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A review by rbreade
Hawkeye, Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fraction
I had heard lots of buzz about Matt Fraction's interpretation of the Marvel superhero known as Hawkeye--if you saw the Avengers movie last summer, you know he's the guy with the bow--enough to take a look at the first 11 issues collected in two volumes, titled My Life As A Weapon and Little Hits.
Impressive use of the form to tell engaging stories, though you must come to them with an some interest, even if slight, in the superhero genre. I especially like writer Fraction's work paired with the artist, David Aja's, thick pencils and heavy use of inks. Fraction's formal gifts are on display in the way he shuffles structure, making use of in medias res, looping back in time to catch a previous event from a different point of view, and presenting simultaneous events.
Fraction makes wonderful use of Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye's, role as the the "ordinary guy" in the Avengers, the least powerful and one most vulnerable to mortality. As a tagline for the book has it, "This is what he does when he's not being an Avenger." Running out of coffee. Trying to hook-up a high-tech home entertainment system. Providing interference with the shady Russian landlord on behalf of some of his less financially secure neighbors in the Bed-Stuy apartment building they share. Rooftop grilling with said neighbors. Getting into scrapes in the most accidental of fashions.
The voice is distinct and laced with wit. At some point in most of the stories comes Barton's laconic phrase, "Okay, this looks bad," always an ironic understatement given what the artwork is showing at the time, and inevitably leading the reader to ask, "How did things come to that, and how will he get out of the situation alive?"
Running through all this quotidia is a burgeoning menace involving what seems to be a relatively innocuous altercation with the Russian landlord, as if it were a thread Barton accidentally pulled and can't help but keep pulling--unknowingly--until he's neck deep in serious trouble, the exact nature of which he's still unaware.
Impressive use of the form to tell engaging stories, though you must come to them with an some interest, even if slight, in the superhero genre. I especially like writer Fraction's work paired with the artist, David Aja's, thick pencils and heavy use of inks. Fraction's formal gifts are on display in the way he shuffles structure, making use of in medias res, looping back in time to catch a previous event from a different point of view, and presenting simultaneous events.
Fraction makes wonderful use of Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye's, role as the the "ordinary guy" in the Avengers, the least powerful and one most vulnerable to mortality. As a tagline for the book has it, "This is what he does when he's not being an Avenger." Running out of coffee. Trying to hook-up a high-tech home entertainment system. Providing interference with the shady Russian landlord on behalf of some of his less financially secure neighbors in the Bed-Stuy apartment building they share. Rooftop grilling with said neighbors. Getting into scrapes in the most accidental of fashions.
The voice is distinct and laced with wit. At some point in most of the stories comes Barton's laconic phrase, "Okay, this looks bad," always an ironic understatement given what the artwork is showing at the time, and inevitably leading the reader to ask, "How did things come to that, and how will he get out of the situation alive?"
Running through all this quotidia is a burgeoning menace involving what seems to be a relatively innocuous altercation with the Russian landlord, as if it were a thread Barton accidentally pulled and can't help but keep pulling--unknowingly--until he's neck deep in serious trouble, the exact nature of which he's still unaware.