DC Comics Co-Publisher Jim Lee and artist Rob Liefed talk about Rob and writer Sterling Gates’ September shipping Hawk and Dove as part of the DC Comics Relaunch book (a title on my Top 19).
For folks that aren’t aware, Rob Liefeld’s first mainstream comics art job was on a Hawk and Dove mini-series in the late 1980s for DC. He would move to Marvel after that, gain fame (or infamy) on New Mutants and then X-Force. He and other Marvel artists, including Jim Lee, would leave Marvel and form Image Comics in the early 1990s. Rob’s Youngblood #1 smashed sales records as the first Image Comics book. The rest as they say is history, and stuff for a whole other column. :)
Anyhow, Rob is back on Hawk and Dove and its all because of Jim Lee and DC Entertainment’s Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns. Sweet!
Here are some highlights from Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld on this project.
Jim Lee at Examiner:
“A lot of people still have fond memories of Rob Liefeld’s run on Hawk & Dove, and it felt real fitting to bring him back… The guy has a tremendous amount of enthusiasm for what he does, and we really expect Hawk & Dove to benefit from that energy. He and Sterling have really brought the momentum that you need to launch a book.”
Rob Liefeld seems pretty excited to be on the book and may have contributed to some of the concepts that Sterling Gates will be using.
Rob Liefeld at Newsarama:
“…last spring 2010, Geoff Johns called me up to see the new DC offices for the west coast operations and we went to lunch and talked comics for hours. He had seen all the Deadpool work that I was doing and told me I should be working on the new Hawk and Dove series they were planning once Brightest Day ended. He warned me it would be at least a year off until it launched, post Flashpoint, but I was like, sign me up…”
On the look of Hawk and Dove and what to expect:
“…We’ve returned Hawk to a larger physique, bigger presence. He’s darker, literally —thanks to the re-design by Jim Lee. [He’s] less the Ditko physique which is more Spider-Man/Daredevil and more brutish, bigger than Batman say, but not quite Hulk-ish. He works better as a ferocious, unhinged figure.
Dove is his balance, emotionally and physically. Dove is sleek, feminine, acrobatic. It’s a great contrast on every page. It’s a tried and true chemistry. I love drawing each and every page!
When we started planning this new Hawk and Dove series last summer, we always approached it as a fresh jumping-on point. I was hired away, ironically, by Bob Harras himself, from [the older] Hawk and Dove just as my original work in the series was blowing up. I never got to hang around and contribute further to the Hawk and Dove pantheon.
The idea of Avatars was always intriguing to me. I had so many ideas and Sterling and I have created really cool, exciting new warrior Avatars, friends and foes alike, to tangle with Hawk and Dove. We hit the ground running with the first issue. It reminds me of the books I loved growing up. Great cliffhanger, really fun.”
