Hawkeye: Rio Bravo

Bought at Boocup, Kerry Parkside, Pudong, Shanghai, China.

Title: Hawkeye: Rio Bravo
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2015
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Chris Eliopoulos, David Aja, Francesco Francavilla
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire, Francesco Francavilla, Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos, David Aja
Editor:Sana Amanat, Stephen Wacker, Jennifer Grunwald

Collecting the end of Matt Fraction's Hawkeye series, originally published in 2013-2015. There are a few gaps in the collection, due to the focus on Clint's storyline in this collection, so some issues focusing on Kate were skipped. The story as presented here is pretty coherent, although it does leave some loose ends.

Clint Barton deals with a bunch of personal problems, the biggest of which is the return of his brother Barney into his life, and the attempt by some mafia-types to force him out of the Brooklyn apartment building he owns.

Clint takes a beating as he rallies his neighbors against an onslaught of tracksuit-wearing goons reminiscent of WWE's Imperium faction. There are plenty of Marvel cameos in what is essentially a street-level story with a gritty look reminiscent of early Frank Miller Daredevil.

The story itself plays around with out-of-sequence plotting, and the opening dream/parody sequence involving a kids' holiday special lend a bit of surreal feel to the collection, but it picks up direction and momentum as it gets going. The relationship between the Barton brothers is at the heart of the story and it is well told with plenty of emotional impact, and something of a surprise ending.

While the villains' nefarious plot is a pretty generic one, the action and character interplay carried the story.

Rating: 7/10

Afterlife With Archie #8

This is one of the comics I picked up during our visit home last summer. Not sure which comic shop I bought this from. I visited a bunch of them during that month or so.

Title: Afterlife With Archie
Date: July, 2015
Publisher: Archie Comics
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Marv Channing, Phil Seuling
Artist: Francesco Francavilla, Gray Morrow
Letterer: Jack Morelli

The variant cover here is a tribute to The Shining, as is the abandoned hotel setting in which this issue takes place. In addition to the Shining, references to A Christmas Carol, plus a whole variety of horror stories an films are scattered through the story.

Archie (post-zombie-apocalypse version) is recounting the story of the death of one of his group of survivors to Jughead, while Jughead pours root beer floats from the supplies found in an abandoned Vermont Hotel.

Later, on the way to the survivors' impromptu Christmas celebration, Archie's mom tells him an old story about a bargain made with witches and a curse placed on the town of Riverdale.

This was all really fun. The classic horror stories were worked to their fullest extent. The familiarity of the characters meshes well with the intensity of the emotions and the seriousness of the horror scenario. There is a lot going on here, but I never felt lost.

Backup story reprints three one-page comic "Essays" on zombies, voodoo, and dragons from Chilling Adventures in Sorcery, published in the 1970s. Short on fact, as is typical of this sort of "nonfiction", but an amusing bit of nostalgia.

I can see why this series has been praised by so many readers. I'll definitely look for more issues of this during this summer's trip home.

Rating: 8/10