Hawkeye vol. 4: Rio Bravo

After much waiting, the Matt Fraction/David Aja run of “Hawkeye” is finally over and collected.  I can say that it’s been fun.  Not really “BEST COMIC EVAR IN RECENT MARVEL HISTORY!!1!” but definitely one of Fraction’s better efforts at the company and a fantastic showcase for the skills of Aja.  That said, the most surprising thing about this volume is how it makes a good showcase for the lesser-known brother of Clint Barton, Barney.

How “lesser-known” is Barney?  I can only speak for myself, but I didn’t know that Clint had a brother prior to reading this volume.  The recap text for the issue where he’s introduced makes it clear that the two have a complicated and difficult by telling us things like how the last time the two met, Clint donated some bone marrow to save Barney’s sight and then proceeded to steal a bunch of money from him.  Par for the course in terms of the kinds of relationships our Hawkeye has cultivated in his career, and this series in general.

Yet when we meet Barney in this volume, in an issue with the kind of fantastically moody art you’d expect from guest artist Francesco Francavilla, he’s a homeless bum down on his luck and looking to crash with his brother.  This leads him to cross paths with the tracksuited members of the Russian mob (“Tracksuit Draculas” as the series likes to call them) who he agrees to let punch him in the face for five dollars.

That turns out to be key to Barney’s character.  Not taking beatings for money, but knowing when to take a beating and when to fight back.  Such is the case when the Tracksuit Draculas stiff him on the couple hundred they offer to Barney for the opportunity to beat on him for two minutes.  It doesn’t go well for them.  Between these beatings, we get some flashbacks to life growing up with his brother and see that even though Barney was the one who taught Clint how to fight, it was the elder Barton brother who knew how to pick his battles.

In the present day, Barney turns out to be even less of a smooth operator than his brother.  He’s not as smooth a talker, and his inability to lie convincingly or come up with a witty phrase after taking out a bad guy comes off as more endearing than pathetic in Fraction’s hands.  More importantly, he provides the crucial kick to the ass required to get Clint motivated to take on the Tracksuit Draculas for the big showdown in the title story.

Given how much I’ve said about Barney so far, you may think that he’s the real star of this volume.  That’s not the case as he’s just “Rio Bravo’s” biggest surprise.  This is still very much the story of Clint stubbornly butting his head against the forces aligned against him and his friends simply because it’s the right thing to do.  Naturally, this leads to recriminations from his fellow (female) Avengers for not being smarter about it, deafness at the hands of a master assassin, and betrayal from someone who has lost something as a result of Clint’s stubbornness.

Even though Hawkeye’s self-destructive nature is still on display here, it doesn’t wind up dragging things down like it did with vol. 2.  Not only is Barney on hand to lighten the mood and knock his brother’s head on straight, we find that Clint has quite a few friends on hand to support him when the going gets tough.  Including the not-really-a-surprise return of a certain “L.A. Woman” towards the end.  All in all, the fight against the Tracksuit Draculas and the assassin Kaziu (who avoids being a Joker knock-off through the calm and calculating manner in which he executes his ruthlessness) follows a pretty familiar arc.  It ultimately works as a story because you’re invested in the cast and their struggle through the excellent character work Fraction has done over its length.

Along with the striking artwork provided by Aja, of course.  He knows how to capture the emotions of the cast in a way that draws  you in, from the pervasive melancholy of the funeral issue to the frustration expressed by Barney after his brother is deafened.  That issue in particular is a standout as there’s some incredibly tricky storytelling going on to illustrate Clint’s hearing loss.  From the sign language panels, to the empty word balloons, to the broken text when he lip-reads, it’s actually quite remarkable how the artist is able to articulate what deafness feels like to this character in a silent medium.  Then, for an encore, Aja gives us a bravura two-issue fight scene as the Tracksuit Draculas storm the apartment complex and everyone (EVERYONE!) has to pitch in to help fight them off.  The sequence where Clint takes a beating and fades in and out of consciousness is expertly rendered and one of the most memorable sequences in a volume full of them.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention the issue which kicks off the volume and features art from the book’s letterer, Chris Eliopoulos.  It’s best described as “amusing filler” in that it’s a rendering of the holiday cartoon Clint had to watch back in issue #6.  Basically a parody of the kind of specials that were a lot more common back in the 80’s, it’s about a bunch of holiday-themed animals and their normal dog named Steve who winds up saving the day.  That’s what it’s about.  It’s totally not an allegory for Clint’s stubborn nature and how he needs to accept the help offered by friends he has.  Like I said, it’s amusing and the art from Eliopoulos is cartoonishly vibrant in the best kind of way.  I’m glad it came at the beginning of the volume instead of at the end or in the middle where it was actually published.

The Fraction/Aja run on “Hawkeye” has been a huge critical and commercial success story for Marvel.  If nothing else, it shows the kind of quality that is needed for a series featuring a B-tier character who has never carried a successful title to succeed.  I may not have been onboard with the “Best Thing Ever” hype and word-of-mouth that accompanied it, but I can’t deny that it was an entertaining run and featured some stellar work from its primary creators and the many guest artists who contributed to it as well.