Matt Fraction

Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon collects Hawkeye (2012) #1-5 and Young Avengers Presents (2008) #6.

In this volume, Hawkeye deals with a rent increase, steals from thieves who steal from thieves, and has to do some work to get an incriminating tape back. There's also a flashback to Kate Bishop as Hawkeye trying to prove herself to the real Hawkeye.

I used to read a lot of Mavel and DC comics, but that was decades ago. I haven't even been keeping up with the Marvel movies very well. I don't think I've ever read or watched anything with Kate Bishop in it. Basically, I'm probably not the best person to be reviewing this. That said, I think I picked this up because I read somewhere that that Matt Fraction's writing was good and that this was a decent starting place for Hawkeye comics newbies mostly familiar with the Marvel movie universe.

I enjoyed the volume's flashes of humor, and I particularly liked David Aja's artwork. I felt a bit lost in terms of the timeline (the volume's events were shuffled some and I didn't immediately realize this), character relationships, and situation. There was no context/explanation given for the period of time that Kate apparently spent pretending to be Hawkeye. And who was Eli?

Hawkeye spent a good chunk of this volume getting beaten up as he reminded readers that he has no superpowers, just skill (and some trick arrows). Still, he managed to get himself back up and functional pretty well considering some of what he went through. I appreciated the bit about the dog he desperately tried to save after it helped him.

The front and back covers include a guide telling readers which volumes to read after this one. I don't feel particularly compelled to continue on, but I appreciate the existence of the guide all the same.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)… (more)

How can a Kate Bishop centric collection of comics NOT be good?? Seeing Hawkeye take LA and start conquering some villains is bound to be a fun time! Having already read the newer West Coast Avengers, I really enjoyed seeing Kate's foray into California territory and begin to establish a name for herself there. There were moments where the narrative felt a bit disjointed or incomplete, like the "ending" of the vampire arc (still not sure what was actually going on), and I didn't really give a care about the old 60s singer dude, BUT it was just fun to read anyways. The art in each issue was on point as usual, and the facial expressions and characteristics are incredibly well drawn. :)… (more)

A little shaky at the beginning (I don't know how I feel about the "Winterfriends" bit) but all in all this turned out to be a banger of a finale for this arc! I feel like it wrapped up all the storylines, small and large, very well, while still balancing out Clint's past and future. I'm SO glad a certain character showed up in the last issue; those final two pages especially just made me grin like an idiot. Lastly, I think the issue that deals primarily with Clint's deafness was a standout! I don't know much about d/Deaf culture or sign language, so I can't speak to the accurateness of it, but the way it was done made me feel more in Clint's shoes than I would have had the panels/speech bubbles/etc been done like a typical comic issue.
All in all a truly memorable graphic novel!… (more)