Hawkman #9

Issue Details

Synopsis

Mark Mandrill is still in prison following his defeat at the hands of the Justice League of America, however he realizes that he can mentally summon back his mentachem wand and uses it to break out of prison. Re-establishing his headquarters, he determines to get revenge against his original foe, Hawkman. Learning that the wand can store the properties of different elements that it comes into contact with (for example, exposure to lightning allows it to fire lightning bolts) he commits a number of bold and fantastic robberies. This of course puts his old foes Hawkman and Hawkgirl on his tail, but the Matter Master allows them to find his secret hideout. There he traps the two winged heroes in a giant diamond, and tries makes it shrink, hoping to crush them both. However, somehow the two heroes shrink (it's later revealed that this was due to the rods exposure to the white dwarf star that comprises of the Atom's costume, which got into contact with the Mater Master's wand during his battle against the Justice League.) So instead of being crushed, they are shrunk down in size and end up on the micro-world of Erewhane. There they save one of its planet's natives from a giant beast and get up in the sky before there is a spray of toxic gas from the planets surface. They learn that the land is threatened by a tyrant named Tobolon, who is threatening to use a new device (which was originally intended to help feed people) to send the worlds floating cities to the ground and it's peoples to die in the toxic gas. With the help of Hawkman and Hawkgirl, the people overthrow Tobolon, and as thanks they take them back to the diamond and seal them in. At that moment, Mater Master makes the diamond grow back to a normal size to collect it back. Unaware that Hawkman and Hawkgirl survived the episode, the two winged wonders (now in miniature size) escape from the diamond and use their small stature to their advantage to defeat the Mater Master. Taking his mentachem wand, they deliver it and Mater Master to the police. They then have Hawkman's Justice League colleague the Atom called in to help them be restored to their original size. When the Atom tells them that his size changing technology would prove anything reduced or enlarged to go through a fatal instability, Hawkman and Hawkgirl put their Thanagarian know-how into work to correct the flaw. Building a growing ray, the two heroes are restored to normal. Atom, Hawkman, and Hawkgirl then reveal to each other their true identities, having become close enough friends to reveal their identities.