We've come to the end of our first story arc, a team up with Rulk and now Spidey's found a new partner... Hawkeye! Straight from the pages of The Avengers and right in time to promote his new movie, 'The Avengers', the Robin Hood of the Marvel world teams up with the Masked Menace to go out on patrol.
Writer: Zeb Wells
Artist: Greg Land
Inks: Jay Leisten
Colours: Wil Quintana
Cover: Greg Land & Justin Ponsor
Plot:
Captain America has sent Spider-man and Hawkeye out on street patrol, a concept which Hawkeye can't understand a need for. "We have enough trouble without going out looking for more" is his theory. Eventually they stumble onto the trail of a plot to launch a gas attack at Grand Central Station by The Serpent Society, although this is secondary, as the main focus is on Hawkeye's strange behaviour. Throughout the issue Hawkeye is clearly agitated, he's rash, he's snappy, and he can't sit still for 5 minutes, much to the confusion of Spider-man. Hawkeye begins by being rude to a young fan, next being snappy to Spidey and then ignoring Spider-man's instructions in handling gang members and throughout all he is interested in doing is 'training', just constantly pushing himself to hit random targets with his bows. The issue addresses Hawkeye's insecurity about being the only non-super powered member of a team of gods, Hulks and Spider-men, culminating in Spider-man making a choice that could make or break the Archer's spirit for good:
Review:
Story: We've established that Avenging is an add on book that will not significantly change continuity across the Marvel Universe or rock Spidey's world in anyway and this worried me that we would just get brainless, pointless action obsessed stories with no point to them, a bit like the first Rulk story arc, but that's not the case here. Instead Zeb Wells goes into a different direction and gives us an insight into Hawkeye's personality and insecurities, making me actually interested in the character for the first time..... ever, actually! The fact that he's teamed up with Spider-man, his joke delivering, happy-go-lucky, polar opposite makes it even more interesting. Congrats Zeb, this is a nice one shot (we move onto Captain America next issue) that although doesn't change Spidey's world or supporting cast in any earth shattering way, is still a rewarding read. 5/5
Art: I shed a tear when Joe Mad wasn't announced on the title page for art duties, but Land, Leisten and Quintana do a solid job illustrating this powerhouse.Hard shadows and backlighting give a lot of emotion to Hawkeye and Spidey on the last page, when he makes his big choice. Movement's also handled nicely with good use of speed lines and blurs and Spidey gets into quite a few nice agile 'Spidery' poses.Good variation in panel sizes and angles too. Only negatives are Hawkeye's costume doesn't really pop against the dull night time drop and whoever designed (probably wasn't these guys) Hawkeye's flying (? it certainly looks to be) bike deserves to be disowned as it just looks so high tech and totally out of place against the city rooftops of Manhattan! 4/5
Cover: Brilliant. Much better than last issues for every reason. Attention is focussed to the middle, not all over the show. Hawkeye is in front of Spidey, as he's the guest star, but we can still tell it's a Spidey book with him getting an equal share. Poses are nice and iconic. Colours really help the characters pop out, as well as making the book the most eye catching one on the shelf. Nice Job guys! 5/5
Overall: This issue gave me hope that Avenging will be a rewarding read, where I may actually find out something new, as opposed to just a supplementary over the top action title filled with gags.
4.7/5 BUY IT NOW!
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