Review: Hawkeye Vol. 1- My Life as a Weapon
Quick Summary
Pros: The entire read handles Hawkeye wonderfully and makes him an even more compelling character. The action and suspense keep things exciting. Humor enhances both the character and action-focused moments. The volume builds anticipation for its sequel. The artwork is, mostly, a fantastic complement to the narrative.
Cons: One of the chapters is just lackluster.
Overall: This is a highly enjoyable comic that can instantly turn anyone into a Hawkeye fan. It has entertaining action, wonderful characters, and a compelling narrative to hook the reader in and keep them hooked until the end. Meanwhile, an atypical approach to humor and visuals define the comic as something unique and different from the competition. If you’ve ever thought about reading a Hawkeye book or are just looking for a good read from this era, this is a solid place to start.
Story
Hawkeye Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon, by Matt Fraction, is a downright pleasure to read. This book takes Hawkeye, an often unappreciated and underutilized character, and shows that he is one of Marvel’s most charming and lovable heroes. His actions throughout the book are a wonderful depiction of what a street-level hero does on and off the clock. This leads to exciting bouts of action, a few fun misadventures, and interactions that are constantly laced with clever humor. The entire volume is enjoyable from start to finish in a way that is incredibly easy to appreciate.
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My Life as a Weapon heavily focuses on Hawkeye as an individual. It shows that his actions and personality can range from borderline childish and carefree to extremely dedicated and willful. In some places, his life seems to be in disarray, as his living conditions are less than ideal and he admits he is unable to work with some of his associates. However, on the other side of things, he risks his life to save a dog, puts himself in danger whenever S.H.I.E.L.D. needs him, and fights an entire gang to defend someone he just met. This makes for a hero with a messy personal life but a fierce devotion to doing the right thing for the people around him, which makes Hawkeye a real easy person to root for.
This focus on Hawkeye also leads to a wonderful level of humor. The dialogue, visuals, and even narration are packed with jokes. Most of these come from snappy banter between Clint and Kate and generally funny situations. However, more unique jokes come from the comic’s decision to view the world through Hawkeye’s eyes. It leads to narrative jokes about his inability or unwillingness to understand what is being told to him or smaller twists unique to his perception. All of this creates a book filled with a style of comedy uncommon in most mainstream comic books.
Despite great character and great humor, My Life as a Weapon isn’t all about lighthearted situations, it also has its fair share of action and suspense. Hawkeye threatens a mob boss, participates in a life-or-death road race, and infiltrates an auction hosted by supervillains. It always feels like someone’s life is on the line while still keeping the book within its street-level parameters. Most of the chapters also have a clever and satisfying way of tying in elements from the story’s beginning to the solution present at the story’s end, such as the use of the boomerang arrow to take down a final villain.
Alongside the action, there are also indications that a larger narrative is in development. Hawkeye realizes something is developing in his little community and that this something is probably not good. This subtle indication helped build my excitement for the next volume.
The only downside in My Life as a Weapon is that the Young Avengers Presents chapter is pretty lackluster. It has a nice moment between Clint and Kate but, outside that, isn’t too appealing.
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Art
The artwork in My Life as a Weapon is critical to the success of this volume. David Aja’s minimalist visual stylings and Matt Hollingsworth’s limited color palette keep the reader’s eyes focused on what is actually happening within the narrative. Meanwhile, clever layouts that focus on or introduce pieces of information enhance this narrative even further. There are also places where subtle background details or slight changes in the visual approach work in creating or delivering a joke, thus further developing the comic’s already enjoyable approach to humor. Javier Pulido’s two chapters are not quite as appealing but, together with Matt Hollingsworth’s colors, still look good and manage to maintain the visual consistency of the comic as a whole. Overall, this is a great looking book with visuals that make everything inside even better.
Continuity
Hawkeye Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon starts the Hawkeye Vol. 4 series. This series does not directly stem from any specific comic and can be read independent of most stories.
The story here continues in Hawkeye Vol. 2: Little Hits.
This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:
- Hawkeye’s “death” happened in Avengers Vol. 1 #503, collected in Avengers: Disassembled.
- He began operating as Ronin in New Avengers Vol 1 #27, collected in New Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis: The Complete Collection Vol. 2.
- Kate Bishop took up the Hawkeye name in Young Avengers Vol 1 #12, collected in Young Avengers by Allen Heinberg and Jim Cheung: The Complete Collection.
- Young Avengers Presents #6 has Clint mention when he joined the Avengers. This occurred in Avengers Vol. 1 #16, collected in Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol. 2 (Review).