Justice League of America 7.3
Special “Villains Month” Title: Shadow Thief 1
Tom DeFalco, Chad Hardin
Forever Evil Crossover
Spoiler alert! You have been warned!
The Justice League of America (or, more accurately, a super-late Savage Hawkman) tie-in to Villains Month and Forever Evil accomplished the goal they set out to accomplish this week: They reintroduced a tired character and added just enough intrigue to make the story readable, mixing in just the right amount of humanity to make the villain seem more than one-dimensional. Contrary to the constant cancellation of various titles and seemingly permanent status as “go-to fill-in writer,” veteran comic book scribe Tom DeFalco has always been consistent, if nothing else. And though this was the first work I had seen by artist Chad Hardin, I wouldn’t mind seeing more of him in the DC Universe.
The story is simple. The classic villain Shadow Thief is reimagined for the umpteenth time. This time, she is a woman and has a little bit of a tragic past. Chasing bad guys (or good guys, depending on your point-of-view) from Thanagar to Earth, she is on mission after mission after mission, losing her humanity a little bit more each time she uses her alien powers. The constant reminder that her mother told her never to become a spy because that would inevitably make her into a villain is always on her mind. Even in her current mission, where she orchestrates an arms deal among two rivals.
I did enjoy this book, but mostly because I have no idea who the character is or anything about her. It was a brand new concept to me, never having read anything about Hawkman or the Shadow Thief (especially this new interpretation). And call me old-fashioned, but there’s something fun about seeing writers like DeFalco still on the stands. So unless you’re an old school Marvel or DC fan, you will probably want to save yourself the buck and buy the regular cover, or avoid it entirely. But if you’re anything like me, you’re going to give this one a shot and probably give serious thought to going back and collecting old Hawkman comics to see just how different (or how similar) the new character is to the old one. All in all, it was a fun read with great art.
My Rating: 3/5
