What do you think?
Rate this book
Hawk and Dove collections
The Hawk and the Dove: The Silver Age
The adventures of superhero brothers created by Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange.
The adventures of a superhero duo from the late 1960s are collected for the first time in HAWK & DOVE: THE SILVER AGE!
One of the most intriguing superhero duos ever star in this new trade paperback. Co-created in 1968 by legendary comics artist Steve Ditko (co-creator of Marvel's Spider-Man and Dr. Strange), the Hawk and the Dove are teenage brothers Don and Hank Hall. Gifted with super-powers by a mysterious voice, Hank became the Hawk and Don the Dove. Embodying the clashing political ideologies of the era Hank aggressively jumped into battling evil, while Don would refuse to fight, often resulting in losses. Along the way, the two attempted to clean up crime on the streets of their home town, face the threats of the gang known as the Drop Outs, took down a group of dangerous escaped convicts, and saved their father, a judge, from the wrath of a man he once sent to prison.
Collects SHOWCASE #75, THE HAWK AND THE DOVE #1-6 and TEEN TITANS #21.
The adventures of a superhero duo from the late 1960s are collected for the first time in HAWK & DOVE: THE SILVER AGE!
One of the most intriguing superhero duos ever star in this new trade paperback. Co-created in 1968 by legendary comics artist Steve Ditko (co-creator of Marvel's Spider-Man and Dr. Strange), the Hawk and the Dove are teenage brothers Don and Hank Hall. Gifted with super-powers by a mysterious voice, Hank became the Hawk and Don the Dove. Embodying the clashing political ideologies of the era Hank aggressively jumped into battling evil, while Don would refuse to fight, often resulting in losses. Along the way, the two attempted to clean up crime on the streets of their home town, face the threats of the gang known as the Drop Outs, took down a group of dangerous escaped convicts, and saved their father, a judge, from the wrath of a man he once sent to prison.
Collects SHOWCASE #75, THE HAWK AND THE DOVE #1-6 and TEEN TITANS #21.
208 pages, Paperback
First published April 3, 2018
About the author
Steve Ditko
1,279 books142 followersStephen J. "Steve" Ditko was an American comic book artist and writer best known as the co-creator of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange.
He was inducted into the comics industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1990, and into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994.
He was inducted into the comics industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1990, and into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 23, 2022
I have mentioned that in 2018, after multiple deaths in the family I moved to Puerto Rico to take care of my elderly Dad. I brought with me my Kindle, but all the hardcopy books collected over the course of my life remained in boxes in my sister's garage. What I found here in Puerto Rico in my Dad's house were the detritus of a family-owned comic shop when I was young. I picked up a copy of The Hawk and the Dove: The Silver Age by Steve Ditko to add to the fun. The Hawk and the Dove was a short-lived comic in 1968. It ran for only six issues, and as I read the trade paperback, the why became overtly evident to the extreme. No less talent than Steve Ditko, Gil Kane, and Neal Adams were involved in the creative process, but the well-known artists overwhelmed the less-known writer Steve Skeates. (He quit after three issues, citing creative differences that actually included the boss, Dick Giordano who would intentionally change the scripts because he believed a peace-loving character like the Dove could not be heroic.) It was during Vietnam when the pros and cons seemed to divide people into blatantly false dichotomies of hero and coward. Clearly, if you have two costumed brothers representing dueling philosophies, they will disagree and bicker like an entire country's population. Setting all of that to the side, I always loved these two characters while they were on the Teen Titans. It's a good read, but the constant back and forth between the brothers is really annoying. I fought with my (5, 3 adopted) siblings daily, but I adored them all individually. These two can't find common ground between them, and didn't they believe in nuanced arguments, back then? Ugh! I'm still calling it a classic, because of the paradigm created, their exceptional quality, and the longevity in which these characters are still puttering around the DC offices, despite being "deceased."
July 20, 2022
The Hawk and the Dove: The Silver Age collects Showcase #75, The Hawk and the Dove #1-6 and Teen Titans #21.
I was on a Ditko kick when I grabbed this on the cheap. Created by Steve Ditko after he left Marvel in the late '60s, Hawk and Dove are a pair of brothers. Hawk is a hot head that solves everything with violence and is fairly conservative. Dove is a peaceful liberal pacifist. Together, they fight crime and each other.
The stories are very political for comics of the time period, dealing with hippies and war protests. Hank and Don Hall are given powers by an all powerful voice and their natural abilities are amplified when they transform into Hawk and Dove. Apart from a costumed gang called The Dropouts, they mostly fight ordinary street criminals but their biggest battles are between their conflicting personalities.
This feels way more like a Marvel book than a DC book. The Hall brothers spend more time bickering than fighting crime. The stories are okay, with Ditko, Steve Skeats, and Neal Adams handling the writing. The art is the cream of the crop for the time period, though. Steve Ditko does three comics, Gil Kane does four, one with Wally Wood inks, and a young up and comer named Neal Adams handles the Teen Titans issue. Silver Age DC books have a reputation for being stodgy and bland but this one is a visual feast.
And that's that. The Hawk and the Dove: The Silver Age is an overlooked gem from the late Silver Age of comics. Get it on the cheap from InstockTrades while supplies last.
I was on a Ditko kick when I grabbed this on the cheap. Created by Steve Ditko after he left Marvel in the late '60s, Hawk and Dove are a pair of brothers. Hawk is a hot head that solves everything with violence and is fairly conservative. Dove is a peaceful liberal pacifist. Together, they fight crime and each other.
The stories are very political for comics of the time period, dealing with hippies and war protests. Hank and Don Hall are given powers by an all powerful voice and their natural abilities are amplified when they transform into Hawk and Dove. Apart from a costumed gang called The Dropouts, they mostly fight ordinary street criminals but their biggest battles are between their conflicting personalities.
This feels way more like a Marvel book than a DC book. The Hall brothers spend more time bickering than fighting crime. The stories are okay, with Ditko, Steve Skeats, and Neal Adams handling the writing. The art is the cream of the crop for the time period, though. Steve Ditko does three comics, Gil Kane does four, one with Wally Wood inks, and a young up and comer named Neal Adams handles the Teen Titans issue. Silver Age DC books have a reputation for being stodgy and bland but this one is a visual feast.
And that's that. The Hawk and the Dove: The Silver Age is an overlooked gem from the late Silver Age of comics. Get it on the cheap from InstockTrades while supplies last.
August 30, 2019
Sometimes a comic is just off the beaten path for the norm for superheroes. This is a nice collection of such a series of heroes. They definitely take a different approach to the 1960s superhero attitude. Nice different stories. Recommended
March 24, 2019
Good, but the age really shows through for the story/writing. The art is really good however.
January 28, 2019
More of an interesting historical artifact than an enjoyable read, but I enjoyed it none-the-less. I got interested in this for 2 reasons: 1. I'm investigating more early comics artists such as Steve Ditko and 2. the concept seems bonkers.
Two high-school-age brothers are superheroes in 1968 on opposite sides of the culture wars. The Hawk thinks violence is the solution to everything. The Dove thinks violence is never justified. They fight crime, and each other, in groovy outfits while trying to keep out of the way of their father, a nothing-less-than-maximum-sentence judge, who would send them to jail as vigilantes.
Ditko isn't listed as author, but I'm sure he actually wrote some text of the first issues. The boys father, a judge, spouts Ayn Rand-inspired inflexible black/white with no shades of gray morality much like Ditko himself would do in real life and in his passion project Mr. A. Ditko is only involved in 3 of these stories, and I think the art got better when Kane started drawing it.
The characters continue to exists after these stories, joining Teen Titans, and going through various transformations over the years, as all superheroes do. But they are unlikely to ever be foreground characters again.
Two high-school-age brothers are superheroes in 1968 on opposite sides of the culture wars. The Hawk thinks violence is the solution to everything. The Dove thinks violence is never justified. They fight crime, and each other, in groovy outfits while trying to keep out of the way of their father, a nothing-less-than-maximum-sentence judge, who would send them to jail as vigilantes.
Ditko isn't listed as author, but I'm sure he actually wrote some text of the first issues. The boys father, a judge, spouts Ayn Rand-inspired inflexible black/white with no shades of gray morality much like Ditko himself would do in real life and in his passion project Mr. A. Ditko is only involved in 3 of these stories, and I think the art got better when Kane started drawing it.
The characters continue to exists after these stories, joining Teen Titans, and going through various transformations over the years, as all superheroes do. But they are unlikely to ever be foreground characters again.
September 30, 2018
I always kind of liked Hawk and Dove.
I like heroes that are partners, rather then hero/sidekick, they had cool costumes and were street level, but had a vague mystical origin.
and then I got this book, and now I love them.
Steve Ditko had a tendency to use his comic stories to present a political/philisophical view, you might have missed it it was pretty subtle.
It didn't always work. Here it does, as the two brothers struggle to use their powers for good, but also to show that their views on violence are the way to go.
The inner/outer nature of that debate is really nicely done, as both bothers learn, its harder then it looks, both to be a super hero and to stick to your principles when life piles on you.
Plus, the added layer of they disagree but are brothers is nice.
Only grumble is their supporting cast is weak and their rogues gallery is one super villain and three gangsters.
That and Ditko's run was too short and other writers didn't seem to like the philosophy side and just made them a duo that argued all the time.
I like heroes that are partners, rather then hero/sidekick, they had cool costumes and were street level, but had a vague mystical origin.
and then I got this book, and now I love them.
Steve Ditko had a tendency to use his comic stories to present a political/philisophical view, you might have missed it it was pretty subtle.
It didn't always work. Here it does, as the two brothers struggle to use their powers for good, but also to show that their views on violence are the way to go.
The inner/outer nature of that debate is really nicely done, as both bothers learn, its harder then it looks, both to be a super hero and to stick to your principles when life piles on you.
Plus, the added layer of they disagree but are brothers is nice.
Only grumble is their supporting cast is weak and their rogues gallery is one super villain and three gangsters.
That and Ditko's run was too short and other writers didn't seem to like the philosophy side and just made them a duo that argued all the time.
November 26, 2022
This book collects the entire run of 1968-1969 issues of The Hawk and the Dove, a DC comic book that was unusual even in a year of unusual DC comic books.
Created by Steve Ditko, the Hawk and the Dove are teen-age brothers Hank and Don Hall, sons of a prominent judge in whatever New Yorkish city the story is set. Hank is all in favor of bombing Vietnam to pieces, while Don believes firmly in compromise and giving in to achieve peace. Dad is pretty much Ditko's perfect man, who stands for the use of reason and objectivity in all things. After Dad is injured in a bombing, the boys follow the guy who threw the bomb into a warehouse where they encounter a mysterious voice which gives them powers and crazy superhero outfits. They are named after their stances on the war, the Hawk and the Dove.
Ditko drew three issues and clearly had a large role in the plotting, but the stories were scripted by Steve Skeates. Skeates stayed on for a couple more issues when Gil Kane took over as the artist, eventually becoming scripter as well. Both artists did some of their best storytelling work in these few books, and the action sequences are fairly spectacular, leaping off the pages. There are also really good scenes of searching and worrying , especially by Kane. (His work in this title and the contemporary Captain Action, which he also scripted, remains some of my all-time faves of his excellent career.)
The Hawk remains an aggressor throughout the series, the superhero who most resembles contemporary heroes, believing in fighting and beating the bad guys to a pulp. The Hawk tries to avoid violence, and does a great job of jumping around and accomplishing good without hitting people. As the book goes on, the Dove changes a little more than the Hawk does, becoming more willing to let the bad guys get hurt. But he also becomes smarter and a better planner. It would have been interesting to see what happened if the series had lasted longer than one issue of Showcase and six of their own title. (The book also includes a Teen Titans issue that featured the characters, who would appear there more often in the next couple years.)
Created by Steve Ditko, the Hawk and the Dove are teen-age brothers Hank and Don Hall, sons of a prominent judge in whatever New Yorkish city the story is set. Hank is all in favor of bombing Vietnam to pieces, while Don believes firmly in compromise and giving in to achieve peace. Dad is pretty much Ditko's perfect man, who stands for the use of reason and objectivity in all things. After Dad is injured in a bombing, the boys follow the guy who threw the bomb into a warehouse where they encounter a mysterious voice which gives them powers and crazy superhero outfits. They are named after their stances on the war, the Hawk and the Dove.
Ditko drew three issues and clearly had a large role in the plotting, but the stories were scripted by Steve Skeates. Skeates stayed on for a couple more issues when Gil Kane took over as the artist, eventually becoming scripter as well. Both artists did some of their best storytelling work in these few books, and the action sequences are fairly spectacular, leaping off the pages. There are also really good scenes of searching and worrying , especially by Kane. (His work in this title and the contemporary Captain Action, which he also scripted, remains some of my all-time faves of his excellent career.)
The Hawk remains an aggressor throughout the series, the superhero who most resembles contemporary heroes, believing in fighting and beating the bad guys to a pulp. The Hawk tries to avoid violence, and does a great job of jumping around and accomplishing good without hitting people. As the book goes on, the Dove changes a little more than the Hawk does, becoming more willing to let the bad guys get hurt. But he also becomes smarter and a better planner. It would have been interesting to see what happened if the series had lasted longer than one issue of Showcase and six of their own title. (The book also includes a Teen Titans issue that featured the characters, who would appear there more often in the next couple years.)
September 24, 2019
An interesting concept - two brothers with diametrically opposite approaches given powers to tackle injustices in their own ways. The book has a very 60’s feel - especially featuring artwork by Ditko and Gil Kane, two artists who had made their mark their rat at Marvel and then moved across town to DC Comics.
April 27, 2024
Good Ol' Silver Age Comics
This is a lovely, and complete, collection of the Silver Age Appearances of The Hawk and The Dove. This was one of DC Comics'new and hip superheroes they developed to keep pace with the changing social and political culture of the 1960s. The stories are a bit dated, but the underlying message remains sound.
This is a lovely, and complete, collection of the Silver Age Appearances of The Hawk and The Dove. This was one of DC Comics'new and hip superheroes they developed to keep pace with the changing social and political culture of the 1960s. The stories are a bit dated, but the underlying message remains sound.
August 31, 2020
What a weird book. Mostly Hawk and Dove just bicker. Still had a good, campy time.
For more on these characters tune in to Comic Book Coffee Break: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zikuP...
For more on these characters tune in to Comic Book Coffee Break: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zikuP...
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews