Review: Hawkeye Vol. 4- Rio Bravo

Quick Summary

Pros: The comedy, action, and character development are all great throughout the volume. The conclusion to the series is well-done. The artwork is beautiful and actively makes the reading experience better.

Cons: Nothing significant.

Overall: The last volume in this era of Hawkeye’s life comes to a close with an excellent conclusion. This volume offers up all the positives that fans of the series are already familiar with while also adding on a few more. It then closes the current story arc in a way that feels well-crafted and deserved. Anyone keeping up with this series should keep reading and anyone unfamiliar should consider reading the other volumes to get to this point.

Story

Hawkeye Vol. 4: Rio Bravo brings an end to Matt Fraction and David Aja’s amazing run with Hawkeye. This final collection does not pull its punches and brings back everything great about the past few volumes. This means exciting action scenes, meaningful character development, and a touch of comedy are present throughout the whole read. Then, Rio Bravo goes on to deliver an awesome conclusion that is even better when bolstered up by the past three volumes of writing. Nearly everything about this volume is enjoyable and it ends up being a fantastic way to end a fantastic series.

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Once again, a volume in this Hawkeye series brings its A-game when it comes to a satisfying blend between comedy and action. The opening chapter is literally a cartoon, Hawkeye fights villains with his pants down, and wordplay is present all around. Meanwhile, a powerful mob and a deadly assassin are making moves against Hawkeye’s people, giving tension to the entire endeavor.

Alongside this, character development is ever-present. Hawkeye is forced to face the fact that he simply can’t walk out on situations when the going gets tough. This leads him to stand up for the people in his building and even to apologize for the mistakes he made in several personal relationships. This is also done despite some seriously dark circumstances, including temporary hearing loss. However, watching Hawkeye triumph over these circumstances makes the triumph even more satisfying.

In addition to all of this, Rio Bravo also delivers on giving fans an entirely worthwhile conclusion to this series. The pulse-pounding finale has the mysterious mob make their final play against Hawkeye, amassing some of their most powerful forces yet. However, Hawkeye returns fire with his own abilities and own allies. In the end, Hawkeye saves the day and is able to live up to the promises he made to the people around him.

I particularly enjoyed seeing all of the little ways in which the conclusion referenced earlier moments in the series. Hawkeye uses his nickel trick to take down the final villain, Kate beings appreciating Hawkeye’s trick arrows, and the final villain is tied up using the wire’s from Hawkeye’s apartment. These little references feel like small rewards to longtime readers and help tie the whole narrative in a neat, little bow as it concludes.

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Art

Rio Bravo opens with two unorthodox chapters that perform well in their given function. The first one, drawn by Chris Eliopoulos, is a chapter designed to be playful and lighthearted romp that feels evocative of old Saturday-morning cartoons. It easily achieves this purpose. The second one, drawn by Francesco Francavilla, is far more serious. It is dark and moody in a way that perfectly primes the reader for everything coming next.

At this point, David Aja and Matt Hollingsworth take over. This duo has been a huge part of what has made this Hawkeye series so enjoyable and that does not stop here. Beautiful character depictions, excellent page designs, and an approach that immediately draws the reader’s eye to the action make these chapters a joy to read. I particularly enjoyed the way in which certain panels were used to highlight a thematic point relevant to the current story arc. All in all, this is a good looking book with artwork that actively seeks to make the reading experience better.

Continuity

Hawkeye Vol. 4: Rio Bravo continues the story from Hawkeye Vol. 3: L.A. Woman (Review).

This Hawkeye series ends with this volume. A new series starts and mostly continues the story in Hawkeye Vol. 5: All-New Hawkeye.

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• The Winter Friends’ fortress is a clear reference to the Hall of Justice from DC’s Super Friends cartoon.
• Clint’s brother operated as Hawkeye for a while starting in New Avengers Vol. 2 #18, collected in New Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis: The Complete Collection Vol. 7. During this time he served as a “Dark Avenger”.
• References are made to a time when Clint took money from his brother, which happened in Hawkeye: Blind Spot #2, and a time when Clint’s brother donated his bone marrow, which happened in Hawkeye: Blind Spot #4. Both issues are collected in Hawkeye: Blind Spot.