Some fun with Mockingbird and Hawkeye!

After reading "New Avengers: The Reunion" earlier tonight, I got the urge to check out some of my old "West Coast Avengers" comics. Here's a scan showing Clint and Bobbi at their married best.
"Grape-face"??? Couldn't Mock come up with a better insult then that?!?

New Avengers: The Reunion #3(of 4)

This is the third part of the 4 issue limited series starring Ronin and his(soon to be ex)wife Mockingbird. This issue is written by Jim McCann.

-Clint and Bobbi infiltrate the palace in Spain where some of the smartest scientists in the world were meeting. According to intel Bobbi gained, AIM was planning to blow the place up.

-Clint and Bobbi bicker the entire time they're at the party, with Clint trying to convince Bobbi to give him another shot. Bobbi still doesn't seem willing to change her mind about their divorce.

-While mingling with the party guests, Bobbi realizes that none of the scientists she expected to find at the palace were there. After wandering around for a while, Bobbi manages to find a scientist being herded out of the room by some goons.

-Bobbi and Clint pursue, but lose the scientist and the goons in a hallway. Clint begins to figure that AIM is up to more than just killing the scientists, and Bobbi spontaneously faints... OK...

-While unconscious, Bobbi has a flashback to her days as a captive of the Skrulls. While the Skrulls were trying to figure out what to do with her, she managed to escape their captivity and snuck around their base for a while, planning her move. Ultimately, a Skrull posing as Clint finds her and tells her it was in love with her. Bobbi responds by doing the only thing a sane woman would do in a similar situation, she snaps the Skrull's neck.

-After Bobbi wakes up, Clint tells her that he thinks AIM is actually capturing the scientists in order to force them to work for their organization. Bobbi finds a small bomb in a hallway, and Clint figures that AIM is smuggling the scientists out of the palace through the roof. Before Bobbi and Clint can do anything else, the bomb in the hallway explodes, sending Clint plummeting to his apparent death, and knocking Bobbi to the floor. As she gets back to her feet, she discovers Dr. Rappaccini, one of the bigwigs at AIM standing behind her. This issue ends with Bobbi pulling a gun and aiming at Rappaccini.

I was enjoying this comic up until the flashback sequence... That flashback sequence went on for entirely too long! Not only did it go on for too long, it was often times very confusing. I still don't know why the Skrull's didn't kill Bobbi after Skrull Bobbi died on Earth, and for some reason the flashback was narrated by Skrull Clint... That last fact made absolutely NO sense whatsoever! Why would the Skrull impostor of Clint Barton narrate a flashback that Bobbi was having while she was unconscious??? Shouldn't Bobbi be narrating the flashback that was occurring in her head? Weird... For a score, I'll give this issue a 6 1/2 out of 10. I thoroughly enjoyed the interaction between Clint and Bobbi(as always), but I could have done without the Skrull portion of this comic.

New Avengers: The Reunion #2(of 4)

This is the second issue of the Avengers mini-series starring Clint Barton(Hawkeye/Ronin)and Bobbi Morse-Barton(Mockingbird). Hopefully this issue will finally shed some light on how Mockingbird survived being killed by Mephisto way back in the old West Coast Avengers comic series...

-Bobbi has been chasing down AIM agents who are intending to set off a dirty bomb at a science gala in Spain. Clint wanted to call in the Avengers, Bobbi refused and before long Clint and Bobbi were brawling with each other(just like they always did back in the day).

-Eventually, Clint and Bobbi realized that the longer they fought, the further behind AIM they would wind up. Clint decides to reluctantly follow Bobbi's lead and the two hop a plane headed for Spain.

-While flying out to Spain, Bobbi reveals that she has started up an organization called the WCA, which stands for World Counterterrorism Agency... The WCA?!? Heh-heh-heh!!! I like that ALOT! The WCA is comprised of Bobbi and other SHIELD agents who were captured by the Skrulls prior to Secret Invasion.

-Upon arriving in Spain, Clint and Bobbi check into a hotel, but Bobbi's insists that they stay in separate rooms, since the cover story is that they are scientists, not lovers. Clint isn't overly pleased about this, but he goes along with Bobbi's orders.

-Later, Clint barges into Bobbi's room and begins to argue with her over the fact that she had a purple and blue suit sent over for him to wear to the science gala. The two continue to argue and Clint begins to press Bobbi as to what their relationship is. Finally, Clint tells Bobbi that before she died they were planning on trying to resuscitate their marriage and he wants to give that a shot. Bobbi hesitates and it dawns on Clint that it was the Skrull impersonating Bobbi who was trying to resume the marriage in an attempt to weasel its way onto the West Coast Avengers. Bobbi then tells Clint that before the Skrulls abducted her she had filed the divorce papers, meaning they were no longer married.

OK, there's a lot to comment on here, but first I want to hit on the story of Mockingbird's "death". In a flashback sequence, Bobbi reveals that she was abducted by Skrulls and replaced by an impostor. The impostor was killed by Mephisto back in West Coast Avengers #100, and through a Clint flashback, we learn that the impostor Mockingbird turned into ash upon dying, which is why nobody realized the impostor Mockingbird was a Skrull. So, there it is, that's what I've been waiting for. It was a Skrull impersonating Bobbi that was killed by Mephisto, not the real deal. The real Mockingbird was being held captive by the Skrulls out in space somewhere...

There are SO many hole in that story it's not even funny! First off, the Mockingbird who was killed by Mephisto DIDN'T turn into ash upon dying. She died in Clint's arms, and was subsequently buried. Secondly, Bobbi has shown up SEVERAL times in the afterlife! Off the top of my head, I can remember Bobbi's spirit popping up in an issue of Avengers, Thunderbolts and X-Statix. Finally, why would the Skrulls bother keeping the real Mockingbird alive after Skrull Mockingbird was killed off by Mephisto? Since the Skrulls couldn't use Mockingbird anymore, wouldn't it make more sense to kill her as opposed to keeping her prisoner?

After saying all of that though, allow me to state enthusiastically that I am beyond pleased that Bobbi is alive again. Bobbi Morse is possibly my favorite female comic book character(besides Tabitha Smith that is), and I always felt Bobbi's death should never have occurred. The ONLY reason Bobbi was killed off was because Marvel wanted to kill off SOMEBODY in WCA #100. Bobbi was deemed the most expendable, and was killed off. Bobbi's death always bugged me because WCA was cancelled by issue #103! Why bother killing Bobbi off in issue #100, in an attempt to boost sales for WCA and then cancel the book?!? So, although Bobbi's return doesn't make much sense, I won't say one more harsh thing concerning Bobbi's "resurrection".

For a score I'll give this comic a score of 8 out of 10. There really wasn't much action, besides Clint and Bobbi's occasional spats, but that was fine by me, since this comic book FINALLY gave me the answer to the question regarding Bobbi's return. Welcome back to the Marvel Universe Mockingbird, I for one truly missed you!

Yes, somehow Hawkeye survives this!

The fact that Clint Barton(Hawkeye)managed to survive getting shot like 20 times at once still manages to make me laugh. For a guy with no superpowers, surviving THAT many gunshot wounds is a pretty impressive feat!

More fun with Hawkeye.

Thanks to a mess of schoolwork I have to get done by tomorrow morning, I won't be able to post a review of Dark Avengers #2, as planned... Which is probably for the best, since I doubt I'd have had anything good to say about DA #2 anyway. Instead, here's a scan of vintage Clint Barton in action. Nothing cheers me up like some old school Hawkeye.

The famous Barton temper strikes again.

Ah yes, Clint Barton at his best...

Hawkeye, you're still married!

Clint Barton, ever the professional, starts to hit on Spider-Woman(Julia Carpenter)before she's even an official member of the West Coast Avengers. Besides that, he's still married! Legally separated my ass! I sure don't remember Clint and Bobbi getting legally separated!

Hawkeye and Mockingbird.

Dark Reign: New Nation #1

Sometimes I really hate the powers that be over at Marvel. This is one of those occasions. This comic book, which I paid $3.99 for is nothing but 5 previews for 5 new Marvel series debuting soon. The best thing about the situation, is that three of these previews were the exact same previews Marvel stuck in the back of Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1! So basically,I paid $4 for two 5 page stories!!!! I hate you Joe Quesada!

Overall- I'm only going to check out the two new previews in this book. If you really want to know what I think of Secret Warriors, Agents of Atlas or War Machine, click the link I provided above, because there is no way in hell I'm going to re-read previews of comics I just read last night!

The first new preview was for the new ongoing Skrull Kill Krew series... Quite frankly, I'm shocked that Marvel is even going to attempt to make the Skrull Kill Krew into a series. I can't imagine that this series will last 12 issues. Since I haven't read Avengers: The Initiative #19 yet, I'm going to have to skip this preview, since I don't want to spoil what happens in A:TI #19 for myself.

So, the only thing I can review is New Avengers: The Reunion, which I just might possibly enjoy, since it contains two of my favorite characters. After reading this preview, all I can say is what the F### is going on here??? Bobbi Morse-Barton died, period. She died. She died. I can't state it any more clearly than that. Not only did she die, but the Skrulls had absolutely nothing to do with her death. During this comic, Bobbi confirms her blood and Clint's blood as the real deal, meaning that they are both who they say they are, Clint Barton and Bobbi Morse. For some reason, Bobbi keeps having weird flashes where she'll see stuff in red, and the people around her will look like Skrulls. Out of all of the previews in this comic book, the only one I plan on picking up will be this one, New Avengers: The Reunion. I've stated before that Clint Barton and Bobbi Morse are two of my favorite characters, so, I'll give this comic a chance when it comes out. As for the other 4 previews in this comic, I don't think so.

I really can't score this comic, since nothing really happened here, but just since I'm pissed off that I wasted $4 on this crap, I'm going to score this a 0 out of 10. That at least makes me feel a little better.

Hawkeye, not quite a master detective...

This is just another example of why I'm such a fan of Hawkeye. HEY CLINT, THEY'RE RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!! Jeez, nobody can ever accuse Clint of being a genius!

Old School Hawkeye.

If I wanted to, I think I could fill my blog with great pictures of Hawkeye(Clint Barton)! Clint is one of those characters that has the ability to brighten just about any comic book he pops up in. Boy, what I wouldn't give for Clint to drop this idiotic Ronin identity and return to his Hawkeye roots. Hawkeye was a f###ing classic! I love Hawkeye's super-villain laugh in the second picture by the way!

Hawkeye, Husband of the Year.

I figured I'd post some more Clint Barton goodness. It's stuff like this that reminds me just what I used to love about Clint.

Hawkeye, Not Just a Master Archer...

Along with being the greatest archer in the Marvel Universe, Clint Barton is also a master of disguise, as evident from some of these older issues of Captain America.
Above, we have the Golden Archer, who menaced Cap back in one of Cap's comics in the 1970's. My favorite thing about the Golden Archer, is the fact that he talks like Thor throughout the entire comic.

Yes Cap, the Golden Archer was in actuality Hawkeye, who somehow managed to fit his entire Hawkeye mask under his fake Golden Archer mask, which to me at least is pretty damn impressive. What exactly does Clint mean by "How's tricks?".

Next up, we have Captain America on the trail of Father Time. Notice Father Time's face, which although shrouded in shadow, was still mostly visible.

Yep Cap, Clint got you again. You'd think that after being teammates FOREVER, Cap would have been able to figure out that Father Time was Hawkeye, who once again managed to fit his entire Hawkeye mask underneath the Father Time mask... How does he do that?!?! I really got a kick out of Cap's shocked expression here. God, I really loved the old issues of Captain America... So, there you have it everybody, Clint Barton, Master of Disguise!