Thoughts on the late Hawkeye ongoing series...

[ChildOfTheDarkholde]

After the last Hawkeye series' total sales failure, I bet Marvel isn't anxious to bring him back, at least as Hawkeye, but it will be interesting to seee what they do with Clint, if they indeed bring him back, which I doubt.

[Mo S.]

I believe that. After the last Hawkeye series' total sales failure, I bet Marvel isn't anxious to bring him back, at least as Hawkeye, but it will be interesting to seee what they do with Clint, if they indeed bring him back, which I doubt.

I've read a couple "post-mortems" of the Hawkeye series (from Brevoort, Nicieza, Slott and Casey) and the consensus seems to be that the series made 2 critical mistakes - it started with a 6 issue arc (very standard now, not quite so standard then) and it offered a version of the character that fans didn't immediately take to - out of costume, out of the team setting and a somewhat different personality. Initial sales were okay but dropped quickly, indicating that fans were interested at first but lost interest in the story. Googling around and look at review, it also looks like there were vocal critics of Raffaele's art, though I kinda liked it, in places.

I liked the series, but I admit it felt like a different character.

[Kirk G]

I've read a couple "post-mortems" of the Hawkeye series (from Brevoort, Nicieza, Slott and Casey) and the consensus seems to be that the series made 2 critical mistakes - it started with a 6 issue arc (very standard now, not quite so standard then) and it offered a version of the character that fans didn't immediately take to - out of costume, out of the team setting and a somewhat different personality. Initial sales were okay but dropped quickly, indicating that fans were interested at first but lost interest in the story. Googling around and look at review, it also looks like there were vocal critics of Raffaele's art, though I kinda liked it, in places.

I liked the series, but I admit it felt like a different character.

When did this mini come out? I must have missed it.
I did stumble upon a one-shot Hawkeye book that had three distinct chapters in it as he fought a series of villians and wound up against Taskmaster. I sold it not long ago. Was this part of that 6 part mini? How long ago, and did anything important come to pass in it? (Like, Mockingbird marrying him, or dieing on the long trek out of Hades... :D )

[Mo S.]

When did this mini come out? I must have missed it.
I did stumble upon a one-shot Hawkeye book that had three distinct chapters in it as he fought a series of villians and wound up against Taskmaster. I sold it not long ago. Was this part of that 6 part mini? How long ago, and did anything important come to pass in it? (Like, Mockingbird marrying him, or dieing on the long trek out of Hades... :D )

The 8 issue series (launched as an on-going, but truncated) in 2003/2004, written by Nicieza, with Rafaelle on art for 6 issues and I think Bennett on art for 2. The first 6 issues are an arc about a restless, out-of-costume Hawkeye leaving the mansion on his Harley and headin' south for the hot chili and strip clubs and stumbling (kinda literally) across a mystery that eventually drags him to southeast Asia. The last 2 issues involve an again-costumed Hawkeye heading to Russia to investigate the killing of a Russian immigrant "friend" - the Black Widow is involved in that one. the most interesting thing, to me, were the flashbacks at the beginnings of the episodes to his past, which involved a bit of retcon or at least re-shaping but were very interesting. The first arc also has some interesting themes about second- and third-chances and how Hawkeye has gotten the benefit of those just about his entire life and is willing to extend them to others.

You can see the covers here:
http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=list&title=39057699777&snumber=1

[Kirk G]

The 8 issue series (launched as an on-going, but truncated) in 2003/2004, written by Nicieza, with Rafaelle on art for 6 issues and I think Bennett on art for 2. The first 6 issues are an arc about a restless, out-of-costume Hawkeye leaving the mansion on his Harley and headin' south for the hot chili and strip clubs and stumbling (kinda literally) across a mystery that eventually drags him to southeast Asia.
You can see the covers here:
http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=list&title=39057699777&snumber=1

Good god, all the covers look alike!
Hawkeye alone, posing for a poster.
Only the last one features anyone besides Clint. Suppose that had to do with the lack of apeal? :rolleyes:

[Satana Hellstrom]

Good god, all the covers look alike!
Hawkeye alone, posing for a poster.
Only the last one features anyone besides Clint. Suppose that had to do with the lack of apeal? :rolleyes:

I don't think Hawkeye is that appealing a character by himself.

Has he ever had a successful solo book that isn't a not-so-thinly veiled team-Up book or a double-feature comic?
He is one of those characters that will always work in a team setting, but never in a solo book.

[Mo S.]

Good god, all the covers look alike!
Hawkeye alone, posing for a poster.
Only the last one features anyone besides Clint. Suppose that had to do with the lack of apeal? :rolleyes:

Yeah, but misleading/informationless "posed" covers are all the rage now, or so a quick walk through my comics store confirms...

Also note that he is costume in all the covers, yet mostly not on the interiors for most of the 6 issues. Oh, and I forgot an amusing scene - Nicieza beat Millar to the concept of "Hawkeye as a semi-Bullseye" by a bit here....

Hawkeye V3 #1 page 7 (http://www.rhyo.net/Hv3_01p7.jpg)
Hawkeye V3 #1 page 8 (http://www.rhyo.net/Hv3_01p8.jpg)
(since the second scan is kind of confusing - he shoots a spoon, using the rubber band, and creates a chain of events, which start in the red box in the upper left and travel around to the right)

I like Raffaelle's art, though these pages are not the best example, and it's a VERY different look for Hawkeye.

[TimmyTony]

Initial sales were okay but dropped quickly, indicating that fans were interested at first but lost interest in the story.

I think initial sales were mediocre.
rank-63-HAWKEYE #1
October 2003- 35,262 orders
That's just a tad higher than what She-hulk started with in 2004. And She-hulk is arguably a much less popular character than Hawkeye, and also written by a non-superstar writer. But She-hulk has held on to its readers remarkably well (By issue # 4 , Hawkeye was already straddling the 20,000 mark ,Issue # 5 was below 19,000 copies)

And Hawkeye's # 1 orders were considerably lower than the orders for the first issue of the last Alpha Flight book, which also ended up tanking)


I agree that Clint's fanbase isn't as large as we think.