Hawkeye #2 (Marvel)
From February 2016
writer: Jeff Lemire
artist: Ramon Perez
To call Jeff Lemire one of my favorite active writers would probably be an understatement. He's been writing some of my favorite comics for years now. If anyone could follow up Matt Fraction's Hawkeye with something with even a slim chance of being as clever, it would be Lemire.
(Never mind that it would've been perfectly acceptable to keep the same numbering. Uh-uh. Not Marvel. Not these days. DC at least let a bunch of its New 52 series actually reach fifty-two, consistently-numbered consecutive issues. Marvel now has seasons, which only makes sense for the dedicated monthly readers.)
Lemire even keeps Clint Barton and Kate Bishop working alongside each other in-tact. I love that. I've been a fan of Kate since she debuted in Young Avengers. If any of those characters were going to extend their shelf lives, I'm glad it was her. It doesn't hurt that she's following in the footsteps of a less-than-giant. (As if to punctuate that, Marvel recently had Clint murder the Hulk, and so that's probably the end of him.)
In true Lemire fashion, however, he's not just content to keep things the way Fraction had them, but have a look at the future, with the past and future converging. It shouldn't work but it does.
I love that the art keeps general pace with the Fraction era, too. I mean, that's Marvel really letting a good thing continue, in the best possible way. Bravo, Marvel.
Showing posts with label Hawkeye. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hawkeye. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Monday, March 7, 2016
Quarter Bin 69 "Eight Below"
As always, "Quarter Bin" is a figurative term. This is a back issues feature.
The title of this edition comes from the fact that I bought the following comics from the store Five Below (basically another dollar store), two different packs of four comics each. These are not the first comics I've gotten from Five Below, and not even the first bargain packs I've picked up in the last few months, but there's one excellent, and several good ones, reason to write about this set first (I'll get to the others later). Namely, it gave me my first look at one of Grant Morrison's Marvel projects I hadn't gotten around to yet. Without further adieu, let's dive in:
New Avengers: Illuminati (Marvel)
From September 2006.
Civil War was kind of better in a handful of one-shots specials than it was for the event itself or the comics that followed it. Here I'm mostly thinking about the ones concerning the death of Captain America (I'm sorry, "death"), but this is another of the literate stories Marvel let slip through, Brian Michael Bendis getting to write about the Marvel landscape in frank terms, setting up a cabal (that kind of went nowhere but was intended to be more significant), a meeting of the heads of the big guns before everyone started to become Avengers (even before the movies made it cool). I guess I'll never understand why Namor has been such a tough nut for Marvel to crack, I guess just too difficult to reconcile with the more juvenile instincts of the company, even though he's one of its founding creations. He's a standout here. Conspicuous by his absence? Captain America.
Daredevil #253 (Marvel)
From April 1988.
I thought this would be a Frank Miller issue (shows how much I know, I guess), but it ended up being Ann Nocenti, one of the more long-lived female comic book creators who has been involved in DC's New 52 initiative recently, writing Green Arrow and such. She writes about what you'd expect from Daredevil. It's telling, what fans were thinking, or at least what Marvel was thinking, from the letters in the back lamenting the grim turn in then recent years, which would be the Frank Miller era, which was not yet completely over. The editor suggests to readers still searching for a good Kingpin story Daredevil: Love and War, Miller's graphic novel from two years earlier. Well, anyway, what's perhaps best to talk about is the debuting artist in the issue, none other than John Romita, Jr., at least as described in the letters column (which was always months behind), actually three issues into his run at this point. Romita would go on to make quite the name for himself (probably known at the time very much as "Junior"), and a distinctive style. Which is hard to find in the work here. So I spent perhaps more time trying to find the Romita I know than to anything else. But it was still worth checking out for all three reasons.
DC Universe Presents #11 (DC)
From September 2012.
James Robinson, just starting his comeback, though everyone seemed to ignore The Shade (despite its generally excellent quality), writing a Vandal Savage arc, uniquely featuring him as something other than the villain, trying to make peace with a rebellious daughter while trying to avoid the sins of his past. As the antagonist of Legends of Tomorrow and having apparently resurfaced in the Superman titles recently, Savage is experiencing a renaissance of significance lately. He's a compelling character, and Robinson certainly helps sell him better than the norm.
Fantastic Four: 1234 #4 (Marvel)
From January 2001.
I assume Marvel did a roundabout second printing of this, because the copyright fine print says "Vol. 2" and the cover features a 9/11 memorial logo, even though the publication date still lists it as the beginning of the year...Either way, this is the first time I've read anything from this Grant Morrison's project. Morrison's Marvel work is better known for his New X-Men and Marvel Boy, but there's also this to consider. And now having read some of it firsthand, I would almost consider it his response to Marvelman/Miracleman, a dystopian twist on a traditional superhero property. Aside from a classic comic book twist that undoes it, the issue features Dr. Doom turning the team against each other, against themselves, all of that, in ways Alan Moore's opus never adequately explained, except that he just didn't understand superheroes anymore and wanted them to "grow up." This is a whole thing among fans, the relationship between Moore and Morrison, how Morrison tried to write in his own contribution to Moore's work on that property (to be printed years later by Marvel), and how they've been "rivals" ever since. It's a fairly one-sided creative conversation, though. Morrison did his version of Watchmen in Pax Americana (within the greater Multiversity construct). But few observers seem to have perceived 1234's commentary. It even makes Dr. Doom credible for the first time...ever. So that's good to read, too. Now on to Skrull Kill Krew!
Force Works (Marvel)
From January 1995.
The Image explosion caused chaos across the board, and one of the weirdest effects was forcing (heh) Marvel and DC to try and ape the style approach, which meant as much about the art as the less subtle storytelling (which eventually gave way to more subtle storytelling, so on the whole it was probably a good thing). DC created a Justice League that starred in the series Extreme Justice, Marvel created an Avengers called Force Works. I originally learned about the latter in a calendar I had as a teenager. I admit, I liked the title. So now I read an issue for the first time ever. Scarlet Witch is taken semi-seriously, in a kind of stripper-with-a-heart-of-gold kind of way. U.S.Agent is in a costume I don't recognize. There's a Mandarin story that doesn't really feature Mandarin all too well (Iron Man 3 wants its plot back!), and Tony Stark is being a shmuck. On the whole, seems about right.
Hawkeye #11 (Marvel)
From August 2013.
I think I've read this issue already. Or maybe Matt Fraction used the dog gimmick again later? Either way, this is the dog gimmick issue, which features a dog and the only words the reader gets to read are the ones in the dialogue the dog would understand. Otherwise, it's the various associations the dogs would make, conveyed via icons. I don't want to underestimate the uniqueness of the artistry, certainly in a mainstream work, that Fraction manages to bring to Hawkeye. In any other era, this would have been hailed as the second coming of Frank Miller. For whatever reason, that just never happened with this series. I don't think anything groundbreaking was achieved, except to highlight that no one really has a definitive Hawkeye story they figure is worth telling (except, you know, that he debuted as a villain?), which even the movies acknowledge, so that Fraction literally could do anything, like this dog issue. But that's still a breakthrough for a mainstream superhero comic.
Prime #3 (Malibu)
From December 1995.
I used to think that Prime was basically a Captain Marvel) (DC version) ripoff, but after this issue, I guess he's kind of more like the Spectre, a powerful entity that needs a human host to anchor it. Which obviously was otherwise poorly conveyed. In hindsight, Prime is just too comically overmuscled. I mean, was that deliberate?
Professor Xavier and the X-Men #1 (Marvel)
From November 1995.
I think I got this comic back in the '90s. I guess it doesn't particularly matter. It's a '90s version of the early X-Men years. It still baffles me that Marvel has never considered using Jean Grey more productively. Here's a character who used to be known as Marvel Girl. She's the center of one of the most famous X-Men, if not Marvel in general, stories ever in "The Dark Phoenix Saga." And even the movies had her as second lead after Wolverine. She's the lead character in this issue, too. And still...Nothing. Talk about missing a golden opportunity.
The title of this edition comes from the fact that I bought the following comics from the store Five Below (basically another dollar store), two different packs of four comics each. These are not the first comics I've gotten from Five Below, and not even the first bargain packs I've picked up in the last few months, but there's one excellent, and several good ones, reason to write about this set first (I'll get to the others later). Namely, it gave me my first look at one of Grant Morrison's Marvel projects I hadn't gotten around to yet. Without further adieu, let's dive in:
New Avengers: Illuminati (Marvel)
From September 2006.
Civil War was kind of better in a handful of one-shots specials than it was for the event itself or the comics that followed it. Here I'm mostly thinking about the ones concerning the death of Captain America (I'm sorry, "death"), but this is another of the literate stories Marvel let slip through, Brian Michael Bendis getting to write about the Marvel landscape in frank terms, setting up a cabal (that kind of went nowhere but was intended to be more significant), a meeting of the heads of the big guns before everyone started to become Avengers (even before the movies made it cool). I guess I'll never understand why Namor has been such a tough nut for Marvel to crack, I guess just too difficult to reconcile with the more juvenile instincts of the company, even though he's one of its founding creations. He's a standout here. Conspicuous by his absence? Captain America.
Daredevil #253 (Marvel)
From April 1988.
I thought this would be a Frank Miller issue (shows how much I know, I guess), but it ended up being Ann Nocenti, one of the more long-lived female comic book creators who has been involved in DC's New 52 initiative recently, writing Green Arrow and such. She writes about what you'd expect from Daredevil. It's telling, what fans were thinking, or at least what Marvel was thinking, from the letters in the back lamenting the grim turn in then recent years, which would be the Frank Miller era, which was not yet completely over. The editor suggests to readers still searching for a good Kingpin story Daredevil: Love and War, Miller's graphic novel from two years earlier. Well, anyway, what's perhaps best to talk about is the debuting artist in the issue, none other than John Romita, Jr., at least as described in the letters column (which was always months behind), actually three issues into his run at this point. Romita would go on to make quite the name for himself (probably known at the time very much as "Junior"), and a distinctive style. Which is hard to find in the work here. So I spent perhaps more time trying to find the Romita I know than to anything else. But it was still worth checking out for all three reasons.
DC Universe Presents #11 (DC)
From September 2012.
James Robinson, just starting his comeback, though everyone seemed to ignore The Shade (despite its generally excellent quality), writing a Vandal Savage arc, uniquely featuring him as something other than the villain, trying to make peace with a rebellious daughter while trying to avoid the sins of his past. As the antagonist of Legends of Tomorrow and having apparently resurfaced in the Superman titles recently, Savage is experiencing a renaissance of significance lately. He's a compelling character, and Robinson certainly helps sell him better than the norm.
Fantastic Four: 1234 #4 (Marvel)
From January 2001.
I assume Marvel did a roundabout second printing of this, because the copyright fine print says "Vol. 2" and the cover features a 9/11 memorial logo, even though the publication date still lists it as the beginning of the year...Either way, this is the first time I've read anything from this Grant Morrison's project. Morrison's Marvel work is better known for his New X-Men and Marvel Boy, but there's also this to consider. And now having read some of it firsthand, I would almost consider it his response to Marvelman/Miracleman, a dystopian twist on a traditional superhero property. Aside from a classic comic book twist that undoes it, the issue features Dr. Doom turning the team against each other, against themselves, all of that, in ways Alan Moore's opus never adequately explained, except that he just didn't understand superheroes anymore and wanted them to "grow up." This is a whole thing among fans, the relationship between Moore and Morrison, how Morrison tried to write in his own contribution to Moore's work on that property (to be printed years later by Marvel), and how they've been "rivals" ever since. It's a fairly one-sided creative conversation, though. Morrison did his version of Watchmen in Pax Americana (within the greater Multiversity construct). But few observers seem to have perceived 1234's commentary. It even makes Dr. Doom credible for the first time...ever. So that's good to read, too. Now on to Skrull Kill Krew!
Force Works (Marvel)
From January 1995.
The Image explosion caused chaos across the board, and one of the weirdest effects was forcing (heh) Marvel and DC to try and ape the style approach, which meant as much about the art as the less subtle storytelling (which eventually gave way to more subtle storytelling, so on the whole it was probably a good thing). DC created a Justice League that starred in the series Extreme Justice, Marvel created an Avengers called Force Works. I originally learned about the latter in a calendar I had as a teenager. I admit, I liked the title. So now I read an issue for the first time ever. Scarlet Witch is taken semi-seriously, in a kind of stripper-with-a-heart-of-gold kind of way. U.S.Agent is in a costume I don't recognize. There's a Mandarin story that doesn't really feature Mandarin all too well (Iron Man 3 wants its plot back!), and Tony Stark is being a shmuck. On the whole, seems about right.
Hawkeye #11 (Marvel)
From August 2013.
I think I've read this issue already. Or maybe Matt Fraction used the dog gimmick again later? Either way, this is the dog gimmick issue, which features a dog and the only words the reader gets to read are the ones in the dialogue the dog would understand. Otherwise, it's the various associations the dogs would make, conveyed via icons. I don't want to underestimate the uniqueness of the artistry, certainly in a mainstream work, that Fraction manages to bring to Hawkeye. In any other era, this would have been hailed as the second coming of Frank Miller. For whatever reason, that just never happened with this series. I don't think anything groundbreaking was achieved, except to highlight that no one really has a definitive Hawkeye story they figure is worth telling (except, you know, that he debuted as a villain?), which even the movies acknowledge, so that Fraction literally could do anything, like this dog issue. But that's still a breakthrough for a mainstream superhero comic.
Prime #3 (Malibu)
From December 1995.
I used to think that Prime was basically a Captain Marvel) (DC version) ripoff, but after this issue, I guess he's kind of more like the Spectre, a powerful entity that needs a human host to anchor it. Which obviously was otherwise poorly conveyed. In hindsight, Prime is just too comically overmuscled. I mean, was that deliberate?
Professor Xavier and the X-Men #1 (Marvel)
From November 1995.
I think I got this comic back in the '90s. I guess it doesn't particularly matter. It's a '90s version of the early X-Men years. It still baffles me that Marvel has never considered using Jean Grey more productively. Here's a character who used to be known as Marvel Girl. She's the center of one of the most famous X-Men, if not Marvel in general, stories ever in "The Dark Phoenix Saga." And even the movies had her as second lead after Wolverine. She's the lead character in this issue, too. And still...Nothing. Talk about missing a golden opportunity.
Friday, July 17, 2015
Reading Comics 169 "Comics from 7/15/15"
Covered: Robin: Son of Batman #2, Book of Death #1, Hawkeye #22, Justice League #42, and Martian Manhunter #2.
Pat Gleason picks up where...Batman and Robin #0 left off, delving more deeply into Damian's formative years with Talia, while also further introducing the new Nobody (totally counts as this Boy Wonder's first romance) and not really getting much more into how exactly Goliath became Robin's new partner except to say that he's probably more rude to the Man-Bat than he's been to anyone else (even Pennyworth!). And it's another fantastic issue. I love that Gleason has turned out to be such an excellent chronicler as well as illustrator. He knew he had plenty to build on. And he's making the most of it.
Book of Death #1 (Valiant)
Robert Venditti is definitely one of those writers I have a tough relationship with. Understandably, Geoff Johns had to leave Green Lantern at some point, but I hoped his replacement would be some version of inspired and thus not be a complete disappointment. Venditti hasn't been a complete disappointment (the funny thing for me to remember is that I didn't think Johns himself was as good as his Rebirth suggested when he first launched the ongoing), but I've just never been able to get into his Green Lantern. Then over at Valiant, which is where he first came onto the scene with X-O Manowar, I wasn't overly impressed with his material there, either. So to see Book of Death, a direct sequel to The Valiant, which I found brilliant, written by Venditti was a cause for concern. Turns out, the only thing immediately objectionable about it is how the lettering seems enlarged, or done in bold, whatever the case may be. Just makes the issue seem off. But it's not Venditti's fault! Probably. So maybe I will continue reading Book of Death. For now.
Hawkeye #22 (Marvel)
Apparently much, much delayed (although not really), this is the final Matt Fraction issue of Hawkeye (a Jeff Lemire reboot comes next). I've caught enough of the series to know that this was something special, a truly unique "indy style" comic featuring a mainstream superhero (pretty much), the kind of storytelling you only wish Daredevil had received post-Miller (instead of endless rehashes or attempts to ignore Miller entirely). Some of the impact of the issue is lost on me, as I didn't really have anything invested in the big showdown, but it was still fun to see and be a part of.
Justice League #42 (DC)
"Darkseid War" continues, and Geoff Johns reveals that both the female warriors he's introduced are basically villains, not only Grail, the daughter of Darkseid, but apparently even Myrina Black, Grail's mother, who willingly conspired with Darkseid (including, ah, knocking boots) in a thorough rejection of Amazonian dogma. Maybe either or perhaps both will get a little more nuance later. Because I'm still digging Johns' depiction of the New Gods, especially Metron, who loses "his" Mobius Chair (remember, "Mobius" is actually the Anti-Monitor!), with Batman taking seat and finding out disturbing things. One is that Joe Chill murdered his parents. This we knew. But he also finds out Joker's real name. No, Johns doesn't spill the beans. But this is something DC has been teasing in Scott Snyder's Batman for a few years now. Somehow I have the feeling that we finally are going to have a definitive origin for the Joker (although I'll always be partial to "Lovers and Madmen" from Batman Confidential). Batman's reaction when he finds out? "No. That's not possible." I love it.
Martian Manhunter #2 (DC)
Continues to be a pleasant surprise. This issue is trickier than the first one. At first Eddy Barrows seems to have stumbled in a simplistic "Angry Martian Manhunter" presentation as Superman and the Justice League attempt to intervene. But Rob Williams backs Barrows up in the script, explaining the central premise of this arc and thus vision of the character, that pretty much everything we know, anyone knows, including Martian Manhunter himself, is subject to telepathic overwrite. It's brilliant. Why is this the first time anyone has ever thought of that? This is a series that will challenge the reader in nearly every way. I say it's a worthy challenge.
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Digitally Speaking...52 "Hawkeye, Henchmen, etc."
 |
| via Comic Vine Artwork from Hawkeye #1. |
H.G. Wells' The Chronic Argonauts (New Baby)
From 2013.
Based on an obscure Wells book published prior to his well-known classics, as demonstrated by this comics adaptation Chronic Argonauts is actually pretty interesting. Not having read the original prose edition, I can only speculate how much was altered, although it seems to be conspicuously faithful to a fault at times. But the thing is, it gets better as it moves along, becoming far more comfortable with its considerable world-building, which may not be as iconic as, say, The Time Machine or straight-forward as War of the Worlds. A kind of Doctor Who adventure taken to its logical conclusions with no concern to whether or not there will be another adventure next week, the fate of mankind is in the balance and the echoes of history examined, and maybe, just maybe we have an alternate look at, say, how Tesla could have turned out if he'd created a time machine.
Hawken: Genesis #1 (Archaia)
From 2012.
Apparently a preview for a graphic novel based on a video game...If I were more into video games, the prior sentence would not have included the word "apparently." But that's where we are, folks. Video games, it should be understood, are excellent at world-building, but the thing is, that's usually where the story ends, because actual game-play tends to be pretty...static. Which is one of the many reasons why I don't generally play video games. (Which is to say, another is that I'm actually pretty horrible at them.) So this preview features world-building. And only world-building. And it must be said, excellent art. Because art tends to be pretty important to video games, too. In fact, of the things video games and comics have in common is the importance of art. Good comics have good storytelling as well. Good video games have...visceral qualities. Which is why they're popular, like porn one of those hugely significant subcultures that's hard to talk about adequately in mainstream society, because it's just hard to talk about. Anyway...
Hawkeye #1 (Marvel)
From 2012.
So, this is the little comic that helped revolutionize mainstream superhero comics, which is a ripple effect that is being felt more and more across DC's and Marvel's lines. But the thing is...if it had been any other title but Hawkeye, the series that achieved this would be considered an instant classic. And that probably won't happen for Hawkeye. Writer Matt Fraction has parlayed this and other success into making a name for himself, but I wonder if he'll have the same amount of overall exposure as, say, Frank Miller or Mark Millar before him. What Fraction achieved with Hawkeye was making a mainstream superhero title into an indy book. But instead of, say, Daredevil, it stars Hawkeye(s). And really, no one cares about Hawkeye. He has no solo track record. He's an Avenger. This comic happened at all because of the movie The Avengers, where Hawkeye is one of two members (Black Widow) who will probably never have a solo movie (as opposed to the rest of the team). And so while Hawkeye gets a series out of it, Marvel let Fraction do whatever he wanted because it just didn't care. And fans still talk about whatever it is Mark Waid's been doing in the pages of Daredevil even though creatively it's not in the league of Fraction's Hawkeye. And with an impact that's much greater...
FCBD 2011 Headache Preview (Kickstart)
From...2011.
Written by Lisa Joy, wife of Jonthan Nolan (brother of...Christopher Nolan), this is one of those variations-on-the-Greek-gods stories. Knowing the Nolan connection, I wish there had been the full Nolan approach, focused on a strong character perspective. Except there really isn't. Jonathan frequently collaborates on his brother's films. Now it seems he'll be working with his wife on such projects as a Westworld reboot. I don't know. Hopefully she's better than this...
Henchmen #1 (Robot Paper)
From 2014.
If I were better at math, I could come up with a convincing statistic concerning how much of this comiXology stuff I've got that ends up being a pleasant surprise. A lot of it's mediocre or worse, but I've found a few really good ones in the mix. Henchmen is one of those. Although something of an awkward mix that may be selling the concept a little too hard, this is the story of, yes, henchmen, the goons who support the supervillains who are usually as dispensable as the redshirts in Star Trek. Except Henchmen focuses on Gary, the guy whose world has crumbled around him, which means losing his job, his wife, and discovering a fortuitous ad in the paper while recovering from a somewhat obscured medical emergency. Which is an invitation to become a henchman. Some of the rough edges in the storytelling are easy to overlook because overall it's pretty darn good. I can't say how Henchmen: I, Henchbot (what's currently being published) compares, but as far as how the story begins, there's a lot that's done right. So it receives a recommendation from me at the very least.
The Heroes of Echo Company #1 (Joseph Henson)
From 2013.
What's with all the military comics at comiXology? Because as you may or may not be able to tell from the title, this is one of them. It's also a space-based comic, and one that kind of awkwardly tries to meld military with superhero comics (in the way G.I. Joe has code names and only sometimes outlandish costumes to go alone with them, and more often than not for the villains...this comic has the costumes and code names...taken from hero history...for reasons not properly relevant to the rest of the story, at least as presented here). Something like that. I think actual military-enthusiasts would like this one more than I did, but I'm not convinced at all that the concept was figured out. Maybe it gets better? But I'll never know...
Friday, March 21, 2014
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.
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