Hawkeye 1: My Life as a Weapon

Comic Info

Hawkeye (2) #3

Reprints Young Avengers Presents #6 and Hawkeye (2) #1-5 (August 2008-February 2013).  Hawkeye is a bit of a screw-up.  Though he’s an Avenger, he still isn’t afraid to get down and dirty when he’s needed.  Be it saving the tenants of his building from eviction, scoring a new car from a girl on the run from the mob, or trying to retrieve a tape which could implicate him in murder, Hawkeye (with help from his “sidekick” Kate Bishop) is always on the receiving end of some serious danger.

Written by Matt Fraction and illustrated by David Aja, Hawkeye Volume 1:  My Life as a Weapon was one of the more acclaimed hits of the end of 2012.  The series was nominated for a number of Eisner Awards including Best Continuing Series, Best New Series, Best Writer, Best Penciller/Inker, and Best Cover Artist and the collection also includes the August 2008 stand-alone issue from Young Avengers Presents #6 in which Hawkeye first meets Kate (who is also known as Hawkeye).  Young Avengers Presents #6 is illustrated by Alan Davis.

I have never been that much of a Hawkeye fan.  I really did enjoy West Coast Avengers (yep, they were the WCA when I started…not the Avengers West Coast or even worse…ForceWorks), but Hawkeye as a character didn’t inspire as much fandom in me as some of the other weird characters of the series.  I always found Hawkeye to just be Green Arrow and even whinier and less inspiring.  That being said, Hawkeye is one of my new favorite comics.

Hawkeye (2) #5

Fraction is hit or miss for me.  I’ve read some really good stuff by him.  His series FF with Michael Allred which is running in tandem with Hawkeye is also one of my favorites, but other stuff I’ve read by him is so-so.  Hawkeye, however, is an extremely challenging book.

I do feel that Fraction tries a bit too hard to shake up the comic book format in Hawkeye, but I can forgive him by presenting Hawkeye as a very likeable, fallible, fun character…something that I’ve not really seen before.  The story shake-up does lend the comic to re-reading and it is fun to see how minor actions become plotlines later in the story (and in the series for those who keep reading).  The inclusion of Fraction’s story which introduced Hawkeye to Kate is also probably beneficial to readers who don’t know much about their backgrounds.

Another reason Hawkeye really works is the fantastic art by David Aja.  Fraction and Aja worked together before on The Immortal Iron Fist (a series I enjoyed but wanted to like more).  Here the two really connect, and Aja really brings out the story.  I’m not one to really gush over colorists but Matt Hollingsworth’s coloring with Aja’s art also score.

Hawkeye Volume 1:  My Life as a Weapon really should be checked out…even if you’ve never been that big of a fan of Hawkeye.  It is one of the few super-hero comics out there right now that is being recognized as something bigger and better than the standard fare.  Hawkeye Volume 1:  My Life as a Weapon is followed by Hawkeye Volume 2:  Little Hits.

Related Links:

Hawkeye Volume 2:  Little Hits

Hawkeye Volume 3:  L.A. Woman

Hawkeye Volume 4:  Rio Bravo