Hawkeye 3: L.A. Woman

Comic Info

Hawkeye (2) Annual #1

Reprints Hawkeye (2) #14, 16, 18, 20, and Annual #1 (September 2013-November 2014).  Kate Bishop is taking a break from Clint Barton.  Travelling to Los Angeles to start her own life (with Pizza Dog), Kate runs into troubles of her own when she encounters Madame Masque.  Kate is sucked in to Madame Masque’s nefarious plans and since she is a superhero, Kate decides she has to shut Masque down.

Written by Matt Fraction, Hawkeye Volume 3:  L.A. Woman continues the award winning series.  Following Hawkeye Volume 2:  Little Hits, the series began alternating between Kate Bishop and Clint Barton stories.  This volume contains Hawkeye (2) Annual #1 (September 2013) and the “L.A. Woman” storyline that ran in Hawkeye (2) #14, 16, 18, and 20.  The issues in the collection were also published in the hardcover Hawkeye—Volume 2.

Hawkeye is a great series and proves that with good writing, you can make a person care about a hero they don’t care about.  Hawkeye never did much for me.  I loved West Coast Avengers (not for him), but I always found him rather dull.  Kate Bishop who first appeared in Young Avengers however was always interesting…surprisingly, I care more about Clint’s adventures than Kate’s.

Hawkeye (2) #16

I don’t think “L.A. Woman” is a bad storyline, but it just isn’t as compelling.  Fraction’s decision to alternate between the two characters was smart and gave each character time to develop.  I found however reading the issues as they were released that I didn’t really care what was happening in the Kate issues.  Fraction sometimes tries a bit too hard to have shattered timelines of events (the last issue of the collection is an example of that), but it does challenge the reader which is better than many comics.  Plus, I love that he brought back the old Tomb of Dracula character Harold H. Harold…that’s going deep into the archives.

The art is another slight problem with this comic.  I’m a big, big fan of Pulido’s work and his art on the series is fantastic.  Here we get Annie Wu as the back-up artist.  Wu on her own is much better than many artists…but when compared to Pulido’s look, she is a far second.

Hawkeye 3:  L.A. Woman feels a bit like filler to me.  It does tie in roundabout to the storyline in the Clint issues, but it just felt like it was in the way of the real story.  Kate Bishop is a great character, and Kate and Clint are a good combo so I hate to see them separated.  It might have served better as a limited series or some sort of spin-off.  Hawkeye 3:  L.A. Woman is followed by Clint’s adventures in Hawkeye 4:  Rio Bravo.

Related Links:

Hawkeye 1:  My Life as a Weapon

Hawkeye 2:  Little Hits

Hawkeye 4:  Rio Bravo