Hawkeye, Volume 6: Hawkeyes

Hawkeye (2012-2016) (Collected Editions)

by Jeff Lemire, Ramón Pérez (Artist)

Hawkeye and Hawkeye take aim at another season — but this time there's a twist!

Arrows fly in two eras as a deep-seated rift stretches across time, bringing old man Clint and a wiser Kate back together to chase down mistakes from their past. But as the reluctantly reunited members of Team Hawkeye struggle to rebuild their trust, their mission brings them face-to-face with the Mandarin!

Meanwhile, today's Clint finds himself estranged from his partner and paying a visit to his big brother, Barney. What makes a hero and what breaks a hero? Find out as Hawkeyes clash in a turbulent trip down memory lane that takes them back to the future!

Collects All-New Hawkeye 2 #1-6

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Fiction

136 pages, Paperback

First published June 28, 2016

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Jeff Lemire is a New York Times bestselling and award winning author, and creator of the acclaimed graphic novels Sweet Tooth, Essex County, The Underwater Welder, Trillium, Plutona, Black Hammer, Descender, Royal City, and Gideon Falls. His upcoming projects include a host of series and original graphic novels, including the fantasy series Ascender with Dustin Nguyen.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Following up an iconic run on a fictional character is never easy, just ask Roger Moore. The dude’s been ridiculed for years for his “dandy-ish” take on 007 compared to the guy’s guy Bond – Sean Connery. So when Jeff Lemire was asked to continue on with Matt Fractions phenomenal run on Hawkeye, he probably wet himself a couple of times in fearful anticipation.



The caption there might be hard to read, but it mentions adult diapers, so....

His sins pile up, starting with Marvel’s re-numbering this volume with an issue #1 when it’s clearly a continuation of the storyline from his first volume and not a reboot. Does a big-ass #1 issue still have the same cache it once did with collectors? In this century, probably not. Slap on some foil-y stuff or put some motion magic on the cover, mayhap, you’ll have something of value.



His smoke and mirrors plot line is tenuous and is held up by paper and paste (mmm paste) time-jump shenanigans – we get the past (Kate), the present, and future (an old Tommy Lee Jones as Clint, Betty White as Kate)



Lemire jumbles up and parallels the time lines in order to draw some sort of conclusion…



…a) Art imitates life
b) People suck
c) Nobody likes lime jello
d) Millard Fillmore was a Skrull
e) b and d



The art – Ramon Perez trying to imitate David Aja’s imaginative artwork just makes me want to cry.

Since I’m in quiz guy mode, here’s a Miller’s Analogy question done for you. You’re welcome!

Art on Lemire’s Hawkeye :: Art on Fraction’s Hawkeye : A Subway sandwich :: food

The story: start with this question and dance around it for six issues.



Then do the five-pigs-in-gunny-sack continuity thing to bring about some sort of quickie, sappy resolution.



Bottom line: With all my whining, I’m still giving this two and a half stars because Lemire’s storytelling still has some wit and it’s fast-paced so it’ll be over before you know it – sort of like a root canal procedure – you’re numb, it takes about forty five minutes and when it’s over you have a dull pain to taunt you about putting yourself through this experience in the first place.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first Hawkeye book in years that I haven’t enjoyed - damn you, Jeff Lemire!

SPOILSIES AHOY!

Continuing the storyline from the last book uninterrupted (wow, what an impact Secret Wars had, eh?), Kate’s not happy that they handed over the Project Communion kids to SHIELD leading to a rift in her and Clint’s friendship. There’s a future flash-forward storyline showing what would have happened if the Hawkeyes had broken up their partnership and a flashback origin story for Kate. Oy, this is a messy book – easy to see why Marvel pulled the plug on the series!

Let’s take these one terrible storyline at a time.

The present-day storyline: was anyone that invested in the psionic kids from the last book? That nonsense was barely enough for one volume let alone two! It was a snore to revisit and all it led to was the “Kate being mad at Clint leading to tensions between them” thing that’s been done before and better in Matt Fraction/David Aja’s run. Do something else with these characters, Lemire! The only good thing about this storyline was Ramon Perez’s artwork which mimics David Aja’s iconic style.

The 30 years in the future storyline: totally irrelevant. This timeline doesn’t even really happen given the events of the present-day storyline SO WHY BOTHER WITH IT AT ALL!? It’s not entertaining and this one doesn’t even have good art – Perez, who differs his style for each storyline, goes for bare-bones sketchy lines, probably to accentuate the tenuous nature of the timeline, but it still looks really bad.

The past storyline: could’ve been much better. In the last book we got Clint’s origins so I guess it’s Kate’s turn? She comes from a wealthy family and dotes on her dad but finds out that he’s a criminal working with supervillains and turns away from him, choosing to fight crime and idolising Hawkeye instead.

So in LA Woman when she gets cut off from her dad’s money, she was ok with where he got his cash and was happy to live on it? That’s not the impression I got from Kate’s reaction here – seems like she pretty definitively wants nothing more to do with Pa Bishop! And also she discovers her dad is a criminal again in LA Woman so why is she having this epiphany here instead of in the future - unless she’s constantly forgetting her dad’s crooked?

Maybe Secret Wars fucked with the timelines, you say, hence the inconsistency. Except everything else from Fraction/Aja’s run, the pre-Secret Wars Hawkeye, is still in play here, even the numbering - this is Volume 6, the first four were by Fraction/Aja. We even revisit Barney’s new life even though Lemire adds nothing worthwhile to Fraction/Aja’s perfect picture-postcard finale for Clint’s brother at the end of Rio Bravo.

Kate’s also at this point basically already Hawkeye in all but name – she’s somehow this pre-teen ass-kicking machine despite only having had some ballet lessons! She sees Hawkeye, likes his bow, and that’s her origin. It’s just bad writing from Lemire. Perez’s art looks quite rushed here too.

I realise it’s not fair to expect Lemire/Perez to measure up to Fraction/Aja’s Hawkeye when their run was such a game-changer but I was hoping for an amount of innovation or at the very least imagination with this title either visually or with the storytelling and there’s none of that here.

Also, Fraction set up a tantalising potential story at the end of Rio Bravo where mobsters and supervillains, with a focus on Kate’s dad, meet and decide to assassinate the Hawkeyes – I don’t know why Lemire ignored that entirely to tell us two pointless past and future storylines but it was a frustrating missed opportunity.

I liked the nod to Kate’s Young Avengers past (also not wiped out by Secret Wars) when she goes for drinks and dancing with Ms America and, though it wasn’t needed, it was nice to see Barney doing well after the shit he went through in Fraction/Aja’s run. Overall, very few bright spots!

Jeff Lemire and Ramon Perez fail to hit the target, closing out their Hawkeye run with an uninspired book that fails to live up to these beloved characters. Hawkeyes is a disappointing continuation of the Clint/Kate/Pizza Dog saga but at least Marvel had the sense to put an end to it before Lemire could do any more damage!

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Six issues of meandering, woe is me, Hawkeye. When did Hawkeye start acting like Peter Parker? Very little happens in the book. I did not like the art. The flashforwards looked like they were drawn in crayon. The only redeeming part of the book were Kate's flashbacks to when she found out about her dad. Perez adopts a different style for the flashbacks which I think works.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this finishes up Hawkeye. I read Factions run in about a weeks time. It took me 2 years to finish Lemire's so guess that shows what I thought huh? I'll be honest though I didn't hate Jeff's run. It's still solid. Volume 5 had some great flashback moments with WONDERFUL art and some cool ideas with Clint. This volume is the other side of things. Getting the past behind Kate who is the other Hawkeye in the tag team here. This time we learn of a future that could be and it's depressing and the tag team are no more. What sets them apart? We learn that here plus a rescue mission.

What I liked: Moments with Kate and Clint feel real. I love their relationship to be honest. I liked learning of Kate's past and seeing why she chose the Hawkeye name. I liked the future idea and thought it was pretty neat twist.

What I didn't like: The art still fails to live up to the original hawkeye run. I also thought the fight scenes were lackluster. The ending felt a little short and I really felt the whole thing was very low stakes throughout.

I still enjoyed Hawkeye volume 6 but it feels weaker than the rest. Well it's time to get to Kate's story which I hear is a blast! Ordering now!

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than Lemire's first Hawkeye volume. This one has more of a focus on Kate, and I loved that. It was great seeing America Chavez again, too.

[Jesse A · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun ending to an incredibly fun series.

[Molly™☺ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rough in both writing and art, it's an unfitting end to the 2012-2016 run. Like the previous volume, it flits back and forth in time, with the flashforward sections looking like first drafts due to the scratchy line work that doesn't bother to erase the guideline anatomy sketch layer. The plot isn't captivating either, and another Kate / Clint argument is a cheap way to create conflict. It's not a gentle decline, but a slap in the face for fans who have stuck with this iteration of Hawkeye. That being said, the final few panels contain the few good moments and it tries its best to end on a high.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Own this in single issue.

I ended up enjoying the ending of this run. Still miss the Matt Fraction and David Aja run but did enjoyed this run. I am looking forward for more Hawkeye in the future.

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars


Liked Kate's origins story much more than Clint's one and the Project Communion storyline was nice.
And was nice to see Clint & Barney buddies again after Barney's betrayal in Fraction & Aja run... Brotherly love triumphed over all or Lamire just forget that? Mah.





Matador in Kate's story was just the top! I love Daredevil's Z-series-old villains! XD

[Funfred · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not even trying to be objective here at all ;)
This now concluded Hawkeye series by Fraction/Aja/Lemire/Perez/.../ is the main reason I got into reading comics in my mid 20s because of their light-hearted, humorous but still emotionally haunting and sometimes depressing vibe they constantly deliver.

Is Vol. 6 as good as Fraction's best effort? Maybe not, but Lemire's storyline about the inhuman kids was a great base to dive even deeper into the relationship between the two Hawkeyes and Kate's past in particular.
I also like how emotionally different the conclusions to each time period in Vol. 6 are, but I'm not going to risk entering spoiler-territory here ;)

Hail Hawkeye.

[Roman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Краще ніж здалося на перший погляд. У цьому трейді зібрано дві арки, які об'єднує спільна сюжетна лінія. Перший розповідає про те як Кейт та Клінт вирішили розійтися на деякий час, а також показується майбутнє яке може статися через це. І якщо лінія у теперішньому чудово показує переживання Гоукаї, то таке відчуття, що лінія у майбутньому потрібна лише для того, щоб у самому коміксі був екшн. Другий же арк вийшов набагато кращим за рахунок доволі простенької, але тим не менш хорошої частини із звільненням дітей. А також відмінної лінії, де показали минуле Кейт. Крім того велику долю похвал заслуговує красива робота художників які малювали серію. Загалом це доволі непоганий комікс, за яким можна добре скоротати час.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hawkeye Vol. 6: Hawkeyes collects issues 1-6 of the Marvel Comics series written by Jeff Lemire with art by Ramón Pérez.

This arc is told through multiple timelines: 1) The present in which Clint tries to reconcile with Kate, 2) the past in which we get flashbacks of Kate’s relationship with her father and she comes to learn he is a bad guy, and 3) approximately 30 years into the future where Clint and Kate haven’t talked in years but must join together for items left unfinished.

I was intrigued where Vol. 5 left off but Vol. 6 is a really messy story. Luckily, Clint and Kate are such interesting characters (even when they are each being uncharacteristically moody) that it still makes for an interesting comic. I don’t think Lemire left a huge mark on the Marvel Universe with these two arcs and it doesn’t seem up to his usual work, though I’m not usually super impressed with his in continuity storylines for DC or Marvel.

[Artemy · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, I just found out this is the end for Lemire and Pérez's Hawkeye. Well, their run has been short and sweet, and this volume wraps up all of the storylines they started in the previous one. The first three issues of the book tell a flash-forward story about future Hawkeyes. This was a weaker arc of the two, mostly because of the resolution. (the future just gets cancelled and rewritten in the end, so basically what's the point) In the second half of the book, though, Lemire continues with his flashback-nowadays storytelling structure, this time with Kate Bishop's childhood origin story of sorts. It was a better story, explaining how Kate got inspired to become Hawkeye, and expanding a bit on her relationship with her father. By the way, maybe I missed something, but at the end of Fraction's run there was a hint at the upcoming rivalry between them, but we never got to see that plot come to life? Correct me if I'm wrong, I may be forgetting things.
So, yeah, aside from kinda disappointing first half of the volume and an unexpected end of the series, it was an OK read. Lemire never got to the storytelling heights of Fraction and Aja's book, but he had a solid story, and he told it well enough. And Ramón Pérez's incredible artwork in multiple gorgeous styles always made up for less than exciting plot. It was a decent follow-up to the incredible series that came before. Now let's see what comes next.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kate and Clint's relationship has been strained ever since they handed the kids from Project Communion over to SHIELD. Now the kids have been kidnapped, and across several different timelines (Kate's past, 30 years in the future, and the present), they must repair the Hawkeye team in order to rescue the kids from both SHIELD and Hydra.

While the 30 years in the future thing was kind of fun, it didn't make much sense to me in the long run. I liked the parallels of Kate's childhood mirrored with the current mission, it also paralleled the Clint & Barny childhood storyline of previous volumes.

[Bárbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't mean to hate on Lemire. He's a great writer but I don't like his version of Kate Bishop. She's stubborn and bratty while in Fraction's run she was stubborn, sassy and funny. She also took over this issue and it made me kinda mad. I like her but I want this to be about both Hawkeyes, not just one. The last two issues were better and fun, thanks to Barney and Clint. I don't know what's going to happen next but I hope it's better than this. I was going to give this a 3 star rating but the art is so great that deserves another star.

[Raghav Bhatia · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5.0

That they dropped what Fraction set up just to do their own thing was not a good decision. The watercolor art and the barebones art doesn't mingle that well here, either. And that old Hawkeye plotline was just filler? And redoing the Katie-Clint conflict? Because I didn't see all that playing any role in the end. Still, if you've read upto the previous volume it's best if you read this and judge for yourself.

[Javier Muñoz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esta etapa con Lemire al cargo del guión no me llega a gustar tanto como la de Fraction, pero resulta interesante por la evolución de la relación entre los dos ojos de halcón (Clint y Kate) y por el desarrollo de la personalidad y el trasfondo de ambos personajes por medio de flashbacks que nos narran episodios de su infancia. Este tomo me gusta un poco más que el anterior, los flashbacks de la infancia de Kate me han gustado más que los de Clint y su hermano.

Este tomo se compone de dos mini arcos de tres números cada uno, los seis capítulos los dibuja Ramón Pérez, su trabajo no llega al nivel de David Ajá en la etapa de Fraction, pero al ser un sólo dibujante si se consigue una consistencia que en la etapa de Fraction no existía por el baile de nombres en el apartado artístico... luego tiene sus altibajos, en el primer miniarco flojean las escenas del futuro de Clint y Kate, en las que se cambia el estilo por razones estilísticas obvias, cosa que queda muy bien en las escenas de flashbacks de la infancia que comentaba antes porque consigue un ambiente etéreo, como de ensoñación (aquí ayuda mucho el colorista también) muy apropiado, pero en estas escenas del futuro el dibujo es demasiado esquemático y no me gusta el resultado final, en todo caso en conjunto cumple con nota.

Este es un cómic entretenido y bien hecho, nole pongo más nota porque las historias tampoco son especialmente memorables, pero como producto de entretenimiento está muy bien.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This comic used to be funnier.
Maybe they should have brought back the thugs that call everyone 'bro".
On second thought, I was really sick of those guys, so maybe not.
The person I'm not sick of is Kate Bishop, even if she was pretty surly in this volume. It was good to get some of her backstory, read about the first time she met Clint, and to learn what led her to become Hawkeye too. It was a little painful to get there, but once the rescue mission was in full swing, the book got pretty good. And the "Hail Hawkeye" lines made me laugh.
There was important resolution in this story, and I'm hoping that paves the way for the next one to have more camaraderie and laughs.

[Reading Bifrost · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I only caught a glimpse of him. But he was amazing. Then the others came. And they were amazing, too. I mean, of course they were amazing. They’re the Avengers. But they aren’t like him. They all have super-powers and armor and stuff. But him… all he had was a bow and arrow. Amazing.”

This made me happy, if for nothing more than the appearance of obscure villains and Avenger cameos. Even the original Hawkeye suit made an appearance! We see Madador, The Mandarin, Marvel Boy, Captain America Chavez, and the Avengers in the past when Kate first meets Hawkeye.

For the comic, the reader is bounced back and forth between Kate’s past, the Hawkeyes’ present, and their possible future. The story is easy to follow though, as the scenes transition smoothly and often times interlock brilliantly. The readers see Kate’s relationship with her father, and much like with Clint’s flashbacks in the previous issue, we see a glimpse why Kate decided to become Hawkeye.

The present story line focuses on the relationship between the Hawkeyes. After the last issue and giving the kids up to SHIELD, Kate and Clint both have mixed feelings about their actions and their future together as a team.

In the future story line everything has gone mad. Hydra and SHIELD both are willing to use the inhuman kids to work for their advantage, and Kate calls Clint back in on the action to correct the mistake they made over thirty years ago.

Overall this was a solid story line, with both Kate and Clint growing into their own version of Hawkeye for great character development.

[Wing Kee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great framing device leads so some great emotions and surprises.

World: The art is good, it's different from Aja and is a style all it's own. I loved the water colors of the last arc and now we get more of it (reminds of me Batman Hush). The world building is good, Lemire and Co. are building from their last arc and giving us one plot device and one piece of the world to play with the relationship between the Hawkeyes. Simple and effective.

Story: The pacing is great, the tone is wonderful and the banter fantastic. The framing device is fantastic because it kept me guessing and the Old Man Hawkeye was just...just read it I can't spoil it for you. The emotions are real and the stakes clear. It's a simple story that is so much more because Lemire does what he does best, relationships. The end was expected but oh so satisfying.

Characters: Banter between Clint and Kate is great. The relationship between them is also great, gut wrenching, but great. Everyone else plays their part but this is their story and Lemire does what he does best. The dynamic they have and the deep feelings they have for each other is fully felt because it's so well written.

I love these two characters together they are just so well written!

Onward to the next book!

[Sonic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lemire brings his big beautiful heart to what they are calling "All New Hawkeye."

Though they started calling it that at volume #5 when Lemire took over, and here in volume 6 we have the art split between the trademark look that was present in the first 4 volumes led by the writing pen of Fraction, and a new style (for the future scenes) that nicely suits Lemire's writing.
Sound confusing?
I am merely laughing at how they can't seem to make up their minds behind backing Lemire as taking this in a new direction or whether they want to present this as a nice continuation of Fraction's excellent run.

It's nuts I tells ya!

[Get X Serious · Rating 5 out of 5]

So. Fucking. Good.

If Lemire's last Hawkeye output wasn't quite up to part with Fraction's, this one definitely is. The story is finally focusing on exactly what it needs to, Barton and Bishop's functional dysfunctional relationship... with some random alternate reality futures thrown in for good measure.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked how this tied up the past few years of stories with Clint and Kate. The art is absolutely phenomenal too.

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

Second half was a lot better than the first half.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume concludes Jeff Lemire's Hawkeye run, and it also finishes out the overall Clint & Kate story started by Matt Fraction and David Aja. Unfortunately, this story is mostly about Project Communion from the previous volume, which wasn't an interesting enough idea to follow for 11 issues of story.

Kate is still angry with Clint for how things went down at the end of the previous volume, with Hydra stealing back the children-turned-into-weapons they rescued, and with Clint having a defeatist "that's just how the world is" attitude about it. The first three issues of this volume go back and forth between shortly after the events of Hawkeye Vol. 5 and thirty (or twenty, depending on which page you reference, as the story claims both at different points) years in the future, as a much older Clint and Kate have to deal with the fallout of their mistakes from decades earlier. There's a lot of angst, SO much angst and bitterness between the two characters that it just becomes tedious after a few pages. The future sequences also rely a bit too heavily on Kate giving Clint a hard time because of how old he is, and after the first couple times it just comes off as petty and cruel. One thing I DO really like about the future sequences is that after Clint makes the choice to work with Kate and rescue the children in the current era, the future timeline fades out of existence, so we come to realize that it's not a definite future, but merely a possible bleak and bitter one that is ruled out when Clint makes the right choice at the end of the arc. I thought that was a nice touch. One could argue that this makes the future scenes pointless, but I think they do an effective job of showing what the stakes are.

The second arc goes back and forth between Clint and Kate working to save the children from Hydra in the current time period, and showing Kate's childhood where we see the moments where Kate became disillusioned with her father, which is juxtaposed with her current emotional conflicts with her chosen father figure/mentor Clint Barton. The big unsurprising twist in this story is telegraphed so far in advance that is has no impact at all.

Once again, as in the previous volume, Ramón Pérez changes his art style drastically between the current timeline and the past and future ones. While his watercolors in the flashbacks of Volume 5 were quite beautiful, his future timeline art is very sketchy and sloppy with ugly muted colors. The flashbacks to Kate's childhood in the second half of the volume are back to the beautiful watercolors and are thus much more enjoyable than the art for the grimdark future timeline.

There are a couple of sloppy writing mistakes in this volume that also bother me, the first one being the aforementioned disagreement about whether the future timeline is twenty or thirty years in the future. The second is when Clint visits his brother Barney on his private island, and the woman Simone from the Fraction/Aja run who he is now in a relationship with is referred to multiple times as Cheryl. Lemire tries to play it off in the last issue by having Kate call Barney out on referring to Simone by the wrong name, and he offers a pretty weak explanation for it that's a painfully obvious attempt by Lemire to recover from the error.

[Alex E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lemire is a writer who can get to the emotional core of not only a story, but of a character. In this volume, he shows us that Clint can be a lonely guy with a good intentions, even if they don't pan out all the time.

Kate Bishop on the other hand, wants to find her own path. But how to do that when your life is modeled around someone else's legacy? That's what is at the center of the book. Yeah, its about saving the poor kids from the last volume. And its about foiling the plans that Hydra and Shield have for them, but its more about the relationship between Clint and Kate. Their bond is ultimately what causes such a distance from them. And how to reconcile that distance or if its even possible.

The art is reminiscent of silver age goodness, and I really liked the flash back sequences done in water color. Really interesting art choices in this book keep it fresh and never looking dull.

A good meditation on legacy and friendship, this book will have you entertained and thinking of what it means to be a partner and more than that, a friend, of Hawkeye.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book might have been better if they hadn't numbered it as part of Fraction's Hawkeye; the plot feels completely separate and the approach to the characters do too.

All in all, this is alright but it's hard to follow up Fraction and Aja's Hawkeye

Ps. The views expressed in this review are my own and do not reflect the views of Indigo Books & Music Inc. or any of its subsidiaries.

[ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

aw man this was great! nice art, nice relationship development.

[Tomer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally some decent origin story for Kate Bishop the young and future Hawkeye.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

No ha estado mal, pero sigue sin estar a la altura de los volúmenes tres y cuatro.
Me ha gustado ver a Old Man Clint por un momento, pero me hubiera gustado saber más sobre los niños.