The big issue with a continuing series is how to keep things fresh. Sometimes, you create a whole new universe of characters and accidentally create Earth-1. Other times? You update your western with Pacifist Elvis. Your Major Spoilers Retro Review of Tomahawk #131 awaits!

TOMAHAWK #131

Writer: Robert Kanigher
Penciler: Frank Thorne
Inker: Frank Thorne
Colorist: Uncredited
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Joe Kubert
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: 15 Cents
Current Near-Mint Pricing: $40.00
Release Date: September 1, 1970

Previously in Tomahawk: Beginning in 1950, at the height of the Western comic book craze, Tomahawk was an unusual book. Unlike the Old West setting of Johnny Thunder or Nighthawk, Tomahawk’s adventures were set in the period leading up to the American Revolution. For 130 issues, Thomas Hawk and his Rangers adventured in the era of George Washington, but issue #130 opens with an entirely new tableau. A woman is on the run from a scar-faced pursuer, when suddenly she is swept up by a mysterious and handsome stranger.
Unfortunately for our chivalrous young interloper, his horse isn’t nearly as sure-footed as whoever puts the blond streak in his hair, and both he and the young woman are dumped unceremoniously into the river. The madman in the top hat declares “court” in session, and tells the woman that if she doesn’t give up the location of her family’s secret gold mine, he’s going to hang the stranger, just like he did her brother. It seems like the fellow in the deep-cut jumpsuit isn’t long for the world when, suddenly, a shot rings out! A familiar tomahawk comes from the nearby shadows and The Judge stands face-to-face with the greatest frontiersman of the era.

It’s just not the era that a casual reader might have thought it was.
Though the previous issue took place in 1777 or so, featuring a hale and hearty Tomahawk with a full head of blonde hair, the creaky old man who steps out of the shadows is decades older. He hasn’t, however, forgotten how to fight, and with the help of his son, makes short work of Judge and lackeys. Frank Thorne really kills the storytelling, providing striking layouts entirely unlike previous issues of the book. It’s a reminder that the end of the Silver Age brought with it striking new visuals and wild experimentation. It was the era of Bat Lash, Steve Ditko’s Creeper, The Hawk and The Dove, and gorgeous oddities like The Secret Six, and it’s wonderfully satisfying to see this ahead-of-its-time approach on a book as traditional as Tomahawk. (Though the cover of this issue, and indeed, all the rest of this volume bears a Hawk, Son of Tomahawk logo, the legal title in the indicia never does.)

After the fight is over, Tomahawk and son head home, taking their new friend Miss Addams with them, in the hopes that The Judge won’t be able to track her as easily to their homestead.
I’m not sure if we’re supposed to think that Angela thinks that Moon Fawn is Hawk’s lady or that she’s some sort of Native American servant-woman, but regardless, she hears the story of how Tomahawk gave up the colonies and moved West when things started getting too crowded for his tastes. In the fifty-odd years since readers of 1970 last saw him, he met and married Moon Fawn and fathered two sons, Hawk and Young Eagle. For those keeping track, that means that our hero’s legal name is seemingly Hawk Hawk, though later stories would retcon the family name as “Haukins.”

The next morning, Hawk takes it upon himself to lure The Judge out to protect Angela Addams and the Hawk family, but finds the stubborn young woman won’t let him go it alone.
These panels also give us a good look at Hawk’s jumpsuit, which is clearly modeled on those worn by Elvis Presley starting in the late 1960s, but I find it interesting that the one it most reminds me of actually didn’t exist yet at the time of this comic book! The Thunderbird jumpsuit (and the following Phoenix and Hawk variants) wouldn’t actually appear in the King’s wardrobe until 1972, with the most heavily decorated ones not debuting ’til 1974. It’s said that Elvis read comic books, which in turn begs the question: Did he ever see Hawk, Son of Tomahawk in action?

Having suckered in The Judge with a dummy, Hawk lures him in, dispatching the lackeys before facing the hangman one-on-one.
It’s interesting to see that Hawk, who generally rejected his father’s fighty-fighty ways, not only gets into a fistfight and two gun battles in his debut, he also fatally shoots the villain in the end. Tomahawk #131 is the beginning of a new era for the Revolutionary War hero and family, and while it was short-lived it’s really well-drawn comic, earning an above-average 3.5 out of 5 stars overall. It’s something of a shame how obscure Tomahawk has become in the modern era, but I’d love even more to see Hawk make a comeback of his own.

---

Dear Spoilerite,

At Major Spoilers, we strive to create original content that you find interesting and entertaining. Producing, writing, recording, editing, and researching requires significant resources. We pay writers, podcast hosts, and other staff members who work tirelessly to provide you with insights into the comic book, gaming, and pop culture industries. Help us keep MajorSpoilers.com strong. Become a Patron (and our superhero) today.

TOMAHAWK #131

70%

70%

Bronze Age DC Gets Weird, Y'all

His name is Hawk Hawk, but they call him Hawk, and his first adventure is pretty dang gorgeous.

• Writing

  5
• Art

  9
• Coloring

  7
• User Ratings (0 Votes)
  0