by Kate Thompson, Leonardo Romero, Michael Walsh & Jordie Bellaire
collects Hawkeye #1-6
volume reviews one| two | three – complete
Well folks, it’s becoming a summer of first volumes with female protagonists. And I am very okay with that.
As a fan of the sassy Kate Bishop in Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye series, I was thrilled to hear that she was getting her own series written by Kate Thompson. Loved the first issue and somehow never made my way back to it. Regardless, this is a mostly strong debut arc – the first of three volumes – as Kate strikes out on her own in Los Angeles, away from Clint and New York, to soak up some vitamin D and begin her own investigative practice (license pending).
This first volume is just a little reminiscent of She-Hulk (2014), which saw Jennifer starting up on her own in a new city (San Francisco), trying to hold down both superhero-ing and a job that is related to said superhero-ing, while a larger case looms in the background. For Jennifer it was the mysterious blue file that remained on her desk; for Kate, it’s tracking down her father, but kept out of sight from her friends and colleagues. Plus, about halfway through, each of them meet with East Coast mentors. This is not a knock against Kate and her story – it’s unique enough – but feels a little bit like it’s been done before.
However, Kate’s sass and witty dialogue shows in spades here, while Jennifer is not quite the humorous type. Plus, Kate is looking to get out of Clint’s shadow, and she makes numerous references to being one of two Hawkeyes – especially when Hawkeye Investigations is open for business, and most of the people who start to drop in, well they aren’t exactly expecting Kate behind the desk.
Kelly Thompson brings us a that funny, breezy Kate, who is equal parts overeager, disorganized and impulsive, and she often puts the cart before the horse (or the PI practice before the license). Her first case balloons into a much bigger mystery with higher stakes than she could have imagined – including a hilarious and fun team up with her mentor and PI badass, Jessica Jones – and she falls into a new LA crew of friends along the way. It’s fun and light for the sake of the adventure but it doesn’t feel realistic – in such a huge city some of the coincidences were really convenient.
What is realistic – in a charming and understated way – is Romero’s art. It isn’t glossy and overly saturated like a lot of standard superhero comic books, much like David Aja’s work in Hawkeye. Kate has some hilarious facial expressions and the way Romero frames certain panels – particularly with bantering dialogue – really complements the humor. An incredible story can fall flat if it isn’t illustrated the right way – and Romero and Thompson make an excellent team here. I also especially liked a running visual of Kate focusing on particular elements of a scene, usually to help her case but also with some funny observations as well:
I also really appreciate how Thompson and Romero create a real, vivid sense of Los Angeles – as Kate is a new Angelino, and her new digs might come with an additional sense of newness and disorientation. As someone who used to live in Los Angeles, Thompson’s dialogue and Romero’s attention to detail, along with the diversity amongst its secondary cast, really make it feel like you’re there. Between famous locations like Venice Beach, Kinney College, Sunset Boulevard and Griffith Observatory, plus smaller details like background characters’ outfits and colorful storefronts – these guys did their homework.
Because comic books are such a visual medium, using location and environment as a part of the story – as, a sense, its own character – can make a huge difference in a visually immersive story. The Hawkeye team checks all the boxes of what I’m looking for (here’s a Los Angeles example where that didn’t go so well). Also I guessed an abbreviated location and it made me feel super cool.
Hawkeye was very enjoyable overall but there were some moments that really tested my suspension of disbelief – the connection of certain characters, Kate instantly meeting people who were nice and immediately became her friends (no ‘fense LA, there are plenty of nice people there, but it’s not exactly common, y’know?), and how her investigating seems to be successful more through luck rather than actual skill. While walking by an alleyway she finds a group of young men cornering a girl in the alleyway. C’mon, seriously?? How many hundreds of times has that been done before? I’m not saying it doesn’t happen (unfortunately), but for the sake of the story it was utterly predictable – plus one of the dudes was wearing a yellow shirt and khakis plus sunglasses at night? What decade is this?
[SPOILERS] Also, the hate-cult suddenly escalated in a way that wasn’t very believable, and presented a completely different vibe than the rest of the story so far. The cult uses stickers to control their victims, but their collective hate somehow also charges the bad dude to make him like the Hulk – what? It just lost me there. Plus, the “hate” aspect seemed particularly incel-y, yet there were a bunch of women in the cult as well, so was it all sorts of hate? It seems that this cult was part of a larger organization, so perhaps more will come to light in later volumes – but that doesn’t necessarily excuse it.
The same thing happened in the Jessica Jones and Kate Bishop team-up, which was super fun. Jessica shows Kate the ropes while trying (mostly) to withhold judgment, and Kate almost obsessively takes mental notes so she can emulate Jessica in every way. The way Jessica joins the group is somewhat natural – turns out she is investigating someone who is connected with Brad, whom Kate is also investigating to find her father. The villain reveal was funny and unexpected – it definitely felt more natural than the first arc – but then it became a very thin commentary on women and body issues, which just felt very strange. Up until that point it seemed very natural that women were a majority of the characters, but this added a whole “let’s talk about it” vibe that didn’t quite fit.
This is a strong outing for Thompson and Romero, even though there were a couple rocky storyline issues. I’m already sad that there are only three volumes but I’m looking forward to seeing how the cliffhanger resolves – and if Clint will ever make his way to LA.
Reading Art 