Hawkeye #16 (Marvel)

(via CBDB)

writer: Matt Fraction

artist: Annie Wu

I was long kind of interested in sampling Hawkeye.  It's Marvel's indy-as-mainstream comic, featuring a character who's best known as an Avenger and was even included in the cinematic universe, but was once considered expendable enough to be killed off by Brian Michael Bendis in his "Disassembled" arc, brought back in a different guise, and replaced by a teenage girl.  

Actually, the teenage girl was part of Allan Heinberg's Young Avengers.  Her name was Kate Bishop, and although she's the member of that team who got the most official sanction to carry on the legacy, she's also better known as...Kate Bishop.

To be clear, this series more regularly features the original Hawkeye, Clint Barton.  But this particular issue features Kate.  It's not really familiar storytelling to Kate fans who originally followed her in her Young Avengers days.  It's very much an indy-as-mainstream comic.  And I really liked it.

Part of that might be because Matt Fraction used the whole story to tell a version of the Beach Boys saga, a troubled musical prodigy (Brian Wilson) who has a less talented brother who becomes jealous, and their history goes from great collaboration to far less impressive results, including a lost work of genius that seems destined to be lost forever.  Now, in the real world, Wilson actually released that project (Smile!) ten years ago.  In this version, the ending is not as happy.  Which is fine.  If it leads readers to the source material anyway, all the better.

Good stuff.  Good...vibrations.