The History of Hawkman and Hawkgirl by Geoff Johns

Summary by Tim Board (Hawkworld Facebook and Hawkworld Twitter)
One of the greatest series of Hawkman comics was the series Geoff Johns did from 2002 to 2004. With the art of Rags Morales, Johns brought the confusing story of Hawkman together and it actually made sense. One of the best issues from his run is Issue No. 15, titled "The Thanagarian". In the first issue of this three-part story, Hawkwoman makes her first appearance in eight years. In the issue she tells the story of the Hawks and how they came to be. In just a few panels, Johns and Morales tolf the story as simply as possible. It is definitely worth a read. After the end of Johns, summary, I've added what has happened to the Hawks since 2004. 

The Hawkman and LadyBlackhawk in Scott Snyder's Metal is Carter Hall and Kendra Saunders from Geoff Johns' Hawkman run during 2002-2005. These panels are from Hawkman Vol. 4 No. 15. Art by Rags Morales Art Page. Maybe this will help everyone understand the Hawks a bit better. #1

The Hawkwoman in the first panel and the one telling the story is Shayera Thal, the Hawkwoman from the Hawkworld series Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (1989-1996). She was killed during the Rann-Thanagar War in 2005. In this panel, a Thanagarian ship crashes in ancient Egypt. #2

Prince Khufu and Chay-Ara (the future Carter Hall and Shiera Saunders), are murdered with a Nth Metal knife by a priest called Hath-Set, triggering the reincarnation cycle. #3

They were reborn as many nationalities and in many places, sometimes a king and a queen, sometimes slaves, or sometimes knights, gun slingers, priests, samurais and so on. This is why their knowledge is vast, know many styles of weapons and combat and can speak hundreds of languages. #4

In the 1940s, they were reunited as Carter Hall and Shiera Saunders and began their careers as Hawkman and Hawkgirl. #5

They fought in the Justice Society and the All-Star Squadron for a decade and then retired but came back years later, serving as advisers in the Justice League. But then they disappeared in limbo with the Justice Society for a few years. #6

While they were in limbo, Hawkman and Hawkwoman (Katar Hol and Shayera Thal) arrived on Earth. #7

They came to capture Byth, a criminal on Thanagar. #8

Carter and Shiera Hall eventually returned from limbo and met the new Hawks. Katar and Shayera were a couple for a while but fell apart. Shayera left and joined the police force in Detroit. #9

Then Carter and Katar were fused together with a Hawkgod. This says Shiera was killed in the process, so it's a bit of a retcon from the original story. This is to explain Kendra's involvement. #10

Hawkman eventually loses his sanity and and is sent into the Hawk Realm. according to this, at the same instant, Shiera's soul entered Kendra's body during Kendra's apparently successful suicide. #11

Kendra joined the JSA and then helped Carter (with Katar's memories) return from the Hawk Realm and they started again in St. Roth. A lot has happened since then but this sort of explains the history of Carter and Kendra. #12

From here, the story moves on from the summary Johns gave us. Right at the beginning of Blackest Night, Carter and Kendra were killed by Elongated Man and his wife Sue. When they were resurrected, it was not Kendra but Shiera who returned with Carter. Kendra was not seen again until the she showed up as Lady Blackhawk in Metal No. 1. #13

In Brightest Day No. 18, Carter and Shiera seemed to finally be rid of the reincarnation curse, but they were quickly killed off by the White Lantern. A few issues later, they returned as Air Elementals. At the end of the story, only Carter was brought back and Shiera disappeared. We have only seen her in flashbacks since then. #14

At the end of Brightest Day, we find Carter Hall languishing over the loss of Shiera yet once again. I'm assuming he walked into the Dark Universe as we saw in The Casting last summer. #15 

And that brings us to the present, with Carter as the Dragon of Barbatos, Kendra as the Lady Blackhawk, and Shiera still missing. It will be interesting to see how much more information and back story Scott Snyder gives us in the last two issues of Metal.