{{No footnotes, date=December 2018 Death Hawk is a fictional

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

character, a self-styled salvage expert in the 25th century. The character starred in a namesake, three-issue series published by

Adventure Publications Adventure Publications was an American comic book publisher founded by Steve Milo in 1986, based in Fairfax, Virginia and active from 1986 to 1993. In 1989, it merged with American publisher Malibu Comics, becoming the Adventure Comics imprint. ...

from 1987 to 1988, created and written by Mark Ellis. He first appeared in a five-page back-up feature in ''

Star Rangers ''Star Rangers'' was a four-issue American science-fiction comic-book series created by writer Mark Ellis and artist Jim Mooney, following the adventures of a military spaceship crew in a 25th-century controlled by corporations. Publication hi ...

'' #2–3, by the same writer.

Publication history

''Death Hawk'' ran three issues cover-dated May to November 1988. The first issue was pencilled by artist

Adam Hughes Adam Hughes (born May 5, 1967) is an American comics artist and illustrator best known to American comic book readers for his renderings of pinup-style female characters, and his cover work on titles such as ''Wonder Woman'' and ''Catwoman''. H ...

, succeeded with issue #2 by

Rik Levins Richard "Rik" Levins (October 10, 1950 - June 12, 2010"United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JBFK-2Y6 : accessed 2 June 2015), Richard J Levins, 12 Jun 2010; citing U.S. Social Secu ...

. The first two issues featured painted covers by

Dave Dorman Dave Dorman (born 1958 in Michigan) is a science fiction, horror and fantasy illustrator best known for his ''Star Wars'' artwork. Early life Dorman's parents are Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jack N. Dorman and Phyllis Dorman. Both parents ar ...

, the third by Steve Hickman. ''Death Hawk'' was canceled after the third issue when the publisher went out of business. A fourth issue was completed but went unpublished at the time. In September 2008, Ellis' Millennial Concepts (with Transfuzion Publishing) published a 128-page trade paperback, ''Death Hawk: The Soulworm Saga Volume One'', that collected the published Death Hawk stories and the previously unpublished fourth issue. It included never-before seen incidental art by

Darryl Banks Darryl Banks is an American comic book artist. He worked on one of the first painted comic books, ''Cyberpunk'', and teamed with the writer Mark Ellis to revamp the long-running '' The Justice Machine'' series for two publishers, Innovation and ...

Jim Mooney James Noel Mooney (August 13, 1919 – March 30, 2008) was an American comics artist best known for his long tenure at DC Comics and as the signature artist of Supergirl, as well as a Marvel Comics inker and Spider-Man artist, both during wha ...

and Robert Lewis. In October 2019 graphic novel publisher Markosia Enterprises released ''Death Hawk: The Complete Saga'', in hardcover, trade paperback and digital editions with a new full-length story by artist Jeff Slemons.

Fictional character biography

The 25th century as presented in ''Death Hawk'' and its companion series ''Star Rangers'' was a dystopia of

Solar System The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...

-spanning corporations that held the true power behind the centralized government of the Sol 9 Commonwealth. His true name unrevealed, the protagonist was the surviving member of a group of corporate outcasts who called themselves the Death Hawks. When the group was betrayed by one of their own, Death Hawk escaped in his 50-year-old spaceship the ''Peregrine''. With the aid of his bio-engineered sidekick, Cyke, Death Hawk traveled the spaceways eludingarrest warrants and creditors, his eye always out for ways to keep his salvage business going — often when legality was questionable. Cyke, described as an "intelligent blob of goo" was a

telepathic Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...

protosymbiote produced by the Biotek Corporation. Although Death Hawk referred to Cyke as "he", the creature was sexless. However, it possessed the ability to morph into a variety of sizes and shapes. Not only was Cyke extremely intelligent, it was far more knowledgeable than his human partner and wasn't above reminding Death Hawk of the fact. The story arc "The Soulworm Saga" revolved around the quest for a mythical alien object of immense power. Other characters included: *Brigid O'Shaunessy/Vanessa Bouvier, a beautiful con artist who claimed to be an exo-

archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

. *R'yex, an Arcturan mercenary who first opposed Death Hawk then out of necessity joined forces with him. *Anton Chane, a director of the mysterious Biotek Corporation, whose agenda has far-reaching implications for the

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

of humanity. *Takaun, one of the "high daimyos" of the Sol 9 Shogunate, who was just as crafty as Chane and as greedy as R'yex, but in his own way.

References

Deathhawk official siteGrand Comics Database: ''Death Hawk''

Jazma Online (April 14, 2007): Mark Ellis interview

Comicspace.com: MarkAxlerEllis page
Comics characters introduced in 1987 Comics set in the 25th century Adventure Publications titles Space Western comics Science fiction comics American comics titles Fictional mercenaries in comics