Hawkeye 11: Pizza Dog Meets Chris Ware (and Patrick McDonnell a Little)

[jlroberson]

Seriously, what is wrong with you people? Must I do everything myself? Well, okay then. The newest issue of Matt Fraction, David Aja, and Matt Hollingsworth's excellent comic, that is almost the definition of a sleeper, is a story given over to Lucky,(aka Pizza Dog) Hawkeye's dog. Who it turns out is a bit of a detective himself(the story, if you read it properly, is in fact a detective story, reduced to a dog level) And Aja seems to have been reading Chris Ware, most especially perhaps BUILDING STORIES. And there's a touch of MUTTS in it as well. Another clever touch: in the parts where we're seeing from Lucky's POV, the color palette Hollingsworth uses is muted to the way a dog sees color. (Quite a good and fuller examination can be found here at the AV Club)

This is a brilliant little issue of a comic that should be regularly selling in Avengers numbers, IMO, and probably the best series Fraction has written for Marvel. But David Aja...that man deserves an award for this.(and Hollingsworth too) Anyway, here's a taste. Then you will go out and buy it to encourage Marvel to allow the kind of artistic experimentation they've always been more inclined to encourage than DC. Of the two corporate WFH behemoths, I have to say: these days, Marvel is smarter and seems to have better taste, this and Daredevil currently being two examples.

Comments

[rainspirit]

Oh god I want the money to follow this series so bad.

[yvonmukluk]

I need an icon of saluting Pizza Dog. Like, yesterday. (I'd do it myself, but I cannot into picture editing)

Also, damn the ending of this issue. Why'd it have to end that way? I'm sad now.

[jlroberson]

[yvonmukluk]

Thanks!

Now if I only I could figure out the openID/dreamwidth icon stuff...

[leoboiko]

so he did catch the lipstick… quick, someone call Sophia Sanduval.

[superboyprime]

"Then you will go out and buy it to encourage Marvel to allow the kind of artistic experimentation they've always been more inclined to encourage than DC."

Oh, I'd say the two companies swing back in forth on this over the years. There were the proto-Vertigo books, obviously, and in the 90s there was that period where DC was doing the occasional Hitman and Starman while Marvel was being... 90s Marvel. And I'd argue DC has pretty much always, until fairly recently, aimed for more genre/style diversity within their line; Marvel was more of a "house style" place. Until recently.

[jlroberson]

Well, I'm thinking of stuff like what they allowed in the 80s during the highly paradoxical Shooter era. The rise of Sienkiewicz, using Kent Williams on a Havok story for godsake, etc. I'm not saying experimentation hasn't been allowed at DC, and yes, they do go back and forth. I would say Marvel though is in the ascendant as far as the general and individual quality of art. DC has become by contrast quite stale and seems to be discouraging individuality in its artists(among its other, many missteps internally; I know a few people there and it sounds like hell, but confidence prevents me from naming any details).

[halloweenjack]

"pretty much always"? Not really. I got into comics at the tail end of Kirby's second Marvel period, right at the point at which Claremont and Byrne were really starting to light up the X-Men and Frank Miller was starting on Daredevil. DC wasn't doing much that was very interesting at that point; the DC Implosion was partly to blame for that, but part of the reason for the implosion was that the books that were supposed to be a part of that weren't very interesting. I think that the cycle involves an early stage where the company in question is willing to hire innovative new artists, and let current artists try more innovative work, and a later stage where the artists get tired of the company bullshit, or want more money, or both, and either go to the competitor or do creator-owned stuff.

[superboyprime]

Those were still superhero comics, though, and the Claremont/Byrne X-Men was very much an extension of the Stan Lee "superhero soap" mold. What I mean by diversity is other genres and other tones. War comics, supernatural horror, broadly comedic superhero comics, etc. "Pretty much always" might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I'd say DC has traditionally had a much wider range in the types of stories it was publishing. *Maybe* that wasn't the case when Epic was at its height, but I think that's pretty much the only possible exception.

[jlroberson]

Well, that I agree with. DC has always pursued more genres than Marvel does, while Marvel's experimentation has mostly been channeled through superheroes. ELEKTRA: ASSASSIN being a prime example. That being said, within that, generally, I think my point stands, and within that was really all I meant.

It does go in cycles, certainly.

[lieut_kettch]

I sooo wanna see Pizza Dog joining the Pet Avengers.

[werehawk]

Motto

[sharky_chan]

I've fallen out of love with Marvel for the moment, but this is one series that's just too good to give up :D.

[silverhammerman]

This was a really cool issue, but I for one was pretty annoyed that we didn't actually get any resolution regarding Grill's death or the Clown. That was a letdown for me.

I agree about Marvel being the most interesting company these days, DC seems content to just rehash things endlessly, while Marvel actually makes their books feel cool and new.

[ablackraptor]

"but I for one was pretty annoyed that we didn't actually get any resolution regarding Grill's death or the Clown. That was a letdown for me."

I admit, after #9's fairly glum ending and #10 feeling like a .1 issue, I've been itching for some resolution, and I'm not sure we're getting it. Hopefully we'll get it next issue, since soon they're doing a big arc about Clint and his brother.

To bad that they had to put Kate on a Bus at the end.

[silverhammerman]

I think Matt Fraction said something about this one his Tumblr, Kate still be around and the books main character slot will bounce between her and Clint each issue, along with alternate artists for the two.

[ablackraptor]

That...sounds like an awesome compromise, actually.

[big_daddy_d]

Hawkeye feels like the kind of book Green Arrow or hell even Red Arrow (preferably so, thanks a lot DC) should've been.

[jlroberson]

QUITE so.

[silverhammerman]

Definitely. I mean, the new team is doing something pretty cool with Green Arrow now, but Hawkeye is just much much closer to what a Green Arrow book is like in my head.

[espanolbot]

Kevin Smith's Green Arrow was good. Judd Winick's... not especially.