Board Review: Love is a Battlefield: Together Forever

Love is a Battlefield
Together Forever
Writer: Cavan Scott 
Pencils: Jose Luis 
Inks: Jonas Trindade 
Colors: Rex Locus 
Letters: Carlos M. Mangual
Editor: Michael McCalister 
Cover: Kaare Andrews 

The Hawkman series ended three months ago, but we got a nice surprise in this year's Valentine's Day issue. 

The eight-page story finds Hawkman (Carter Hall) and Hawkwoman (Shayera Hol) in the present age, traveling through space. Maybe they are traveling to planets where they lived in past lives, or maybe they traveling between Thanagar and Earth. That is never established. But it's pretty clear that writer Cavan Scott picks up more or less where Robert Venditti left off. 

It's a pretty simple story. They come across a huge ship hurtling on a collision course with Earth. Hawkman and Hawkwoman figure out a way to get past its defenses and persuade the aliens to change course. 

But the story itself acts as an introduction to the characters again. Their partnership and abilities are showcased, as well as some of their past histories. Scott writes Carter as the investigator half of the pair, while Shayera is the muscle. In many past series, these two have been portrayed this way. Carter is the archaeologist, the curious one who enjoys cracking a mystery, while Shayera is the free spirit of the two who enjoys swinging that mace. I really enjoy Hawkman stories that have this balance and it seems to work best with these two. It's a good solid first Hawkman story by Scott! 

The art is fantastic. Jose Luis and the art team do a great job with the wings. He has the prerequisite chest hair for Carter that seems to be a must for many Hawkman fans. Shayera is gorgeous, with a now-matching outfit with Carter and that beautiful red hair. The final page with the two flying through the sky together is beautiful. I wasn't expecting it to be this good (no offense to the art team!) so I really enjoyed each page. I would have loved to see the Soarship in a panel but I won't get greedy. 

The cover was a bit of a disappointment. It appears to be a Harley Quinn comic, with no clue on the cover that anyone else is in it. Not being a Harley Quinn fan, I would passed right over it if someone hadn't told me about it. DC continues to be rather poor in their marketing skills. Why would you have ten stories featuring many of the DC characters without putting something about it on the cover? Weird. 

The Hawks have so much potential for stories like this. Whether it be on Earth, on Thanagar, on a previous planet they lived on, or anywhere in between, there is so much for a writer to explore. I would love to see a series that finds them traveling through space together like this, with no intrusions from other DC characters, and just building on their past lives, current status, and their relationship with each other. 

This was a nice, unexpected surprise from DC and company. There is no word on any plans for the Hawks at the moment, so we don't when we'll see these two again, but let's hope DC doesn't shelve them for too long. 

Rating: 9/10