkman sneaks in, rescues Ione from the lavish feasting room of Hassan's descendant, and fights off a hundred guards by grabbing a giant scimitar off the wall! Then in issue 6, while trying to fly Ione back to America, his wings give out over the desert sands, and she is captured by Arab raiders and taken to the slave market of Istanyulq to be sold to Sheba, the ruthless "Queen of the Desert."

Simon Carver

The slave market of Istanyulq! This is classic, fast-paced pulp. Hawkman has to fix his wings, rescue a captured army major named Brent, and then drop into Sheba's arena to fight off six ravenous lions using an ancient bow and arrow he grabs off the palace wall! He eventually defeats Sheba's forces, ending her cruel reign. The sheer geographic scale of these early stories is incredible, George.

George Wilson

It is a regular travelogue, Simon. But let us move on to Flash Comics number 7, cover-dated July 1940. This is a story that really leans into some dark, gothic horror. We meet a mad, wild-eyed Russian sculptor named Boris Nickaloff, who is hiding out in a cave near the city. Boris has invented a secret compound called "Plasm-Clay," a pseudo-flesh that he sculpts into a massive, bald, white-skinned giant he calls "Czar."

Simon Carver

Plasm-Clay! That is an incredibly creepy concept, George. Boris injects the clay statue with a massive dose of adrenaline, and Czar literally blinks, steps down from his pedestal, and comes to life! He is completely unkillable; bullets bounce off his marble-like chest, and knives just bend against him. Boris sends Czar out to rob the Syndicate Bank and Trust, leaving the guards terrified of the "unkillable man."

George Wilson

An unkillable giant. Hawkman tries to fight him in the bank vaults, but Czar is strong as a bull and hurls Hawkman against the wall. But Carter is a smart scientist; he realizes that since Czar is made of clay and can breathe, he must have a respiratory system. So Hawkman goes back to his library and selects a unique weapon: South American bolas!

Simon Carver

The bolas! A brilliant, ancient tactical choice. When Czar and Boris try to escape after another robbery, Hawkman swoops down. Boris tries to protect his creation and is accidentally struck and killed by the swinging bolas. Czar goes into a panic and flees, but Hawkman pursues him through the air, flings the bolas with all his power, and wraps them securely around the giant's neck! It cuts off his breathing, and the Plasm-Clay giant slowly crumples to the ground, turning back into lifeless stone. It is a beautifully atmospheric story.

George Wilson

That Plasm-Clay monster is a great design. And speaking of great stories, we have to talk about All Star Comics number 1, which hit the stands in the summer of 1940. This is a major milestone, Simon. Hawkman secures the absolute premier lead story in this landmark anthology! That is a clear signal that he has made it into the absolute elite tier of All-American's headliners.

Simon Carver

He absolutely has, George! And the story in All Star number 1 is a magnificent, atmospheric yarn. Hawkman is flying over the rugged Welsh mountains when he hears a young woman screaming for help on the treacherous moors. He swoops down, rescues her from a precipice, and learns her name is Margo. She tells him a terrifying tale: her sinister uncle, Trygg, has discovered an ancient Haitian secret of voodoo, and he is using it to turn dead miners into zombies to work his secret coal mines!

George Wilson

Welsh coal-mining zombies! Now that is a combination you do not see every day. Hawkman flies to Trygg's gothic castle, but he is confronted by a massive horde of these zombies. He punches them, he flips them, but they just keep coming back because they do not feel pain. He is actually forced to fly up to the ceiling to catch his breath! He eventually whittles a sturdy Welsh hickory quarterstaff to fight them off, and defeats Trygg's wicked witch associate, Beldame Gaffy, by smashing her over the head with his cudgel just as she is about to sacrifice Margo and her brother!

Simon Carver

A hickory quarterstaff against voodoo! It is wonderfully rustic. Let us quickly look at Flash Comics numbers 8 through 10. In issue 8, Hawkman faces Professor Kitzoff, a mad astronomer who is using a powerful light beam to harness sunspots, causing planes to burst into flames over the city! Hawkman chases him across the globe, eventually cornering him in his laboratory in the Andes mountains, where Kitzoff is accidentally shot by his own henchmen.

George Wilson

And then in Flash Comics number 9, we get one of the most bizarre underwater stories of the era. The narration tells us that New York Harbor sits on a hidden gorge five thousand feet deep! From these depths emerge the "Kogats," a race of scaly, green-skinned sea-dwellers ruled by King Jupo. They kidnap Carter's friend George, and Hawkman has to wear a special glass oxygen helmet to dive to the ocean floor, where he actually meets the ancient Greek god Poseidon, who helps him destroy the Kogats' rocky citadel!

Simon Carver

Poseidon himself! That is an incredible, mythical team-up, George. Then in Flash Comics number 10, the action shifts to the Rocky Ridges of Colorado. Carter attends an arms auction on Fifth Avenue and is outbid on a historic Spanish blunderbuss by a suspicious man. Hawkman tracks him, finds a hidden parchment map inside the gun's muzzle, and flies west to Colorado, where he exposes a gold mine theft and saves a young woman named Goldie from a ruthless outlaw named John Denver. The variety of settings in this run is just breathtaking.

George Wilson

It is a wild ride, Simon. But let us open up All Star Comics number 2, which brings us to another dark, ancient ritual. Hawkman has to travel to the jungles of Mexico to stop a fanatical cult dedicated to Yum-Chac, the ancient Aztec rain god. They are kidnapping young women and throwing them into a sacred, deep pool of sacrifice during the full moon!

Simon Carver

The sacred pool of sacrifice! The high priestess, a ruthless woman named Nyola, is leading the cult. Hawkman arrives just as a young woman named Irene is hurled into the pit. He drops like a plummet, catches her in mid-air before she hits the water, and carries her to safety. Nyola is so terrified of her defeat that she leaps into the still waters of the pool herself, ending her threat.

George Wilson

She took the plunge, alright. But in Flash Comics number 11, the threat is surprisingly grounded. We get a story about a corrupt real estate syndicate called the Real Buys Corporation, run by a crook named Edward Northrup. They are buying up suburban land, forging contracts with a "trick clause" to skyrocket the prices, and completely depriving local children of their playgrounds, forcing them to play in the dangerous streets.

Simon Carver

It is a very civic-minded struggle, George. Northrup's thugs try to kill a young boy by running him down, but Hawkman intervenes. He uses his quarterstaff to smash their getaway car, and with Shiera's help, he cracks Northrup's safe, retrieves the original contracts, and delivers them to the police. It is a wonderful contrast to the ancient temples. But let us do a deep dive into Flash Comics number 12, cover-dated December 1940. This is a remarkably tight, tragic mystery.

George Wilson

This one starts at the Silver Shoe Club. Carter and Shiera are dining when they spot Tommy Rogers, a young college football star, completely drunk. Tommy tells Carter he is going to die in a month because a heart specialist, Doctor Halliday, told him his "ticker" is weak. But Carter is skeptical; he knows Tommy was a powerhouse in college. Just then, Halliday himself shows up and slips a red pill into Tommy's glass!

Simon Carver

The red pill! Carter pretends to drink it himself and fakes a violent convulsion to escape. He returns as Hawkman, armed with a medieval sling. He discovers that Halliday is working with a blonde lounge singer named Betty to systematically drug wealthy young men with "Tanin," a rare chemical that gradually weakens the heart, so they can coerce them into signing over their fortunes in their wills!

George Wilson

A slow-poisoning racket! Shiera gets suspicious, sneaks into Betty's apartment, and finds a bottle of Tanin, but she is captured by Halliday's thugs. Hawkman tracks them to a penthouse, uses his incredible speed to dodge their gunfire, and knocks out the guards with his sling. He catches Halliday trying to flee, forces him to confess, and saves Tommy's life. It is a fantastic, suspenseful detective story.

Simon Carver

It really is. But the absolute peak of bizarre, golden-age horror has to be Flash Comics number 13, cover-dated January 1941. We are introduced to Satana the Tiger Girl -- a glamorous but completely mad surgeon whose real name is Sara Descart. Satana has a theory that she can surgically transplant human brains into the bodies of living tigers!

George Wilson

Transplanting human brains into tigers! That is some proper, mad-science surgery, Simon. Carter and Shiera attend her show, where one of her tigers "accidentally" claws a spectator to death. But Carter notices a queer smile on Satana's face. He sneaks into her country house as Hawkman and finds a complete operating room with a surgical table. Satana catches him and shoots him, but the bullet luckily bounces off his metal helmet!

Simon Carver

He plays dead, but when he recovers, he looks into the adjacent cage room and is completely thunderstruck. He sees her tigers behaving like ordinary human beings -- sitting upright, walking on two legs, and even smoking cigarettes! Shiera is eventually captured and strapped to the operating table, with Satana preparing to put her brain into a giant tiger!

George Wilson

A smoking tiger! That is an image I will not forget. Hawkman smashes through the plate glass window, fights off the tigers, and when he kills one with his hunting knife, he looks closely into its face and realizes... it has bright blue, human eyes! Satana tries to drop him through a trapdoor, but he spreads his wings, flies back up, and delivers her to the police. It is a macabre, unforgettable masterpiece by Sheldon Moldoff.

Simon Carver

It is a truly sensational story, George. But as we look back over these thirteen issues, we have to talk about the physical design of the character himself. That distinctive costume -- the yellow, winged cowl that fully wraps around his head, the green tights, the red boots, and those massive, dark-feathered wings. But George, what do you think about that hawk mask?

George Wilson

Well, Simon, to be frank, I am not so sure about the mask. It is a bit too literal, is it not? I mean, look at Batman. His mask does not look exactly like a real bat; it is a stylish cowl with ears that suggests the creature. But Hawkman is wearing a literal bird head with a giant beak! It looks a bit ridiculous when he is standing in a library talking to people. It is like those cats on the stage -- they would look a whole lot better if they did not look exactly like cats, you know? It is too on the nose.

Simon Carver

That is a fair critique, George! Though I must say, Sheldon Moldoff's rendering of those wings is so incredibly textured and heavy that it almost makes up for the beak. And we must pay tribute to the incredible creative minds behind this character. It starts with writer Gardner Fox. He earned a law degree from St. John's and was admitted to the bar in 1935, but during the Depression, he turned to writing. He is a man deeply obsessed with research, keeping two file cabinets crammed with scientific and historical facts. You can see that intellect in the way he weaves Egyptian reincarnation, the Sect of Assassins, and ancient physics into these stories.

George Wilson

And the original artist, Dennis Neville, who co-created the look in issue 1. He was an assistant to Joe Shuster on Superman and Slam Bradley, and he modeled Hawkman's soaring poses after the Hawkmen from Alex Raymond's legendary Flash Gordon newspaper strip. But he only drew the first three issues before being replaced by the great Sheldon "Shelly" Moldoff.

Simon Carver

Yes! Moldoff took over in Flash Comics number 4. He recalled that publisher Max Gaines told him, "We are going to put you on Hawkman, and do whatever you want with it." Moldoff brought this incredibly dynamic, Raymond-inspired style to the pages, giving the wings a sense of physical weight and grace.

George Wilson

A legendary run of craftsmen, Simon. But we are running out of sand in our hourglass tonight. Before we sign off, what have we got lined up for our listeners next time?

Simon Carver

Well, friends, for our next broadcast on the shortband, we will be covering the mysterious first appearance of Doctor Fate in More Fun Comics numbers 55 through 62! And for our next standard broadcast after that, we will be diving into Johnny Thunder's delightful debut in these exact same Flash Comics numbers 1 through 13, All Star Comics number 2, and the New York World's Fair Comics 1940!

George Wilson

That is a great stack of reading, folks. If you have got questions, favorite panels, or if you want to tell us what you think about those smoking tigers, send your letters to our shortwave mailbox at distinguishedcomicsradio@gmail.com.

Simon Carver

That is distinguishedcomicsradio@gmail.com. Keep your dials tuned, keep your courage high in these dark times, and from a resolute, blacked-out London, this is Simon Carver saying good night.

George Wilson

And from New York, where the studio lamps are bright and the Dodgers are still chasing the pennant, this is George Wilson. Good night, folks, and keep your eyes on the skies!