Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Artist: Stefano Raffaele
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Plot:
As Hawkeye is busy trying to find himself with a tour of the back roads of America we see his stop in a rather seedy looking bar makes him aware of a goon making life difficult for a young woman. However, when his effort to correct this situation leads to the discovery that this goon is part of the mob, we see Hawkeye pays a visit to the leader of this crime family to discover why this woman has been targeted. The answer he gets is a bit unexpected though.
Comments:
I've been waiting pretty much my entire comic reading life for Hawkeye to get his own monthly title, as he's been the only regular member of my top five favorite Marvel heroes list that has been denied this honor. Now Fabian Nicieza has a proven track record in my books, as his runs on the "New Warriors", and more recently the "Thunderbolts" have made for some very engaging reads, and while my only exposure to his "Nomad" series consists of his battle against Gambit's doppelganger during an Infinity Crusade crossover issue, I have heard some good things about that series. Now this opening issue would seem to suggest that Fabian Nicieza is trying for a book where Hawkeye is going to be making his way across the country, solving the problems of ordinary people that he encounters, which I guess would put this series in the same general field as the "Fugitive" and the "Hulk" television series, except this book doesn't look to have the ever-present danger of the authorities looking to swoop in an arrest him when he takes a moment to relax. This first issue has Hawkeye, without his costume, working to solve the problems of a woman who has been targeted by an underling inside a mob operation, and after discovering the head has no idea what its hands are doing, Hawkeye sets out to discover the truth of the matter. This results in a fairly engaging issue that is occasionally undone by a somewhat confusing narrative structure.
As for the art, Stefano Raffaele turns in a very solid issue as he proved to be the prefect fit for what looks to be this book's decidedly down to earth atmosphere. I mean the seedy locations that Hawkeye makes has way through do look like the crummy rundown environments where one would expect to find these characters, and the issue does a pretty fair job of making Hawkeye look right at home. Now some of the action isn't a clearly laid out as I'd like to see as the sequence where Hawkeye uses a spoon to set of a chain reaction requires one to really study the page to tell what's going on, which is never a good sign when it comes to an action sequence like this. The scene where Hawkeye is knocked for a loop by the steroid enhanced goon was pretty solid though, and I enjoyed the little moment where Hawkeye was busy messing about with a bottle cap while he was delivering his sob story. The playing card scene was also a nice quiet display of his skill.
Final Word:
I so wanted this opening issue to be a grand slam, knock it clear out of the park debut, as I truly want this book to survive in today's ever fickle marketplace. There are several moments in this issue that I found quite engaging, and the hero on the road premise looks somewhat promising. Fabian Nicieza does seem to have a firm grasp on the character of Hawkeye, as we see he's delightfully crude in his dealings with others, and seems perfectly at home in this rather seedy environment. The issue also offers up a fairly clever display of his talents as we see he uses a spoon and a hair-band to take down a bar room full of people. However, the issue also has a rather annoying tendency to abruptly exit on scene and enter in the middle of another, which I found rather disruptive to the flow of the story itself, though perhaps this is the feeling that Fabian Nicieza is trying to convey, as there are certain benefits to having the readers constantly rushing to catch up to the story.
What did you think of this book?
Have your say at the Line of Fire Forum!