Steve Lieber

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

Matt Fraction’s “Hawkeye, Vol. 2: Little Hits” is a collection of issues #6-11 of Hawkeye comic book series. Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye, is the best marksman on Earth and is one of the Avengers. However, when he is not on duty, his life is everything but heroic: Clint has girl issues, often gets into trouble and makes the worst decisions possible. Good news: Hawkeye’s talented but spoiled protégé Kate Bishop, Lucky the Pizza Dog and a mysterious redhead are back show more too! And, of course, what fun would it be without the tracksuit bros?

THUMBS UP:

1) Problems fixed!
I absolutely loved the first volume “Hawkeye, Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon” (check out my review here!); however, I thought that the timeline in issue #1 was a little bit hard to follow, and I wished that all the issues were drawn by a single artist. Guess what? Almost all the issues in “Hawkeye, Vol. 2: Little Hits” are illustrated by David Aja (my favorite, yay!). Moreover, issue #6 has a similar retrospective approach to that in issue #1, EXCEPT issue #6 has dates, so it is MUCH easier to trace back the original sequence of the events.

2) Continues to entertain and surprise.
The second volume is as action-packed and entertaining as the first one, plus background gaps slowly start filling in, previous events start connecting, and the bigger story emerges. My favorite part is the beginning of issue #6, when Hawkeye asks Tony Stark over to help untangle his TV equipment. The whole scene is not only hilarious and well done but also serves as a metaphor of Clint’s life. Finally, there is the whole issue told solely from Lucky the Pizza Dog’s perspective with only images, sounds and smells. And it’s not any story; Lucky solves a crime! How cool is THAT?

3) A peak behind the scenes.
Besides the usual extras (a page from the Aja’s sketchbook), “Hawkeye, Vol. 2: Little Hits” includes a step-by-step demonstration of how a page in the comic book is created (man, it’s even MORE work than I thought) AND a commentary from the color artist Matt Hollingsworth on his minimalistic approach.

COULD BE BETTER:

1) A Hurricane Sandy special.
Although issue #7 is nice and quite touching, it’s not extremely captivating. Or maybe I was just put off by Steve Lieber and Jesse Hamm’s illustrations, which are still good but fade in comparison to Aja’s artwork.

2) “He depresses me.”
As Kate Bishop accurately noted, watching Clint Barton is depressing. Don’t get me wrong, I still like Hawkeye a lot, but he is slowly turning into a hopeless looser. He just cannot get hold of his life and persistently keeps making terrible decisions to the point that everyone seems to be pissed at or disappointed in him.

VERDICT: 4 out of 5

“Hawkeye, Vol. 2: Little Hits” is as action-packed and entertaining as the first volume, and the issue from Lucky the Pizza Dog’s perspective is the coolest thing ever. However, Clint’s life is nothing short of a train wreck and it’s getting quite depressing to watch him. Let’s hope for the brighter tomorrow in the third volume! show less

Aw man, why did that wretched red-head who got Clint into so much trouble have to come back? She's clearly not as helpless as she passes herself off to be, since she held her own against Clint's super-spy friend (not sure if this is supposed to be Black Window, but it could very well be considering that the style of illustration for this series is radically different than any of the other Marvel comics) and seems to have terrible timing for coming back into Clint's life. As per usual, show more Hawkeye is busy defending his neighbourhood pals from the Russian mob, and it looks like the beat down he gave them isn't really sticking so this is clearly going to be one of the major story arcs for the series.

Besides the high octane plot, what I enjoy most about this series is its drastically different design aesthetic. Unlike a lot of the Marvel lineup, where the art tends to be pretty typical of comics (big-breasted damsels/heroines, chisel-jawed heroes, far too much spandex, and an overwrought colour palette), Hawkeye goes in totally the opposite direction with its simple lines, drastically reduced colour range, and minimalist colour design - which I thought I was just imagining, but they actually admitted that they did this on purpose in the added content for this book. It pairs well with the fact that Hawkeye is not your typical hero (he's just a talented human) and this story is not about his heroic acts (though he does act like a hero on occassion). Marvel still isn't coming close to the grittiness and literary themes of the Vertigo/Image/independent lineups, but at least they're breaking away from the superhero genre a bit with this series. show less

All street-level all the time this time, right down on the street in the case of an extraordinary issue from the POV of Lucky the dog. Clint has bought the building and now has to cope with being a landlord but the Russian bros are not happy. Incredible David Aja art and sophisticated hipster-noir writing from Fraction. Only thing, everyone lives Kate, heck I love Kate, but isn't she kinda needlessly dickish to the hotel guy in the first story?

Kiernan returns to writing comics, this series based on her first paranormal thriller heroine, Dancy Flammarion, the albino sixteen-year-old girl who roams the back roads of the South hunting demons, armed with a butcher knife, guided by a seraph that only she can see. She begins this adventure in an isolated werewolf town with her virtue intact, her conscience clean. She adheres to her pact with her angel. She does not believe that what she does is murder, although her opposition disagrees, show more and she has persuaded herself that it is OK to pilfer from the dead. She keeps her word - and follows the Word.

By the time this story ends, she has cheated and lied - and, arguably, killed - for personal gain. She has broken her pact with the demon and refused to repent her sin, tired of the angel's refusal or inability to help. And she has absorbed a different book than the Holy Book, an evil books, and she is beginning to enjoy the power and freedom it gives her.

I have read very little about what Kiernan has said and written about the rural South she grew up in, save that she has little use for their religion and some aspects of their culture. That doesn't stop her from using that culture and religion very convincingly, or to create great characters who wouldn't exist without either - a talking black bird who could have walked out of a folk tale, a redneck werewolf girl, a crummy wizard who runs a crummy gas station, an aristocratic villain with old school charm. And, of course, poor Dancy, a religious fundamentalist who has lost contact with the beliefs she built her life on and is now on a dark road of self-discovery. show less