The early Hawkman portrayed in Flash Comics #4 and on for several years was drawn by Sheldon "Shelly" Moldoff. As you read each story you can see the swipe of Alex Raymond and Hal Foster who each had a syndicated newspaper comic strip. At that time, having a syndicated strip was considered the top of the cartoonist food chain, the Mt Everest of comic art. To swipe or "copy" the style of these artists was not beyond many a comic book artist. Bob Kane has been shown swiping for early Batman stories (See the Vallely Archives blog for details). But as you can see above, Shelly took this to a new level with his style swipe. This Hawkman page from Flash #5 is beautiful in its layout as well as scope. The Hal Foster Prince Valiant style is so apparent yet it does not put you off. Rather, it opens your perspective, especially in comparison to the other stories in this title, such as Flash and Johnny Thunder, both very crudely drawn early on. It is this type of swipe that started to give comics the same appeal as the daily or Sunday strip only with full stories instead of waiting weeks to complete a chapter.
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