I was starting to get worried that Matt Fraction decided against continuing his Hawkeye series. There’s little question that this is currently one of the best titles Marvel is producing, so the lengthy downtime got me nervous. After all, Marvel has a tendency to cancel great things so they can shoehorn in another crap title. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. This week sees the release of Hawkeye #13 and, like always, it’s another masterpiece.
Fraction is working with the very basics of storytelling, which is character. There are no huge action scenes, no super villains, and no world ending plots or massive conspiracies to bring about the end of civilization. Hawkeye goes behind the scenes, into the story of what happens to a normal man when he’s not being a superhero. Fraction has picked the perfect subject here. Hawkeye (AKA Clint Barton) is the most human of all the Avengers. He also has the most faults. His complete lack of understanding in how to deal with women, his inability to connect with friends, his lazy and childish nature – it makes Hawkeye incredibly relatable and incredibly compelling.
Grills is dead. After the experience between Grills, Clint and Grills’ father, the murder hits our hero particularly hard. Making matters worse, the blonde archer has had a massive falling out with his right hand lady Kate. Tired of his insensitivity, tired of his childish ways, Kate has left Clint alone. So, being the immature person that he is, Clint washes his sadness away with beer and sleep. Facing things is not his strong point.
Hawkeye is a series made up of moments. Tiny, human moments that connect unlike any comic book out there. The appeal here is the same as with more underground, intimate comics. As much as we all love heroes and capes, we see them from a distance. In a way, we measure our enjoyment of the stories by the distance from our own lives. We’ll never swing on a spider web or fly or drive a batmobile. We enjoy those stories because we know they won’t happen to us.
Hawkeye works so well because we could be this guy, we can relate to his situation. Who doesn’t have the good-looking friend who means well but screws everything up? Who hasn’t worked through a bad time with alcohol and sleep? As issue #13 unfolds, as the danger becomes closer, and feelings of loss for our hero and his friends solidifies, the impact is that much greater. The little scenes, the bits of drama between Clint and his brother Barney – those are the things that make Hawkeye so special. The scene between Clint and Kate in the limo is wonderful. It makes you want to laugh out loud and slap Clint at the same time.
Bringing us to the artwork of David Aja. There really isn’t enough that can be said about Aja’s contributions to Hawkeye. His work is so personal; he’s easily able to communicate tensions between the characters using silence. It’s not just Aja’s stylized pencils, it’s how he places characters, the looks he gives them, and that they give to each other. Aja and Fraction click perfectly, allowing us a peep-hole look into a real world, with real issues.
Hawkeye is brilliant. Touching, heartbreaking and completely engrossing. There is not a better book on the stands right now.
