Clint Barton: Hawkeye Appreciation 2022

[Anthony W]

I'm glad the better costume is making the rounds.

Zub needs to let Hawkeye wear a mask.

Fraction is gone, it's okay to have him wear the mask again. I don't care that everyone knows who he is. It looks cool, and offends no one.

I worry for the future of Marvel Comics when they can't get simple stuff like that right.

[Frontier]

Zub needs to let Hawkeye wear a mask.

Fraction is gone, it's okay to have him wear the mask again. I don't care that everyone knows who he is. It looks cool, and offends no one.

I worry for the future of Marvel Comics when they can't get simple stuff like that right.

Yes, the suit looks incomplete without a mask to me .

[Steroid]

Zub needs to let Hawkeye wear a mask.

Fraction is gone, it's okay to have him wear the mask again. I don't care that everyone knows who he is. It looks cool, and offends no one.

I worry for the future of Marvel Comics when they can't get simple stuff like that right.

I agree wholeheartedly.

[LAWtoyoto 432]

I wish Clint also goes back to the badass, competent leadership like he use to back in the Busiek's Thunderbolt days. Every Avengers hero is getting a revamp/upgrade to the latest trends while Hawkeye is still stuck in the 2012 Matt/Aja style. I know Matt's Hawkeye run is legendary and classic but time is constantly moving, and so do the characters, the new costume is a plus but his personality also need to revamp.

[Anthony W]

I know Matt's Hawkeye run is legendary and classic

Matt Fritchman's (Yep, we are going full government name) Hawkeye run is Hawkeye for people who don't actually like or know anything about Hawkeye IMO.

The run's greatest "accomplishment" (if you can even call it that) is foisting Kate Bishop on us.

Kate Bishop is a parasite of a character who no one likes inside the comics or outside of them. We are far enough out from the Disney+ show to just admit that the actress was great but couldn't elevate the garbage character right? Also the main complaint about the show from regular folk was "Why wasn't there more Hawkeye?" Welcome to our world people who don't read comics To add insult to injury the first season of Arrow on the CW was better.

I don't blame bad writers (of which Marvel has many) for thinking this run was great but writers as good as Zub should know better

[Steroid]

Matt Fritchman's (Yep, we are going full government name) Hawkeye run is Hawkeye for people who don't actually like or know anything about Hawkeye IMO.

The run's greatest "accomplishment" (if you can even call it that) is foisting Kate Bishop on us.

Kate Bishop is a parasite of a character who no one likes inside the comics or outside of them. We are far enough out from the Disney+ show to just admit that the actress was great but couldn't elevate the garbage character right? Also the main complaint about the show from regular folk was "Why wasn't there more Hawkeye?" Welcome to our world people who don't read comics To add insult to injury the first season of Arrow on the CW was better.

I don't blame bad writers (of which Marvel has many) for thinking this run was great but writers as good as Zub should know better

Yeah IMO the Fraction run was the worst thing that happened to the character. Critically acclaimed character assassination that Clint has yet and may never recover from.

[Dermie]

Matt Fritchman's (Yep, we are going full government name) Hawkeye run is Hawkeye for people who don't actually like or know anything about Hawkeye IMO.

The run's greatest "accomplishment" (if you can even call it that) is foisting Kate Bishop on us.

Kate Bishop is a parasite of a character who no one likes inside the comics or outside of them. We are far enough out from the Disney+ show to just admit that the actress was great but couldn't elevate the garbage character right? Also the main complaint about the show from regular folk was "Why wasn't there more Hawkeye?" Welcome to our world people who don't read comics To add insult to injury the first season of Arrow on the CW was better.

I don't blame bad writers (of which Marvel has many) for thinking this run was great but writers as good as Zub should know better

I disagree with almost all of this. I know and like Hawkeye, and I enjoyed the Fraction run. Was it perfect? No. But I still thought it was a good series for Clint, showing his life from a different angle than what we normally see in his costumed activities with the Avengers and Thunderbolts, etc. Fabian Nicieza's short-lived HAWKEYE series actually tried to do something on those lines several years earlier but unfortunately didn't get the traction this run did.

As for Kate Bishop, saying "no one likes" her is clearly a load of crap. She has a lot of fans (myself included).

I don't deny that some of the "Hawkguy" aspects of Clint's portrayal in this run have tainted Clint's portrayal in other books since then, and that is unfortunate. The writers DO need to remember that Clint is still a very competent and capable superhero and leader, despite being a bit of a wreck in his personal life. That aspect of Clint isn't something the Fraction run invented out of thin air either; for decades Clint had been portrayed as being a somewhat immature, impulsive hothead who could be prone to dramatic tantrums and who had a habit of thinking with his hormones (committing treason and becoming a villain when he got seduced by the Widow; getting distracted from corruption at CTE by Sheila Danning's 'honeypot' routine; marrying Bobbi after knowing her less than a week, etc).

Clint being a bit of a mess at times is just part of who he is. We just need the writers to remember that he is also a highly experienced and competent hero and a capable leader of multiple hero teams. I trust Zub to do that though--in fact, he's explicitly referenced Clint's resume of leadership on-panel in the most recent issue. One of the ongoing themes of THUNDERBOLTS is redemption, and I think that Zub intends to use this run to work on redeeming Clint from how he has slipped in the eyes of the superhero community (fallout from the FREEFALL miniseries). I just hope this mini does well enough to extend into an ongoing so Zub gets the time and space to really give Clint the attention he deserves.

[Frontier]

I think as a standalone series Fraction's Hawkeye is very good but in terms of Clint's characterization I think it did more wrong than right in terms of trying to portray him as more of "just a guy" and a little sleazier, dumber, and out-of-touch then he should've been by that point with the long swath of comic book history behind him and all his character development up to that point. It just didn't read like the same character to me and that's been furthered by other books.

And as much as I like Kate I do feel like it set up writers to use Clint in service of Kate or to make her look like the more appealing Hawkeye by comparison which we've seen in other instances.

[LAWtoyoto 432]

The 'Old Man Hawkeye' was the last time a writer manage to make Clint acts more badass, and serious and never take it for granted regarding of villain's choices. His personality wise is also another serious peak despite Kate serving as his co-star in the mini-run. Wish Ethan could do the same for any canon Marvel run.

[Matternativ]

I disagree with almost all of this. I know and like Hawkeye, and I enjoyed the Fraction run. Was it perfect? No. But I still thought it was a good series for Clint, showing his life from a different angle than what we normally see in his costumed activities with the Avengers and Thunderbolts, etc. Fabian Nicieza's short-lived HAWKEYE series actually tried to do something on those lines several years earlier but unfortunately didn't get the traction this run did.

As for Kate Bishop, saying "no one likes" her is clearly a load of crap. She has a lot of fans (myself included).

I don't deny that some of the "Hawkguy" aspects of Clint's portrayal in this run have tainted Clint's portrayal in other books since then, and that is unfortunate. The writers DO need to remember that Clint is still a very competent and capable superhero and leader, despite being a bit of a wreck in his personal life. That aspect of Clint isn't something the Fraction run invented out of thin air either; for decades Clint had been portrayed as being a somewhat immature, impulsive hothead who could be prone to dramatic tantrums and who had a habit of thinking with his hormones (committing treason and becoming a villain when he got seduced by the Widow; getting distracted from corruption at CTE by Sheila Danning's 'honeypot' routine; marrying Bobbi after knowing her less than a week, etc).

Clint being a bit of a mess at times is just part of who he is. We just need the writers to remember that he is also a highly experienced and competent hero and a capable leader of multiple hero teams. I trust Zub to do that though--in fact, he's explicitly referenced Clint's resume of leadership on-panel in the most recent issue. One of the ongoing themes of THUNDERBOLTS is redemption, and I think that Zub intends to use this run to work on redeeming Clint from how he has slipped in the eyes of the superhero community (fallout from the FREEFALL miniseries). I just hope this mini does well enough to extend into an ongoing so Zub gets the time and space to really give Clint the attention he deserves.

I co-sign most of this basically except for the faith in Zub.
I have some hope, sure but I also had hopes for Occupancy Avengers after the first issue so that doesn't mean much.

The problem with Fractions excellent book is that people took the portrayal of a book with a decidedly comedic tone and mimicked that characterization even in stories with much more serious vibes.
Everyone was a bit odd in Fractions book even serious stalwarts like Widow had their funny moments and Kate was as much of a catastrophe as Clint the second she struck out on her own, getting arrested and beat up every two seconds.

The only people who took the "better Hawkeye"-joke seriously where guys like Lemire whose a prime example of someone taking all the wrong cues from a story for its direct sequel.

The reality is that what it's going to take for Clint to get a permanent change from Hawkguy is another run as iconic as Fractions or anything else that proves popular enough (give me Earth's mightiest heroes seasons 3 and make it a huge thing on Disney plus you cowards!) because we had very different takes in the meantime.
In Secret Empire we had the resistance leader, in Thompson's books we have Kate, Nat and Kate's team rely on him very heavily, we have Rosenberg's one man army, we have Kot who first established that the hawkguy act is in fact an act most of the time all of which was good but none of which will stick unless there's something with a huge impact like the 2012 comics.

The 'Old Man Hawkeye' was the last time a writer manage to make Clint acts more badass, and serious and never take it for granted regarding of villain's choices. His personality wise is also another serious peak despite Kate serving as his co-star in the mini-run. Wish Ethan could do the same for any canon Marvel run.

I'd argue Rosenberg is the one who leaned most heavily in Clint being an absolute badass in both Freefall and Tales of suspense.
Old Man Hawkeye started slipping in that regard towards the end (for partially justified reasons tbf.) mostly in the way Clint started acting as soon as Kate was around.

[Frontier]

Thunderbolts #3 preview.

HE'S WEARING THE MASK!!!

[Sandy Hausler]

Thunderbolts #3 preview.

HE'S WEARING THE MASK!!!

A step in the right direction. And a training session (sorely needed)!

[Steroid]

Thunderbolts #3 preview.

HE'S WEARING THE MASK!!!

LOVE IT!!!! This series has earned my respect.

[Matternativ]

Thunderbolts #3 preview.

HE'S WEARING THE MASK!!!

Hooray, it actually happened!

[K7P5V]

A step in the right direction. And a training session (sorely needed)!

Indeed. Just like old times (LOL):