Happy Monday, internet! Did you have a nice weekend? We did too.

James is out an about in America watching baseball and weddings this week, so the Best of the Week post has been split to cover more ground. Stay tuned to the site for more picks as we roll through this week’s batch of (mostly) solo content! (With maybe a James pop-up or two.)

HAWKEYE ANNUAL #1
by Matt Fraction, Javier Pulido, Matt Hollingsworth, Clayton Cowles, Tom Brennan and Steve Wacker

“Great idea. Because the west coast totally needs a Hawkeye.”

It had to happen eventually, and Clint is just the guy to let it happen. Over the last year’s worth of stories, we’ve watched as Clint bought a building and adopted its residents as an erstwhile family. We watched him celebrate victories. We watched him lose himself in the losses.

While we watched, Kate Bishop lived. She lived with Clint, lived around him and had to take in everything, the good and the bad. Unfortunately, Clint isn’t good at dealing with the bad. And so.

“Doomed”

We see the letters swimming in Clint’s bowl of cereal in the opening panel. As Kate and Clint finally have it out over the way he’s treated her, his one and only true companion through all of the bad, we know how this is going to end. We assume this is a message for Clint. What we don’t know is that its a message for Kate as well. Sort of. Kind of.

“Who is Kate Bishop?”

The question that plagues much of this comic, something that Fraction is asking the readers as Kate wonders about the very same. Who is she? And can she function on her own? Through her own actions, as well as the machinations of Madame Masque, Kate is truly on her own for the first time in her life. She’s said good-bye to Clint, good-bye to her family, and good-bye to all of the luxuries she’s come to know as the daughter of the well-to-do. Who is Kate Bishop? By the end of the issue, when she’s left with nothing, she discovers it. As she’s using the last shreds of her money to attempt to pay for new archery supplies (and ask for a job), she explains. Kate is a good person, a person you can count on. She might fall, but dammit, she’s going to get back up, because she never quits. She always fights, and she’ll fight for you if only you’ll let her. Kate Bishop, is a little bit taller.

“Your sister calls her mom.”

As always, this issue of Hawkeye looks and feels unlike any other on the stands. Javier Pulido and regular colourist Matt Hollingsworth combine their immeasurable skills to produce something that’s a joy to experience, telling much of the story through embellishments while Fraction’s plot floats steadily along up top. One of my favourite bits the pair pulled off were the scenes where Kate spoke with her father and step-mother. Kate is a shock of purple in a stark-white landscape. Her father wears a plain brown suit in contrast to her step mother, who is similarly attired in all white. The scene drives home just how little there is for Kate where her family is concerned. The fact that her father carries any colour at all shows how she at least views him as something more than the objects and people he chooses to surround himself with, but even that is fairly drab.

Later in this issue when we return to the scene to witness Kate actually leave, you see her exit into a brightly patterned hallway. Her father and step mother emerge from a panel of white in a fleeting attempt to stop her. Kate leaves, and her step mother returns to the white as her father stares out at her daughter, briefly caught between two worlds. It’s a pitch perfect scene that’s accentuated by the colours of Los Angeles, bright in contrast to that of Kate’s home life, and the comparative drabness of Clint’s own deep purple palette.

“Well, I put some of myyyy arrows in there. Some of the weird ones, so be careful.”

Jumping briefly back to Kate’s departure from Clint, we know that he still cares about her, despite his actions. We know she cares about him, despite… or rather because of hers. He needs this break as much as she does, and it will, in the end, make them better people. That said, I liked how well the team communicated just how similar Clint and Kate were, in this issue. Kate retains the trademark purple, and the hue is plied to anything remotely connected to her, and not to LA. By the end of the issue, she features bandages and wounds, much like the ones Clint is adorned with during his less glamourous adventures within the confines of his life. As the book closes, Kate details how she’s a person to be counted on, a person who will fight for those who can’t, much like Clint. The clear difference between the two is the fact that Kate almost had to discover this about herself - but once she did, she’s very comfortable in that skin. She’s also far more willing to ask others for help when she needs it… if they’re the right people. Despite all the good he does, Clint still doesn’t believe he’s a good person, and it shows in the way he punishes himself, and pushes good people away from his circle of influence. It will be interesting to see what this time apart does for both of them, and what will happen if and when they manage to come back together again. Regardless, it was nice seeing cues in both the dialogue and art, drawing the comparison.

Hawkeye is one of the best series coming out right now, from any company. Say what you will about the superhero genre or comics produced by the big two, when you break down this series, and take a look at the pure craft involved, you can’t deny how well this book is put together. After reading each issue for pure visceral enjoyment purposes, I always like pouring through the book again to note the deeper bits of work, and I’m always rewarded for it. We’re giving this book and its’ creators our Teddy Westside Award for their efforts. They are appreciated.

Now, uh… when’s the next issue?

Special thanks to Danica LeBlanc for her help with this recommendation.