New Brevoort Formspring

I am currently reading the series Hawkman and am very confused. The history of Hawkman is very confusing to me. I remember when he was a bird man being, but now he is a man with a bow and arrow. How did this happen? I am to understand that there are many iterations of the character Hawkman, each with their own contradictory origin. How did the current iteration of Hawkman come in to being? What is the story of his bow and arrow? What happened to the old Hawkman?