By: Matt Fraction (story), Javier Pulido (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors)
The Story: And just like that, Clint’s much hoped-for peaceful night goes out the window.
The Review: With Alex on break once again, I’ll just use the same speech here that I made on Daredevil #18: a Marvel title I respect, always wanted the chance to check it out, and here it is. A.V. Club calls this series the best comic out of Marvel, and while I can’t really confirm or dispel that—not having read every comic out of Marvel—it wouldn’t surprise me if they’re right. The praise for this series has been almost shockingly universal.
You have to keep in mind that Fraction makes things easy on himself by aiming for a more action-packed type of book, at least at first. It doesn’t take literary genius to write that kind of thing, but it does some effort and a lot of craft to make an action title more than just mindless violence. Fraction not only plays out the action well, he also makes it incredibly fun and even gives it some real stakes—not an easy balance to pull off.
One thing that bores me about fighting sequences in most comic books is they generally involve indistinguishable, generic fisticuffs, shoot-offs, or energy-blasting. The characters never look like they’re actually measuring up their opponents and using tactics of any kind; it often seems more like they’re flailing with their bodies and powers, hoping something will hit the mark. This would be a horrible position to place Hawkeye, allegedly “the greatest sharp-shooter known to man.” That’s why it’s way more thrilling to see Clint dodging a squad of katana-wielding ninjas while tied to a chair by engaging in some very well-timed and rather exotic maneuvers.
As far as the plot goes, I got the general sense of the premise—damning videotape* and so on—but where Madame Masque comes in sort of beats me. Neither the breezy recap page nor the context of the issue clarified the details much, but you get enough to enjoy the story and to appreciate the emotional beats at work here. Obviously, the heart of the title is the big brother-little sister relationship between Clint and Kate, and seeing Kate’s loyalty and trust tested does give the issue more weight than your usual action-thriller.
Fraction has a very lively writing style, keeping things short and sweet, breaking up even relatively average lines to add to the tension of the issue. Even where he delves into Clint’s mind, he doesn’t go overboard with the stream-of-consciousness stuff. Overall, Fraction shows the value of “Less is more,” a lesson most comic book writers nowadays simply don’t adhere to, much to the detriment of their comics. And because he sticks to a mostly simple, dialogue-driven narrative, you appreciate the longer speeches, like Masque’s smoking bit, more.
I loved Pulido’s work on his arc with La Sangre on The Shade and I still his enjoy his pulp-infused style here. True, there’s little of the architectural wonder he displayed on The Shade, but he does offer a dazzling backdrop of the New York (?) skyline as Clint fights off ninjas on a hovercraft. Overall, the semi-deco look of Pulido’s art fits perfectly with the title’s sensibilities: it’s modern, sophisticated, and retro all at the same time. Combined with Hollingsworth’s Technicolor hues, the visuals pack a lot of punch. Just look at the panel of Masque taking a shot at Kate and Clint; between Pulido’s geometric composition and the scarlet monochrome and the old-school sound effect lettering, it’s stuff that’d make the old pulp cartoonists proud.
Conclusion: I cannot express how much envy I feel that Alex gets to review this series every month, but I’m delighted to cover for the time being, given the quality of the series.
Grade: A-
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: – * Does anyone else find it hilarious that a videotape is the big plot device here? Clint has definitely dated himself with that one.
– “I will never lie to you, Kate. Ever. About anything. Otherwise what’s the point?” For someone who’s never taken on a sidekick before, Clint’s really crushing it first time out.
Grade
Conclusion