The theme of my first chapter was that sometimes mixedness leads to ethnogenesis (as in the case of the Métis and the Melungeon, and sometimes it doesn’t. The theme of my second chapter was that mixed-descent need not diminish identity.
There is a DC Comic that shows us both themes at once, and in the same family!
Hawk and Little Eagle, Sons of Tomahawk (and of Moon Fawn)
Hawk (Son of Tomahawk) was the star of spinoff stories in a comic that featured his dad, Tomahawk, fighting the a British during the American Revolution. Declining sales of Tomahawk led to a revamp that was set 40 years later and more purely a Western, made more interesting by the new hero’s mixed descent (don’t worry about time periods, they didn’t).
Hawk Haukins had a killer design, – a perfect mixture of Old West and 1970, when he debuted and took over the comic his father had starred since the 1940s. A 70s jumpsuit (complete with plunging neckline and bellbottoms) but also a cowboy? Giant sideburns? Sign me up!
Hawk was created by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Frank Thorne, although the editor and cover artist, Joe Kubert, likely had a hand. The art featured here is from Who’s Who and drawn by Frank Thorne (dedicated to Joe Kubert).
“Tom ‘Tomahawk’ Hawk [actually Haukins] had settled down with a Native woman, Moon Fawn, sired a pair of sons, and was by then a lanky, crotchety old coot, but not quite helpless. His elder son Hawk was the protagonist, and they encountered frontier-style prejudice, greed, corruption, tribalism, paranoia… you guessed it: it was a ‘socially-relevant‘ comic, but hardly the cringe-fest that was the concurrent Green Lantern/Green Arrow. I daresay that Kubert and Kanigher’s respective politics were rather too complex for that.” (Who’s Out There? 2020)
One of the interesting ideas in this comic for me is that two brothers choose to identify differently. Hawk, first as white and later as “Half-Indian” and his full brother, Little Eagle, as “All-Indian.” (A claim that the boy’s white father never disputes).
It’s not clear whether Little Eagle’s maternal tribe accepts him. For that matter, it is never revealed, as far as I know, from what nation Moon Fawn comes. She is, in the tradition of Western and Frontier comics, simply an “Indian.”
Identity fluidity is the case in history for many mixed-blood people. It was not always a choice made freely. It was safer for many to choose to identify as white if they could “pass.” It was required for some that they choose a Native identity, through choice or law. My great-great-great Uncle, Absalome Laroque dit Spence, was barred from taking Métis scrip (a flawed land or money grant that attempted to extiguish Métis aboriginal title) because before it was an option, he had entered Treaty as a First Nations person. In fact, he exited Treaty when scrip became available – as many did (not a free choice either, Canada was not adhering to any of the treaties and many nations were starving).
Métis academic Heather Devine has published widely on the Desjarlais family. Some memebers of the family enrolled in Treaty as First Nations. Others took scrip as Métis. After 1885, many were pressured to remove themselves from treaty.
The governments of Canada and the U.S. preferred distinct categories even. if they were confused by them – forcing that choice on many Indigenous people. Even today, many young people in Canada identify as both Métis and First Nations privately – but that option is not open to them legally. Our systems often force complex identity into simplistic categories.
So it is with historical precedent that Little Eagle identify one way and Hawk another.
Hawk’s Identity Issue (#133)
There’s one issue (#133) that speaks to Hawk’s mixedness in a particularly interesting way.
“…Hawk’s hook is to contrast White and Native values through his twin heritage, but also plays like a coming of age story. He doesn’t look that young, but he lives at home (and in the shadow of his heroic father) and is still learning.” Siskoid (2025)
In this issue, Hawk and his father run into a bounty hunter whose hatred for “Injuns” has driven him mad. And regardless of how Hawk identifies personally, this foe regards him as a fair target for his murderous ire.
His father has an honest talk with him about his heritage, and Hawk chooses to confront the bounty hunter…and his own personal identity at the same time.
The story is a good one and very well drawn. Hawk draws on his own frontier skills, learned from his parents. Eventually he outlasts the bounty hunter on a mountain. With his enemy hanging from a cliff, Hawk attempts to rescue him – only to be spurned as the man flings himself to his own death rather than be rescued by a non-white. Only his bear-claw necklace remains.
Hawk comes to a reasonable conclusion. His indigenous heritage is a part of him – even if not the whole part.
“…[Hawk and the change of direction] failed to save the series, only appearing in the last 10 issues (#131 to 140, December 1970 to June 1972) before cancellation.” Siskoid (2025)
Hawk and Tomahawk have appeared in a few stories since then, but despite the storytelling quality it did not prove to be a lasting formula. Nonetheless, we have inherited 10 issues of a comic that deals with subjects few others do!
Do you have another good example of mixed-descent families taking different paths in movies, film, or comic-books? Tell me about it in the comments!
MixedMedia is a blog series Tom is writing based on explorations of his identity as a Métis person, a mixed person, and an avid consumer of pop culture.
Sources
Devine, Heather. “Les Desjarlais: The Development and Dispersion of a ProtoMétis Hunting Band, 1785– 1870.” In Binnema et al., From Rupert’s Land to Canada. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2001.
Donahue, James J. Indigenous Comics and Graphic Novels. University Press of Mississipi, 2024.
Gasp65 “Hot Streak: Joe Kubert’s Son of Tomahawk.” Who’s Out There. Retrieved 7 November 2025. https://whosoutthere.ca/2020/07/18/hot-streak-joe-kuberts-son-of-tomahawk/
Markstein, Don. “Tomahawk”. Don Markstein’s Toonopedia. Retrieved 7 November 2025.
“Who’s Hawk Son of Tomahawk?” Siskoid’s Blog of Geekery. April 12, 2025. Retrieved 7 November 2025. https://siskoid.blogspot.com/2025/04/whos-hawk-son-of-tomahawk.html
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