Hawk and Dove #5

Oct 1989 · DC · 1.00 USD; 1.25 CAD; 0.50 GBP

📊 ~15,775 copies sold its debut month

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“Sudden Death!”

★ 1st appearance — Kestrel★ 1st appearance — Sudden Death

About this Issue

Hawk and Dove Vol. 3 #5 marks the first appearance of Sudden Death (Dwayne Wainwright), a metagene-powered bruiser who went on to become a recurring presence across the DC Universe in titles including Suicide Squad, Darkstars, and Birds of Prey — a durable creative contribution from a series not always celebrated for its villains. The issue also delivers a pivotal emotional beat for the ongoing series: the ghost of Don Hall, the original Dove who died in Crisis on Infinite Earths, visits Dawn Granger, directly addressing the guilt that had shadowed Dawn's assumption of the Dove mantle and closing out a character thread the Kesels had been building since the series launched. Together these two elements — a new villain with legs and the resolution of Dawn's psychological burden — make this the quiet climax of the ongoing's formative arc.

writer Barbara Kesel · writer, inker Karl Kesel · artist Chris Wozniak · colorist Glenn Whitmore · letterer Bob Pinaha · cover Chris Wozniak, Karl Kesel

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History

The ongoing Hawk & Dove Vol. 3 series launched in mid-1989 as a direct consequence of the sold-out 1988 miniseries written by Barbara and Karl Kesel; DC approved the continuation with the Kesels staying on as co-writers but with Greg Guler replacing Rob Liefeld on pencils — Liefeld having departed for Marvel by that point. Issue #5 is a transitional installment: it brought in Chris Wozniak on pencils alongside Karl Kesel on inks, a short-term fill-in team, while still maintaining the tight character focus that had defined the series under Mike Carlin's editorial supervision.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Sudden Death (real name Dwayne Wainwright), a metagene-enhanced metahuman with superhuman strength, stamina, and the ability to generate massive explosive force — created by Barbara Kesel, Karl Kesel, and Chris Wozniak.
The ghost of Don Hall — the original Dove, killed in Crisis on Infinite Earths #12 (1986) — appears to Dawn Granger (the new Dove) in this issue, marking a significant emotional milestone in the ongoing series.
Written by Barbara and Karl Kesel; pencils by Chris Wozniak; inks by Karl Kesel. Cover by Wozniak and Karl Kesel.
On-sale date per the Grand Comics Database: August 24, 1989; cover-dated October 1989.
Sudden Death subsequently appeared in multiple other DC titles, including Suicide Squad, Darkstars, and Birds of Prey, establishing him as one of the more durable villains introduced in this series.
The issue resolves the recurring sub-plot of Dawn Granger's guilt over inheriting the Dove powers at the expense of Don Hall — a theme the Kesels had seeded from the series' first issue.
This issue was reprinted in the Brazilian anthology Os Novos Titãs (Editora Abril) #79 (October 1992).
Dwayne Wainwright appeared (in a non-powered, re-imagined form) in the DC Universe/HBO Max live-action series Titans, Season 1, Episode 9 ('Hank and Dawn', 2018), portrayed by Bas Reitsma.