Hawkeye: Freefall #2

by Nick Devonald on January 29, 2020

Writer: Matthew Rosenberg
Artist: Otto Schmidt
Letters: VC’s Joe Sabino

Last months #1 took me by surprise by how much fun it was. Clint is an excellent narrator, there’s plenty of humour, action, everything you could want from a comic. The second issue carries this on nicely. It presents us with lots of new mysteries as well.

Despite Clint narrating the issue we still don’t know what he’s up to. He’s doing a number of things out of character, all good, but surprising those closest to him. Then we have the Hood’s story continuing in the background. It’s unclear how it’s all going to come together but makes for great reading.

The art style is a really nice fit for the comic as well. It captures the tone that the rest of the comic is going for. Otto Schmidt manages to capture the characters expressions, usually for comedic value, the action scenes are frantic, over the top fun. I think the difference between a good comic and a great one comes down to the pairing of writer and artist, and Marvel have done a great job here matching Rosenberg with Schmidt.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed with these two issues is trying to guess who Ronin is, since we know it’s not Clint, despite everyones natural assumption that it is. I assumed this was a mystery that would be dragged out for at least a few more issues, but in the spirit of keeping me surprised we learn who Ronin is at the end of this issue, which actually leaves us with MORE questions rather than less. What an epic conclusion to an issue.

I like the fact that Hawkeye receives a lot of abuse in this comic for being the worst Avenger, it adds a lot of humour to an already fun comic. Considering we’re only two issues into this series we’ve managed a lot of cameos from other well known Marvel heroes. It gives Rosenberg an opportunity to show what a good grasp he’s got on all of these characters as well as letting Schmidt show off his talents as an artist by drawing them all.

Buy this issue, and the previous one, to see what all the hype is about. Stay, because it’s damn good fun, an interesting story with twists and turns, art that perfectly matches the tone. Plenty of great action, great storytelling, plenty of laughs. I’m excited to see where they take this story in the next issue and how they explain the events of the first two issues.

Our Score:

9/10

A Look Inside