Hawk and Dove | |
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Hawk and Dove from their first appearance. Art by Steve Ditko.
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Group publication information | |
Publisher | DC Comics |
First appearance | Showcase No. 75 (June 1968) |
Created by |
Steve Ditko Steve Skeates |
In-story information | |
Member(s) |
Hank Hall & Don (Donald) Hall Hank Hall & Dawn Granger Sasha Martens & Wiley Wolverman Dawn Granger & Holly Granger |
Hawk and Dove | |
Series publication information | |
Publication date |
(vol. 1) September 1968 – June/July 1969 (vol. 2) October – December 1988 (vol. 3) June 1989 – October 1991 (vol. 4) November 1997 – March 1998 (vol. 5) September 2011 – March 2012 |
Number of issues |
(vol. 1) 6 (vol. 2) 5 (vol. 3) 28 plus 2 Annuals (vol. 4) 5 (vol. 5) 8 |
Creator(s) |
Steve Ditko Steve Skeates |
Collected editions | |
Hawk and Dove | ISBN |
Hawk and Dove are a fictional superhero team that appear in DC Comics. Created by Steve Ditko and Steve Skeates and debuting in Showcase No. 75 (June 1968) during the Silver Age of Comic Books, the duo has existed in multiple incarnations over the years across several eponymous ongoing series and mini-series, and has also appeared in a number of recurring roles and guest-appearances in titles such as Teen Titans, Birds of Prey, and Brightest Day. The most prominent incarnations have been the original pairing of teenage brothers, the temperamental and militant Hank Hall (Hawk) with the well-read and pacifistic Don Hall (Dove I), as well as the current teaming of Hank Hall with Dawn Granger (Dove II), an unrelated young woman who assumes the role of Dove in Hawk and Dove (vol. 2) No. 1 (October 1988) following Don's death in 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths maxi-series.
The central concept which was originally inspired by the emerging political divides of the 1960s (see war hawks and war doves) traditionally revolves around two young heroes with contrasting personalities and diametrically opposed ideologies who, by speaking their super-heroic aliases, are transformed and granted power sets of heightened strength, speed, and agility. With Dove representing reason and nonviolence and Hawk representing force and aggression, they complement one another and find a state of balance in order to effectively combat evil. With Dawn's introduction, it was revealed that Hawk and Dove receive their powers from the Lords of Chaos and Order, respectively, and that their powers are mystic in origin.
Though the duo's ongoing titles have all been relatively short-lived and their guest-appearances in other titles sporadic, the heroes have experienced a storied and often tragic history. Multiple characters have worn the respective titles of Hawk and Dove at one time or another, and the legacy has endured deaths, resurrections, and even Hank's own descent into madness and subsequent transformation into the mass-murdering despot Monarch and later Extant. A third incarnation of Hawk and Dove debuted in their own 1997 mini-series, though this group featured entirely unique characters and was only linked to their predecessors thematically, if not in namesake alone. Dawn's estranged sister, the British and fiery Holly Granger serves as Hawk in Hank's absence until her own death in 2009's Blackest Night event.