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

Ms. Marvel Vol. 1: No Normal

Bought at the Eslite main store, Taipei, Taiwan, June 2019.

Title: Ms. Marvel
Issue: Volume 1: No Normal
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2018
Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artist: Adrian Alphona
Colorist: Ian Herring
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Editor: Sana Amanat, Devin Lewis

Jersey City teenager Kamala Khan gains a set of shapeshifting powers and begins figuring out the whole superhero thing.

This is, in many ways, a fairly straightforward superhero origin story, with Kamala Khan as an updated Peter Parker, trying to do good in the world while she deals with the consequences of her new abilities and her sudden status as the mysterious neighborhood hero.

It's the details that make this work. The multifaceted supporting cast is terrific, and the main character is relatable. There are plenty of interesting bits of dialogue and interactions taking place between the super-heroics, and the book has a sly sense of humor and self-awareness. Having worked in Jersey City for four years, I also appreciated the use of the setting.

The only area I felt could have been a bit stronger in this volume was the villain, but he will hopefully get some more development as the story continues.

Rating: 8.5/10

True Believers: Daredevil: Practice To Deceive #1

I'll be doing a recap of 2017 soon. In the meantime, here is my first comic review of 2018! This is one of the comics I bought at the Shanghai Comic Con in October.

Title: True Believers: Daredevil: Practice To Deceive
Issue: 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: September 2016
Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Matteo Buffagni
Colorist: Matt Milla
Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles
Cover: Bill Sienkiewicz
Editor: Charles Beacham, Sana Amanat

Bringing back the classic Daredevil & Elektra vibe... No matter how many hoops need to be jumped through to do it.

So the backstory here is that Matt Murdock somehow managed to do some sort of mass memory wipe that conveniently rebooted his continuity so that he's back to having a secret identity. Apparently he wasn't all that good at keeping secrets the previous time around. So we've got the classic Matt Murdock, struggling attorney (prosecuting attorney this time!) by day, and Daredevil, masked vigilante by night.

Elektra shows up, oblivious as everyone else that Matt and Daredevil are the same dude (really, if she can't figure this out in the first three seconds of hand-to-hand combat with him, she should turn in her assassin card... or should I say... HAND it over). She asks Murdock to arrange a meeting with Daredevil, who shows up expecting to talk, and Elektra commences with the beatdown.

Oh, and Daredevil has a sidekick! His name is Blindspot. No, really. He basically appears to have all of the annoying qualities of Jason Todd, with none of the good qualities of Tim Drake or Dick Grayson.

He lasts all of a couple of panels with Elektra while Daredevil just kinda cringes.

Finally, Elektra reveals a big dramatic plot development to end it all, none of which required all of the fighting. Apprarently she was just annoyed and had decided she needed to waste some time hurting Daredevil before getting to the point.

And I'm not really sure what the point of all of this was. But I will add half a point for the always-awesome cover work by Bill Sienkiewicz.

Rating: 3.5/10

Ms. Marvel #10

As promised, here is the new stack of to-read comics that I brought back to Vietnam from the US following our recent visit. The majority of these came from a box of pretty random unread comics in our storage unit, but I also attended two conventions and visited several comic shops during my time in the States, so there are some new items in this stack too.

Here is the new stack nicely organized...

...And spread out on the sofa.
















Today's review is a comic I bought off the rack at Double Midnight Comics & Games in Manchester NH. I've been hearing a lot of good things about the new Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, and this is my first chance to read a story featuring her.

Title: Ms. Marvel
Issue: 10
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: February, 2015
Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artist: Adrian Alphona
Colorist: Ian Herring
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Cover: Kris Anka
Editor: Sana Amanat, Devin Lewis

This is part 3 of a four-part story entitled "Generation Why". The basic premise has a villain named the Inventor enslaving teenagers and using them as power sources (think The Matrix) to provide energy for his power-armor and other machines.

But when some of them are freed by Ms. Marvel, she discovers that they may not have been enslaved against their wills at all. What follows is a fairly interesting conversation on the role of the young generation growing up into an economy and an environment ruined by previous generations, who still view the teenagers as parasites, unwilling to work for the same materialistic goals that served in the past.

While a lot of it echoed some internet memes that I have seen floating around, it still made for a good discussion and gave a chance for Kamala Khan to share some of her philosophical ideas.

There was some action here as well, but it was mostly setup for a big final battle next issue. Oh, and Lockjaw from the Inhumans is a guest star here. Kamala Khan's origin apparently has her down as an inhuman, I would assume as a result of Marvel's pushing of the Inhumans as the new version of mutants that Marvel actually owns the cinematic rights to.

I loved Kamala Khan. She's thoughtfully written with a fun and distinctive voice and perspective. I was less impressed with the villain. The Inventor would have been more interesting if he'd matched Kamala philosophically, rather than doing generic villain-ranting while his teenaged followers handled the debating. Given the questions and issues raised here, a villain who could contribute more to the intellectual argument would have been a nice addition.

Still, I found this to be a clever, all-ages-friendly story, and I look forward to reading more of Kamala Khan's adventures.

Rating: 6/10