Ultimate Hawkeye #4

And this marks the final issue of the Ultimate Hawkeye mini-series... Honestly, I can't say this mini has done much for me, other than give me an Ultimate Hawkeye mini-series. Maybe something completely unforgettable will happen here, and I'll look back at this mini-series as something special. In reality though? I'm not holding my breath about that.

Ultimate Comics Hawkeye #4(of 4):

Summary: So the created mutants of the SEAR(Southeast Asian Republic) have decided to call themselves either Celestials(Led by Xorn) or Eternals(led by Zorn), while referring to regular humans as Deviants... Get it? Ugh... Anyway, Xorn's Celestials are more peaceful while Zorn's Eternals are a bit more war like. Whatever, says I. Since Zorn was beating up on the Hulk, Xorn brings Hawkeye and Ultimate X to Zorn to stop the fighting. Zorn and Xorn babble for a while, and when I wake back up I see that Xorn has asked one of his telepaths to tell everybody in the world that they would be allowed to live in either the Celestial City or the Eternal City, provided they came in peace and took the Serum which created the SEAR mutants. Ultimate X decide that they want to remain in the twin cities, as they were tired of working for SHIELD(already?!), and the Hulk also asks to stay, but since he had killed a few Eternals, he gets cast out. As for Hawkeye, he declines the invitation and asks for, and receives, a sample of the Serum, which he brings back to Nick Fury, ending this mini-series.

Thoughts: Ugh. This sucked. I've got to say, in many ways Jonathan Hickman is very much like Grant Morrison... And I don't mean that as a compliment. Morrison has a habit of writing over the heads of his readers, and I can see that Hickman tends to do the same. I mean really, Xorn and Zorn, floating cities and mutant serums, and Eternals, Celestials and Deviants? Really? What ever happened to the days of straightforward storytelling? I hate the whole Eternal, Deviant, Celestial thing in the regular 616 Marvel U, and while Hickman gave it a slightly clever twist(and eliminated the giant space gods), it's not something the Ultimate Marvel Universe needed, at least in my opinion. The bottom line here is that I am glad this mini is over, because while I'll always support Hawkeye regardless of the universe, I'm happy I don't have to read anymore issue of this mini.

Score: 4 out of 10.Look, it's a picture of Hawkeye!

Ultimate Hawkeye #3

After a mostly disappointing look at a few DC comic books yesterday(and one fantastic Marvel comic), it's time to get back on track with a trio of Marvel books today. We'll start today off by taking a look at my favorite comic book archer, Hawkeye... Well, actually Ultimate Hawkeye, but that's close enough to the real deal.

Ultimate Hawkeye #3(of 4):

Summary: Now joined by Nick Fury's Ultimate X team, Hawkeye decides to split his forces into two since there are two main bases the new mutants who have declared war on the SEAR(Southeast Asian Republic) were operating out of. Hawkeye and pretty much everybody else will sneak into the northern base to steal a sample of the Serum that was creating the mutants, while the Hulk would go to the southern base to raise hell and cause the mother of all distractions(under the watchful telepathic eye of Jean Grey though). With his brilliant plan worked out, Hawkeye sends the Hulk to the south and he wreaks havoc as as expected, while the others sneak into the northern castle. Unfortunately though, Jean's telepathy ends up getting blocked, and she loses contact with the Hulk. The Hulk continues his rampage regardless, but ends up facing a foe who is able to revert him back to his Bruce Banner form. As for Hawkeye and company, they run into the shadowy leader of the mutant uprising, who tells them there was no need to fight since they had created PLENTY of the Serum and were willing to share.

Thoughts: I liked this comic. It was good, solid, and easy to follow read. So the last issue of this mini gives us a twofold problem... First off, Hulk's been de-powered and is at the mercy of his mysterious foe. Secondly, Nick Fury doesn't want to share the Serum, he wants SHIELD to have sole ownership of the Serum... That puts Hawkeye in a bit of a pickle, since the leader of the SEAR mutant uprising has revealed that he has such vast quantities of it. If the secondary leader of the uprising was able to put down the Hulk, who knows what sort of powers the leader of the uprising can throw at Hawkeye and company. And Hawkeye is going to have to attack the leader of the uprising since he has to destroy all but a sample of the Serum... So yeah, good stuff here. Hopefully the last issue is as good(or better!) as this one was.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Hawkeye: Ultimate Fighting Machine!

Ultimate Comics Hawkeye #2

Sticking with Ultimate Marvel, here's a mini-series from Marvel's Ultimate line, starring my favorite comic book archer, Hawkeye. Sure, it's not the 616 version of Hawkeye, but it's STILL Hawkeye, and that's what's important.

Ultimate Hawkeye #2(of 4):

Summary: With Bangkok under siege from mutants recently created by the SEAR(Southeast Asian Republic), it's up to Hawkeye and a small contingent of SHIELD agents to try to get the two scientists responsible for the mutant creating serum back to their lab to create a copy of the serum to hand over to Nick Fury. After fighting through the battered streets of Bangkok, Hawkeye manages to get the two scientists to the lab, but it's in a state of disrepair. As a matter of fact, the lab has been so badly torn up, the scientists can't even find their notes on the serum. In other words, recreating the serum seems to be completely out of the question. With that option taken away, Hawkeye has to move onto Plan B, escaping Bangkok with his SHIELD agents and the two scientists. Hawkeye manages to get to a SHIELD safehouse hidden in the city and gets through to Nick Fury. Before Hawkeye can tell Fury too much, Fury sends Hawkeye a video of the leader of the Bangkok mutant uprising, a man named the Oracle of Change. During the message, the Oracle insinuates that he had access to the serum and was planning on using it on the populace of Thailand. With that, Fury gives Hawkeye his new orders, hunt down the Oracle and get the Serum from him. Hawkeye is fine with that and inquires about back-up from his Ultimates teammates. Fury informs Hawkeye that all of the Ultimates were currently engaged, but that he was sending his Ultimate X covert mutant squad over to assist, a team that included Jean Grey and the Hulk(!).

Thoughts: I've got to say, I'm enjoying this mini-series. Everybody knows that I'm a huge Hawkeye fan, be it the 616 version or the Ultimate version, and this mini is giving me all the Hawkeye a guy could want. This issue was fast-paced and solid, and next issue, with the impending arrival of the Ultimate X team could be really good, especially the interaction between Hawkeye and the Hulk. I really can't think of too much more to say, so I guess I'll end this post now.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.It doesn't matter which universe it is, Clint Barton rules all.

Ultimate Comics: Hawkeye #1

We'll start this non-DC week off by reviewing the comic that I picked as my top choice for the week, Ultimate Comics Hawkeye #1. Since I should be done with this week's reviews by Friday(at the earliest), I'm going to have a couple of days to just write whatever the hell I feel like, as opposed to being tied down to doing nothing but reviews. And since this is me we're talking about, I'm sure I'll have PLENTY of things to talk about! But that's down the road, let's get through this week's books first.

Ultimate Comics: Hawkeye #1(of... um, 5? 6?):

Summary: We kick this one off with Hawkeye: Agent of SHIELD arriving in Bangkok since the SEAR(that would be the Southeast Asian Republic) had requested SHIELD help since some rebel force was attempting to overthrow the government there. Hawkeye isn't exactly overjoyed to be heading up this mission, since he sees the leaders of the SEAR as a bunch of dictators, but Nick Fury tells him that the president of the US himself was asking SHIELD to support the SEAR, thus explaining Hawkeye's presence there. So who is trying to overthrow the SEAR government? We flashback a month and find out the chancellor of the SEAR(I'm guessing the head honcho) and a couple of scientists are discussing a virus they concocted to eliminate the X-gene in the western world, while creating a serum that would give people in their country mutant powers. The chancellor is pleased, since having an army of super-powered mutants would swing global power to the SEAR, but is a bit concerned about controlling the new mutants, at which point the scientists assure the chancellor that the new muties COULD be controlled. Right before the fighting broke out, the two scientists headed to the SHIELD facility in Bangkok and requested asylum, which brings us back to the present. While talking to Fury, Hawkeye's SHIELD base is attacked by three Asian mutants, who knock out the video feed to Fury, as well as take down several SHEILD agents. Unfortunately they weren't counting on Hawkeye being there, as he proceeds to kill them with an assortment of arrows and thrown pieces of glass. Later on, Hawkeye meets up with the two scientists who defected, and they tell him the entire story about how the SEAR created a virus to eliminate the west's mutants while creating mutants of their own. They add that the mutants they created were the ones trying to overthrow the SEAR government... I guess they weren't able to control the new mutants as well as they thought they could! After relaying the story back to Fury, Fury, a bit pissed that the SEAR did this behind everybody's back, tells Hawkeye that his mission was to now get a sample of the serum that created the SEAR mutants.

Thoughts: What can I say? I loves me some Hawkeye, be it the regular, 616 version, or the Ultimate version. Now, I wasn't blown away by this story or anything, but it was solid. Basically, the SEAR tried to create their own mutants(after neutralizing the mutants around the rest of the world with a virus), succeeded, and then these lab-created mutants turned on the SEAR and decided to use their powers to take over the SEAR... The only part of that story I have a problem with is the fact that the SEAR officials weren't smart enough to have implanted these lab mutants with some sort of a kill switch... Seriously, what kind of a government, especially one as seemingly corrupt as the SEAR government, would grant people powers and have NO way of taking them out in the event they turned rogue? So while that portion of the story was a bit odd, everything else here was pretty solid. It's always fun to read about Ultimate Hawkeye, who has no qualms about killing, unlike his 616 counterpart. What more can I say? You know I'll be looking forward to the next issue of this mini.

Score: 8 out of 10.In any dimension, Clint Barton is the man.