Two Guys Talking About Hawkeye #1 By Matt Fraction and David Aja

Features, Reviews, Top Story

 

Pulse Glazer
Hey Grey, know what a great, cancelled book was? Marvel, like 3-years back.

 

Grey Scherl
    Exiles?

 

Glazer
No, but that’s kind of back. What else?

 

Grey
Hmmmmm…..Iron Fist?

 

Glazer
There you go!

 

Grey
My next guess was Spider-Girl!

 

Glazer
This week Matt Fraction and Dave Aja, the Fist creative team are back with a new book! Hawkeye #1. Did you read it?

Grey
Did I read it? Bitch, I’m the one who told you to buy it!

 

Glazer
Yeah, but who listens when you talk? I was convinced when I heard Fraction’s take – he’s the normal guy Avenger. This is his life when he isn’t fighting mad gods and space aliens.

 

Grey
This goes despite my vote of no confidence in Fraction since Fear Itself, as well as my understanding that Hawkeye generally fails in a solo lead role.

 

Glazer
As opposed to illegal aliens, whom the Avengers do not fight.

 

Grey
Nope, that’s more of a Scarlet Spider thing in Houston.

 

Glazer
Marvel Comics – Appealing to Rednecks since they took Nuke seriously.

 

Grey
One thing that amuses me, honestly, I will rag on Hawkeye’s inability to hold a lead role in a solo book, but I also own every issue of his last solo series (Fabian Nicieza was writing it up until it came to a random end followed by Clint getting killed in Disassembled a few weeks later) and ongoings that turned minis (Jim McCann’s awesome Hawkeye and Mockingbird and the Widowmaker and Blindspot minis).
I was surprised though, Marvel took a combination that I had no real faith in and turned out a pretty fun issue.

 

Glazer
Well, confession time: I hate Hawkeye.

 

Grey
You needed to confess that? I thought that was well established.

 

Glazer
I can suspend disbelief for the flying and Skrulls and everything else, but the guy with the bow not dying in the first 30-seconds? No. I can’t get there. He offers nothing that Cap, Panther or Widow do not.

 

Grey
He doesn’t even have the Green Arrow “I’m incredibly rich” going for him. He’s just a guy who’s really good with a bow, which was a lot cooler in the 60’s than it is today.

 

Glazer
So, it was a surprise when I really liked this issue. Want to run us through what happens?

 

Grey
The book opens with Clint screwing up royally and nearly killing himself with the kind of fall that is proof positive why his continued existence suspends disbelief.

Glazer
I’m used to that from every shitty action movie there is.

 

Grey
Valid.
You know what my bad action movie measuring bar is these days?

 

Glazer
Transformers?

 

Grey

I loved Transformers, that was good old special effecty fun.
I was going to say anything with John Cena.

 

Glazer
Ha, I’ve never seen any of that so, bully for you.

Grey
My cousin and I have a running gag with action movies where we count how many “Cena’s” the lead actor does.
The term referring to the dramatic slow motion dive away from an explosion that should have killed the main character. Most movies do it once. In “The Marine” Cena did it something like 7 times.

 

Glazer

Where does the issue go from there?

 

Grey
Hawkeye spends time in a hospital, gets out, destroys a wheelchair, and then…saves a dog?

 

Glazer
He doesn’t save a dog yet. We wait half the issue to see the deal with the dog. The issue is told out of chronological order. I like that trick, since it’s a fairly straightforward story.

 

Grey
It made it a lot more readable to have the ending worked into the first act of the book.

 

Glazer
Since it was never in doubt. So what’s the main conflict?

 

Grey
Some Russians are trying to evict some friends of Clint’s from their apartment by jacking up the rent, so Clint seeks out a way to keep them from becoming homeless.

 

Glazer
This ended up being my only problem with the issue. How does he help them? He buys out the Russians with like 12 million. We really need to see how Clint gets that money on screen. He just shows up with a crazy bag of cash. He isn’t rich.

 

Grey
He’s not Ollie, and hell, Ollie wouldn’t even do that.

 

Glazer
Everything else was great except this guy really shouldn’t be an Avenger. If Russian mobsters can lay a finger on him, Hydra should wreck him… let alone like… Thanos.

 

Grey
Kang.

 

Glazer
Sure, Kang. He should have no shot against them. He needs to easily handle gangsters, but then this book has no drama.

 

Grey
I think him getting a sidekick is going to help out a lot.

 

Glazer
He’s getting a sidekick?

 

Grey
Kate Bishop is supposed to be a full time cast member.
Or, to those who don’t know real names, the female Hawkeye from Young Avengers. Which is going to make her the only Young Avenger actually being used…wait, no, Wiccan was in a teaser with Kid Loki.

 

Glazer
I guess I can live with that. I thought Hawkeye was likable here – and I hate him as a person in Thunderbolts – but the plot left a lot to be desired. There’s also a balancing issue from a shared universe perspective. Batman runs into this a lot. That’s why we rarely get vs. Mob or Common Crooks stories with him anymore.

 

Grey
When I think mobsters in New York I don’t think Hawkeye, I think Daredevil or Spider-Man.

Glazer
Well, Hawkeye has to live in NY right now and the idea is that he isn’t a crime fighter like those two, but when he isn’t an Avenger he’s a normal guy who can’t help but find himself in weird situations.
Think more private eye than cop.

 

Grey
I already have a private eye in New York book at Marvel, it’s called X-Factor and it is never referenced elsewhere.

 

Glazer
Is that still a private eye book? From what I gather it hasn’t been since like the first 3 runs.

 

Grey
It isn’t quite as noir, but yep, it’s still a detective agency. Half the arcs are them getting hired to go look into something.

 

Glazer
Being a detective agency doesn’t make it a detective book. It seems like a detective agency is the set up for a crime drama.
But the focus is firmly on the characters, not the cases.

 

Grey
PAD uses it to his advantage when he wants to, but then again, he’s in a class all his own for writing ability. He can give you the mutant action and then go into a private eye story before turning the book into supernatural and then dumping you in the multiverse.

 

Glazer
I think Casanova is a better book than anything I’ve ever read by David.

 

Grey
Haven’t read it.

 

Glazer
I know. Five Fists of Science is pretty great too.
Fraction’s indy work puts his Marvel to shame… and I say this as he has written the best Iron Fist ever and the best Iron Man ever.

 

Grey
You know which Iron Man run I loved that most people hate on?

 

Glazer
Which?

 

Grey
Heroes Reborn. Also known as my first Iron Man and my favorite armor design.

Glazer
Not my first, but I generally liked Heroes Reborn, so I’m okay with that.
Still, it can’t hold a candle to the length or complexity of Fraction’s run.

 

Grey
Heroes Reborn was years before its time.

 

Glazer
It was Ultimate Marvel 1.0.

 

Grey
Yup, hell, it was the New 52 done at a four book level.
And to tie it around, Heroes Reborn Hawkeye was AWFUL!

 

Glazer
True. But this Hawkeye is good, not great. Agreed?

 

Grey
Agreed.

 

Glazer
Rating?

 

Grey
I’m going to give it a 7. It was enjoyable, the art was nice, but nothing really happened save for Clint having lots of money, Russians saying “bro” a LOT, and a dog being Hawkeye’s new best friend.

 

Glazer
A 7 is the right score. It’s a fun, well put together comic with some issues if you think about it. See you soon everyone!

 

Grey
Peace!

A lifelong reader and self proclaimed continuity guru, Grey is the Editor in Chief of Comics Nexus. Known for his love of Booster Gold, Spider-Girl (the real one), Stephanie Brown, and The Boys. Don't miss The Gold Standard.