Hawkeye 4: Rio Bravo

hawkeye volume 4 rio bravo cover matt fraction aja
8.5 Overall Score
Story: 8/10
Art: 9/10

Great art and a good story

A bit of a unbalanced volume

Comic Info

Comic Name:  Hawkeye (Volume 4)

Publisher:  Marvel Comics

Writer:  Matt Fraction

Artist:  David Aja/Chris Eliopoulos/Francesco Francavilla

# of Issues:  7

Release Date:  2015

hawkeye-#17-cover-review-winter-friends-aja-art

Hawkeye (2) #17

Reprints Hawkeye (2) #12-15, #17, #19, and #21-22 (September 2013-September 2015).  This is it!  Hawkeye is in the fight of his life as his flat becomes a virtual battleground for the gang activity in his neighborhood.  The arrival of his brother Barney also could mean problems as the Tracksuit Draculas and a mysterious assassin named the Clown are out to even the odds with Hawkeye…not even the Winter Friends can help him!

Written by Matt Fraction, Hawkeye 4:  Rio Bravo is the final volume in the second Hawkeye series.  The comic features art by David Aja, Chris Eliopoulos, and Francesco Francavilla and contains the alternating issues not included in Hawkeye 3:  L.A. Woman.

Hawkeye was a surprising fun series.  I don’t like the Hawkeye character that much (though I did love West Coast Avengers), but I did enjoy this series…Rio Bravo feels like an appropriate “wrap-up”.

The writing style of Hawkeye is always rather fluid, and Fraction experiments a lot with it.  The collection contains the “Winter Friends” story in Hawkeye (2) #17 (May 2014) which dives into a cartoon that is supposed to express events going on in the comic.  It is similar to the Pizza Dog issue of Hawkeye (2) #11 (August 2013), but not as clever or inspired.  The basic plotline involving the Tracksuit Mafia and Clint’s brother is good, but sometimes Fraction tries too hard.

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Hawkeye (2) #22

The basic format of the comic also is shuffled.  The previous volume Hawkeye 3:  L.A. Woman told the story of Hawkeye (aka Katie) and collected the issues not included here.  The stories come together in the last couple issues of this volume so it might seem even more disjointed if someone is reading them as the collections are released.

Hawkeye is also aided by great art.  Not only do you get David Aja but you get a Francesco Francavilla who is another great artist.  Often in Hawkeye, the art overrides the story (which is good as well).

Hawkeye ended with this volume but immediately continued with All-New Hawkeye (which ran a short five issues before being relaunched as well).  Give Hawkeye a chance…he’s bit of a meh character (in my opinion), but he works here.  Hawkeye 4:  Rio Bravo is followed by Hawkeye 5:  All-New Hawkeye.

Related Links:

Hawkeye 1:  My Life as a Weapon

Hawkeye 2:  Little Hits

Hawkeye 3:  L.A. Woman

Author: JPRoscoe View all posts by
Follow me on Twitter/Instagram/Letterboxd @JPRoscoe76! Loves all things pop-culture especially if it has a bit of a counter-culture twist. Plays video games (basically from the start when a neighbor brought home an Atari 2600), comic loving (for almost 30 years), and a true critic of movies. Enjoys the art house but also isn't afraid to let in one or two popular movies at the same time.

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