Imagine my joy when I found out that Hawkeye #7 is being released on January 30th, making this post both contemporary and relevant. Redundancies aside, Matt Fraction is a man who’s worthy of a fair amount of praise.
First of all, he’s a man who clearly loves comics. Secondly, as the current writer of Fantastic Four he’s basing the Reed family on his own wife and two children. Thirdly, he’s married to extremely talented comics scribe Kelly Sue Deconnick, who has revitalized Captain Marvel in a huge way. Fourthly, he is also the writer of Marvel’s new-ish Hawkeye title, and it is fantastic.
Fraction’s take on the character is through the lens of a man who, when not rubbing elbows with super soldiers and Norse gods, is just a guy. Take the following panels into account:
Okay, that about just sums up what I said. Check this one out, too:
So now, we’ve established that Matt Fraction’s writing is great. David Aja, who illustrates the title, is also great [at drawing]. Greatness all across the board, you guys [and girls], this is a comic that you should be rolling your eyeballs across.
That’s worth a Fame Day. But you know what’s even more worth that? The cover on the left. It’s for, and the title of this blog post is pretty self-explanatory, Issue #7 of Hawkeye. Why is this a big deal?
For one thing, Fraction is taking time off of his current storyline to explore what happens when Hurricane Sandy hits Clint Barton’s neighbourhood. The real world affects Marvel’s that’s pretty neat.
Here’s something else that’s neat: Matt Fraction will be donating all of his royalties from the issue to Red Cross, which will work towards relief efforts for Sandy’s Victims.
That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, this man will not be making a cent off of the issue. It’s the story about “a girl trapped at a function that she can’t get out of when the hurricane comes, and about a guy helping his buddy move his infirm dad to safe ground” [check the above link]. It’s a story that, for every issue it sells, will benefit those who lost their homes due to a tragic natural disaster.
If you are a person who thinks they might want to get into comics, this would be a great place to start. It’s a smart, funny title written by a talented man, and it’ll be $2.99, a fraction [pun not intended] of which will go towards people that genuinely need it. Think about it. And at the very least, give the man some credit.
I fully realize that many comic book readers do not like it when their medium of choice makes changes to appear more in line with what takes place on the big screen. That being said, Col. James Rhodes has been wearing the red, white, and blue power suit for a little while now and it’s led to some pretty great stories.
Culture War Reporters 