Hawkeye & Power Man in "prelude to tacos"

[stubbleupdate]

Since getting marvel Unlimited, I've been able to keep up with some series that I'm curious about, but not £3.19 curious about. I'm keeping an eye on Spider-woman, Captain Marvel, Thor, Black Cat, Black Widow, World War She-Hluk (It is bum) just started Dark Ages, and am waiting for the Death of Doctor Strange.

I've also been prompted by the Disney+ series to go back and check out some Hawkeye. Not the fraction/Aja/Wu stuff, that's in an omnibus hardcover on my bookcase, but some other minis. And so we arrive at Hawkeye Freefall, which has in common with the TV show "Somebody else is wearing the Ronin suit, and it's making things difficult for Clint"

It's by Matthew Rosenberg, and I remember the community having Strong feelings on him, and not usually ones that were positive. I've not read any of his other stuff. Was he the guy who killed off tonnes of minor X-men on his run?

I'm pretty mixed on Hawkeye: Freefall. On one hand, there are a few good moments, and on the other it works quite hard to detonate a lot of what I've enjoyed in other runs. Clint is just an arse who makes life difficult for other people, his motivations don't stand up to much scrutiny and having made life shitter/shorter for everybody else, he's mainly unfussed.

However, I did enjoy the cameo appearance by Power Dad, Luke Cage







In three pages, Clint comes across as immensely unlikeable, and I'm not sure that that's Rosenberg's intention

Comments

[shakalooloo]

How did Clint not put some gas arrow through that dude's vision slit straight away?

Seems like Clint is suffering the same problem as Scott Lang; one writer makes them kind of a loveable loser, but all subsequent writers just picked up on the 'loser' part of that, always making problems worse and moaning about it as they do so.

[stubbleupdate]

That was referenced relatively well in Secret Avengers



I still have to finish that...to Marvel Unlimited!

[dan_ingram]

"How much does an arrow cost?"

"You're right, Luke. I should leave deadly weapons that are practically stamped with my brand laying around. No way that could go wrong."

This entire mini was just so impressively dumb. The heroes came down harder on Clint for wanting to stop The Hood than, ya know, trying to stop Hood.

[stubbleupdate]

And Barton's reason for trying to stop the Hood seemed to be less about "He's a baddie, we should stop him" and more "He thinks he's better than me? I'll show him1"

[sinisterlink]

Dialogue is pretty meh but I do enjoy Cage standing there getting pelted by bullets and just holding a conversation. He must go through a lot of shirts that way.

[shakalooloo]

Why even bother wearing a shirt, at this point?

[stubbleupdate]

So you can get served when you walk into a deli

And how will people know he's Power Man if he isn't wearing a vivid yellow shirt?

[remial]

according to my cousin, most places in New York still have a No Shirt, No shoes, no Service policy

[shakalooloo]

Ah, so that's why he needs clothed Clint to go with him to pick up lunch.

[lordy_co]

I enjoyed this mini. I think Clint being sort of a jerk here works because he's very exhausted from all the crap he's going through. Rosenberg is usually good at writing characters being grumpy and I think it sorta worked here.

Still, as said above, the other heroes being more angry at Clint for trying to stop the Hood than actually helping him reminded me of the lead-up to Ted Kord's death. Of course, Clint is much more abrasive than Ted was, and the heroes here have reason to believe that he's being Ronin again, but it still worked for me. Freefall was a very appropriate title: all heroes, but most of all Clint, just gave in to their worst impulses when they should be working together.

[blueprintstyles]

They should probably refer to Hawkeye by his last name instead of his first, for a second I thought this was an R-rated book.

[shakalooloo]

I'm guessing that's what's under each of Cage's #%$&

[stubbleupdate]

Marc Millar already spotted that, and used it to hilarious effect

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Second one isn't showing up.

[stubbleupdate]

Nothing out of the ordinary. Still the same logo, but with the L i slightly obscured so it looks like it says cunt, which is every so naughty

[super_fly]

Either this or choose a font with better spacing between letters.

[beyondthefringe]

I dislike Rosenberg because for me, he is a deeply... unsatisfying writer. His characters always feel somewhat off-brand even on a good day. His Madrox mini was a godawful mess, and his X-Men run, however sanctioned or mandated it might have been by editorial in the pre-Hickman transitional period is one of my top five least favorite runs either, for so many reasons.

And here... this isn't any better a treatment of Hawkeye. Or Luke.
I mean sometimes you DO have to punch the fuck out of drug dealers.
And leaving arrows around is careless, wasteful, expensive, problematic, and stupid. At least Spider-Man's webbing dissolves in an hour. Leave behind a purple arrow and anything could happen, from a kid hurting themselves with it to an enemy framing you to... *shrug* That feels like super-hero 101, never leave your shit behind.

Also, everyone knows that Doctor Druid was the worst Avenger ever. CBR agrees.

[dan_ingram]

Yeah, Rosenberg's Madrox mini was impressively bad.

"Bringing back a guy who can create multiple bodies? I can do it, but only with a story that makes Cable seem easy to understand!"