Customer Reviews

Hawks of the Sea (Will Eisner Library)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

From the golden era of adventure newspaper comics comes Hawks of the Seas. It is a weekly that ran from 1937 till 1939, created and drawn by a 20 year old Will Eisner. This book collects the entire surviving run of the series. The strips, apparently, have been culled together from a variety of sources, ranging all over the Americas. Finding and putting all together the proofs of an obscure newspaper comic from seven decades ago, is quite a feat unto itself, and thus I feel the books deserves kudos just for that.

Some of the prints are under the title of Aguila Azul (The Blue Eagle), which is how the strip ran in the Spanish translation. Another note is that story pages 3, 4, and 84 are missing, and that pages 10 and 17 are incomplete. But I found that it did not detract from my enjoyment or understanding of the story in any major way.

The stories revolve around a pirate, named the Hawk. He sticks out in pirating annals, because he's become a pirate in order to oppose the slave trade and all who prosper under it. Thus he takes on the role of the noble outlaw; a sea-bound Robin Hood type of sorts. The action has the usual assortment of evil pirates, corrupt officials, and damsels in distress. Ships explode, duels are fought, and there are daring nighttime raids on lonely forts in the Caribbean.

I went back and forth between 3 and 4 stars on this item. It certainly isn't Eisner's best work, but for the time it was rather different (which is why it probably didn't last). When I looked back over it, however I found a lot of old fashioned swashbuckling daring-do, which reminded me of old times, and a nostalgic wave overcame me. If this isn't likely to happen to you, then take this review as a three stars. But if you remember old strips and times like these then take it as a four.