The Hawk of New York is my first foray into Lunar Works Production. A company with a tagline that reads, “Storytelling by Any Means Necessary” is making a pretty bold statement. Let’s hope they can back it up. A baby sits abandoned in front of a condemned prison. The only thing in his possession was a leather jacket and a Dream catcher. Soon the cops find the half white, half-Indian baby, his name is Eric Warden and he is placed in a foster home by the name of The Hendom Care Challenge Home.
In no time Eric is a teenager and is full of typical teenage angst. He is placed in different homes but his wild spirit is a bit too intense and he is sent back into the system. As Eric tries to find himself and his way in the world he uses music as an escape. It’s always a center piece in his life no matter what he’s doing or where he’s at. In school there are only a few things that Eric truly enjoys; shop class were he can weld anything due to a receptive teacher named Mr. Olive and Gym, another place that he can escape the stresses of life. While in the gym Eric presses his luck with a couple of the “meatheads” and ends up incurring their brutal wrath thanks to the coach, who lets it all transpire.
After being suspended and put in the hospital, Eric returns to school and waits out the superintendent’s office where a handful of girls are awaiting a modeling opportunity. Soon we find out that the Superintendent has “different” plan for the girls and a very different definition of modeling. In what seems to be an accident, things go too far with the modeling and one of the girls end up dead.
In the halls of the school Eric runs into Mr. Olive again and the two catch up. Olive sees that Eric is struggling and he needs a release, so he makes a deal with him, if he can fix up this old motorcycle, he can keep it. Soon the bike is fixed and Eric has some new wheels. Along with meeting a girl, Eric is soon driven to find out more about his past while Mr. Olive has a sneaking suspicion that something is up at the school.
The Hawk of New York comes off like a simple read. It has its main protagonist in Eric who is trying to discover himself and is clearly looking for some direction in life. Then there’s Mr. Olive who is an advocate for Eric and assuming all students. But there just seems to be an odd pacing and presentation that took me out of it. It’s not bad but the beats just fell a little off.
The use of lyrics through the book was interesting, almost acting like a soundtrack to Eric’s adventures but the way the words floated around the panels constantly acted more as a distraction than emersion.
There are times that the panel presentations excel. There’s a page that uses the weavings of the Dream catcher that are great and work really well. Also the book is presented with black and grays and there is great care and detail in their use.
Overall The Hawk of New York isn’t a bad book and it does have some interesting ideas that it’s dealing with. With a second issue slated for this fall, it will be very interesting to see the title progress.
Score: 2/5
Writer/Artist: Randyl Bishop Publisher: Lunar Works Productions Price: $5.00 Get It Here