Review: Old Man Hawkeye #12

The surfeit of old man/woman stories on the market have been hit or miss.Â All of these stories seem to have drawn inspiration from the hugely successful ‘Old Man Logan’ run by Mark Millar.Â However, that story was hardly the first to explore this idea of aging superheros finding their way in a changed landscape from the one fans are used to seeing them in.Â ‘Kingdom Come’ by Mark Waid and ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ by Frank Miller are books in a similar vein.Â There are currently several ‘Old Person’ books out today.Â Writer Ethan Sacks and Marvel Comics have linked ‘Old Man Hawkeye’ to the story that started this trend, ‘Old Man Logan’, and have been successful doing so.

‘Old Man Hawkeye’, the mini-series and this issue specifically, serves as a direct prequel to the events of ‘Old Man Logan’ Volume 1.Â Hawkeye, now blind, and Kate Bishop are being held captive by Avalanche in the Weapon X facility.Â Hawkeye has been on a mission of vengeance throughout the story arc, seeking a reckoning with those who were responsible for the deaths of The Avengers years previous.Â With Kate Bishop’s help; Hawkeye escapes, slaying both Avalanche and Bullseye while doing so.Â These battles are particularly brutal and Hawkeye, though blind, still has unerring aim if he is able to locate his target.Â One of the scientists they rescue in the Weapon X facility has a case of super solider serum that has been manufactured for used by Red Skull.Â Hawkeye, intending to use it to create new super heroes and dethrone Skull, rescues the scientist and eventually sends him away when confronted by Bullseye.Â With the serum temporarily out of his reach; Hawkeye, along with Bishop, leaves Canada before Taskmaster and his men arrive.Â The final pages of the issue are of the pair arriving in California, now the territory of The Hulk Gang, and Bishop leaving Hawkeye on Logan’s doorstep.Â All of this dovetails nicely into the beginning of Old Man Logan, that story sparking a larger universe that continues to this day.

Old Man Hawkeye blends seamlessly into the beginning of Old Man Logan, even providing some grim foreshadowing of Hawkeye’s eventual fate.Â The writing is extremely faithful to the preceding story and it was enjoyable to add this to the growing lore ofÂ Earth-807128.Â I’m not as big a fan of the art style in this book.Â It feels rough, messy and chaotic; lacking the crisp, beautiful lines of Old Man Logan or other books I’m a fan of.Â However, the color palette matches the one from Old Man Logan and continues to evoke the same emotions.Â All in all, this is a very fine book that I intend to add to my collection as a precursor work to one of my favorite Wolverine stories of all time.

Writing – 5 of 5 Stars
Art – 3.75 of 5 Stars
Color 4.5 of 5 Stars

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Writer – Ethan Sacks
Art – Francesco Mobili
Color – Andres Mossa
Letters – Joe Caramagna

Author Profile

Nemesis

Nemesis is a poet, writer and author of the upcoming novel The Long Game. He is a writer of science fiction and supernatural thrillers. Besides novels and short stories he writes for UK based ASAP Comics developing new stories for Level 8 and OPSEC. Nem is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and tries to bring those experiences into his writing.

He lives and works out of his home in Riverside, California with his wife and three children. When not writing he enjoys reviewing comic books and graphic novels for ComicCrusaders.com and living the Southern California life with his family.