Hawkeye 1 My Life as a
Weapon
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by David Aja
So... Superheroes. You
know, I actually like superheroes. As a kid I read comics causally
often scoping them out at a local Walmart (those were the days..).
An older cousin of mine graciously donated his comic collection,
which was made up primarily of Superman, Legion of Superheroes and
Conan comics. I spent a lot of good time buried in those books but I
would always drift back over to Marvel. Mainly Spiderman and X Men,
with a lot of Captain America and GI Joe (these to shall be
reviewed!). As I grew older I would drift more to the Avengers.
Especially as the X-drama (if you'll excuse the term) grew heavier
and bleaker and I felt that the characters I liked were being crapped
on and marginalized (I was never a huge fan of Wolverine.. Well I
find the new one interesting). But let me get to the comic itself.
Hawkeye My Life as a Weapon
is the first volume of the 4th Hawkeye solo comic series
to be produced. It started it's run in August 2012 and is still in
production today. Volume one was written by Matthew Fraction, born
in 1975 in Chicago Heights Illinois, Mr. Fraction is a long time
comic book reader and writer. He is an Eisner Award winner and has
worked on Iron Man, Iron Fist, the Uncanny X Men, Casanova and the
Sex Criminals (which is a really weird series). David Aja is a
Spanish born artist who as also won an Eisner for his cover art.
Additionally Mr. Aja was a teacher of the fine arts at the University
of Salamanca before becoming a professional illustrator. If his
teaching is anything like his art, the comic book world's gain is the
University of Salamanca's lost! I don't comment on the art in a
graphic novel often because am I as qualified to seriously discuss
art styles and such as your average dairy cow but I really like the
art in this book. It's distinctive, interesting and matches the tone
of the writing very well.
Let me talk about Hawkeye
aka Clint Barton, especially for those of you who might only know him
from the Marvel Movies (which I like don't get me wrong) because
they're two very different characters. In the comics Hawkeye
received his training from the villain Swordsman who made him and his
brother into the most bad ass marksmen to ever marksmen. For awhile
Hawkeye would travel with a circus using his craft but felt
unfulfilled and decided to be a hero. To bad for him he ran into the
Black Widow (back then she was a Soviet Villain, this was a long time
ago) who conned him into the supervillain game. After a series of
battles and misunderstandings Hawkeye was able to make his case and
was accepted into the Avengers under Captain America's leadership.
At first they didn't get along but these days Hawkeye is one of Cap's
better friend (not as close as the Falcon maybe but pretty close).
Since then Hawkeye has evolved into a mainstay of the Avengers
despite not having any superpowers (in fact he was originally hard of
hearing but was later cured). While like everyone else I kinda
giggle at a man with a bow and arrow fighting alongside demigods,
super soldiers and all sorts of other oddness... With Hawkeye it
kinda works and it hasn't gotten into ridiculous territory like some
other superheroes I could name (looking at you DC, we all know who
I'm talking about here). Unlike his film version, he is not a family
man and doesn't have a long term partner. He did have a wife at one
point (The superhero Mockingbird) but they divorced. Which I'm
honestly okay with... Unlike other marriage breaking events I could
think of. What am I talking about? Let me just put this way, what
was done to Animal Man's family was criminal. What was done to Aqua
Man's marriage was stupid. Spiderman was a great superhero and I
feel it's terrible that his comic book series ended in 2007. I'm not
going to go any further because that would be a derail but I think
I've made my position clear on some matters.
Anyways, the series itself
shows just what it is that Clint is doing with himself when not an
active avenger. What he's doing is apparently being awesome and
crazy. Whether it's paling around with the normal citizens in his
apartment building in New York City, dealing with his Russian Mob
Landlord's attempt to run everyone out of the building so he can sell
it for millions or yes, rescuing dogs from traffic! Most of the book
takes place on the street level, with Clint mixing it up with track
suit wearing Russians who believe the word bro is the best way to
address anyone. That said there is a little trip to the hive of scum
and villainy that is Maripoor, which had me laughing out loud. The
writing is clever, somewhat irrelevant and playful while not taking
anything away from Hawkeye and the trouble he gets into. Frankly I
laughed a good deal reading this which I needed this week honestly.
We got car chases, fist fights, arrows flying everywhere and proof
that a boomerang arrow is a great idea (because it comes back!).
We also have Clint teaming
up a lot with Kate Bishop, who is honestly pretty fucking awesome
herself. Kate Bishop is a wealthy young woman who took up the mantle
of Hawkeye when everyone thought Clint was dead (you know...
Superheroes) and when he came back... They pretty much decided ah
what the hell let's have two Hawkeyes, it'll be funny that way! Kate
Bishop mainly stars in the Young Avengers' line up and you would
think that she would be the Jr. partner in this but for the most part
Clint treats her as an equal. Yes, she doesn't have the experience
he does and he has things he can teach her (like don't leave home
without your bulletproof vest) but she ain't a side kick. I like
that. Of course we also see Clint fucking up pretty often when it
comes to personal relationships so he does make his fair share of
missteps. Basically Clint can be a bit of fuck up when he's not on
the job but at least he's trying to help people and be a decent human
being. Which is frankly all I ask, just try to be a decent person
and Clint gives that his all, as this book is pretty much full of him
and Kate helping people. Often at great personal risk and cost.
Which is what makes him a hero, not the bow and arrows, not the
custom but the fact that he keeps helping people even when it costs
him.
That said, the book does
suffer from a lack of an over arching story line and the time
skipping in the first issue of the 6 collected here (5 from the
Hawkeye series and 1 from Young Avengers showing how Kate and Clint
made their peace) gets a bit jarring in places. It smooths out
quickly enough though. So all things considered? Hawkeye My Life as
a Weapon by Matthew Fraction gets a B+, I'll be getting the second
volume, no question.
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