Back in 2012 writer Matt Fraction (Batman, Invincible
Iron Man) and artist David Aja (The Immortal Iron Fist,
The Seeds) delivered a stylish, cinematic, and profoundly human take
on Marvel’s most unlikely—and most human—Avenger, Clint Barton, A.K.A. Hawkeye.
An ordinary man among the most powerful heroes on Earth. That run of comics is
now reprinted in a most amazing volume, Hawkeye
My Life is a Weapon). His teammates have included gods, aliens, magicians,
mutants, androids, Inhumans, and numerous other Supra-powered individuals, and
yet, here he is, some random dude with a wooden bow and a quiver full of trick arrows.
Still, not only does he stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them but he stands his
ground, steps to the action, and delivers blow-for-blow with equal tenacity as
do his teammates. He is, after all, Hawkeye. He is an Avenger.
The Hawkeye series by Fraction and Aja (collecting issues
1-11, along with Young Avengers Presents #6 (2008) where the
young Kate Bishop (the new Hawkeye while Clint was Avenging as the ninja Ronin)
first met, was later reprinted in a square-bound formant as part of Marvel’s Premier
Collection. The entire comic book run was a critically acclaimed modern classic
that won numerous awards and ultimately served as the inspiration for the hit
Disney+ series. And yes, there’s even a story about Pizza Dog, who gets his own
Eisner-winning story. Bonus contents to the collection includes variant covers,
Aja’s sketchbook, cover concepts, page process, color guides, as well as David
Aja’s drawing playlists.
But back to Clint Barton, the focus of this most amazing book. Clint is a
rather ordinary guy operating in a world of gods and super-soldiers, who just
wants to do right—and maybe hang out at a decent rooftop BBQ. This series
follows him along with Kate Bishop, his equally sharp-eyed protégé, as they take
aim at Russian mobsters in tracksuits (who call everyone “Bro”), and attempt to
navigate the everyday chaos of life in the Big Apple. With Fraction’s
razor-sharp voice and Aja’s minimalist brilliant art style, these stories
turned the small details of the big city—neighbors, stray dogs, broken tape
decks—into an unforgettable legend in the annals of modern-day comics.
For our part we’ll be talking about the collected edition,
as that’s where he discovered the series. The book focuses on Clint’s life not
so much as an Avenger, but as a guy who happens to be an Avenger on his off
days, while not saving the world from epic-level bad guys. As the book opens
up, Hawkeye is falling from a building as Hawkeye lands on a car and winds up
in the hospital (the first of many trips there). Over the course of the book,
the timeline jumps back and forth giving us flashbacks and flash forwards which
adds to the very quirky nature of the book. It is very early in the series that
Pizza Dog makes his initial appearance (first showing up ironically named
“Arrow”).
The ongoing villains here are the Russian Track Suit Mafia,
who though they operate not so much as a major threat, but mostly in the
background seem the be there mostly as comic relief, even though they do manage
to do some serious damage to Hawkeye throughout the run. As it turns out, Clint
has chosen not to live in the Avenger’s mansion but has taken to living in a
run-down brownstone in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, NY. Clint
winds up purchasing the building from the Track Suit Mafia (mostly against
their wishes) with a satchel full of cash (apparently Clint is somehow sitting
on a pile of money that he mentions a couple of times but never explains how he
acquired).
Over the course of the 11 issues contained in the graphic
novel, Hawkeye spends quite a bit of time with the inhabitants of the building
that he now owns, including Gil (whom he refers to as Grill) who has been
running the numerous grilling events on the building’s roof. Many other
characters show up, including a number of legacy characters, including (but not
limited to) Swordsman (the carny showman/thief who trained Clint), Kingpin,
Madame Masque, Ringmaster, Crimson Cowl, a few members of AIM, as well as a few
heroes who make cameos, Captain America, Maria Hill, Spider-Man, Wolverine,
Tony Stark, Black Widow, Mockingbird (Barbara “Bobbi” Morse), and Spider Woman (Jessica
Drew).
Throughout the series, Clint and Kate keep getting drawn
into the affairs of the Track Suit Mafia, mostly because Clint takes over their
building, and partially because Clint becomes romantically involved with the
wife of one of the gang’s members, leading to the appearances of Black Widow,
Mockingbird, and Spider Woman, all three of which Clint has been romantically
attached to over the years (he was actually Married to Bobbi). There is also a
subplot where Clint winds up in Madripoor doing a black ops gig for a reformed S.H.I.E.L.D.).
While all of that is very cool, it is really Fraction and Aja’s
storytelling style for this tale. They use sparse dialogue, small panels, and a
minimalist approach to the entire process. As previously stated, there are
several time jumps as the story moves back and forth across the city (in and
out of various fights, the hospital, in and around New York (along with a side
trip to Madripoor) as Clint and Kate go about their business of just being a
pair of Hawkeyes wandering around the Big Apple. And the story is thrilling,
compelling, intriguing, and amazingly well told.
Still, perhaps the coolest part of this package is not only
the (not quite) stand-alone Pizza Dog story (told virtually without words and
exclusively from Pizza Dog’s point of view), but the addition of the Young Avengers Presents #6 story
where Kate and Ronin (Clint) first met, also written by Faction (penciled by
Alan Davis and inked by Mark Farmer). In this story, Kate and Eli Bradley
(Patriot) are out on not a date when they are Jumped by Ronin, who knocks out
Patriot and then spars with Kate before telling her to meet him the following
night. When Kate shows up, she learns that Ronin is actually Clint, who is now
leading The Secret Avengers (Luke Cage and Spider-Man make a cameo) and Clint challenges
her to an arrow shooting contest, with the prize being Clint’s bow which she is
currently using (courtesy of Captain America).
Make no mistake about it, this is an amazing volume that will surprise and delight any reader, especially if you like me are already a fan of Clint and/or Kate. The book is published by Marvel Comics (November 25, 2025), is 280 pages, is just slightly smaller than standard comics at at 5.98 x 0.63 x 8.98 inches, and retails for $14.99. Oh, and yes, the Disney+ Hawkeye series was largely adapted from this series.
