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Marvel Review: HAWKEYE and video EVIDENCE
Mar. 28th, 2014 06:40 amSome time ago, a friend and I had been IMing and she'd asked me about where to start with comic books as an Avenger movie fan. I'd told her about several of the collected volumes I enjoyed, and particularly mentioned that, as a Marvel movie fan she might want to check out the four volumes of Ed Brubaker's CAPTAIN AMERICA: Winter Solider and Strazynski's re-boot of THOR, since clearly elements of those had appeared in the movies. Being polite and not raised by wolves, I asked, "So, what are you reading?"
She recommended the new HAWKEYE (by Matt Fraction). So, I checked it out. I read both of the volumes that the library had: HAWKEYE: My Life as a Weapon and HAWKEYE: Little Shots.
I've decided that maybe I'm too old for this title. The main artist is someone called David Aja and his art is very... what's the word I want? Kind of "indy"? I'm not sure. Here's what it looks like:
I can't say I dislike the art, but it has a flat, slick feeling. The stories follow Clint Barton (aka Hawkeye) in his life in New York City. This is one of the things I tend to really adore about Marvel, in general, which is that a lot of the story is about what a screwed up life Clint has made for himself and how much it honestly sucks to be nothing more than a sharp-shooting archer in a team full of super-soldiers and gods. Clint gets banged-up. A lot. Actually, you kind of start to wonder if Hawkeye's real superpower is the ability to get fairly seriously wounded and still live, despite not having a mutant healing factor. They also do some fun things with his stupid-a$$ arrow collection (because, seriously? How dumb is that?). At one point during the story he decides what he really needs to is organize everything and you know, maybe mark them with tape or something, so he doesn't accidentally reach for the smoke-bomb when he needs the exploding tip. The trip to the hardware store to get tape becomes it's own adventure, of course, in the way of such things, and he ends up randomly using whatever comes to hand, as it were. That's just funny.
But Clint really isn't that interesting on his own. Frankly, he never has been. When my cousin Laun and I used to play pretend Avengers, I would often be Hawkeye because... well, back in the 70s, it was clear Hawkeye was the hip friend to Captain America. And he was handsome, clever, and charming. (I always liked playing the hot guys. Charisma 18+ FTW). But, kind of an empty slate, really. At least from my reading, which admittedly wasn't terribly deep. Laun was always the bigger Avengers fan.
I'm not sure the reboot does Clint any favors. He's constantly upstaged by more interesting cameos, including one by his adoptive dog, Arrow (shown above.) HAWKEYE: Little Shot has a series of misadventures with the women in Clint's life, complete with Romance Comics style covers, in between each section.
But, a lot of people called each other 'bro,' and a lot of the action was kind of disjointed in a way that made me feel... tired, and too old for this title. Also? Who prints this stuff so small? I needed my reading glasses!
Yet, I'm glad I read it. There was a tiny little throw-away scene that kind of fascinated me. It showed PowerMan (aka Luke Cage) and Spider-Man (Peter Parker, 'natch) sitting around Avengers/Stark Tower playing video games. Peter was in his Spidey suit, like he often is, hanging upside down with his legs crossed, like he does, and apparently getting his ass kicked by Cage. It occurred to me that I bet Spider-Man sucks at video games. I bet he sucks because a big part of his ability is his Spidey Sense. I bet he spends a lot of time getting blind-sided by stuff that seems, from his perspective, to come out of nowhere.
Also, can we talk, Peter? You were the only guy in "uniform" at the mansion/tower. What's that about? (Truth? I suspect it's because Parker is actually intentionally nondescript.)
Well, so I guess my recommendation: Go ahead, give a try, with a caveat--it's very... arty, maybe 'modern' even. I don't even know if that's a bug or a feature. Milage will vary.
And, in other news, there *is* video from Wednesday night:
It's a lot of reading, but if you want to hear my squee about Anime and random things, skip to the last five minutes or so.
She recommended the new HAWKEYE (by Matt Fraction). So, I checked it out. I read both of the volumes that the library had: HAWKEYE: My Life as a Weapon and HAWKEYE: Little Shots.
I've decided that maybe I'm too old for this title. The main artist is someone called David Aja and his art is very... what's the word I want? Kind of "indy"? I'm not sure. Here's what it looks like:
I can't say I dislike the art, but it has a flat, slick feeling. The stories follow Clint Barton (aka Hawkeye) in his life in New York City. This is one of the things I tend to really adore about Marvel, in general, which is that a lot of the story is about what a screwed up life Clint has made for himself and how much it honestly sucks to be nothing more than a sharp-shooting archer in a team full of super-soldiers and gods. Clint gets banged-up. A lot. Actually, you kind of start to wonder if Hawkeye's real superpower is the ability to get fairly seriously wounded and still live, despite not having a mutant healing factor. They also do some fun things with his stupid-a$$ arrow collection (because, seriously? How dumb is that?). At one point during the story he decides what he really needs to is organize everything and you know, maybe mark them with tape or something, so he doesn't accidentally reach for the smoke-bomb when he needs the exploding tip. The trip to the hardware store to get tape becomes it's own adventure, of course, in the way of such things, and he ends up randomly using whatever comes to hand, as it were. That's just funny.
But Clint really isn't that interesting on his own. Frankly, he never has been. When my cousin Laun and I used to play pretend Avengers, I would often be Hawkeye because... well, back in the 70s, it was clear Hawkeye was the hip friend to Captain America. And he was handsome, clever, and charming. (I always liked playing the hot guys. Charisma 18+ FTW). But, kind of an empty slate, really. At least from my reading, which admittedly wasn't terribly deep. Laun was always the bigger Avengers fan.
I'm not sure the reboot does Clint any favors. He's constantly upstaged by more interesting cameos, including one by his adoptive dog, Arrow (shown above.) HAWKEYE: Little Shot has a series of misadventures with the women in Clint's life, complete with Romance Comics style covers, in between each section.
But, a lot of people called each other 'bro,' and a lot of the action was kind of disjointed in a way that made me feel... tired, and too old for this title. Also? Who prints this stuff so small? I needed my reading glasses!
Yet, I'm glad I read it. There was a tiny little throw-away scene that kind of fascinated me. It showed PowerMan (aka Luke Cage) and Spider-Man (Peter Parker, 'natch) sitting around Avengers/Stark Tower playing video games. Peter was in his Spidey suit, like he often is, hanging upside down with his legs crossed, like he does, and apparently getting his ass kicked by Cage. It occurred to me that I bet Spider-Man sucks at video games. I bet he sucks because a big part of his ability is his Spidey Sense. I bet he spends a lot of time getting blind-sided by stuff that seems, from his perspective, to come out of nowhere.
Also, can we talk, Peter? You were the only guy in "uniform" at the mansion/tower. What's that about? (Truth? I suspect it's because Parker is actually intentionally nondescript.)
Well, so I guess my recommendation: Go ahead, give a try, with a caveat--it's very... arty, maybe 'modern' even. I don't even know if that's a bug or a feature. Milage will vary.
And, in other news, there *is* video from Wednesday night:
It's a lot of reading, but if you want to hear my squee about Anime and random things, skip to the last five minutes or so.