Welcome, dear readers, to another week of comics and commentary at Comics! The Blog! We kick things off, as always, by handing out awards for the Best of the Week - beginning with two Award postings, followed closely on Tuesday with this past week’s Best.

This just in: Hawkeye is still one of the best comics out there. Who knew!

Issue #14 is a big leap for the series, as the second half of the series’ new format is introduced. For the time being, the series is alternating artists and main characters each month - odd-numbered issues feature Dave Aja drawing the stories of Clint “Hawkeye” Barton in New York, while even-numbered issues like #14 feature Annie Wu taking on Kate “Hawkeye” Bishop as she PIs the hell out of life while staying in a RV on the beach.

And would you believe that’s not even the most Rockford Files-y part of the issue? More on that later, though.

It’s an exciting, risky shift. So much of the series’ identity is rooted in Clint’s world in Brooklyn, with the ever-present brick and that sense of closed-in familiarity of the environment and characters, and LA is basically the opposite of that. Kate’s there, Pizza dog’s there and Madam Masque is there, but it’s a whole new world, and without many of its anchors, the series could have taken a while to settle into this new part of its identity. Of course, the issue and its team immediately put any such pitiful worries to rest, because Issue #14 is absolutely wonderful. It’s a spectacle of craft that actually retroactively makes the rest of the series better by further illuminating the depth that was always there.

Clint tends to be the focal point of the series to date, and that’s very much a statement on his personality; it never seems to be his intent, but Clint’s issues tend to monopolize his attention. His romantic screw-ups bleed over into his friends’ lives. His good intentions with the tracksuit mafia has dire consequences for his neighbours. Clint’s a good guy, but with that much drama monopolizing the attention, it can be easy to forget that Kate is Hawkeye too. Well, she’s sick of being defined by her proximity to her namesake and, like so many fed-up teens before her, she’s now broke and living in a shithole in LA.

The result is simply amazing. Suddenly, there is so much room to breathe, both literally and figuratively. One of the series’ key strengths has always been Matt Hollingsworth‘s brilliant colour choices, and this is one of his best issues to date. The series’ established palate of blues and purples is still there, but it’s expanded with yellows, reds and oranges that really evoke the setting and differentiate it from Clint’s world. It just feels more like Kate, whose more open warmth was frequently juxtaposed against Clint’s somewhat drearier, closed-in personality.

And that personality is what’s on display here, as Kate finds herself at once liberated by her new life and struggling against its new constraints. Annie Wu is a revelation here, able to switch from Kate’s languid comfort on her roof at sunrise to her perplexed frustration at the cost of groceries in just a few panels on one page. Wu‘s art shows off what a tremendous character Kate is on her own, a way she’s rarely been seen. Kate’s journey is still beginning, but you can see the wheels turning here in Wu‘s skill at displaying elastic physical comedy and subtle expressions. Look at the staging in one of Kate’s final scenes, where she’s beaten up and tiny amidst the silhouettes of her neighbours and clients - but victorious. And proud. Kate’s going to be alright.

Hawkeye has frequently invited comparisons to The Rockford files, what with Clint as a frequently down-on-his luck, everyday gumshoe whose charm is in his imperfections. It’s perhaps too frequently thought of as Clint’s trait more than the book’s. Then Issue #14 shows up, puts Kate literally in Jim Rockford’s sand-filled shoes and then has what for copyright reasons is absolutely not Jim Rockford (or ay other television detective) show up and give her private eye advice. It’s a fun wink by Matt Fraction and his team, and it makes the book even more warm and familiar.

But that said, Hawkeye is, as always, its own beast. It just so happens that Issue #14 shows how big and versatile that beast actually is, retaining its humour, pathos and charm while establishing a new cast and setting around its occasionally overlooked leading woman. It’s one of the best comics out there, and it somehow keeps getting better. It’s earned this week’s Wink! Wink! Award and, let’s be honest, will probably be taking home a lot more prizes in the future.