Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon collects Hawkeye (2012) #1-5 and Young Avengers Presents (2008) #6.

In this volume, Hawkeye deals with a rent increase, steals from thieves who steal from thieves, and has to do some work to get an incriminating tape back. There's also a flashback to Kate Bishop as Hawkeye trying to prove herself to the real Hawkeye.

I used to read a lot of Mavel and DC comics, but that was decades ago. I haven't even been keeping up with the Marvel movies very well. I don't think I've ever read or watched anything with Kate Bishop in it. Basically, I'm probably not the best person to be reviewing this. That said, I think I picked this up because I read somewhere that that Matt Fraction's writing was good and that this was a decent starting place for Hawkeye comics newbies mostly familiar with the Marvel movie universe.

I enjoyed the volume's flashes of humor, and I particularly liked David Aja's artwork. I felt a bit lost in terms of the timeline (the volume's events were shuffled some and I didn't immediately realize this), character relationships, and situation. There was no context/explanation given for the period of time that Kate apparently spent pretending to be Hawkeye. And who was Eli?

Hawkeye spent a good chunk of this volume getting beaten up as he reminded readers that he has no superpowers, just skill (and some trick arrows). Still, he managed to get himself back up and functional pretty well considering some of what he went through. I appreciated the bit about the dog he desperately tried to save after it helped him.

The front and back covers include a guide telling readers which volumes to read after this one. I don't feel particularly compelled to continue on, but I appreciate the existence of the guide all the same.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

Highly-recommended mainstream comics always end up being underwhelming for me. This was readable, which is better than most superhero comics (boring as fuuuuck; somehow both fractally complicated and also you can't get too invested in any of the details because they get trashed the instant an author gets bored), but nothing fascinating and definitely not worth the hype. ( )

Just reread this & love it as a great character driven book unlike so many ( )

My second comic book ever. I really enjoyed this; now I want more Hawkeye! I'm a (very) casual Marvel fan, and I appreciate the stories more than the blood/action, so I was kind of nervous picking this up (yeah my first comic book was Wolverine... definitely regret that). But I enjoyed it. I picked this up after watching the Disney series a few weeks ago. Read it in under an hour, because I couldn't wait to find out what happened in the next one. ( )

A lot of fun - a take on the dysfunctional hero with a heart of gold. Like a good-natured noir. Definitely makes for one of the more interesting supes. I mostly liked the stylizeed art - Aja starts off doing an impression of Batman Year One-era Mazzucchelli, though he switches his style around a bit, and other artists are less successful - which fits the overstylized writing well. It's not perfect, and occasionally feels like Fraction is trying a bit too hard. But good diverting fun.