Just kidding.
I've talked about the DC New 52 at length. If you want to know about it, go backwards in the blog to my first comic review from the New 52 (it might be Suicide Squad) where I explain sales are plummeting and companies are desperate. Since the New 52 worked well for DC for awhile, Marvel of course had to scream US TOO! and came up with Marvel Now!
Marvel Now! isn't so much a universe reset as a rebranding with several well known characters starting over at issue #1. Their history and events are still intact, they're just giving people an easy to find entry point. I'm not sure if it's working for me but it got me intrigued enough to check out some of the new books.
Based on the wild success of The Avengers movie, pretty much all of those characters are getting a lot of page time (you call it screen time in movies or tv shows, what would it be in comics?) If you're not a comic fan, Hawkeye (Clint Barton) is a member of the Avengers. But unlike Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and any of the hundreds of others (besides Black Widow), he has no super powers. He gets by on planning, training, and trick arrows. He began as a criminal way back then before turning good and joining up with the Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Yes, Hawkeye is extremely similar to DC's Green Arrow. The main difference right now? Hawkeye is being well written.
We're only 10 issues in, but the premise of this book is "What does Hawkeye do when he's not being an Avenger?" You know, his down time. I'm unsure if this has been explored before for a non superhero. One issue occurs after a particularly grueling outing with the Avengers where all Clint wants to do is sit down with his DVR and watch stupid reality television. Of course he can't because it's a comic book, but it shows that even the best of us sometimes get burnt out. I love it. Real problems for someone we've never seen the non-hero side of before.
My favorite part of the book (usually the first couple of pages), Hawkeye's voice over says "OK, I know this looks bad." Somehow, Clint always gets caught in bad situations. Whether the Russian mafia has thrown him out a window, or an ex walked in on him banging a random red hed, Clint is always caught in the worst situations when we join the story. We get the back story eventually, and amazingly its well paced. He has a few friends left, including Kate Bishop (adopted the Hawkeye mantle while Clint was "dead") who always seem to be there to bail him out when the going goes from bad to worse.
You guys have read my reviews of comics lately. I havent liked much outside of Batman. This is the first one I'm telling everyone you should give a look. The book is fun without being insane (I love you Deadpool, but you get out of hand sometimes), has interesting human characters (his powers can't bail him out, he has none), and the stories aren't galactic levels of ridiculous. The main storyline so far is Clint is keeping the Russian mafia from evicting everyone in his apartment building. I've been finding myself liking the street level heroes more and more and you don't get more street than this. If you like Hawkeye whatsoever, you're missing out if you're not reading this.
Would put my own eye out with a bow and arrow,
-Oz
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