SO where should I start with Hawkman?

[Man-Thing]

I recently sat down and read the Rann/Thanagar War mini and was quite impressed. I've been a big follower of Green Lantern, and I'd encountered Adam Strange while reading Moore's Swamp Thing and the Invasion storyline from way back when, and I'm looking to get into the larger DC cosmic stuff, as Marvel's has largely dropped off the face of the planet. I figured that Hawkman seems like a good place to expand to, but I have no idea where to begin.

I've read on wikipedia that the Silver Age and Golden Age Hawkman are different but the same, and there was something with reincarnation in Brightest Day, though I had no idea what was really going on there. Anybody willing to give me a quick breakdown on Hawkman and what comics I should look for from Silver Age to New 52?

[FanboyStranger]

Hawkman continuity is kinda a mess, but for the best stories, I'd go with the Gardner Fox-Joe Kubert Silver Age stories, The Shadow War of Hawkman, Tim Truman's Hawkworld mini and the subsequent series by John Ostrander, and the Robinson-Johns series..

[Desaad]

Well hold up. If you're interested in 'cosmic' stuff, let me recommend you go back and read Adam Strange: Planet Heist, which is sort of a prelude to Rann/Thanagar War.

http://www.amazon.com/Adam-Strange-Planet-Andy-Diggle/dp/1401207278

That was, in my humble opinion, far better than Rann/Thanagar War (which was just okay).

Next, let me recommend that you DON'T pick up the follow ups to Rann/Thanagar War. The stuff by Starlin was mostly toxically bad.

Now if you liked Rann/Thanagar War, you might think to pick up Johns' run on JSA. A number of elements from Rann/Thanagar War come out of that book, including the main villain, Onimar Synn.

At the very least, to follow the Hawkman story, you should pick up the "Return of Hawkman" JSA TPB. You can then follow Hawkman's story over to the Hawkman series, written by Johns and Robinson, with artwork by Rags Morales. Now that mostly concerns the reincarnation aspect of Hawkman, rather than the cosmic stuff, but it's the best received Hawkman work to date, really streamlines the mythology in a way that is new reader friendly. But again, it's more down to earth, more mystical, than it is cosmic.

If you want the alien stuff, you'll have to go back to Tim Truman's Hawkworld three issue mini, which was followed by a limited series and then finally an ongoing.

If you're interested in following the cosmic stuff a little further, you might think about picking up "REBELS", which had a lot of the Rann/Thanagar War characters involved. That was written by Tony Bedard.

[md62]

I would start with the JSA Return of Hawkman, then Johns' solo Hawkman series #1-25, then Palimotti & Gray's work until #49.

[JakeJarmel]

I never read any Hawkman until I picked up the Omnibus. Didn't need any prior knowledge or anything. It was pretty good.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Hawkman-Omnibus-Vol-1/dp/1401232221/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333826868&sr=8-1

[Moriarty]

I would start with the JSA Return of Hawkman, then Johns' solo Hawkman series #1-25, then Palimotti & Gray's work until #49.

i agree with this suggestion. it should cause the least amount of headache too.

[Robotman4]

I would start with Geoff Johns' Hawkman. He found a way to make Hawkman's messed up continuity kinda coherent.
Also his JSA arc Return of Hawkman, where it started.