Comic Review: Old Man Hawkeye #12

Old Man Hawkeye #12

Marvel Comics

Writer: Ethan Sacks

Artist: Francesco Mobili

Old Man Logan gave us a world with no superheroes, where the villains won. The only other hero we saw was an old, blind Hawkeye. Old Man Hawkeye takes place years earlier, before Hawkeye completely lost his sight. But with this issue, Hawkeye’s cross country journey of vengeance is at its end. For anyone who hasn’t read it, slight SPOILERS ahead.

The seismic powers of Avalanche have accelerated the loss of Clint’s vision, leaving him completely blind. All while he and Kate Bishop are fighting Hydra deep in the old Weapon X facility. They escape, saving some scientists along the way, only to come face to face with Bullseye, who’s been tracking them.

It’s probably because I like Hawkeye more as a character, but I like Old Man Hawkeye way more than Old Man Logan. This whole series has been really good. This issue is also pretty good, but I think it’s weaker than the rest of the series. Hawkeye goes blind, which we all knew would happen before the end. But there’s also a lot of winks and nudges to the original Old Man Logan story. Which, while I don’t necessarily mind, feels like they’re winking at us and tapping our arm saying “you get it?”. One of the scientists the Hawkeyes save is carrying 99 vials of super soldier serum. Kate literally says “you’ll end up with a bullet in your head”. Get it?

Besides that, the issue is somewhat satisfactory. This obviously isn’t the end of Clint’s journey, but it feels a little anticlimactic. The showdown with Bullseye feels a little like an afterthought. Kate drops Clint off, says she’s done with superheroing, and then it just ends. But points where it counts, I fully expected Kate to die, and she didn’t, so I’m happy with that.

The art in this issue is good. Francesco Mobili’s art is good. The action scenes especially stand out to me. The whole scene where Kate and Clint are firing arrows at hydra soldiers is really cool. There’s one page where the layout is a bit confusing, at least for me. I had to look it over a couple of times to get it. Taskmaster and the Red Skull show up towards the end and look a little similar. They have their own costumes, but Taskmaster’s skull face/mask looks identical to Red Skull’s. It’s not a major issue, just something that I noticed.

All in all, I’m satisfied with this ending. It’s not exactly what I expected, but it’s clear that Old Man Hawkeye’s journey isn’t over. And I’m not even talking about Old Man Logan, I’m sure he’ll pop up again in another mini or limited series. The story is good, just a little heavy on the nods to Old Man Logan. Besides some minor problems, the art is good, and the action is clean. It’s a nice ending to the Old Man Hawkeye series.