Hawkeye #14 - A Review

There comes a time with some forms of revolutionary art where one ponders just how revolutionary said art truly is.  You find yourself second-guessing your first impressions, wondering if a unique method of storytelling was merely a mask for the artist's unwillingness to tell a story conventionally.  You start to seriously examine whether or not the artist is taking their work seriously or if they are, in the words of Mel Brooks, "just jerking off."

With Hawkeye #14, it is now clear - Matt Fraction is just jerking off.


Fraction's story here does not read like a comic book.  It reads like a section of a spec script for a movie or the script for a television pilot.  Taken on its own terms as a single comic story, one might guess after reading this issue that that Fraction decided to make a grab for some of that Netflix money and is trying to build the case for a Kate Bishop as Hawkeye series.

It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, save for two problems.  The first is that Kate is REALLY lousy at her job as a solo hero for hire under Fraction's pen.  When acting as Clint Barton's foil, she is a match for Madame Masque.  Left to her own devices, she can barely manage a campy drug dealer.

The second problem is that Fraction's acknowledgement of his own cliches in the script - while making Kate Bishop seem a perfect role for Ellen Page - does little to excite the reader.  Hell, Kate even complains about never getting to use a bow anymore and it's a legitimate complaint.  I can't remember the last time we saw either Hawkeye using their bow to help people in this series!


If Fraction is writing a film script, Annie Wu is drawing the storyboards.  The artwork of this issue fails to be anything more than inoffensive.  It gets the job done but it's fairly pedestrian and there aren't any sequences in the book that really stand out as exciting or memorable.  Then again, I suppose Wu can't be blamed for not depicting any dynamic moments when Fraction's script is so lacking in action and filled with endless scenes of talking heads.

Hawkeye #13 - A Review

Hawkeye #13 brings decompressed storytelling to a new low.  Remember everything we saw over the last few issues that only related to Clint Barton in the most indirect ways possible, including a story told from the perspective of his dog, Lucky?  Now, after four issues and six months, we finally get to see the events of those issues from our main character's point of view. 


Thankfully, there's enough new material to make the repetitiveness tolerable.  Still, it is frustrating to see a writer of Matt Fraction's talent resorting to art for art's sake in order to pad out a storyline.  This series does not need such trickery.  It needs more straight-forward action and humor. 


At least David Aja and Matt Hollingsworth are back doing that voodoo that they do so well.  Aja's distinctive artwork gives this book an aesthetic all its' own.  Hollingsworth's palette completes the amazing effect.  Every page of this book is Eisner worthy. 

Hawkeye - Annual #1 - A Review

Sorry, Clint Barton fans! Once again your regularly scheduled comic book has been subverted!  For Hawkeye Annual #1 focuses upon Clint's sidekick/partner/something, Kate Bishop!

This issue is all about Kate striking out on her own in Los Angeles.  Without her mentor.  Without her team.  Without her rich dad.  Sadly, Kate is about to discover how difficult things can be when you're all alone and - suddenly - without resources.  For Madame Masque - whom Kate was not exactly gentle to in Hawkeye #4 & Hawkeye #5 - is out for revenge and has ample power to make Kate's life difficult.    


It's redundant for me to speak of Matt Fraction's writing on this series at this point.  Either you hate his knowingly smart subversion of the classic action movie cliches or you love them.  I love them.  I love how Kate isn't fooled for a moment by Madame Masque's attempts to win her confidence in disguise and is portrayed as being smart and competent enough to cope with a revenge-minded villain far more easily than she is sudden destitution and joblessness. 


I likened Javier Pulido's previous Hawkeye work to the second coming of Jack Kirby.  Seven months later, I stand by that statement, though this issue has little of the dynamic action that usually defines the term Kirbyesque.  Yet there is a smooth simplicity of function to Pulido's artwork that is reminiscent of The King and the book maintains a classic Marvel feel throughout. 

Hawkeye #12 - A Review

For the third month in a row, Hawkeye focuses on someone besides Clint Barton.  And for the second time in as many months, Francesco Francavilla replaces David Aja as the book's artist.  And for the first time in this book's run, I find myself wishing it was a more typical superhero title.



Matt Fraction tells a different kind of story here, focusing on Clint Barton's older brother Barney and his run in with the gangsters terrorizing Clint's neighborhood.  A number of flashback scenes are intercut into the narrative, showing the two brothers as children and how Barney began teaching Clint the skills he would use as Hawkeye.  We also see how this story ties in to the adventures of Clint Barton's dog from last month, which itself tied into the Kate Bishop story in Issue #10.  Perhaps this will pay off eventually but the whole affair seems like so much padding to me at this point, as we tread water until Clint finally confronts his enemies.


Thankfully, the artwork of Francesco Francavilla is far more effective this time around than in Issue #10.  The panel placement seems far more natural and the story is much easier to follow.  There's also far less splash-pages than in Francavilla's last outing - a change that plays far better to Francavilla's strengths.

In the end, even a lackluster issue of Hawkeye is not that bad and this remains one of the best books on the market.  I just think it will be better read in the trade-paperback collections than the monthly books given the slow pace Fraction has adopted in recent months.

Hawkeye #11 - A Review

This month's issue of Hawkeye, like last month's issue, sees Matt Fraction and David Aja playing with the idea of how graphic fiction works.  However, this issue is very different from Hawkeye #10, which played with stories being told through multiple viewpoints, with ideas being introduced out of sequence.  This month's issue, by contrast, is told entirely from the perspective of Lucky a.k.a. Pizza Dog a.k.a. Arrow a.k.a. Hawkeye's Dog.



The only story I can think of that has attempted to tell this kind of story in quite the same way is the episode of The Simpsons where Bart took his dog to obedience school and we were treated to a dog's eye view of the world, with everything rendered in black and white and all human language depicted as a series of drones except for certain key words. The language is treated in a similar fashion here but Lucky's perspective is further augmented by pictograms depicting what Lucky smells and hears that the humans around him miss.  It turns out they miss a lot and Lucky has a run-in with his former owners in the Pottsylvanian Mafia trying to investigate a murder that occurred right under Clint Barton's nose.  


This is, to put it simply, a brilliant idea and it is very well-executed graphically and textually.  I imagine dog lovers - even those who aren't usually comic readers - might get a kick out of this story, just for the novelty value.  The one flaw?  The final scene, which would really have benefited from having the full dialogue that Matt Fraction writes so well.  What happens is clear but I really want to know the exact words that are said!

Hawkeye #10 - A Review

Hawkeye #10 is a study in how a good artist and a good writer can be completely unsuited for one another stylistically.  Harsh?  Perhaps.  But I've read Matt Fraction stories before and enjoyed them.  I've read comics with Francesco Francavilla art before and enjoyed them.  I didn't enjoy this issue though I'm hard pressed to explain precisely why.


I think a part of the problem may be Fraction's script, which leaves many pages blank and free of dialogue.  Francavilla is a talented artist but not inclined toward big splashes.  Unsurprisingly, the best portions of this book are the ones where Fraction's dialogue dominates the page and Francavilla's art can enhance the story rather than trying to tell it.  Francavilla has many gifts but visual storytelling is not one of them.  I had to reread this issue a few times to make heads or tails of it.  


Hawkeye is still a damn good book and has earned more than enough good will for me to forgive a single uneven issue.  I just hope David Aja returns to the art duties soon.  The book, while not bad, is much poorer for his absence. 

Hawkeye #9 - A Review

There is no small irony that Hawkeye #9 should leave me unsatisfied on the same week that the series was nominated for multiple Eisner Awards.  The sad fact is that this issue has little of the humor or action that made the previous issues so enjoyable.  Dead.  That's the only word I can use to describe it.  This book is dead.

Generally, I hold a preference for DC Comics heroes over Marvel Comics's simply because I find so many of the Marvel heroes - particularly those among The Avengers - disagreeable as characters.  I accept that heroic characters need not always be likeable nor do they always need to act in admirable ways but I read superhero books to be inspired and to get away from unreasonable personalities.  This is not to say that this issue is badly written.  Far from it.  It's just a matter of what I enjoy reading and this issue... well, this issue wasn't enjoyable.  There's none of the fun that previous Hawkeye issues held.


With two exceptions - Black Widow and Kate Bishop, I found every character in this issue to be wholly unsympathetic.  Clint Barton spends the entire issue moping around his apartment while the women in his life are investigating - and cleaning up - the latest mess in his life.  Mockingbird shows up to finalize their divorce paperwork on Valentine's Day and adds insult to injury by calling attention to that fact.  And Jessica "Spider Woman" Drew is revealed to be a physically abusive girlfriend.  Thankfully, Clint refuses to tolerate this (and a good thing too considering she has super strength), so kudos to Matt Fraction for refusing to play this scene for laughs.  Regardless, this issue is low on action and high on unpleasant people being rude to one another.  If I wanted to read that, I could go read the comments on any Yahoo News article. 


At least the artwork by David Aja and Matt Hollingsworth is as fine as ever.  I struggle to find words to describe Aja's distinctive style, which is unlike any artist I can think of.  Hollingsworth's coloring, as always, adds another unique level to the issue's proceedings.  While the story left me flat this month, I have no complaints about the artwork.

Can I recommend this series?  Yes.  Would I recommend this issue?  No.  In terms of story, nothing of note happens until the last page and in terms of character nothing happens apart from it being made clear that Clint Barton is once again single in no uncertain terms.  Go pick up the TPB collection of the early issues if you want to see what all the excitement is about.  There's no excitement to be found in this issue.   

Hawkeye #8 - A Review

Hawkeye #8 came out a few weeks too late for Valentines' Day but romance is very much at the center of this issue.  The action is broken up by a number of splash pages with art by Annie Wu, which resemble the romance comics of yesteryear.  All of these mock-up covers are excellent but my favorite is probably the one pictured below - partly because of the style and partly because it supports my theory that Hawkeye is slowly turning into Oliver Queen.


Behold... the beginnings of The Beard!
The plot centers around the return of the mysterious redhead who sold Clint a car before having a quick fling back in the hilarious Issue #3.  She's in trouble again and is ready to drag a not-totally-unwilling Hawkeye along with her.  Naturally complications abound and hilarity ensues as they only can when Matt Fraction is at the storyteller's wheel. 


David Aja's artwork is as welcome as ever.  All of the artists on this book have been good ones, but Aja's subdued style has quickly become the definitive look of Hawkeye.  The color-scheme utilized by Matt Hollingsworth also adds to the overall excellent effect that makes this one of the most distinctive and unique-looking comics in existence.

If you aren't reading Hawkeye by now, I don't know what else I can say to get you to start.  Great writing.  Amazing artwork.  What more could you ask for? 

Hawkeye #7 - A Review

There's risks in bringing a real-world tragedy into a work of superheroic fiction.  By setting such a story in a world with superpowers, the writer risks begging the question of why our heroes aren't more effective in dealing with a natural disaster.  A writer can also easily become preachy and saccharine when dealing with the theme of the common man rising up and finding their inner hero in a time of crisis.  Thankfully, Hawkeye #7 avoids both these traps as it deals with the Hurricane Sandy disaster.


Matt Fraction tells two tales of our two Hawkeyes.  In the first half of the book, Clint Barton is caught amidst the flooding of Rockaway Beach as he tries to help his neighbor Grills with caring for his invalid father.  At the same time, Kate Bishop is attending an engagement party in New Jersey and must brave natural disasters and petty criminals to secure the medication a fellow attendee needs to survive the night.  There's a lot of drama here, naturally, but still plenty of the humor that makes this book a treat to read every month.


The issue's two artists both do a fine job, though I can't credit which one is responsible for which parts of the book.  It might benefit Marvel editorial in the future to note the page numbers each artist was responsible for on the title page.  It's a small thing, as I like to give credit where credit is due, but everything looks good.

Even if you're not a Hawkeye fan, you might consider picking this issue up for the sake of charity.  Matt Fraction has promised to donate all of his proceeds from the sale of this comic to the Red Cross.  So even if my word isn't good enough to make you believe this comic is worth buying for the sheer fun of it, think of the good you'd be doing the world - in a small way - by investing in a copy.  Just a thought.

Off Target: Green Arrow (Vol. 2) #88

There's a problem - let's call it The Archer's Complaint, since it comes up just as much with Hawkeye as it does with Green Arrow. 

THE ARCHER'S COMPLAINT: What good is a guy who is really good at using a bow in a world where magic is real, aliens exist and super-powered beings are an established fact of reality?

There's two ways a writer can cope with The Archer's Complaint.  The first method limits the character's activities to dealing with low-level street crime and real-world problems.  This tactic was used by Mike Grell on Green Arrow and is currently used by Matt Fraction on Hawkeye.  The second method showcases the character's mental skills and gives them technology that allows them to level the playing field.  This method was used by Joss Whedon in the Avengers movie and pretty much everyone who wrote Batman in the last two decades.

I mention this because writer Kevin Dooley did not choose either of these paths when he was writing Green Arrow.  Whether it was because he was honestly unable to think of stories where Oliver Queen could be an effective hero or he actively hated the character I have no idea.  Either way, I can't help but notice that the stories Dooley wrote for Cross Roads were the ones where Ollie proved completely ineffective until he changed his methods and standards, whether it was by destroying private property, abandoning finesse for raw power or outright killing an unarmed man that the law wouldn't touch.

With that in mind, let's play some Comic Book Limbo and see how low we can go with Green Arrow #88.



Hey, Wally?  Could you run down to Academy and get me a bow that isn't broken?

This cover is a complete lie.  There's no armored soldiers anywhere in the book.  Ollie isn't in costume once in the whole issue.  His bow never gets broken.  The Flash never shows up.  And - SPOILER ALERT - Ollie never fights alongside his former colleagues in the Justice League.

We open on a typical New York City street.  In typical New York City fashion, a missile is about to rain down fiery doom on the populace.  Luckily, The Martian Manhunter is on the scene.  So is Oliver Queen, but nobody notices or cares about him.

For one thing, you can't get theater tickets without taking out a loan these days...
As Ollie watches J'onn effortlessly catch the missile, deflecting it towards a second missile, he thinks back on his days in the Justice League and wonders if they might still have a place for the World's Finest archer.  He dismisses the thought just as quickly, thinking there's nothing a man with a bow can do against a madman in a jet armed with heat-seeking missiles and starts wondering if the other heroes just humored him. 

Get used to this self-loathing, folks.  We're going to be seeing a lot more of it.

Ollie leaps into action after J'onn punches his way through one of the jet's engines and the plane starts to fall downward.  This leads Ollie to try and shoot the cockpit glass with an arrow.  Wait... Why?  What was he hoping to accomplish?  Kill the pilot in case he was trying to steer the plane to where he could hit someone when he crashed? 


... that you'd be so stupid? Neither can I, Ollie.
No, Ollie's arrow didn't do anything.  It's Martian Manhunter again, righting the plane and bringing it down safely.  The police come up to take the pilot into custody as Ollie looks on.  This would be an ideal time for Ollie to step in, say hi to his buddy J'onn and offer to go commiserate over some cookies and milk at one of Manhattan's many fine diners.  Ollie doesn't do that.  Even though the whole reason he came to NYC was to get in touch with his old friends.

Hey, don't insult crap!  It makes for a very effective fertilizer!
No, Ollie isn't trash-talking himself, for once.  In the minute or so while his back was turned, Ollie's car was stolen.  A surprisingly clean-cut and well-dressed homeless man tells Ollie about how the whole neighborhood has been going to hell in a hand-basket and how the cops are more interested in harassing the homeless then catching criminals.  I'll give Kevin Dooley credit for this much - that is totally accurate in regards to how Mayor Rudolph Giuliani ordered the police to handle the homeless in New York City at that time.


Okay.  Let's pause to consider something.  We're only six pages into this book and we've already had an apparent terrorist attack with a stolen jet, a car theft and now a bank robbery.  All of this has happened within walking distance of the Justice League Embassy.  All of this happening on the same street with the span of about five minutes.  Unlikely?  To put it mildly.

I'll grant you the jet attack since it may have been aimed at the Justice League Embassy itself.  I'll even grant you the car-theft may have been a crime of opportunity, since everyone was distracted by the sudden jet landing.  But I don't think it likely that the neighborhood around a public superhero base would be the kind of place a car thief would routinely hang around waiting to get lucky OR that someone would try to rob a bank near one.  There's a reason the crime rate tends to be lower around police stations and the same principle should apply here.

Anyway, Ollie runs toward the sounds of gunfire and finds several police officers pinned down by heavy fire.  As Ollie tries to figure out how he can stand up to a bunch of robbers with high-powered guns, Wonder Woman shows up.  Ollie thinks she has things well in hand and he doesn't have to get involved... until he sees two men with guns sneaking up on Wonder Woman, ready to shoot her in the back at point-blank range.  Ollie is about to shoot at the men, but Diana has matters well in hand again.  This time, Ollie does try to say hello, but the uniform cops are having none of it.


More depressed than ever, Ollie wanders off into an alley and starts playing a variant of kick-the-can that involves shooting it with an arrow rather than kicking it.  After his "can-arrow" passes through an open window and nearly hits a civilian, who sticks his head out the window to yell at Ollie, Ollie hears a ruckus in the next alley over.  By sheer coincidence, it's the homeless man Ollie spoke with earlier getting harassed by some random thugs who seem to be under the mistaken impression that the homeless man has something worth stealing.  Ollie thinks this is just the kind of thing he can handle... right up until someone sneaks up behind him and knocks him unconscious.  


Everybody playing the drinking game at home, do a shot for Ollie getting knocked out.
Ollie comes to in the hospital sometime later.  Curiously, despite the fairly strict rules hospitals have about visitors - particularly the victims of violent crimes - the homeless man is waiting with Ollie in his room.  It is he, rather than a nurse, who explains that Ollie got hit from behind by the muggers' look-out. To add insult to injury, he reveals that the only reason Ollie is still alive is because he managed to pull a gun away from one of the muggers and scared them off with it.  So not only is Ollie completely ineffective at fighting alongside other superheroes - he can't even stop a simple mugging!  Our hero, ladies and gentlemen!

Shockingly, there is someone who may be having an even worse day than Ollie and he just woke up in the next room....


Yes, it's Guy Gardner - ex Green Lantern.  Referring to the events of Emerald Twilight (which was going on at the same time as this story), Guy explains how Hal Jordan - greatest of the Green Lanterns and Oliver Queen's best friend - has killed The Guardians of the Universe, absorbed their energy and gone mad with power.  Ollie offers to help as Guy leaves the hospital but Guy is quick to dismiss his help.  "Bow 'N' Arrows Don't Just Hack It," Guy says.

I'm not upset about this part because Guy Gardner honestly is thick-headed enough to not realize that - on the odd chance that 'more force' isn't the solution - maybe having the best friend of the guy you're trying to stop on hand might be a good idea.  Particularly when said best friend has a proven track record of being able to talk to the power-mad lunatic and get him to think about things he never considered before.  I AM upset because Ollie is honestly hurt by Gardner's words about bows and arrows not cutting it and doesn't dismiss them as... well, Guy Gardner being Guy Gardner.

Lacking anything better to do at the moment, Ollie follows the homeless man to the cardboard shantytown where he's currently staying.  He introduces himself as Bernie Feinstein and explains that he's a computer programmer who is down on his luck.  He then introduces Ollie to the rest of his friends, including the guy who runs the place.


In the middle of this, Ollie is distracted by a newspaper on the ground which talks about Lamoreaux Industries (i.e. the company run by the incestuous rapist Ollie killed last issue) being taken over.  The paper indicates that the CEO died of a heart-attack.  Technically true as Ollie attacked his heart with a cloth-yard shaft.  Ollie muses as to whether or not that would have happened without him doing what he did only to be surprised as Ned asks if he's ever killed someone and is then told that heroes don't kill when he says that he has.  Before Ollie can respond, shadowy figures come out of nowhere, guns a-blazzing.


I'm sure I can find some way to make this bad situation even worse!
Given Ollie's track record so far in this comic and what we've seen of Kevin Dooley's story-telling style so far, what do you think happens next?

A) Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman, who were finally tipped off that Ollie was in town after Guy Gardner signed in at the JLE and told them Ollie was in the hospital when he left, show up just in time to help Ollie fight the corrupt police.  The issue ends with them going back to the Justice League Embassy for chili, Oreos and milk

B)Ollie single-handedly repels the corrupt police officers, who run away like the cowards they are having not expected anyone to fight back, thus proving the power of one man standing up for what is right.

C) Ollie rallies the homeless men into an army, striking back at their oppressors, thus justifying his status as a modern-day Robin Hood.
 
D) Ollie nearly gets shot in the back and is saved only after Bernie throws himself between Ollie and the corrupt cop.  Bernie dies in his arms and Ollie is chewed out for trying to be a hero as the shanty town is completely destroyed and the homeless people are left with nothing.

...

...

...

Pencils down.  Everyone have an answer ready?  Good.
...

...

...


Anyone who didn't say D, smack the back of your hand for not paying attention!


o/` No one knows what it's like... to be the bad man... to be the sad man... o/`
And so our comic ends with Ollie handing an envelope full of money to Ned (apparently, Ollie's Vegas winnings are still in it) and Ollie saying that he lied earlier when he said he wasn't living a life discarded.  Ollie then decides to go to the one place on Earth depressing enough to match his current mood - New Jersey! 

No, really!  He decides to go to Gotham City.  It's in New Jersey!  Look it up in the DC Atlas!   

This may well be the most depressing comic I've ever had the misfortune to read.  This comic holds the idea of heroism down and uses it for a toilet.  Our hero doesn't accomplish one heroic thing in the whole book.  Hell, he doesn't even manage to accomplish his stated basic goal of meeting up with his old friends!

If anyone needs me, I'm going to be doing something more cheerful than reading this comic.  Maybe listen to The Smiths while looking at pictures of abused animals.   

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.

Hawkeye #5 - A Review

If I were a stereotypical film critic, I'd describe Hawkeye #5 as a non-stop thrill ride.  Thankfully, I am not a stereotypical film critic, so I won't say that even though it's an accurate description.  This book is so much more than that, building off the standard action hero tropes and blowing them away with its' own comedic style. 



Trying to describe the story of this issue is pointless, as it all amounts to one glorious extended action sequence.  Matt Fraction's plot of a tape depicting Clint Barton assassinating an infamous terrorist being auctioned off to the highest bidder is entirely incidental to the madness which ensues, including Clint's sidekick deciding to recover the tape on her own by impersonating Madame Masque.  The artwork is equally manic.  Javier Pulido depicts this issue with a Mighty Marvel style that would do Jack Kirby proud.  The use of perspective and close-ups is quite good throughout.



The only flaw this issue has is the same ultimate problem with all two-part comics.  You do have to have read Hawkeye #4 to really appreciate the set-up of this issue's situation.  With that caveat, I have nothing but nice things to say about this issue in particular or Hawkeye as a series.  

Hawkeye #4 - A Review

Hawkeye #4 switches out artist David Aja for Javier Pulido to no ill-effect.  Pulido's style can only be described as Kirbyesque but not in the usual way that word is used.  Pulido's layouts are effective in their simplicity, with lots of close-ups on the characters who are speaking, as they look out directly toward the reader.  I'm not familiar with Pulido's previous work, so I don't know if the style is an artistic affectation for this story in particular or if he was chosen to draw it because of his regular style.  Regardless, it's an effective choice given that the basic story concept would not be out of place in a 1960's Nick Fury comic.


Matt Fraction's script however, despite having all the trappings of a Nick Fury comic or even a James Bond novel, reads like a modernized satire of those stories. (Try as I might, I can't recall James Bond ever forcing the SPECTER agents who captured him to give him a cavity search.) The plot, such as it is, focuses upon a mysterious video cassette.  And what is on this tape?  Nothing less than footage of Hawkeye, in costume, assassinating the world's most wanted terrorist on orders from SHIELD! With the reputation of The United States Government, The American Military, SHIELD, The Avengers and Clint's own life on the line, he has numerous motivations to make the journey to exotic Madripoor to try and buy the tape at auction.  But there are numerous villains who are interested in the tape as well and Clint with have to outwit them all with all the cunning, bravado and sarcasm he can muster.


All of this is gloriously funny and well-paced with a surprise on the final page that makes the book worth the reading, even if one isn't  a fan of superheroic send-ups and spy-game satires.  Gorgeous graphics abound throughout.  Truly, this is the best comic on the market involving an archer hero who doesn't really seem to do that much archery.

Hawkeye #1-3 - A Review

It was inevitable, in the face of the blockbuster success of The Avengers movie, that every character in that movie who did not already have their own comic would get one.  This presented a unique set of problems for Hawkeye.  For all of the things The Avengers movie managed well, their treatment of Hawkeye was not one of them.  He didn't have much chance for character development compared to the rest of the ensemble cast.  And what little development he received didn't develop him past the level of generic bad-ass. 

While this fit the Ultimate version of the character well enough, it did a disservice to original Hawkeye.  The Clint Barton who was raised by carnies, trained as a thief and was far too undisciplined and disrespectful of authority in general to ever cut the mustard in a military organization like SHIELD.  The Clint Barton who was a good guy but was also a smart-ass, a risk-taker and very much a non-generic bad-ass.

How then do we reconcile the two versions of this hero, when The Powers That Be at Marvel are pushing the Ultimates versions of the characters as much as possible in the popular media and the Ultimate Universe, in the comics at least, is largely played out?  If you're Matt Fraction, the answer is obvious - you write the best damn Green Arrow comic ever!

Hawkeye was recommended to me as "the best Green Arrow comic in years".  And that's as fair a summary of it as I can think of.  The hero we see here is less like Clint Barton and more like Oliver Queen as written by Kevin Smith.  That proves to be a pretty good character choice, as this book is something that's been all too rare in the Marvel Universe in recent years - fun.

Even the opening scrawl at the start of each issue is humorous, admonishing the reader by Issue 3, asking them why they are continuing to read the book's introductory concept when it hasn't changed.  Clint Barton a.k.a. Hawkeye became the greatest sharp-shooter known to man.  He then joined The Avengers.  This is what he does when he's not being an Avenger.  And what is it that he does?  Be awesome! 


The first issue introduces Clint as something of a social-crusader, as he goes up against the Russian mobsters who own his apartment complex when they elect to evict everyone in the neighborhood.  The second issue gives Clint a sidekick in the form of Kate Bishop (a.k.a. the young lady Hawkeye from Young Avengers) and ends with him having thwarted a robbery by the revamped Circus of Crime (which has more of a Cirque Du Soleil feel to it now) by stealing the money they already stole, which belonged to several criminal scumbags.  The third issue details a typical day for Clint and all the complications that arise as he tries to get his gear organized, get some Scotch-tape, get a car, get laid and not get killed - not necessarily in that order.


All of this is amazingly illustrated by David Aja and Matt Hollingsworth.  Aja's pencils are reminiscent of Alex Maleev's work on Daredevil but cleaner and less heavily inked as befits a brighter, more cheerful title like this.  Hollingsworth's palette further enhances the art, rendering everything in muted pastels for the most part, save for the shockingly vivid purple that both Clint and Kate favor in their clothing.

I'm not sure how the old-school Hawkeye fans will feel about this title but as a comics-reader in general, I liked it.  Fraction does a perfect job balancing the humor and the action.  The artwork perfectly matches the feel and attitude of the book.  All in all, it's a fun little read.  I'd recommend it to anybody who enjoys high adventure, stories about down-to-earth superheroes and anyone with a twisted sense of humor.