Hawkeye #10 and Iron Man #9 Preview

[ablackraptor]

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=16289 <--here for full preview on Hawkeye, and ->http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=16298<- for Iron Man's.

In the former...

Clint's hit a rough patch in his life now. Following the last two issues he's in trouble with the Avengers because he was arrested for breaking and entering, he's in trouble with Spider-Woman because he slept with Cherry/Penny/Darlene Penelope Wright due to him not fully understanding their situation (its not made clear, but either he thought they were broken up or he didn't realize their relationship was serious, either way he screwed up big time), and to make matters worse (Spoiler!Spoiler!Spoiler!) Gills, Clint's neighbour and the guy responsible for in-universe nickname of Hawkguy, has been murdered.
Also, Bobbi and him are now officially divorced, (which is weird because, as revealed in The Reunion, Bobbi finalized the divorce papers just before she was abducted by Skrulls, which was why they were operating under the title of ex husband/wife for the past few years), so he's just not having a good month, and apparently its affecting his aim.

Now, his only friend is Kate, and his self-destructive tendencies are pushing her away.



New artist this month, Francesco Francavilla, taking over for David Aja. Unlike some of the artists taking over I do quite like this one, mostly because they have a very Aja-like quality to the pages, and also because the artist's name is alliterative, and that always adds appeal to anything.



And the latter...


As no one has posted anything of Kieron Gillen's OTHER Marvel Now work, quick summary of the previous eight issues: Maya Hansen, the creator of Extremis, was kidnapped and forced to recreate Extremis for AIM, who then sold it on to several other parties before killing Maya.

Understandably ticked, Tony tracked down each of the Extremis units and shut them down, though not without seeing that those who took it aren't all monsters (well, at least one of them were), as the ones who bought it included a small group trying to protect a mall nation under threat of being swallowed up by Latveria and needed Extremis to act as a Nuclear Deterrent, a crime lord looking for a way to revive his dying daughter, and an old friend of Tony's looking to try and use Extremis to improve research methods and allow humanity to expand into the stars. Tony destroys each unit, but realizes he could be doing more with his life and decides to ventue out into space, with the help of a HIDEOUS looking new armour and a new AI he's modeled after Pepper (he chose to model it after her as she's the one person that can keep him both grounded and remind him of home).

However, while out in space Tony comes across a fleet of space pirates attacking the Voldi, a race of romantics and peace lovers who worship cosmic beings and use them to sustain their lives. Tony flirts with one of the Voldi's many princesses, but he gets cock-blocked by his beard, before being arrested for Deiticide. The Voldi worshiped the Phoenix as a god, and they blame him for killing it, since he technically did. He gets help from a seemingly friendly alien AI called Recorder 451, who acts as his space lawyer and convinces him to do trial-by-Colosseum so he can buy time. 451 uses this as a distraction to get Tony's armour back and gives it to him, before then taking something called 'the Heart'. As Tony flees, the Celestials arrive and attack the Voldi, destroying their planet and killing them all.

As it turns out, 451 was responsible for the space pirate attack in order to draw Tony towards them. He knew that the Voldi's Heart was what was shielding the Celestials from knowing the Voldi were basically feeding off them, and needed Tony to distract them so he could take the Heart. He has some kind of noble intentions; he's hoping to use the knowledge he gained from watching the Celestials kill the Voldi so he could avoid similar things happening ever again, but at the end of the day, he just killed an entire planet, and now Tony wants to bring him in.

So we get here, where Tony is trying to recruit Death's Head to help him find 451 and bring him to space-Justice.



Another new artist here too, as Dale Eaglesham replaces Greg Land for the title. No idea if its a permanent thing or anything, but I hope so. Hopefully now we can get some variation in people's faces and expressions.


Both come out on the 1st of May, so stay tunned for that. Also looking forward to this week Green Arrow #20 (the latest arc is actually pretty damn good, as its done away with what problems people had with the DCnU Green Arrow books and making it its own), and Age of Ultron #7 (Hopefully this event will be over soon so I can get on with my 10 issue review I've been planning to do once its over). It amuses me a lot that this week sees the release of over half my current pull list.

Comments

[biod]

Happily enough, I've been meaning to ask if the new Iron Man series was any good since Gillen's had me hooked since he started work at Marvel and I've read surprisingly few Iron Man comics. So what's the general verdict?

[ablackraptor]

General Verdict? I'd say its one of the best books to come out of Marvel Now. I admit I have a problem with the casual fridging of Maya Hansen, and the art is Greg Land, but I like the fact it gave the villains of the first arc are very complex individuals, while Gillen is able to write Tony with his usual charisma but still convey a lot of depth to his character. Its fairly character driven but with a healthy balance of plot as well.

[turtlefu]

I really like how even though it had a building-up story arc, each single issue is mostly self-contained (The first couple were Tony hunting down Extremis, and those were basically monster-of-the-week, in a good way)

Gillen says he has no big plan for this title, so I can see it being a fun sort of thing, giving Tony adventures instead of long plots and dragged out stories.

This does, however, make each issue feel kind of light. Gillen seems to be gonig for a Hawkeye or Daredevil type thing in terms of format, but I'm not quite sure he's there yet.

And worst of all, Greg Land.

[onceaskrull]

Also looking forward to this week Green Arrow #20 (the latest arc is actually pretty damn good, as its done away with what problems people had with the DCnU Green Arrow books and making it its own)

So you mean the beard is back, as are Mia/Lian/Connor/Dinah Lance, and he's been aged forward a decade or two? Score!

[ablackraptor]

Well, not ALL the problems (I should have phrased that better originally, my bad), but Q-Core's gone, the overfocus on tech is gone, his general shallowness is gone, its not feeling like Batman-lite any more, and the current arc is actually interesting to read.

[onceaskrull]

So no more Arrow Cave? :(

[ablackraptor]

Yeah, new villain Komodo blew it up, along with the rest of Q-Core, and seemingly killed his new friends. The arc is basically about destroying everything about Ollie's life, including having Queen Industries bought right from under him, and him trying to fight back. Admittedly its basically Daredevil Born Again but with Oliver instead of Matt, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

[icon_uk]

Given how F'ed up the Nightwing redo of "Born Again" was, I wouldn't put money on that.

[ablackraptor]

True, though this so far it seems to be working. Its a story that's better suited for Olly then it was for Dick anyhow, so it shouldn't be TOO bad, unless the writer completely drops what skills he's shown so far.

[icon_uk]

he's in trouble with Spider-Woman because he slept with Cherry/Penny/Darlene Penelope Wright due to him not fully understanding their situation (its not made clear, but either he thought they were broken up or he didn't realize their relationship was serious, either way he screwed up big time),

Hate to sounds like "that guy" here, but why is it HIS fault that their MUTUTAL communications seems to have been futzed up?

Surely it takes TWO to not communicate something at the level of "We're an exclusive couple" clearly?

[ablackraptor]

Its not really, and he did make a point to tell Jess that she doesn't have the right to be this mad at him over this, but she responds that he didn't think for one minute how it might make her feel. She feels like Clint did it deliberately to sabotage their relationship because he's unable to let himself be happy, which given his track record isn't a hard conclusion to make. Basically, they both should've been clear on what their boundaries were, but he's the one that, well, slept with the first woman he bumped into, which makes him more at fault then she was

[seisachtheia]

Didn't he kind of admit it to himself that "there had to be easier ways to let his girlfriend know that he had problems with commitment" or something along those lines?

[ablackraptor]

Not to my knowledge, but I read the issue the day it came out and haven't re-read it since, so I'll need to fact-check that. I remember though that he was very defensive when she accused him of such though.

[seisachtheia]

[flash_fan]

Seconded, not to mention Jess was acting like a heartbroken teenager with the repeated slaps IMO. That's not how adults handle issues between one another.

[bruinsfan]

Yeah, if one person in a relationship "doesn't realize" it's serious, then it's not a serious relationship. The other person is just more invested in it.

I can see why Jessica would be hurt by finding out that Clint's slept with someone else, but having a right to be accusatory about cheating would require them to have actually established that they're in an exclusive relationship to start with.

[onceaskrull]

Also I have to say I'm really sorry to see Aja go. From the looks of this preview I don't mind this artist too much, but I love David Aja's art. It's largely what prompted me to read Iron Fist.

[ablackraptor]

Fortunately, Aja's back for #11, taking another break for #12, then back again for #13, so its only Francavilla filling in for two issues. Aja's still the main artist.

[silverhammerman]

Loving Hawkeye, and Francavilla's a great choice to sub for Aja temporarily, though there's definitely a tangible difference. The "camera" seems to be a lot closer and Francavilla is using a much darker palette than Aja. Not bad, but somehow it feels to me like more of a departure than Marcos Martin's art was.

I really wanted to get into Iron Man, Kieron Gillen's writing and the first arc was all one shots, so this would have been right up my alley if it weren't for Greg Land. Land's art is just.... UGH. And sadly I don't think Dale Eaglesham is coming onboard permanently, from my understanding he's just doing the flashback segments in the next storyline, which is pretty disappointing.

[ablackraptor]

Given that it was a decent story regardless, I was able to get past Land's art and enjoy the story, but yeah, its kinda hard to enjoy it when every guy has one of five faces, while every girl has two.

[theflames]

So I have two options with this Hawkeye fellow.

Continue disliking him because apparently, outside of his own comic, he's supposed to be an annoying idiot. Who makes annoying one liners and statements.

Or

Pick up his title and learn that he's not such a bad guy. Hmm.

[biod]

It's the inverse of the problem Spider-Man had after BND.

[mrstatham]

I would be infinitely more interested in Iron Man if it didn't have Land on pencils. Larocca is kind-of like my limit in terms of how much I like things to be photoreferenced from often recognisable celebrities. I know Land's off in a few issues, but if Gillen is around for the long haul, I'd want to read the run from the beginning, and... Well, I refuse to touch anything with Land's name on it.

[angelophile]

Love seeing Death's Head and I love what Gillen's doing with him. I just wish he had a slightly stronger grasp on his unique speech pattern.