Overall: This issue is basically a wrap-up for the first storyline. Hawkeye and Mockingbird have broken up(again!), and each one is forced to deal with the aftermath of the battle with the Phantom Rider and Crossfire. Hawkeye has been having difficulty sleeping since he was so close to killing Crossfire and crossing the line, so he decides to pay Crossfire a visit at the Raft. Hawkeye stands behind mirrored glass and watches Crossfire, which is fine by Crossfire, who taunts Hawkeye hoping he'll get some sort of reaction from the archer. Instead, Hawkeye watches Crossfire's performance for a while before walking away. Before he can leave the Raft, Hawkeye bumps into Steve Rogers(with a bow and arrows)who demands that Hawkeye shoots at a target since Hawkeye hadn't picked up the bow since the climatic battle with Crossfire last issue. Hawkeye manages to hit the bullseye every time, that is until Steve brings up the battle with Crossfire, which screws up Hawkeye's aim. The two then start to talk about Mockingbird, who Hawkeye admits he is worried about, and that maybe it would be best if he just quit being Hawkeye(again!). Steve yells at Hawkeye to quit if that's what he wants, but the world needs the old, brash Hawkeye who was willing and able to fight tooth and nail to achieve his goals. Steve continues to mention some of Hawkeye's greatest hits, and Hawkeye, now fired up by Steve's speech, takes the bow and fires a dozen arrows straight into the target's bullseye. Now getting the real Hawkeye back, Steve describes a mystery threat to Mockingbird and tells Hawkeye to rejoin Mockingbird's WCA organization in order to help her take care of said threat. As for Mockingbird, she battles a Skrull in the Savage Land and learns that Dominic Fortune(a member of the WCA)was dying and needed help from Mockingbird to save him. This issue ends with Hawkeye returning to the WCA facility and warning Mockingbird that somebody had targeted her for death.
Vexingly, this series seems to be taking a hiatus(already?!?)as the next two issues are going to take place in a mini-series called “Widowmaker” where Hawkeye, Mockingbird and the Black Widow have to deal with somebody using Hawkeye's old Ronin moniker to attack them. All I'm going to say about that is that Hawkeye/Mockingbird had BETTER return after Widowmaker ends. Marvel has done an amazing amount of great things this past year and have won me back over as a fan, but if I lose this series, some of that goodwill will go out the window! As for this issue itself, the Hawkeye stuff was great, from his meeting with Crossfire, to his talk with Steve, while the Mockingbird stuff was kind of lacking. I don't care about Dominic Fortune, and if I never see a Skrull again, it would be too soon... All in all this was a very good issue. Let's hope it's not the last...
Score: 8 out of 10.
Whenever Steve Rogers and Clint Barton are in the same comic book, you know it's gonna be good!
Whenever Steve Rogers and Clint Barton are in the same comic book, you know it's gonna be good!
Marvel won't say for sure what is next for these characters. I think they should just stick to doing short mini-series every now and then for concepts like Hawkeye and Mocking and Young Allies, instead of launching "ongoings" and then just cancelling them after one arc.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read this book, but I've read enough reviews of it to think it's probably something really special.
I totally second the mini-series idea. Like back in the 90's with Venom. Instead of giving him an ongoing they just kept pumping out a new mini-series every 6 months or so.
ReplyDeleteThe worst thing is that this ALWAYS happens to Hawkeye! His last series ran for like 8 issues before it was canned...
That's one MAJOR difference between Marvel and DC... DC seems to be more willing to let a book go for a few issues before pulling the plug, while Marvel seems to have a much quicker hook. Hopefully after this Widowmaker mini they'll relaunch this series as either a solo title or a West Coast Avengers sort of book, with tons of c-list character goodness.
Oh, and yes, this series IS something special!