Hawkeye #7

by Tori B. on January 30, 2013

We’ve been hearing about this issue for a while now, and it’s finally come to us as quickly as Marvel could schedule for it, post Hurricane Sandy. Fraction wanted a story for those whose lives had changed after the treacherous storm, and it’s without a doubt done with impeccable justice.
 

 


Writer: Matt Fraction | Artist: Steve Lieber & Jesse Hamm
Cover: David Aja | Publisher: Marvel

 
 
This isn’t meant to be a news cover story on the effects of Hurricane Sandy, but with this issue it’s hard to not at least make reference to the tragedy that hit the east coast of the United States a few months back. Fraction (being from New York himself) was pushed to want to help and this is his contribution. Ignoring any sort of time jumps (hey who really pays attention to time in the comic world anyways) seeing as the previous issue took place in December and now we’re focused onto October, the story fits into Clint’s life and the flow of the story is still there. In fact it works well coming out later rather than as an earlier release due to more of an attachment to these characters building with each issue, so when they’re thrown into the perils of a natural disaster, it’s that much more emotional.
 
Here’s a special shout out to the artists who scrambled so quickly to get this issue done. A break from regular artist Aja who has been providing wicked panels for every issue so far, we have Lieber and Hamm who have done such a great job, that it doesn’t detract away from the series as a whole and the style flows well with all the other issues. There are some really great facial expressions in this issue. If you don’t love Kate Bishop already, it’s hard not to fall for her now.  
 
Maybe I’m a sucker for stories about the goodness of the human condition. Though the entire series seems to be a good study of this, because we see Clint take on the world, big issues and small, and he’s always the underdog (no superhuman powers and all) but he always tries to make the call to be a good person in the end. This issue focuses on that just like every other, and while we see it in Clint, it’s also reflected in the rest of the people too.
 
Fraction writes this issue in two parts, the first focusing on Clint helping a fellow tenant and is such a heart-wrenchingly good guy (even if he does think that sassing older people is acceptable). Even in the face of total natural destruction, Hawkguy never really loses his charm (he’s great at boats). The second part is what happens to Kate during the disaster. As she sets out to be the big hero, she’s not the only hero that shows up. As it turns out, not everyone sucks (only thieves are the crappy people) and in times of trouble, everyone looks out for each other. Kate does get her big thanks in the end, but she’s not the only big hero of the hour.  For such a dark time, people are great and persistent and will always pull through in the end. Fraction leaves us on a rather positive note because even though the world can be pretty harsh and push us to our limits, people can pull through. (Heck if two relatively normal people who lack any sort of superhuman powers/strengths can become Avengers, there’s hope for all of us to become heroes too).
 
Also, jokes about getting the name Hawkeye wrong will never not be funny.
 

Our Score:

10/10

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