The Black Dragon versus Hawkman

Okay, let's see what Hawkman is up against in his assignment to stymie the Black Dragon's pl--

WT-Flying-F? BWHAHAHAHA

Okay, even for a Golden Age JSA story, that is exceptionally ridiculous.  And defiant of more than one law of aerodynamics.  

It's the windows that really sell it, though.  Eat your heart out, Iwao Takamoto.

Pictured: A Nearby State.

To save time, the injured inventor of the Giant Aero Prop straight just tells Hawkman where the villains are. Naturally, they holed up in the same kind of weird castle-tower-monastery place that Hawkman stories often take place in, because his uppity creative team were always going for that faraway Prince Valiant vibe.

That's how Hawkman became a weird, occult thing with mysterious artifacts from distant temples rather just a shirtless gym bro in an anti-grav belt and a downy security blanket.

And just in time, too, as Japanese Klunk is explaining how the Giant Aero Prop works.

"Whatdidhesay, whatdidhesay?"

Hawkman cracks some heads, as is his wont.

He snatches the Master Plans for the propellor, hurls some Black Dragon goons to their doom, then resolves to take the propellor itself.

"And just when I thought I'd never have a more absurd means of flying than the one I regularly use!"

I believe that's comic book Japanese for "uh-oh".

"... so are the Days of Our Lives." 
< insert haunting theme>

But like Icarus before him, Hawkman is felled by his own hubris.

Those bullets can harm you. 
Your wings are not a shield of steel!

This is why Batfink got 100 cartoon episodes and Hawkman three.

The Black Dragoneers craft a fiendish plot: tie Hawkman to the propellor, then fly the device until he falls to his doom.

Hey, I said it was a fiendish plot, not an intelligent one.

Yes, you heard that right. Their plan is to kill a man whose ONLY ability is flying unaided by tossing him from a great height. 

Gives you a clearer sense of why they lost the war, doesn't it?

Despite the obvious flaw in their plan, it goes pretty well.

With Hawkman apparently disposed of, the Black Dragoneers whirl away to chop the tops of off NYC's skyscrapers.

Would it had KILLED them to add "It's a plane?"
That saying was ALREADY well known by this point, believe it or not.

Naturally, Hawkman does NOT fall to his death because not-falling is his superpower, and he wings to New York to stop the giant propellor with the aid of some hawks.

I guess they gave up on the picturesque but probably self-defeating idea of lawnmowering the New York skyline.

Naturally, since this is NYC those are Peregrine Falcons, but when you are Hawkman, whose girlfriend kicks more ass than he does, you are not fussy about what help you can get.

The birds stop the bombs off-panel, while Hawkman, wrapped in his comforting security blanket, confronts his captors.

One of whom, despite being "An Oriental", is clearly an avid student of Western philosophy's Aristotle.

Hawkman delegates the disposition of the de-planed Dragons to his horde of hawks.

Sorry, but "peregrine falcons" is insufficiently alliterative.

Well, at least we escaped the preposterous sight of mid-air lawnmowering.

I guess I spoke too soon.

So much for Hawkman. Buy some No-Doz pills for tomorrow, when we join the garishly dressed Sandman as he searches for the (re-)inventor of Greek Fire!