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All-New Hawkeye #1 Review: Different, Still Awesome

By Nick Tylwalk

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I’d be a bit sadder about the end of the outstanding Matt Fraction/David Aja run on Hawkeye if it hadn’t petered out so much down the stretch. I’m talking about quantity, by the way, not quality, leaving us with All-New Hawkeye #1 before we got the final issue of the previous series. Unless we’re living in a time paradox or something …

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Regardless, Jeff Lemire and Ramon Perez are here to take us on a brand new journey, one that promises to keep Clint Barton and Kate Bishop (note: not “Katie” or “Katherine”) together, fighting Hydra side by side. This first issue makes it clear that Kate sees herself as Clint’s partner, not his sidekick, and she’s going to do things her own way. It’s interesting seeing Clint as the cautious one considering he’s been the brash Avenger for so many years.

The action-packed mission facing the two Hawkeyes is quite literally only half the story, as we get an extensive look into Clint’s childhood and his bond with brother Barney Barton as they try to deal with an abusive foster father. Perez showcases a style that makes a fairly easy transition from Aja in the scenes set in the present, while the flashback pages showcase a jaw-dropping, trippy look with no real borders or frames. If someone could paint memories, this is what they would look like.

During the final three pages, both the story and the art melt together to great effect, with Kate’s horrific discovery juxtaposed with the Barton brothers possibly finding salvation. It’s a fantastic finish that makes you want to go back and re-read what led up to it again.

As an admittedly huge fan of Fraction and Aja dating back to their time together on The Immortal Iron Fist, the new team had a lot to prove to me to get me to stick around. I definitely will, even though I hope we get to see the final issue of that other series before we get #2 of this one.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Somewhere in Iowa, a long time ago, the Barton brothers try to catch frogs together. After finally catching a frog, Clint suggests not returning to their foster home and running away.

In the present, things have gone bad for both Hawkeyes as they try to infiltrate a Hydra installation that Maria Hill thinks has some kind of top secret weapons cache. Tony Stark has hooked Clint up with some high tech hearing aids, so he can hear just fine when Kate says she wants to abort the mission. Only she has a change of heart, and Clint finds himself trapped outside the base.

We head back to the past to see the brothers arrive home to find their foster dad has already beaten them there. He wanted the grass to be cut before his return, and Barney volunteers to take the heat for it. The ensuing fight turns bloody, breaking the fourth wall by splattering on the page. Barney tells Clint to grab his bike so they can escape.

At the Hydra base, Clint uses an explosive arrow to get back inside while Kate finds herself in a sub-basement, stumbling across a door labeled Project Communion. Despite Clint’s pleading, she uses a KOed Hydra agent to gain access to the room.

The final three pages see the two stories collide. As the Bartons are pursued by their foster father in his car, Clint fights his way toward Kate, who’s made it further into the room and found three strange looking children hooked up to some funky looking machinery. Also, Clint and Barney have found a traveling carnival — and possibly, a way out of their predicament.

Favorite moment: You’d think the younger of the two Hawkeyes would come up with funny names for arrows, but it’s Clint who wants to call it the “Splodie-Arrow” and Kate who shouts, “We are not calling it that!” Party pooper.

Final thought: As I recall, Clint and Kate had a few adventures together in the previous series before they were separated into their own solo issues. I’m going to hold Lemire to his word that this book will focus on them as a duo. I’m trusting you Jeff …

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