A review by tshepiso
Hawkeye: Freefall by Matthew Rosenberg, Otto Schmidt

1.0

I'm not gonna pull any punches here Hawkeye: Freefall was an infuriating read. I was really excited for this comic because I loved Matthew Rosenberg's Hawkeye and the Winter Solider but this this book could not be farther from that quality-wise. 

What frustrates me most about Hawkeye: Freefall is how mischaracterized Clint is throughout. Rosenberg takes the concept that Clint being a hot mess, something most touched on in Matt Fraction's run of Hawkeye, and blows that up to the most illogical endpoint. Here Clint doesn't just have a messy personal life but is mind-numbingly incompetent as a superhero. He makes so many bafflingly bad choices in its hard to believe this version of the character has lead several superhero teams. The story sees Clint take on a low level crime boss, The Hood, by secretly taking up his old Ronan mantle. Why Clint does this while going to extreme lengths to hide it from everyone is never sufficiently explained. And the various idiotic plans he makes to maintain his double identity all blow up in his face spectacularly so what he gets from it is literally nothing. 

Beyond Clint most of the writing and character choices throughout this book just seem lazy and derivative. In this comic Clint is dating Linda Carter aka Night Nurse but their relationship is painted with such a broad brush and lacks any nuance or specificity. Linda is just slotted into the nagging girlfriend role regardless of whether or not it make sense for her character. She's disapproving of Clint's superhero-ing despite the fact that she's literally a nurse for superheroes. And they break up for the most contrived reasons. It honestly felt like Rosenberg inserted romantic drama into the story because Clint is known to have a messy romantic life but never considered if it actually served the story or made sense.  

This shallow character writing extends to the way the various Avengers and superhero allies Clint encounters throughout are written. Almost all of them are extremely distrustful of Clint even when given no reason to be and are also extremely hostile to him for no reason. These are all people Clint has known and worked with for years but instantly assume Clint would become a serial murderer unprompted. I think Rosenberg was attempting to emphasize Clint as an underdog by having everyone against him but the writing choice (like every other one in this book) made no sense. 

Hawkeye: Freefall's antagonist, the Hood also leaves much to be desired. He's a standard crime boss and the comic makes no effort to expound on the how or why of his entire operation or make him interesting in any way. Most of his scenes consist of him killing people that could provide him with information on who exactly is trying to kill him. I think these scenes were trying to be comedic but the jokes never landed. The only interesting thing about the Hood is his magical cloak that's possessed by a demon but despite being the core concept of this character it barely comes into play at all. 

So overall I hated pretty much everything about this book. To end on a positive Otto Schmidt's was solid throughout. I do wish it had been in service of a better story though.