Get To Know Hawkguy!

So, you’ve seen the first trailer for the upcoming Disney+ Hawkeye series, right? Jeremy Renner returns as the titular target-trouncing bowman and we’re going to be introduced to the MCU’s version of Kate Bishop. But hey, there already are many articles and YouTube videos talking about easter-eggs and hints in the trailer. We’re not gonna regurgitate all that here.

What we’re going to do though, is make you read the seminal series by Matt Fraction and David Aja.

Hawkeye has always been a side character, like in the MCU, since his debut back in the ’60s. He had some solo series here and there but it wasn’t until this series from 2012 that he became arguably the most relatable Avenger and shot his relevance through the roof.

Not much spoilers here but the series follow Clint and his life when he’s not battling space demons and galactic gods with the Avengers. It’s witty, action-packed, and real. Not only that Fraction’s writing is on-point, Aja’s art is amazingly quirky and combined, it makes this run a work of art.

The series also introduced the fan-favourite goodest boy of them all that is Lucky aka Pizza Dog (previously known as Arrow), whom we’ll be seeing in the Disney+ series as well. As everybody has mentioned, issue number 11 of this run was an outstanding story told from the perspective of Lucky, and it’s as amazing as they say it is.

The other cool thing is that Fraction and Aja created the Tracksuit Mafia aka the Tracksuit Draculas, who are the main antagonists for our dear Clint, and these bros are as bro-bro-y-bro-bro as you can get. Even if they can get 50% of how fun and funny these guys are for the TV series, we’ll be happy.

And of course, there’s also Kate “Actually The Greatest Sharpshooter Known To Man” Bishop in all her glorious glory. She’s been a good character since her debut in the Young Avengers series back in ’05 but here, Fraction managed to turn her into a stellar star.

Plus, minor characters that will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading the whole run.

And it’s only 22 issues with one Annual, making the whole series a breezy read that you can finish before the Disney+ series starts streaming on November 24th. Collected in four trade paperbacks (TPBs), they’re coming out with a complete collected edition in early November as well.

Heck, if you don’t want to spend money, the local libraries here in Singapore carry all four TPBs, so please do yourself a favour, seek them out and find out what you’ve been missing out on.

We’ll leave you with some non-spolierish panels from the series below, along with the Disney+ series trailer (if you haven’t seen it yet).

Please, go read these comics and get to know who Hawkguy is.