Review: Hawkeye #1 - 5 (Marvel)

Hawkeye #1 - 5. Written by Matt Fraction; art by David Aja and Javier Pulido; colors by Matt Hollingsworth. Published 2012.
Find it at your local comic shop or find digital copies on Comixology.



I debated for quite a while about what comic I wanted to focus on for my first post. Finally, I decided I had to go with the current Hawkeye series, and not just because I think that the coloring has inadvertently impacted the design of this blog (so much purple!). I chose this book because it is not only great, but also a perfect place for a new reader to start.

Okay, before I go any further, I think I need to disclose that I've never really been a Hawkeye fan. I like him quite a lot in the cartoon Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, but other than that he's never really made much of an impression on me, good or bad. Despite my apathy, I gave this series a try because I'd heard good things both from a Hawkeye-loving friend and from reviews. I was not disappointed. In fact, I was blown away.

This series focuses on Clint Barton. As anyone who has seen the Avengers movie—or even just a trailer—can tell you, he uses a bow and arrow and is an excellent marksman. What you may not know is that he has been a key hero in the Marvel Universe and an important Avenger for decades, but he didn't start that way. His first appearance had him as a villain in an Iron Man comic, armed with rust arrows!

What makes this series special, though, is the way that it focuses on Clint. This is not a series about Hawkeye the Avenger or Hawkeye in the circus (that's his origin story, because comic writers sure do love circuses). This is a series about Clint in his down time between Avengers missions. He still gets into scrapes, but they aren't the gigantic end of the world disasters that the Avengers usually face. This is an intimate book that really lets the reader get into the character of Clint Barton.

That intimacy and focus makes it a great entry point for new readers because there isn't a large cast or lots of connections to large ongoing stories. In fact, the series itself is designed to be easy to follow, with each story told in one or two issues. In some books, being restricted to such short stories does a disservice to the authors and the characters, but not here. Because of the emphasis on Clint the person instead of Hawkeye the Avenger, it makes sense for the stories to be shorter and less grand in scope, so the length works.

The best thing about this book might well be that it co-stars Kate Bishop, the other Hawkeye of the Marvel Universe. That's right, there are two Hawkeyes roaming around New York. Which the book makes amusing use of, like so:


Hawkeye #5

Kate is most well known as a member of the Young Avengers team, but despite being a teenager, she isn't Kid Hawkeye or Hawkgirl. Nope, she is Hawkeye just like Clint. And she is awesome. Even Clint thinks so:


Hawkeye #2

I love the way Clint expresses his respect for her. He doesn't say she is the finest girl archer or almost as good as him. He says she is the "finest and most gifted bowman" that he knows. She is younger than him (although much older than nine), but this series isn't about her being a sidekick. There is no power differential here. They are friends and they work together. In fact, most of the time she comes off as more competent than he does.

The best thing about this series is the humor. Both Clint and Kate are snarky and their banter is a lot of fun to read. For example when Clint is leaving for a dangerous S.H.I.E.L.D. mission and tells her to stay behind, they have this conversation:


Hawkeye #4

And after a wreck during a car chase, Kate gets in this zinger:


Hawkeye #3

Another interesting aspect of this series is that it focuses on two normal, human heroes. Neither Clint nor Kate has superpowers; they are just highly skilled and hardworking. There are so many titles on the shelf starring people who can get shot or jump off a building and it won't impact their lives, but these characters can and do get hurt. Sometimes it is nice to see the consequences of superheroing and this comic does that. Clint has been to the hospital twice in five issues for injuries sustained on the job. This panel shows that clearly:


Hawkeye #5

The above panel also clearly expresses the core of the book. This series is about Clint Barton, a good man who is trying to do the best that he can. Clint has a history in the Marvel Universe of being a bit of a jerk, and while this comic shows that he can be, it also shows that he is indeed a good man too. In five issues they managed to warm me up to the character enough that I fell in love with him in this panel:


Hawkeye #5

Of course that may just be because stories dealing with trust are like catnip to me, especially in the world of superheroes where trust is a valuable commodity.

Finally, any discussion of this comic would be remiss if it didn't include the amazing artwork. As I'm sure you can see from the above panels and the cover art, this series has a very distinctive look. Everything from the art style to the coloration makes it one of the most unique comics on the store shelves today. The art has a throwback feel that works perfectly with the stories to make this whole comic feel like a retro 1970s crime show, but with modern sensibilities.

This panel really highlights the style of the comic as well as the tongue in cheek attitude it takes towards the clichés of comic archers:


Hawkeye #5

I'm the first to admit that I usually respond more to the writing aspects of a comic than the art. If the art is functional, it is usually good enough for me, but this book has really shown me what the right art can do for a comic. The art and coloration in Hawkeye is truly the third main character. It sets the tone perfectly and the covers? The covers are truly works of art that I would love to actually hang in my home.

This is one of the few ongoing series that is an absolute must read for me, and if you are looking for a fun, easy entry point into comics, you couldn't do much better than the new Hawkeye series.

Thoughts, comments, questions? Leave a comment; we’d love to talk about comics with you.

Review: Red Hood: Lost Days, collected edition (DC)

Red Hood: Lost Days. Written by Judd Winick; art by Jeremy Haun, Cliff Richards, and Pablo Raimondi. Published 2011; collects Red Hood: Lost Days #1-6. Find it on Amazon.



Let’s talk about the first comic that I ever read.

Well, okay, that isn’t true. The first comic that I ever read was a beaten-up old copy of Archie, which I pilfered from my older brother when I was nine. I finished it, put it carefully back under his hamper (he was a kid with an almost obsessive need to not be neat), and forgot about it until I picked a comic book up again nearly twenty years later.

That was then, and this is now. The first comic that I read with the intention of actually being "into comics" was Red Hood: Lost Days, the collected edition. There are a few reasons for this: one, I already knew the basics of the story from rolling around the internet in various places, trying to decide if I wanted to do the comics thing or not; two, I like the idea of the anti-hero; and three, I figured that something that’s an origin story of sorts would be a good place to get my feet wet, since they’d be explaining a lot of things along the way.

(Side note, before we begin: I read probably 85% of my comics on my computer. I’m visually impaired, and reading comics with my magnifying glass is tedious and leads to me missing things, so often I don’t bother, though there are exceptions to this. I do own a decent number of physical comics and trades, and I like paging through those after I’ve read them on my computer. You can get digital copies of the Red Hood comics and a ton more on Comixology, if you prefer reading them like I do for whatever reason.)

I curled up with a mug of tea and pulled the files up on my computer. To quickly recap the story, for those of you who aren’t familiar with it: it stars Jason Todd, who was the second kid to fill the Robin panties. He was killed off in the late eighties, and due to comic magic, brought back to life when Superboy-Prime punched the universe in the gut. Jason comes back without his memories, and pretty much zombies it up around Gotham until he’s rescued by Talia al Ghul, daughter of mega-bad-guy Ra’s al Ghul, and on-again off-again girlfriend of Batman himself. She helps him get better, for varying definitions of better, and Jason decides to train in the lethal things that Batman never taught him, so he can be more effective than Batman is (again, varying definitions apply here). He spends a lot of time angry, hating Batman for not avenging him and - in his view - letting the Joker get away with murdering him. He nearly kills both Batman and the Joker, but walks away from both encounters, eventually deciding that he needs to involve all three of them in whatever showdown he plans. (There’s a much better summary on Comic Vine, if you want more details. Go ahead. I’ll still be here when you’re done.)

Comics, woo.

I’m glad that this was my first modern comic. I was right in my pre-reading thinking; choosing a story that’s a sort-of-kind-of origin story is an excellent place to start. It gives you a lot of the backdrop that you need; yes, I had to look some things up, but I think it’s a lot less than I would have had to research if I had picked, say, a Teen Titans book. The story is contained really well; it’s six issues and bam, done. It doesn’t do the frustrating thing where you’ll be reading something and suddenly realise that you should be reading four other tie-in comics so you’re getting the whole story. It is, in short, a great place to start.

it’s also a wonderful read with a lot of emotional pieces, which are like candy to me. One of the early scenes has Talia talking to a Jason who still doesn’t have his memories back. She knows that there’s something that’s still Jason about him - he still has his muscle memory, and can kick some major ninja ass, but refused to hit Talia in a fight. She knows that there’s a part of him that recognises her, even if he doesn’t speak or acknowledge it. She takes him outside and sits with him, talking about Bruce and how he clearly misses Jason, and then we get this:


(from Red Hood: Lost Days #1)

This is the first point at which I put my hand to my chest and went "awwwww!" (Yes, that is a thing that I occasionally do in real life.) It’s also the first time that I thought "oh, God, what have I gotten myself into?"

It was not the last time for either of those things.

Here’s the thing about Jason: I adore him. I love him to pieces and back again, and then a little more. I like the idea of him, the ex-Robin who takes the step that Batman won’t, the guy who dances that line between good guy and bad guy but ultimately ends up on the positive side of things, if only just. I also love the actualisation, the snarky, flippant man who wonders if he should kill his father-figure and the psychopath who killed him years ago while he is literally running around London trying to stop a bombing from killing innocent people.

Speaking of snark:


(from Red Hood: Lost Days #5)

He’s disarming a bomb from a terrorist plot at the moment and doesn’t want to waste time explaining what’s going on. He ends up tossing it over the side of a bridge shortly after this, but in the meantime, we get one of my favorite lines in comics: "Hush up, Constable. Daddy’s busy."


(from Red Hood: Lost Days #5)

Calm, cool, collected, and very, very intimidating. Run out of ammo in a firefight? No big. He’s still good.

Another thing that really struck me in this arc is how it’s clearly a story about Jason finding his place in a world that has moved on without him. He gets close to Batman, close enough that he could have killed him, but he doesn’t; he had the Joker set up to die, but couldn’t go through with it for reasons that sound more like justification than conviction while he’s thinking them. He kills people in the comics, but they’re all clearly bad people - one of the guys training him was selling kids into slavery, so after Jason learned from him, he killed the guy and freed the kids. He’s got a plan, but it’s shaky. He’s got training that he barely remembers to back him up when he gets into rough spots. He’s a smartass, but a lot of it covers up hurt and confusion and nearly palpable emotion.

Looking back on this, I realise that it’s entirely possible that I imprinted on Jason. He’s a character that ticks off a lot of things on the mental checklist of things I enjoy, and he was my first real brush with comics. I am a duckling. Who knew?

The story is well-timed, and the artists really do a lot of stunning work. I don’t love every panel - that would be really difficult for six full issues by three different artists - but I do enjoy a great deal of it, and like a lot of the choices they make.

For instance, this is the last page in the final issue:


(from Red Hood: Lost Days #6)

It's a full page of Jason, looking up at the hood that will become his namesake, and it’s an image that has stayed with me since I saw it the first time.

It’s definitely a beginning. It’s not all roses from here on out, but wow, is it a beginning to remember - and a character to love.


Thoughts, comments, questions? Let us know in the comment section! We’d love to talk about comics with you.

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