Hawkeye, Volume 1: My Life as a Weapon

Oh, Clint Barton. You adorable, awkward, totally kick-ass man, you! I'm so glad that my co-worker convinced me to read this! What does Hawkeye do when he's not with the Avengers? That's what this book sets out to show, and it does an excellent job.

First off, Matt Fraction's writing is superb. He gives Clint this perfect balance between sarcastic and sweet. It's hard not to fall head over heels in love with him. Watching him put on himself on the line for other people, lament the fact that he has no actual superpowers, and flirt awkwardly with Kate Bishop was all kinds of fun. I cracked up laughing more than once at the things that come out of this man's mouth. He really needs a better filter.

In terms of art, it's pure perfection here! It's not the most crisp art ever, and it has the tendency to be a bit duochrome, but it suits the story just fine. I especially loved all the panels where pizza dog made his debut! It's impressive that these amazing illustrators were able to bring an entire story line to life with nothing but wordless panels. LOVE!