Hawkeye: Freefall #5
Marvel Comics
Writer: Matthew Rosenberg
Artist: Otto Schmidt
For the most part, Hawkeye: Freefall is a wacky, light-hearted story about Hawkeye coming up with increasingly-insane plans and trying to hide them from the other Avengers. In this penultimate issue, however, things start to become more focused and more serious. Not too much more serious, but enough to give the feeling of real stakes and a determination for defeating The Hood.
Clint Barton has been dressing up as Ronin while trying to take down The Hood as a way to keep The Avengers from finding out. The Avengers would definitely not approve of some of Clint’s methods, and any time that the Avengers do show up, it only creates more problems. Since he can’t ask The Avengers for any favors, Clint seeks out the help of Wilson Fisk. Problems arise from trying to make a deal with Fisk, which is no surprise. In the meantime, Clint continues to sabotage The Hood’s business to limit his power, which has led to some of the most entertaining moments in this series.
This series is heavy on dialogue above action, and Hawkeye is focusing on strategy. Hawkeye’s plans are going well at the moment, as opposed to the plenty of times that he’s had to improvised when things went wrong. That’s not to say that everything’s going well for Clint, though. While he’s getting closer to defeating The Hood, other aspects of his life are taking a turn for the worst. There is a handful of calmer, more-serious moments in this issue, which are much needed as the series rapidly reaches its finale. Meaningful encounters with The Hood as well as with Linda Carter hint that resolution is coming soon.
The art in this series is as good as ever. I’m particularly a fan of how the color of the character in focus in the scene takes over the look of the background. When a scene is focusing on Clint, the area around him is tinted a bright purple. While he is Hawkeye, the purple gets slightly darker. When he is dressed as Ronin, he is always illuminated by green light. The Hood, which is a villain wearing a prominent red hood, is colored wonderfully. His large, waving hood displays many different shades of red and is immediately eye-catching. In the final moments of this issue, as Hawkeye reaches an especially low point, his purple color scheme clashes with harsh black shadows in a really great way.
As dark as this series is becoming, I can’t imagine it ending on a sad note. The series began in such a light-hearted way that I am expecting the story to come back around to by the end. With only one issue left, a lot of things need to be accomplished. For now, however, the tension is rising, and Clint is more determined than ever.
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Hawkeye: Freefall #5
This series is taking a darker turn from its humble, silly beginnings. Tension is building towards what is sure to be an exciting climax.
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