Hawkeye #1

"Lucky"
written by Matt Fraction
art by David Aja
colors by Matt Hollingsworth

It's absolutely no coincidence that Fraction's inaugural issue of his new Hawkeye series is subtitled "a Clint Barton adventure".  Hawkeye, as such, appears on only two pages to open the story, just enough time for him to commit an epic superhero fail, landing him in the hospital with multiple major injuries, a nearly full-body cast, and a six-week hospital stay while immobilized.  As Clint Barton knows damn well, he's on a different superhero rung than most of his Avengers counterparts; he's just a guy—albeit with an unusual carnie background—that's just really, really good at the one thing he does:  shoot a bow and arrow.

The central conceit of Matt Fraction's re-imagined Hawkeye is precisely that it looks at Barton's life, only tangentially the superhero antics of the Avenger's team member.  The issue succeeds so well in no little part due to the fully realized and believably detailed world Fraction builds around his character.  Barton's New York, fragrant with the "baked summer scent of hot garbage, wet pennies, and pee" (Hawkeye #1, p. 4), is far from the polished idealism of many superhero settings, which more often than not seem to suit the hero rather than being a real place for him/her to exist.  Barton's fellow characters are similarly real, mixed bags of brutal, irritable, pathetic, and kind.  Even Barton himself is prickly, if likable.  He's grouchy and hostile with the well-meaning veterinarian, patient and understanding with an evicted fellow tenant and her baby, and unapologetically merciless with the boorish thugs who own the apartment building.  Yet, ultimately, he makes his stand for the right people and the right reasons, choosing to go to bat for the financially bullied and evicted tenants, even the ones he doesn't particularly like.

Fraction and Aja have carved an entirely unique niche for their new series.  Barton's narration, while entirely appropriate and often distinct, sometimes rings of Fraction himself, i.e., clever and funny but unnecessary musings that arise from Barton's inevitably unusual predicaments, such as his thoughts on Baccarat or his paleolithic weapon choice.  Aja's inimitable style and design give Hawkeye a look as unusual as its voice.  In full cooperation with Fraction's characterization of his protagonist, Aja renders him remarkably ordinary.  Barton is beautiful, certainly, and finely built, but he lacks the imposing physique of so many superhero counterparts.

[October 2012, digital]