Let’s be honest : as far as descriptives go, “all-new” is getting pretty fucking old — especially at Marvel Comics, where at this very moment it’s being flat-out used to death all across their entire line. Right now they’ve got All-New Invaders, All-New X-Men, All-New Captain America —hell, recently they even branded their entire “soft reboot” All-New Marvel Now! (which came right on the heels of the prior Marvel Now!) and saw fit, a couple of months back, to momentarily slap the label on their prestigious series of Miracleman reprints with All-New Miracelman Annual #1, despite the fact that the “headline” strip in that book was an unused Grant Morrison “inventory story” that had been sitting around gathering dust for nearly two decades.
Still, if there’s one thing the so-called “House Of Ideas” has always excelled at, it’s overkill, and now we can add All-New Hawkeye to the list, even though a) the series it’s “replacing” — namely Matt Fraction and David Aja’s more simply-titled Hawkeye — isn’t even over with yet, and has one more issue to go which will be every bit as “all-new” as this one is; and b) there’s really nothing terribly “new” about this series (apart from the cover price jumping from $2.99 to $3.99), especially in terms of tone and style, anyway.
Which isn’t to say it’s bad, mind you — quite the reverse, in fact. It’s probably no secret to those who follow my comics review on here that I’m generally less-than-enamored with Marvel for a variety of reasons, but Fraction and Aja’s Hawekeye has certainly been an exception : I’ve loved their take on Clint Barton, his brother Barney, and his protege, Kate Bishop, from the outset, and while the book’s critics do raise a number of semi-valid points (let’s remember that the “Hawkguy” label actually originated with those who found the “everyman” tone of the series to be cliched and overly-self-conscious before it was “repurposed” and turned into a positive by its fans), at the end of the day I could care less — the humor, heart, and humanity that the Matt n’ Dave tandem (with more-than-able assistance from occasional fill-in artist Annie Wu) brought to the table drowned out their detractors with grace, confidence, ease and, yes, style — which probably especially bugs the shit out of the curmudgeonly crew of “haters” because the fact that the book was supposedly “too stylish” was one of their chief complaints. So while “give us more of the same” has been the bane of comics, both creatively and commercially, for ages now, when it comes to all things Hawkeye, ya know what? It’s just fine with me — up to a point.
By and large, it seems like it’s fine with the new creative team of writer Jeff Lemire — who has a fair amount of experience with a certain emerald-clad archer over at DC — and artist Ramon Perez, as well, given that their supposedly “all-new” take on the character feels very much like a continuation of what’s come before, albeit with a few semi-significant new wrinkles added in. As the page reproduced directly above shows, Perez’s art is a reasonable approximation of Aja’s style, and Lemire’s got the characterization of Clint and Kate down pat, so if you don’t want to see this particular boat rocked too much, the first issue of this new series (which kicks off a five-part storyline titled “Wunderkammer”) will leave you feeling in very safe hands, indeed.
Which isn’t to say that they don’t appear to have at least some level of ambition — I’m sure Lemire, Perez, and co-colorist (more on that in a moment) Ian Herring would prefer to label what they’re doing as “building upon” the foundation laid by Fraction and Aja rather than merely “emulating” or, even more uncharitably, “imitating” it, but I’ve gotta be honest and say that the jury’s still out on which way all of that is going to go. All-New Hawkeye #1 throws out some hints in that direction, given that half the story is a flashback to Clint and Barney’s troubled upbringing in an abusive foster home and those pages/scenes feature a remarkably different art style (see below) that showcase Perez tackling the hues on his own with a limited watercolor palette (one that’s, appropriately enough given our hero’s costume, heavy on the purple) over his own “sketchier,” more fluid pencils and inks, but the “present-day” action is a rather bog-standard runaround with the two Hawkeyes busting into a “secret” Hydra base at the behest of S.H.I.E.L.D. for reasons that will, in due course, become fully apparent, I’m sure. It’s fine and dandy stuff, don’t get me wrong, and is more or less exactly what I was hoping to get from this comic, but it’s definitely — well, what is it they say about the sincerest form of flattery again?
In any case, it’s probably fair to guess that “some tinkering around the margins” is all the more leeway that Marvel editorial is willing to give the new creators on this book, at least to start with, and to be honest, that’s probably all that us long-time readers want, too, so I really don’t want to sound too much like I’m bitching here — yeah, I love to see established characters taken in new and surprising directions by writers and artists with a bold and unique vision all their own, but it’s not like that’s what every comic needs all the time.Sure, I’ll be disappointed if Lemire and Perez choose not to develop a more distinctive take on the character at some point (or, even more depressingly, if they’re not allowed to by company “suits”), but I have no problem with them easing us along by means of a somewhat extended transition period. In short, I don’t mind the fact that All-New Hawkeye isn’t all that new just yet.
But it’ll have to be at some point, won’t it? Much as I’ve thoroughly enjoyed what Fraction and Aja have done on their run — and I’m eagerly looking forward to seeing how they wrap it all up with issue #22 — I don’t want a “new” series that feels like a faint approximation of the old, which puts Lemire and Perez in a tricky spot : they’ve gotta prove that they have their own ideas for the book, but they can’t rush the journey from point A to point Z for fear of alienating loyal fans. As of right now, they appear to be taking a “one step at a time approach” — which is exactly right — but if “Wunderkammer” ends up feeling like five issues of them trying to ape their predecessors, with some niftily-illustrated childhood memories added into the mix, well — that’s not gonna make anyone happy, is it? Folks who like constantly-developing-and-evolving characters and narratives will slam them for lack of ambition and/or effort, while folks who openly admit that “same old, same old” is all they’re looking for will rightly ask “why not just leave Fraction and Aja on the book, then?” I’m choosing to remain optimistic for the time being — this debut installment certainly doesn’t give me any reason not to be, I suppose — but it’s definitely a cautious optimism.
Even so, there’s certainly such a thing as over-thinking matters, and maybe by focusing on this series’ potential future, I’m losing out on the chance to feel good about its present state. When I take off my “worry-wart” cap, go with the flow, and appreciate All-New Hawkeye #1 for what it is — rather than, ya know, spending/wasting all my time speculating about what it might be — I have to admit it’s a whole lot of fun.
Through the Shattered Lens 