Hawkman Vol. 4 Book 7

This volume covers Book 7 of Hawkman Vol. 4 (2002–2006), corresponding to Hawkman Vol. 4 #7, "Fine Day for a Hangin'," published September 2002, written by Geoff Johns and James Robinson with art by Rags Morales and others. This is a flashback story; Hawkman Carter Hall and Hawkgirl Kendra Saunders do not appear in the main narrative. The story returns to 19th-century St. Roch, Louisiana, where two famed vigilantes—Nighthawk and Cinnamon—arrive in the Southern town. At a saloon, Nighthawk meets James Craddock (the future Gentleman Ghost) and learns that Cyrus Evans, a former slave, is to stand trial for murdering his former master, Boyce Garvey. Evans is innocent; the evidence points to Garvey's niece, Matilda Dunney, who has already gathered a lynch mob to hang Evans without trial. After spending a night together, Nighthawk and Cinnamon decide to break Evans out and flee by carriage, with Nighthawk holding a gun to clear the way for his companions. They ultimately bring Evans to the Garvey estate, where he settles—the estate that will one day become the Stonechat Museum. As past-life incarnations of Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Nighthawk and Cinnamon's experience fills in a key piece of the series' long-running reincarnation mythology and St. Roch's local history, and explains the bloodlines and grudges that connect many later characters. This is Book 7 of the series; it can be read on its own, but reading in order is recommended for the full experience of its foreshadowing.