Hawkeye #6 - A Review

Hawkeye #6 is not just a holiday special.  It is the culmination of the last five issues of barely-contained brilliant insanity.  Titled Six Days In The Life of Hawkeye (or Six Nights In the Life of Hawkeye if you go by the cover instead of the title page) , this issue covers exactly that.  We focus on Clint Barton's actions across the better part of a week, all out of order, as he attempts to take a vacation, finish moving into his new apartment and catch up on some TV.


Naturally things aren't that simple and Clint once again runs afoul of the Russian mobsters who have been a pain in his butt since the first issue.  Matt Fraction depicts all this with the trademark humor we've come to expect from this book.  Amazingly, despite this issue being rather continuity-heavy, Fraction's script still follows the Stan Lee rule of "every comic is someone's first issue".  New readers might not laugh at the references to previous issues but at least they can follow along with the story easily enough.   


With this issue, David Aja returns to be Fraction's partner in crime.  And what a partnership!  Aja's style is simplistic but never simple.  Stylized but not annoyingly so.  Colorist Matt Hollingsworth also contributes to the proceedings, utilizing a muted palette that leaves everything looking softer and more realistic.  The one exception to this is the bright costumes of the superheroes besides Hawkeye and the various shades of purple that seem to surround Hawkeye no matter where he goes.  The complete effect is something unique and memorable.

It's been said before and it will be said again for as long as this book is around: Hawkeye is one of the best books on the market and a must read for all fans of good comics.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Green Lantern: Larfleeze Christmas Special

GOOD THING: Cookie recipes. Puzzles. A back-up strip by the people behind Tiny Titans. And a main story by Geoff Johns, in which Larfleeze goes hunting for Santa after he doesn't get everything on his list. For once, a Christmas Special book that actually feels special.






BAD THING: All the in-jokes and funny-bits hidden on this cover... and Larfleeze is brandishing a ray gun in triumph instead of a Red Ryder BB Gun? For shame, cover artist! And after you remembered to have Cindy Lou Who standing there, looking shocked at all the things Larfleeze has stolen too!







The Final Verdict: This issue has everything your greedy little heart could desire in a Christmas Special book.

Have A Safe N' Sane Holiday Season!

From all of us At Looking To The Stars, Happy Holidays!

We stood there lost in our embarrassment... As the conversation dragged.

It was not Oliver Queen's best idea. It was a noble one. It was a thoughtful one. And it would forever remembered as Mistake #1 whenever the individuals involved considered "The Lost Weekend".

As the holidays approached, and plans were being made, Ollie asked Connor - matter o'factly - just how long it had been since he'd visited his mother.

Connor admitted that - while he called her at least once a week - it had been a while since he'd seen her in person. Ever since Moonday divorced weapons-dealer Milo Armitage, he didn't feel like he had to check up on her as much as he used too. Throw in how busy things had been around Star City, and...

"Say no more!" said Ollie. "Why don't we invite her to spend the holidays with us?"

Ollie extended the same invitation to Cissie and Bonnie, saying that he always wanted a big traditional family Christmas and that he wants all his kids under one roof - just once. Of course the problem that everyone else sees - and Ollie successfully ignores - is that The Arrow Family is far from traditional and is made up entirely of some very volatile personalities.

Dinah, for her part, is fine with Ollie's idea. At first. It's not that she doesn't trust him. It's not that she's in denial of Ollie's past as a womanizer. It's just so much easier to ignore the past when there aren't two walking, talking reminders of "old times" under the same roof.

Moonday, for her part, is nice enough. But she abandoned her hippie idealism for capitalism a LONG time ago and arrives at the Brownstone with a car full of gifts, picked out of the Neiman Marcus catalog, for everyone. The divorce left her with an extremely generous alimony package and she does love to flaunt her wealth... much to the embarrassment of the non-materialistic Connor.

And Bonnie? Well, Bonnie isn't all that comfortable with the truth of her past indiscretions being known, even though Cissie has said repeatedly that she doesn't care about what Bonnie did in the past. She's also somewhat afraid that Ollie's taking an interest in Cissie is going to result in history repeating itself... either with Cissie being rejected as a worthy heir to his legacy or being absorbed so completely into it that she'll be better remembered as Green Arrow's daughter than as Arrowette.

Tensions mount as the weekend passes and hilarity ensues. Roy and Mia, for their part, are wise enough to spend their time playing with the kids, minding the food in the kitchen and just generally staying out of the way of everyone else while making sure that the key to the liquor cabinet stays lost, following Bonnie's tirade about how at least SHE didn't have to divorce a guy to get a meal ticket.

Looking To The Stars - And To All A Good Knight

Well, Uncle Starman was going to give you all the gift of a special holiday poem. He got inspired to write a parody of Twas The Night Before Christmas that was going to be a tribute to those bravest of fools; the small local comic shop owners. And about two days into this task, ol' Uncle Starman remembered why exactly he got into the business of writing comic book reviews and not poetry.

To wit, his poetry stinks.

So no matter what holiday you celebrate, know that you are not going to have to suffer reading the Vogonesque poetry parody that might well have made up the column this week had Uncle Starman been less kindhearted or had time to write something else before hitting the road to visit his parents.

Instead, we offer a much nicer poem than we ever could have hoped to receive from Uncle Starman. It was written by Brandon Blatcher and posted to the rec.arts.comics.misc group in 1998. We hope that you enjoy it and will be back here next week for the 4th Annual Starry Awards.


Twas the night before Christmas
and all throughout RAC,
not a creature was stirring,
and that was an odd little fact!

All the stockings were posted
to the chimney with glee
In the hope that they'd be filled
with comics for free!

The posters were nestled all snug in their beds,
While the Crisis graphic novel was delivered, but only in their heads;
And mamma in her thong, and I in my mask,
Had settled down for a muli part epic in which to bask.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I boomtubed from the bed, to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like the flash,
snitking open the shutters and clobbering the sash.
The moon colored real kewl, as was the computerized snow,
Giving more cheesiness to objects below,

When, what to my masked eyes did appear,
A miniature embossed sleigh and eight Photoshoped reindeer,
Pulling a costumed old driver so lively and quick,
I screamed in a moment "Take it elsewhere, you're off topic!"

Down the chimney he 'ported,
like a good mutant© should.
He was so garishly attired,
I knew he belonged in this 'hood!

He spoke not a word,
it was essential to the plot,
at least till the editor changed it,
as you knew they would, those silly crackpots.

Yet he finished his work,
Just beyond the deadline,
with a nifty panel transition,
That would probably leave the artist in a bind

But I saw him letter
before he 'ported outta sight
"Merry Christmas to all
and to all a Good Night"



Tune in next week. Same Matt time. New Matt Year!

Looking To The Stars: Thoughts on the New Year

I can't help but wax eclectically at this time of year. And unable to think of any one cohesive thing to write this time of year, here are a few thoughts that have occurred to me over the past week.

There is some small irony in this. I write an article about how Spider-Fan.org (the biggest and, for my money, best Spider-Man history site on the web) were slacking off on their responsibility to objectively review Mark Millar's "Spider-Man" title. I expect to get all manner of angry mails from Spider-Fan readers and Mark Millar fanboys alike. All I get is a few short letters of thanks, saying it was about time that someone said everything I had said.

And yet, I am apparently the Anti-Christ because I didn't know that it was wrestler Kevin Nash and NOT Triple-H who played "The Russian" in "The Punisher". Well, I'm willing to admit when I made a mistake, so fine. I made a mistake.

I should point out two things, in fairness. First, my mistake was based off an article I looked up that incorrectly identified Triple H as The Russian and I figured the source was trustworthy and that I didn't need to double-check imdb.com. Second, with my non-existent background in wrestling, you're lucky I knew who Triple H was.

Regarding my recent writings on Green Lantern: Any and all updates to my "Green Lantern: One Ring To Confused Them All" thesis will wait until AFTER "Green Lantern: Rebirth" is finished. As those of you who read issue three can attest, a WHOLE lot got changed and it looks like a whole lot more is going to change. So there's no point in me publishing the revisions on a monthly basis.

Oh, and on that note... if you haven't been reading "Green Lantern: Rebirth", do yourself a favor and pick up the reprints of One and Two along with Issue Three that just came out. This may just squeak through to win my personal Book of the Year award.

One formal announcement. Inspired by the example set by society columnist for the New York Daily News, Lloyd Grove, I too have decided to take his pledge. Henceforth, my New Years resolution this year is that I resolve not to write anything about Paris Hilton in my column.

Okay, I've never written ANYTHING about Paris Hilton in my column before and am unlikely to ever do so… thank every pantheon of gods that ever existed. But if it comes to pass that Paris Hilton does wind up in a comic book or writing in a comic book, you have my solemn that this reporter WILL NOT COVER IT! Giving away free press to stupid, spoiled whores who produce nothing of value for society starts at home and it starts here and now. I hope that the rest of the writers of The Comics Nexus will join me in this pledge and bring you all Paris Hilton free news throughout 2005.

Sorry to keep this short, but... it's almost Christmas as I write this, and I have stuff to do.

Tune in next week. Same Matt time. New Matt year.

Looking To The Stars: Farewells, Goodbyes and Simpler Times.

As I sit down to write this on Thanksgiving Eve, I find myself with far too many thoughts to write a cohesive one-topic column. Thankfully, there is never a need for me to write a cohesive one-topic column. That was one of the benefits I was promised when I first got this job. Which is as good a link as any to the first thing on my mind...

As I'm sure you all have heard by now, our beloved fearless leader Ben Morse is leaving us this week for a job at Wizard magazine. Needless to say, I'm conflicted about the whole situation. Sure, I'm glad that Ben got this job which I know he's been dreaming of forever and a day. But it still sucks that we're loosing the guy who gave me, if not everyone at The Comics Nexus, our jobs way back when we were the smallest section of some wrestling site.

Still, I'm somewhat dismayed that of all the places to lose Ben to, we're losing him to Wizard, who exemplify everything that I personally feel is wrong with the comics news world. Still, he is happy and I take comfort in that. So beyond the first sentence, no negative words from me today.

Contrary to popular belief, I don't take any joy from writing negative reviews. I may make fun of bad stories and laugh off the antics of annoying, show-boating creators, but this is my defense mechanism. I never wish actual malice or harm to anyone, no matter how much I wish they would just STOP.

It was something of a shock then when I stumbled across the news while researching something else. Donald G. Jackson, the very first professional who wrote me about something I reviewed, was dead. He was also, it might be noted, one of the three creators who responded to something negative I reviewed.

Back in the days of Fanzing, I also tried my hand at movie criticism. But being an old Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan as I was, I briefly turned my hand to Bad Movie criticism at a site that would publish nearly anything turned into them. I thought it a good place to warm up then and find a voice for myself. The site was called It's A Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad Movie. The movie, rented from the sci-fi section of the locally owned comic store with the huge sci-fi/horror section with tons of straight-to-video classics, was called "Legend of the Rollerblade 7". I'll skip the synopsis here (that's what the previous link to my review is for) but suffice to say it was bad. MST3K quality bad.

This was back when I was still naive enough to think that word never carries. That no professional, much less a film-maker, is going to care what an aspiring writer of 21 summers thinks of his work and of one lone page that says "This is crap and you shouldn't waste your time on it."

Boy, did I get an education. And not just when I got an e-mail from Donald Jackson, noting quite seriously that the Rollerblade 7 would come for me in the darkest night. No, that amused me more than anything. The education came when, tracking his e-mail address, I found Jackson's site, which I am sad to note is no longer up. And I learned of his filmmaking philosophy which explained everything.

Jackson, who trained under James Cameron (Yes, THAT James Cameron) all but single-handedly created a school called "Zen filmmaking". The basic gist of which is that if something unexpected happens during a shot that doesn't hurt the scene, use it. If your actors want to try and improvise something, let them. Shoot the picture and let fate sort it all out.

And in reading this, the movie came together for me. Sure, it was still low-budget and had some bad acting, but it was obvious that everyone on the set wanted to be there and that they were having fun. And that the movie was being made for that simple reason. You don't see a lot of that spirit in the world today, especially in the creative arts.

Whatever else may be said about Jackson's work, and I said quite a bit, his movies were never dull. You'd be hard pressed to find a plot sometimes or to explain what was going on at any given moment, but you could always find something to watch.

So here's a toast to Donald G. Jackson. And a recommendation; track down a copy of his classic "Hell Comes To Frogtown". It is one of the few movies with an outrageous title that actually manages to live up to everything outrageous the name promises.

And while we're on the subject of fun, a new book I checked out recently has had more "fun" in it than most of the comics I read on a regular basis. This wonder book is "Flare" by Heroic Publishing. The title has been around a while, but my comic book store only started carrying the book with this, its' third volume. Issue 2 just hit the stands last week and all I can say is that if you are a fan of books like JSA, the old JLA and Silver Age comics of all types, then this is something you should be reading.

One final thought. Green Lantern: Rebirth is greatness incarnate if only for the fact that in two panels, Geoff Johns finally managed to settle a point of much debate amongst Green Lantern scholars for the last ten years. But that topic I will save for next week... and the revised edition of "One Ring To Confuse Them All!"

Tune in next week. Same Matt time. Same Matt Website.

Looking To The Stars: Holiday Hilarity!

We get a lot of thematically appropriate stories about the holidays this time of year. And I can remember quite a few good ones.

Take for instance the most recent JSA, where an old team member in a Santa suit kicks butt in a department store as some Grinches try to make off with a lot more than trees and tinsel. A sweet Christmas story on its own, it also brought back an oft forgotten and more often ignored hero of the Golden Age and assured them a permanent place in the book. It was a nice continuation of last month’s JLA/JSA Thanksgiving team-up story, which was one of the best bits of comedy written in recent memory.

Then there’s one of my favorite Green Lantern stories of all time. Printed in one of the DC Universe Holiday Specials, Kyle Rayner steps in to recover a gold Menorah stolen by neo-Nazis from a friend’s Synagogue. The story behind Chanukah is told, and how the festival memorializes the Miracle of the Oil in the Temple and how despite having only enough oil to last a day, the oil needed for the burning of candles as part of the Temple rededication ceremonies lasted for eight days. A similar miracle blesses Kyle, whose ring runs out of energy in the middle of the fight only to miraculous come up with a final burst of energy as defeat seems eminent.

And I shouldn’t have to mention Sandman #50 and the glorious story “Ramadan”. The single best-selling issue of the series and a fan-favorite, the story only briefly touches upon the significance and history of the month-long religious festival. It does detail the ceremonies and the traditional fasting from dawn to dusk quite well and makes for eerie reading some ten years hence as it details the squalor of modern Bagdad.

Yes, these are all good stories, representing the respective faiths well. And yet, the best Christmas comic story I have ever seen wasn’t in a comic; it was in a superheroic role-playing game that was run some years ago over a MUSH I played on.

The exact details escape my memory but one thing is clear; the whole thing was, in part, a rip-off of the infamous Lobo Paramilitary Special. Several of the city’s heroes (“The City” being a New York-esque big city where Marvel, DC and indeed nearly any comics universe heroes could be applied for and played.) were contacted by an elf, and told that the North Pole was currently under siege by the heavily armed forces of The Easter Bunny, who was out to bump off the more popular Herr Klaus.

What followed was a battle unlike any other, with my original character “Cavalier” fighting alongside some of the Gen-13 kids and Batman (yes, Batman) against a platoon of rabbits with rocket launchers; indeed, the most lethal bunch of bunnies this side of Sluggy Freelance or Monty Python’s “The Holy Grail”.

Indeed, the Knights of Ni made a quick appearance after The Easter Bunny began to use his powers to alter reality (Well, how ELSE could he get all those eggs around the world in one day?) and manifested a pair of knights to deal with Cavalier and Batman. As everyone became paralyzed by the shrieking of the word “Ni”, it was Batman who struggled to stand and slowly began to whisper and shout “Stop IT… Stop IT!” and set the Knights of Ni (who cannot stand the word “it”) to screaming in pain.

As everyone recovered, Cavalier was overheard to say “I never figured you for a Python fan.” Batman looked embarrassed for about one second before saying “Robin made me watch ‘The Holy Grail’ once,” and returning to his usual stone-faced self.

But it all ended happily, with the Easter Bunny caged and Santa granting one present to all the heroes who saved Christmas. Cavalier got an acceptance letter to the local Med School (his secret identity was an undergrad working towards a Doctorate)… and Batman got a small picture which nobody else saw, of a certain six-year old boy with his parents at Christmas.

I admit, this all sounds a bit silly and sappy. And it was. In fact, the story above is quite possibly the silliest story ever written and would certainly get black-stamped by the Batman editorial staff today, even ignoring all issues of copyright violation.

It is also, in spite of itself, one of the most fun times I have ever had playing an RPG and one of the most enjoyable Christmas memories I have. Indeed, it reminds me of a lesson that many comic creators today could stand to learn; that first and foremost, these stories are supposed to be fun.

Comics, like the holidays, are about enjoying the amazing in all aspects of life, be it plausible or fantastic… whether it is in mundane bits of amazement such as the smile of a kid or the spectacle of reindeer flying and an immortal old man bringing toys to all good children. And it is easy in these days of grim-and-gritty, gun-totting, vinyl-bodysuit wearing heroes to forget that wonder as some strive to make books more realistic and less fun. Much like many of us have forgotten the simple child-like joy that comes from seeing the miraculous in everything around us, like the first snow falling to the ground each winter or the sense of joy in running down the steps and seeing what the jolly fat man left for you in the middle of the night.

Here’s hoping that we all get a little more of that wonder in the next year, be it on the comics page or in our own lives.

Happy Holidays from everyone at 411 Comics!