Story Synopsis: Hawkeye Vol. 1: My Life As A Weapon
When Clint Barton isn’t kicking ass and taking names as an Avenger, he’s getting his ass kicked. Find out how Hawkeye fights back against some Russian mafia landlords in this week’s Comic Rewind, Hawkeye Vol. 1: My Life As A Weapon.
Clint Barton aka Hawkeye is a valuable member of the Avengers. He is their marksman and he is very good at what he does. Any target at any range Barton is your guy every time.
However, he does this without any powers or special abilities. His skill comes from practice and repetition. This wasn’t a big deal for the most part, but being non-powered had its drawbacks. Barton can make mistakes and those mistakes cause him to get beat up a lot.
When Barton wasn’t saving the world as Hawkeye he lived in a crappy apartment building in New York owned by a shady Russian mafia guy. One day his landlord, Ivan, decided to drastically raise the rent and it would have forced the tenants of the entire building to move.
Barton came up with an idea to save the building. It led him to owning an apartment building, a new trusty canine pal, broken bones and a reunion with his protégé, Kate Bishop aka Hawkeye.
Hawkeye Vol. 1: My Life As A Weapon was written by Matt Fraction with the art by David Aja, Matt Hollingsworth and Javier Pulido. Marvel Comics published the volume in 2013.
A More Human Version Of Hawkeye
A few weeks back I reviewed Iron Fist by Fraction. I loved it, but I wanted to take another look at this comic because I remember loving it as well. My memory did not lie because this was just as amazing as I remember.
The Hawkeye in the movies is cool and badass, but this Hawkeye is cool in a totally different way. This Hawkeye is nicknamed Hawkguy and is a lovable loser. He is good at being a hero, but not great.
Barton goes into battle full force and doesn’t always think before he acts. The fact that he doesn’t have powers makes a little mistake for example Wolverine may make into a grade A asskicking for Barton. I like the flaws Barton has because it humanizes him and gives him more depth. Everything he does has to be perfect and everything he has achieved is because he worked his ass off for.
Hawkeye The Street-Level Hero
Barton is a street-level hero and it shows in this. He doesn’t fight supervillains or any powered people in this comic. Barton fights Russian thugs and carnies. The biggest threat he fights is Hand ninjas.
We get to see a lot of Kate Bishop Hawkeye in this and she is even better than in Young Avengers. She is super snarky and always making fun of Barton, but Barton has a ton of respect for her. We even see that she is a much better archer than Barton is.
This comic has a lot of humor and is a ton of fun to read. I love this Hawkeye and he doesn’t take himself or his life too seriously unless he has to.
The Art Of The Great David Aja
One of my favorite things about this comic is the art. Aja is just awesome and I love his art so much. However, just to make it even better he is colored by one of my favorite colorists, Matt Hollingsworth. The matte art lends to the street level hero story and humanizes him.
We get Pulido’s art in two of the issues and I didn’t like it. The character design was so weird and off. The major problem was the anatomy of the characters and I saw it most in the eyes. It wouldn’t be so noticeable if I didn’t jump from Aja’s art to Pulido’s.
This comic makes me want to read more Hawkeye and Kate Bishop stuff. If you love Hawkeye or want a fun read then I couldn’t recommend this comic more. It was amazing from start to finish.
Rating:
5/5
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