'80s fantasy cult film Hawk the Slayer returns - as a Garth Ennis comic
The '80s cult-favorite fantasy film Hawk the Slayer returns - as a comic book
The cult-favorite 1980s film Hawk the Slayer will return in 2022 - not as a film sequel, but as a comic book from The Boys and Preacher writer/co-creator Garth Ennis.
A six-issue Hawk the Slayer comic book series by Ennis and artist Henry Flint (Judge Dredd) will debut April 13 from Rebellion, publishers of the seminal British sci-fi anthology 2000 AD.
Hawk the Slayer is a British sword and sorcery flick starring Jack Palance and John Terry alongside a host of idiosyncratic post-Star Wars and Conan the Barbarian genre oddities such as giants, elves, and "mindswords." Originally drubbed in theaters, the British flick became a cult favorite thanks to video rental stores and cable TV.
"I tend to think of Hawk the Slayer as being its own peculiar beast," Ennis tells Nerdist about the comic adaptation. "I mentioned that I like the movie because it's unlike others of its kind; the same will hopefully be true of the comic. It's also worth mentioning that I'm not really all that familiar with other comics in this genre - I've never had much interest in Conan, for instance, which I find pretty humourless and po-faced whether as book, movie, or comic. The exception would be the old black & white Sláine in 2000 AD, which I’m still a big fan of, but it’s very different to Hawk the Slayer in the first place."
Check out this unlettered preview of Hawk the Slayer #1 by Ennis and Flint:
Hawk the Slayer #1 preview
The director/co-writer of the original Hawk the Slayer film, Terry Marcel, signs off on Ennis and Flint's take on his movie, saying "For me, this is a great homage to the movie and really delivers on my expectations. Garth and Henry have really done justice to the film and it’s wonderful to see Hawk and his friends back in action."
Hawk the Slayer #1 (of 6) goes on sale on April 22, 2022.
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Come April 2022, look for Hawk the Slayer and other comics digitally or at your local comic shop.
Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)