Hawkeye & Mockingbird #5

Overall: We kick this issue off with Hawkeye, Mockingbird and the Phantom Rider facing off against Crossfire and the Phantom Rider... Wha-huh?? The Phantom Rider with Hawkeye and Mockingbird is one of the good guys(Hamilton Slade), while the Rider with Crossfire is an evil Phantom Rider(named Lincoln Slade)from the past who managed to possess the daughter(Jaime Slade) of the good Phantom Rider... Confused? Well, thankfully I'm not, so I'll try to explain this comic as best as I can. Hamilton is in charge of preforming an exorcism to get the spirit of Lincoln out of the body of Jaime. But the process takes time, so Hawkeye is forced to deal with Crossfire, while Mockingbird has to face her past and deal with the evil Phantom Rider. Hawkeye makes quick(and surprisingly brutal)work of Crossfire, paying him back for the attempted murder of Mockingbird's mother, while Mockingbird is able to hold off the evil Phantom Rider long enough for Hamilton to complete the ritual. So Lincoln's spirit is locked away in a jar and Jaime is free, which means happy ending time... Or does it?? Crossfire manages to get one last shot off and kills Hamilton, who drops the urn containing the spirit of Lincoln, which rebonds with a willing Jaime(who was always too power hungry for her own good). Mockingbird manages to defeat the Phantom Rider again, and rescues the crazed Jaime from a possible fall to her death. This issue ends with Hawkeye and Mockingbird splitting up since Hawkeye feels more comfortable with the Avengers, while Mockingbird would rather be doing the spy thing from the shadows.

There was a lot of good here, especially for a HUGE fan of the old West Coast Avengers series like myself. The writer, Jim McCann, did a fantastic job of incorporating aspects from a story that took place a good twenty years ago into this storyline seamlessly. Sure, it wasn't perfect, the death of Hamilton was especially bothersome to me because if Crossfire had a shot left, why would he kill Hamilton, who he has NO history with, as opposed to shooting his archenemy Hawkeye, or better yet Mockingbird, since that would hurt Hawkeye more than anything else? The exorcism stuff with Jaime was also kind of hokey, but besides those little quibbles, I enjoyed everything else about this comic, and I'll be looking forward to seeing what happens now that it appears Hawkeye and Mockingbird are headed for splitsville(again!).

Score: 8 out of 10.The heck with the boxing glove arrow, THIS is the best arrow EVER!