The Avenger Hawkeye is a Living Weapon

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.