So this week ended up starting much like last week finished.
With Hawkeye!
After writing up my thoughts on Hawkeye Volume 1, I decided that there was little point even pausing for breath (because I was totally into the story at that point) and continued on with my re-read. Of course it certainly helps that I had already broken into the second instalment before last week ended. Anyway, I finally got omnibus number two read and decided that I'd get my thoughts down for this week.
(And I finished it just in time for the Disney+ series to come out)
So, Hawkeye Collected Edition Vol. 2 continues where the first volume left off with Kate Bishop setting off with Lucky to be a West Coast Avenger, leaving Clint Barton alone to face the tracksuit draculas. Fortunately, Clint isn't alone for long as big brother Barney Barton shows up on his doorstep and double both the number of Bartons as well as the amount of chaos they bring. Meanwhile, the younger Hawkeye sets herself up in L.A. but finds her recent past has followed her out there, leaving her in just as much trouble as her mentor back home. These two simultaneous journeys will see the Hawkeyes taking wounds and facing betrayals as they find out who they really are to themselves.
For the second time in two weeks, I absolutely loved reading this book, although I felt that maybe it was not as good as the first volume. What I did love about it though was the inclusion of Barney Barton. I know very little about 'Trickshot', beyond that he was a part of Norman Osborn's 'Revengers' once upon a time. However, i found myself completely engrossed by his and Clint's shared journey as the brothers Barton almost staggered their way, beaten and bloody, through this story, with Barney always propping Clint up in a very emotional sense. This made me think a lot about my own relationship with my siblings and how, in a similar manner, we almost often mock each other and annoy each other but when the chips are down we will always back each other up (although not with a bow and arrow ... yet). This was what I loved about the relationship between Clint and Barney because, while they maybe have even less reason to like each other than most (Barney is a 'supervillain' and Clint stole all of his money. You know, I really wanna read THAT story), still Barney supports Clint and makes him see sense, even when Clint reaches his lowest ebb.
Unfortunately, I couldn't say the same about the other Hawkeye plot running through this book as I found myself really struggling to get invested with Kate's journey out to L.A. The problem here is that I'm not entirely sure why, although I suspect it is the character's depiction which I had trouble with because it felt like a really long way away from the character I was first introduced to in Heinberg and Cheung's Young Avengers (I really need to re-read that by the way). I remember having a conversation with Emma Vieceli at a True Believers some years ago, whereby she explained me that the original Kate Bishop was steeped in a tragic origin and that the Gillen/McKelvie Bishop (who was a lot more like this one) effectively did away with that origin and it's impact on her personality. For me though, ignoring it has always been a struggle and so I believe its caused me here to struggle to get invested, at least to begin with. I will admit, however, that as her story progressed, my enjoyment of her journey increased as the charm which Fraction wrote her seemed to finally crack through my preconcieved notions (hopefully my next read will improve it further). As a result of this, I felt it helped get the book (and the series) to a finale which I found to be as addictive as anything as every bow wielding (not a) superperson came together to take out the Tracksuit vampires once and for all (I assume)!
As for the art, we'll the breakdown for my views on the visuals marries up in a similar way to the writing. David Aja's artwork continues to rule for me, with many of the same reasons from volume 1 being relevant here. I just love the design of the pages and Matt Hollingsworth's use of colours. The same goes with Javier Pulido and Francesco Francavilla's inputs, which maintain a European and horror esque flair respectively (the latter's, I think' working really well in showing us the Barton brother's traumatic upbringing). However, it was Annie Wu's work on the the Kate Bishop centric issues where I struggled. Not to say that the work was bad, because it wasn't, but I just had problems getting to grips with the more chaotic style, although this too grew on me as the series progressed.
Now that I've finished Hawkeye (far quicker than I expected to) I have to say that both volumes were read which I really liked (though the first was a high while the second was most likely a low). However, u do believe that this series of Hawkeye in its entirety is one of those rare examples of when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I now have so many questions about the end and I find myself more than a little tempted to pick up Jeff Lemire's follow up series.
However, even if I didn't then it wouldn't matter as Fraction, Aja and the gang certainly a nice ending which could happily close the story despite open endedness, allowing it to work well as a contained story.
And it's that full, contained story which takes two 'really likes' and makes it a phenomenal story, one which I'm glad I have on my shelf.
Certainly a far cry from my thoughts back when I first read it.
And that's been my week (shockingly). I wont lie, I had expected to read more, including a load comics in need of review as well as a read of a whole lot of stuff that I missed throughout 2021 and some things which need focus for a certain 'project' I'm involved in. However, time got away from me and real life got in the way. I guess that'll all be next week's job.
In the meantime though, I'll just bask in the greatness of what Hawkeye turned out to be for just a for days longer.
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