Customer Reviews

Avengers: Hawkeye (Marvel Premiere Classic)

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The Hawkeye miniseries was one of my favorites back in the day, and to have it in hardcover is a treat.

Marvel did a really good job with this collection, although I would have loved to have had more "bonuses" such as character designs, especially since we see things like Hawkeye's original Marvel Universe entry with a variant costume that he never actually appeared in save for an issue of ROM.

I know this is to tie in with the recent New Avengers: Reunion miniseries too, and am a little disappointed that some of the more memorable Hawkeye & Mockingbird stories are missing. Maybe or hopefully a sequel is in order?

In terms of whom I like more, in my eyes, Hawkeye surpassed Green Arrow some years ago and, anyway, I've always thought Hawkeye the more interesting character from jump. Unlike the millionaire Oliver Queen, Clint Barton, brash and underpriveleged, immediately comes off as an underdog, and while Hawkeye may seem like a Robin Hood/Green Arrow knockoff, at least he wasn't getting dissed for ripping off Batman's schtick. Hawkeye at least never had an embarrassing Hawkeye Cave or Hawkeye plane. TALES OF SUSPENSE #57, reprinted here, features Hawkeye's debut as he encounters the then red spy, Black Widow, and matches his trick arrows against Iron Man's hi-tech gadgetry, with the irony being that Iron Man was the very hero who inspired Clint to assume the Hawkeye persona. From misunderstood villain to hotheaded teammate to eventual chairman of the West Coast Avengers... he's come a long way.

I guess the trade's feature attraction is the HAWKEYE 4-issue limited series which published in 1983. Mark Gruenwald writes and even draws the thing, even if his stuff tends to look shaky and amateurish (thank goodness for his inkers). The narrative opens with Hawkeye still at his cushy gig as head of security for Cross Technological Enterprises, but not for long. Hawkeye always was too nosy for his own good. Gruenwald explores what makes Clint Barton tick, delves into his inferiority complex whenever in the company of his fellow Avengers. There's an insightful bunch of panels which has Clint, fearful of being shown up by Captain America, refusing Cap's offer of help. "I never realized how second rate Cap makes me feel," he reflects. "I've just got to solve this whole mess on my own. If I don't I may never be able to stand on my own two feet."

Gruenwald gives our master bowman a new costume (which looks like the old costume but with arm sleeves). Our guy goes against the likes of the Silencer and Oddball, and Hawkeye even entertains the fleeting thought that maybe he's finally garnered his own signature villain. But he soon runs into the actual Big Bad of the piece, which is Crossfire, "master subversive, brainwasher, and entrepreneur." Crossfire plots to eliminate all costumed superhumans and he targets Clint in his opening gambit because Hawkeye is perceived as the weakest link in the cape and cowl set. Like Hawkeye's self-esteem needed another crushing blow.

But more than anything else, this limited series introduces Hawkeye to Barbara "Bobbi" Morse, codenamed Mockingbird who comes into the picture investigating some shady goings-on within Cross Technological Enterprises. Hawkeye and Mockingbird make up one of my favorite superhero couples ever, and you have no idea how severely cheesed I was when Marvel first effed with Mockingbird some years ago and then killed her off, and then, to make matters worse, also killed off Hawkeye some time later. One of the few good things to come out of SECRET INVASION is the resurrection of Bobbi Morse. After the events in NEW AVENGERS: THE REUNION, I'm very invested in seeing how Clint (who's also back) and Bobbi's brittle new relationship will continue to unfold.

Besides the HAWKEYE limited series and TALES OF SUSPENSE #57 (1964), the trade also collects these following stories relevant to the Hawkeye/Mockingbird mythos: MARVEL SUPER ACTION #1 (1976) is a 20 page black and white story focusing on Bobbi Morse adventuring in her pre-Mockingbird days back when she ran around as the Huntress and taking on S.H.I.E.L.D. AVENGERS #189 (1979) takes place when the government had a strong say about the Avengers team make-up and Hawkeye had just been ousted to make room for the Falcon. In this issue, Hawkeye tangles with Deathbird and lands a gig with Cross Technological Enterprises. Finally, in MARVEL TEAM-UP #95 (1980), Mockingbird's mission to expose the corruptness in S.H.I.E.L.D. concludes as Spider-Man lends a hand.