May 1961: Hawkman in the Himalayas

Hawkman tended to tangle with other man-beasts.

In his first 1960s outing, the revamped Hawkman fought a shapeshifter who could become any animal on Earth or his home planet, Thanagar. 

And in his second appearance (The Brave and the Bold 35, April-May 1961), the Winged Wonder ran into “abominable snowmen” while investigating the Valley of Vanishing Men in the Himalayas.

At the time, the Abominable Snowman or Tibetan Yeti — “(A) mythical monster resembling a large, hairy, ape-like being supposed to inhabit the Himalayas at about the level of the snow line,” according to Britannica — was enjoying a flurry of popularity in articles, movies and comic books.

The first story in the issue pitted the Winged Wonders against scientist-turned-alchemist Mark Mandrill, whose accidental discovery of a compound he calls “Mentachem” provides him with a wand he can use to reshape, transmute or levitate any matter. The Matter Master would return many times.

“Gardner Fox’s Silver Age revival of the Hawkman shows similarities and differences from the original Golden Age Hawkman character, whom he also created,” observed comics historian Michael Grost. “Both go after criminals with a ‘variety of ancient weapons’ … Both characters have a secret identity of Carter Hall. By contrast, the Golden Age Hawkman is not an alien being: he is an ordinary Earth human. Nor does he have all the alien technological devices from Thanagar that the Silver Age Hawkman employs for crime detection.”

Reader Roy Thomas expressed his appreciation for the revival and revamping of the characters on the second Hawkman’s Roost letter page. 

“I’m glad you have changed the characters physically as little as you did, for little improvement could have been made,” Thomas wrote. “One complaint, however, which I feel duty-bound to make as my chief (and practically only) disappointment in the issue — I think Hawkman’s mask greatly needs some wings.” 

By his fourth tryout appearance in The Brave and the Bold 42 (June-July 1962), Hawkman had won his helmet wings.