Hawkman may have vanished, but his power didn’t.
In DC’s All-Star Comics 57 (Feb. 1951), the 1940s Hawkman made what was to be his last appearance for many years. But the very next month, DC’s rising star Tomahawk took to the skies with his own set of wings (Tomahawk 4, March-April 1951).
Hawkman wasn’t the only DC superhero from whom Tomahawk borrowed. Although separated by more than a century, Tomahawk and Batman remained similar in spirit.
DC’s colonial guerilla fighter was one of many heroes who were inspired to adopt a Boy Wonder by the success of the Batman feature. And though he didn’t have a secret identity, Tomahawk was, like Batman, known by his intimidating nom de guerre.
“Offering historical fiction in comic book format, Tomahawk was a combination of James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales and the adventures of Batman and Robin,” observed comics historian Ron Goulart. “The feature began as a backup in Star Spangled Comics 69 (June 1947). Within two years, the frontier hero and his boy companion were the stars of the DC magazine and remained so until 1951. A separate Tomahawk comic book was started in 1950 and lasted until 1972. Not a bad run for a character who had no super powers and who tried to teach a little American history on the side.”
In The Flying Frontiersman, Tomahawk scoffs at inventor Jonathan Craig’s bat-winged flying machine. But when it falls into the hands of a hostile medicine man, Red Pine, Tomahawk must strap on his own version and engage in the world’s first aerial duel to avert an Indian war.
To avoid killing Red Pine, Tomahawk breaks one of the medicine man’s wings with a flawless fling of his namesake weapon, dumping him into the drink.
Bruno Premiani provided the art.
And in Batman 82 (March 1954), the Masked Manhunter followed Tomahawk’s lead in a story called The Flying Batman. Bob Kane provided the art while David Vern scripted.
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