Hawkeye miniseries from 1983

[John Dunbar]

Over at the "Comics Should Be Good" website, they're doing a series of Five Most Iconic Covers. So far, they haven't done too many superstars; mostly, it's been B-listers like the Martian Manhunter, Black Canary, Hercules, and even a few villains, like the Green Goblin. One of the featured is my favorite Avenger, Hawkeye. To be clear, it's Clint Barton as Hawkeye, so anything featuring Kate Bishop or Bullseye weren't considered, nor were covers featuring Clint's other identities (Goliath and Ronin). Here's a link, if you're interested:

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2009/09/12/top-five-most-i...

One thing that didn't make the cut was the first issue of the topic of this thread, the first Hawkeye limited series. The comment was: "Gruenwald's Hawkeye #1 cover really isn't all that great of a cover". I had to think for a minute if that was right, that it was Mark Gruenwald that drew the cover. I would have bought the miniseries back then, but I probably haven't read it in over 20 years. Gruenwald's fame was mostly as an editor and writer, but a penciller? I wiki'ed him, and sure enough, he was both writer and penciller for the four issue limited series; beyond that, wiki lists 6 other credits as penciller - three issues of What If? (2 as "co-penciller"), one issue of Hulk, a Marvel Team-Up Annual, and the first issue of Questprobe. I'm guessing either him pencilling was an emergency stopgap, or he just did it for fun and the sheer heck of it, pretty random either way.

So I gave the miniseries itself a little more thought. I know that in 1983 I would have been all over this thing, as Hawkeye was and is one of my favorite characters. But I don't remember a darned thing about the story itself. OK, maybe a thing or two, as I know this is where he met Mockingbird and they got married at the end of it, and I think he partially loses his hearing in the story, but that's all I remember. I'm wondering a few things though:

- What was the story about, and was it any good?

- Was it ever explained anywhere why Gruenwald pencilled this? Was it a labor of love for Hawkeye, just a lark, or what?

- In 1983, it would have gone completely over my head, as I was a full on Marvel Zombie, but I'm sure many of you saw Marvel giving their bow-and-arrow guy a love interest who happened to have a bird-themed codename and no superpowers, and you thought, "haven't I seen this movie before?" Homage or swipe?


ps. instead of making another thread, I want to quickly add that when I did a little research on Hawkeye, I found out there was a second miniseries in 1994, by Chuck Dixon and Scott Kolins, two names I associate more with DC. Covers looked kinda Image-y. Any thoughts on this one?

[ClarkKent_DC]

I haven't read that thing since it was on the stands, either, so I barely remember the story. Something about industrial espionage. And he lost his hearing, if I recall correctly, because he was being attacked by some kind of sonic weapon, so to counteract it, he put the head of his sonic arrow in his mouth and switched it on; the idea was that one frequency would cancel out the other so he could concentrate on whatever it was he was trying to do.

John Dunbar wrote:
- In 1983, it would have gone completely over my head, as I was a full on Marvel Zombie, but I'm sure many of you saw Marvel giving their bow-and-arrow guy a love interest who happened to have a bird-themed codename and no superpowers, and you thought, "haven't I seen this movie before?" Homage or swipe?

I'm not a Marvel Zombie, and I'm not exactly a full-on DC guy either, but I didn't catch on, either.

I had forgotten that Mark Gruenwald drew this. I'd say "labor of love"; I recall some interview with him about the research he put into this story -- for example, he learned that archers always line up their shots by putting the hand that's pulling the bowstring on their cheek, and he was careful to draw it that way every time.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Honestly, I never noticed the DC connection until you pointed it out. Back in the '80s, Jim Shooter would not greenlight a mini-series unless it featured a signifigant development in the life of the hero (in this case, getting married). Continuity was tight back then. Hawkeye left the Avengers shortly prior to the beginning of this series, then returned immediately after. Hawkeye #4 leads directly into Avengers #239, which begins with Hawkeye carrying Mockingbird over the threshold of Avengers Mansion. Hawkeye's deafness was mentioned from time to time but never handled consistently. Eventually the "reset" button was pushed (somewhat retroactively) in a post-Heroes Return Avengers Annual.

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

Hmm, I seem to remember reading the Hawkeye mini from the '90s, but I don't remember anything about it.I just glanceds at the covers, and it jogged very little of my memory. Standard '90s Marvel mini I guess.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I didn't read the '90s mini-series but I considered buying it when I learned that Jim Scully (Skull the Slayer) appeared. I flipped through it but his role wasn't large and he hadn't aged well.

[Mr. Satanism]

I remember buying the first issue of the 1980s mini when it first came out, hating it, and adding it to the pile I planned on trading in at the local comic shop. The store I took it back to was run by a really great, very honest guy, and he made an offer for my books but then gave this one back to me. "I can't in good faith take Hawkeye #1 for the price I'm offering- it just came out but it's gonna be worth a lot of money some day. Keep it, even if you hate it. You can always sell it later." I insisted he take it anyway, and was pleased years later to see that it had been virtually forgotten and wasn't worth diddly.

[Figserello]

Hawkeye is one of my earliest favourites. One of the earliest comics I got featured him alone against the Collector, during the great run leading up to issue #200. He's never looked better than when drawn by Byrne or Perez.

ps. instead of making another thread, I want to quickly add that when I did a little research on Hawkeye, I found out there was a second miniseries in 1994, by Chuck Dixon and Scott Kolins, two names I associate more with DC. Covers looked kinda Image-y. Any thoughts on this one?

No, but I got the 2003 Fabian Nicieza miniseries piecemeal from the bargain bins and it wasn't a bad read when I sat down with them all.

A nice touch was that Hawkeye was friends with some blue-collar folks that he'd unwind with, chugging beer and explaining the ongoing story as a kind of framing device. It was good to see him having a life beyond the Avengers, and relaxing amongst people he felt at home with, instead of being the perrenial gadfly to super-soldiers, egg-head scientists and billionnaire industrialists, who all seemed to make him feel uncomfortable!

I don't usually have a lot of time for Nicieza, but this was a solid little story. I think it might have been one of those minis that started off with 'issue 1 of 5' and ended up with 'issue 6 of 6'. X-men writers love to sprawl!

[Mr. Satanism]

That was my first exposure to the character too! It was part of the somewhat sprawling Korvac saga, but even as a stand-alone it was a great comic.

Figserello said:

Hawkeye is one of my earliest favourites. One of the earliest comics I got featured him alone against the Collector,

[Kent Allard]

This was one of the first minis I ever bought, from the 7-11 on Route 301 in Upper Marlboro MD - I had and read the first 2 issues over and over again, but missed the second half and never knew how it turned out. Got the trade (a very early trade) and have read that maybe 10 times. First 2 issues were great, last 2 maybe not, but I still love the hard-luck archer - this is definitive 80s Marvel for me. Wish I were 11 again.

Mark's note at the beginning of the '88 trade mentions that he had not been successful breaking into the business on his art skills, though it does not say why he got the drawing job for this series - he just notes that he jumped in with both feet and did the best he could (sort of like Clint).

One of my favorite scenes has Hawk and Mock on the NYC subway when they encounter commercial artist Steve Rogers (carrying his sheild in the oversized portfolio). Steve offers to help and Hawkeye declines, eager to do the job himself (even though his pride, body and wallet have been seriously damaged in the story). Great piece of "a man's gotta do..."