Hawkeye 10 (July 2013)

Are the goods back? They’re on their way, it certainly seems. Francesco Francavilla does the art this issue, which feels like Fraction took a page out of the Brubaker play book. He follows around the clown faced villain, who goes after Kate.

It’s unclear why the villain goes after Kate, except maybe to be an even worse villain who torments the heroes.

The villain’s not a bad choice, he just feels like a Garth Ennis Punisher villain. Eastern European, dead family, not supervillain costume but something disquieting. The bigger issue might be just out of teenage years Kate Bishop being all hot to trot for him.

And then Fraction jumps back to the previous issue and explains a couple things about Clint’s thought process. It’s a shocker… and Fraction’s finally not playing Clint as the heel this issue.

I still don’t know why Fraction’s fracturing the timeline, except for effect.

CREDITS

Writer, Matt Fraction; artist and colorist, Francesco Francavilla; letterers, Chris Eliopoulos and Clayton Cowles; editors, Tom Brennan and Stephen Wacker; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Hawkeye 9 (June 2013)

Apparently Clint isn’t irresistibly attracted to the redhead, he’s just a man slut. It’s also unclear if he’s fired from the Avengers.

His lady friends–Black Widow, Mockingbird, Spider-Woman–are worried about him. Both because he’s a man slut and because he’s in danger, only Fraction skips around to avoid looking at the in trouble part and sticking to the relationship stuff with Spider-Woman.

For the first time with Hawkeye, I don’t get it. I can’t see what Fraction’s trying to do. Aja’s artwork is amazing, but having Clint be this depressed guy who’s a fifth wheel in his own comic? And the redhead doesn’t even hang around. She leaves town–Fraction obviously has an internal logic to how the events occur, but since he–pardon the phrase–fractures the narrative, he’s asking a lot of the reader.

He doesn’t bring the goods this issue. It’s too bad.

CREDITS

Girls; writer, Matt Fraction; artist, David Aja; colorist, Matt Hollingsworth; letterer, Chris Eliopoulos; editors, Tom Brennan, Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Hawkeye 8 (April 2013)

So Clint’s redhead femme fatale comes back and gets him in all sorts of trouble. The issue’s really confusing, starting with the flashback of her last heist going bad.

Then there’s the ladies at the Avengers mansion and the implication Clint’s dating Spider-Woman but probably not since he hopes into bed with the other girl. Kate shows up for a page, guess she’s no longer costarring.

Fraction seems to be suggesting Clint’s powerless to resist the redhead, but it’s unclear why. He’s a superhero, I’m sure he’s met loose women before.

Maybe the problem is Fraction’s approach. He writes Clint as something of a rube, getting taken for a ride. It’s not funny, it’s sad. He commits felonies for no good reason when he easily could have found good reasons.

There’s a big scary cliffhanger with the Marvel crime bosses.

It’s got beautiful art, but Fraction’s writing’s a mess.

CREDITS

My Bad Penny; writer, Matt Fraction; artists, David Aja and Annie Wu; colorists, Matt Hollingsworth and Wu; letterers, Chris Eliopoulos and Wu; editors, Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Hawkeye 7 (March 2013)

What’s Fraction doing writing a story set during Hurricane Sandy? Being awesome.

He splits the issue between Clint and Kate, with Clint in Far Rockaway (I think) and Kate in New Jersey. She has the more dangerous adventure, but Clint gets to witness moments of profundity.

Steve Lieber handles Clint’s part of the issue, which has him helping out one of his tenants who is helping out his dad. There’s stuff between the father and son; Fraction’s able to get humor and tenderness in the pages and Lieber does a good job mixing family drama and natural disaster.

Jesse Hamm draws Kate’s story, involving her misadventure as a bridesmaid. Fraction doesn’t go for much humor, since Kate’s stuck running the recovery effort. She gets the positive human experience though, the people helping people.

It’s a neat issue. Hamm’s art is occasionally loose, but Fraction does well marrying superheroes to reality.

CREDITS

Writer, Matt Fraction; artists, Steve Lieber and Jesse Hamm; colorist, Matt Hollingsworth; letterer, Chris Eliopoulus; editors, Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Hawkeye 6 (February 2013)

I don’t understand half of what’s going on this issue. I think there’s this gang of toughs who have a sickly old man for a leader and they’re going to kill everybody in Hawkeye’s building if he doesn’t leave. And he can’t beat the gang because he’s only one guy and he refuses to call anyone for help.

Except when he wants Tony Stark to hook up his DVD player and when he wants to give up the Hawkeye mantle to the girl Hawkeye.

So it makes no sense, at least if one is looking for logical behavior. Fraction doesn’t worry about logical behavior. He and Aja instead concentrate on making an awesome reading experience. It’s hard to even call Hawkeye a comic… it’s a reading experience.

Between Aja’s page design and then his actual art and Fraction’s pacing and dialogue, it’s fantastic.

It’s just a hostile read is all.

CREDITS

Six Days in the Life of Hawkeye; writer, Matt Fraction; artist, David Aja; colorist, Matt Hollingsworth; letterer, Chris Eliopoulos; editors, Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Hawkeye Annual 1 (September 2013)

Fraction and Javier Pulido give Kate the spotlight, setting her up on her own in Los Angeles. Fair warning, there’s an amazing Caddyshack reference and a cute “Rockford Files” one too. I saw the latter coming, but the Caddyshack thing? Fraction’s beautifully muted about it.

Speaking of beautiful, Pulido has a fantastic style for the annual. A lot of the panels are silhouettes, giving the story an almost comic strip feel, focusing the reader’s attention on the dialogue, but also the scenery. There’s great scenery here. There’s another device where Fraction tells Kate’s internal monologue in these little thought boxes, complete with Pulido illustrating her internal expression at the thoughts.

The story itself involves Madame Masque out for revenge and Kate having to grow up fast. The two women play quite well off each other.

It’s a shame Fraction’s experiments with the regular series aren’t as successful as this annual.

CREDITS

West Coast Avenger; writer, Matt Fraction; artist, Javier Pulido; colorist, Matt Hollingsworth; letterer, Clayton Cowles; editors, Tom Brennan and Stephen Wacker; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Hawkeye 5 (February 2013)

Pulido has a great panel of Clint getting shot. He splits it into three slivers and has the movement sort of turn in on itself. It’s very confusing, sure, but it’s also great artwork.

The wrap-up to the series’s first two parter isn’t as good as it should be. Fraction finally has a reveal, something he’s avoided until now, and it doesn’t pay off. The reader doesn’t have enough information for it to mean anything. However, thanks to Kate’s presence, it still works out.

Of course, since I don’t enough about Hawkeye I didn’t realize Kate’s supposed to be so young (like twenty). Does the age make Clint a big brother or father figure? It’s not clear and it doesn’t have to be clear… but her age does need clarifying.

And I’ve now read a comic with Black Nick Fury. He’s mad at his dad.

Good, not great, issue.

CREDITS

The Tape, 2 of 2; writer, Matt Fraction; artist, Javier Pulido; colorist, Matt Hollingsworth; letterer, Chris Eliopoulos; editor, Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Hawkeye 4 (January 2013)

I love the way Javier Pulido does superheroes. The issue’s mostly supervillains and not many costumes for them (except Madame Masque); Captain America does show up for a bit. Pulido somehow retains his style, which isn’t particularly realistic (at all), but makes the superheroes seem to be realistically visualized.

It’s very interesting to see.

The issue’s great, though Fraction assumes the reader is a lot more familiar with Hawkeye history than I am. Apparently he assassinated someone for SHIELD and there’s a tape of it. Pretty sure modern Marvel continuity starts after the death of VHS–especially for camcorders–but whatever. Fraction’s doing it retro. It’s a fine touch.

Clint keeps getting himself in trouble. Fraction delights at having a not too smart protagonist too. It’s not masochistic because Pulido’s art isn’t grim enough… but it’s close.

The soft cliffhanger is wonderful too. Fraction’s doing great work on this one.

CREDITS

The Tape, 1 of 2; writer, Matt Fraction; artist, Javier Pulido; colorist, Matt Hollingsworth; letterer, Chris Eliopoulos; editor, Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Hawkeye 3 (December 2012)

Wow. This issue is simply wonderful.

Fraction’s not worrying about setting up the characters, he’s not worried about coming up with an interesting hook, he’s just trying to have fun. And Hawkeye is fun. Lots of fun.

It’s kind of like a TV show. Clint and Kate bicker while they fight crime. Kind of like he and Mockingbird used to do, only without baggage.

The issue consists of Clint going out to buy tape to label his trick arrows, meeting a girl, hooking up, getting involved with some Mini car-driving bad guys, saving the girl, all while bickering with Kate and showing why trick arrows are really important.

Aja’s probably essential. I can’t imagine the issue being so much for–or so rewarding with so little content–without Aja. He’s already stylized but the action just takes it to another level. He never sacrifices anything.

It’s a fantastic comic.

CREDITS

Cherry; writer, Matt Fraction; artist, David Aja; colorist, Matt Hollingsworth; letterer, Chris Eliopoulos; editor, Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Hawkeye 2 (November 2012)

The second issue isn’t what I was expecting. Fraction doesn’t exactly give Clint a lot more personality–he’s from Iowa, to answer my question from last issue and he’s not playing protector of the downtrodden here. Actually, even though he hires an assistant, it’s unclear what Clint’s doing.

If he’s just playing good guy to the people who don’t usually get helped–he has a crime board after all, like a consulting superhero or something–it’s fine. Fraction and Aja have done something similar before (Iron Fist) and the character works for the niche; why not run with it?

And it continues to be a lot of fun. Fraction doesn’t go overboard with the quips, peppering them in mostly, until a big quip-filled conversation between Clint and his assistant (the female Hawkeye). Aja comes up with a checkerboard for their conversation and it all works great.

Hawkeye’s good fun.

CREDITS

Vagabond Code; writer, Matt Fraction; artist, David Aja; colorist, Matt Hollingsworth; letterer, Chris Eliopoulos; editor, Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker; publisher, Marvel Comics.