Welcome friends to this, our first installment of Marvel Files: Threefer Madness! This week Zack Jenkins and Tony Thornley are looking at three of the big releases this week: Hawkeye: Freefall #1, Star Wars #1, and Daredevil #16!
Hawkeye: Freefall #1
ZJ: Shocking everyone, Hawkeye has become an intimidating character to write in the last decade. It’s nearly impossible to discuss him without talking about the legendary Matt Fraction & David Aja run that cemented Clint as a headstrong screw-up who is great at both archery and boats [Ed Note: And kind of good at mentoring]. Luckily, Otto Schmidt has a history of drawing archers, and Matthew Rosenberg writes some of the best disaster humans in comics. How do you think this #1 stood up Tony?
TT: I kind of loved this issue. Rosenberg is born to write Clint Barton. He writes a good balance of Clint Barton- Disaster Human and Hawkeye, the Avenger. He has a certain level of competence that he deserves to have (I mean he’s earned his place with gods) but is still kind of a goof. Schmitt is a nearly perfect choice for the art too, because he has this fluid line that is great for both action and comedy.
Clint has a bit of an interesting challenge here, as things are coming at him from two fronts. In the first half of the issue, he pulls off a sting against the Hood (that ends up going badly in an unexpected way). Meanwhile, in the second half we meet a new (and redesigned) Ronin. I think Rosenberg infused both with a lot of menace. What did you think?
ZJ: I went in with high expectations from this team considering how well Rosenberg wrote Clint in his Tales Of Suspense mini, and I think those were more or less met. Now, this isn’t going to be a comic the redefines the medium, but as a smart, funny, and tightly executed comic in the magnificent Marvel tradition, it excels. Rosenberg writes Clint with a dry, sardonic wit that really works for the character. The book walks a fine line of Clint acting cool, and selling the audience on that fact, but not actually being cool. Like the carny in the leading role, the book uses that sleight of hand to hide a sadder story.
Clint, for all his leaning-outside-the-mall-smoking-cloves coolness [Ed Note: Yes, that is what cool is] is an absolute loser in this story. His attempts to take down The Hood only hurts the villain’s lower class hired hands, not the privileged mastermind. The emergence of a new Ronin reveals that not even The Avengers, a team he once led, fully trust him. Schmitt is given a big task in making sure this subtext comes through in the character acting, and he does a great job with it.
Star Wars #1
ZJ: You cannot run from it. Star Wars discourse will consume us all. In their newest series, Charles Soule and Jesus Saiz take us to 3 ABY, moments after Darth Vader revealed to Luke their shared history [Ed. Note: This technically takes place during Empire Strikes Back]. Han Solo has been captured by Boba Fett, and Leia, Chewie, and the rest of the gang have to decide between going to his rescue and helping the Rebellion, all while trying to decide if they can trust Lando Calrissian, the smoothest man in space. It’s a direct sequel to the most beloved of the Star Wars, do you think it lived up to that legacy?
TT: I can’t wait for Marvel to adapt my favorite mid-90’s Expanded Universe novel Shadows of the Empire!
ZJ: If Prince Xizor, a character I only know from having his action figure, shows up, I would lose it. [Ed Note: Or everyone’s favorite dollar store Han Solo, Dash Rendar]
TT: In all seriousness though, I liked it, but for what happened in the issue I felt it was pretty low key. I enjoyed the conflict between Leia, Chewie and Lando quite a bit, and Luke’s mental state was a great touch. Artistically speaking I really enjoyed what Jesus Saiz did. He was photoreal without being overly stiff and taking me out of the story. The movie characters fit right in with the ones who have never been seen in live action. But the big (largely one-sided) battle between the Imperials and Rebels felt extremely low stakes, partly because most of what we saw of it was a bunch of shock troops basically staring out a window and yawning.
ZJ: Part of me likes that in concept. Doing these stories between movies will always feel low stakes because we know that down the road, maybe 50 issues from now, it will all end with the Rebels being strong enough to launch a multi-pronged attack on the second Death Star. Not to mention that, unlike the previous run of comics, this era of Star Wars was deeply explored in the “Legends” canon. We are even getting a Bounty Hunters book to run along this. It’s like poetry, it rhymes [Ed Note: Booo].
What this comic does well with is getting inside the character’s heads, specifically Luke and Leia’s. We get very little of Luke coming to terms with the reveal of his father in the films, he just shows up in Return Of The Jedi having more or less come to terms with it. In the same way, Leia trusts Lando enough in RotJ to make him a general in the Rebellion, even though he sold her out to Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. Following these characters on their emotional journey between films is a real strong point of this book and I hope Soule continues to mine those wells.
TT: Soule is extremely good at that, and adding Poe Dameron’s parents to the mix does a lot to expand that emotional story outside of the core cast. I mean we know nothing REALLY bad is going to happen to Skywalker, Calrissian and Organa, but to Dameron and Bey, that’s mostly off the table [Ed Note: Bey was the lead in Shattered Empire, as well]. Really though, if this series does nothing but bridge the emotional arcs between Empire and Jedi in a satisfying way, I’ll be happy. This definitely goes a long way in setting that up.
Daredevil #16
TT: Chip Zdarsky, Jorge Fornes and team continue to impress in the latest chapter of Daredevil. Here Matt and Elektra continue to deal with the gang war brewing in the Kitchen, Fisk deals with the literal fallout of his confrontation with the Stromwyns, and Foggy gets a bombshell dropped in his lap. I was a few issues behind when I picked this issue up, but I was really impressed by how well Zdarsky catches us up to what’s happening but also tells a really solid but different story. What did you think of it Zack?
ZJ: I’ve liked what I’ve read of Zdarsky’s Daredevil, but I’ve not loved it. This issue was more of the same for me. The most important thing to note is that Chip has Daredevil’s voice down to a science. The scenes where he an Elektra verbally spar with one another are the best moments in the book. What doesn’t work as well for me is the larger gang war plot. I don’t have any investment in who is running Hell’s Kitchen, nor the ongoing drama in the NYPD. It feels like the most basic Daredevil story you could tell, and really pales in comparison to Matt’s crisis of faith.
TT: Yeah, that’s the flaw of this run distilled really well. None of the antagonists are particularly memorable. However, when Zdarsky is writing Matt, Elektra or Fisk, this story really sings.
Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist, and all around awesome guy. He’s also very humble.
Zachary Jenkins runs the Xavier Files Media Empire and is a co-host on the podcast “Battle of the Atom.” Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside of X-Men.
Zachary Jenkins runs ComicsXF and is a co-host on the podcast “Battle of the Atom.” Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside of all this.
Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist, and all around awesome guy. He’s also very humble.
