As much as I loved the Fraction/Aja Hawkeye series, it has a lot to answer for.

Namely, it's caused everyone afterwards to portray Hawkeye as a schlub, as a down-on-his-luck-and-lucky-to-ever-actually-succeed hero wannabe.

C'mon, folks, you've got to have longer memories than that. Hawkeye was trained in combat by Captain America himself. Hawkeye founded and led the West Coast Avengers. Hawkeye led the Thunderbolts. When all of the other Avengers had been captured, Hawkeye--all on his own--defeated the Collector. When most of the East and West Coast Avengers were dead, Hawkeye--all by himself--defeated the Grandmaster.

Clint Barton is the bomb, but after Fraction/Aja, all anyone seems to do is show him getting his but kicked.

This week's Friday Night Fights will be a much needed restorative.

Hawkeye, kicked out of the Avengers by Henry Peter Gyrich, has just taken a job as head of security at Cross Technologies, who have been experiencing a string of mysterious break-ins...


Uh-oh...





Yeah, that's my Hawkeye.

Spacebooger still thinks the fight would have been better with Pizza Dog there.

Hawkeye takes down the Shi'ar's greatest warrior in Avengers #189 (1979), with a plot by Mark Gruenwald, Steven Grant & Roger Stern (with "creative kibitzing" by David Michelinie), script by Grant, pencils by John Byrne, and inks by Dan Green

Now is the time for you to go and vote for my fight. Why? You don't want me going on another Hawkeye rant, do you? Then go vote!!

Will miracles never cease?

In this week's Generations: Hawkeye & Hawkeye #1, Kate Bishop is sent through time and space to have an adventure with a young Clint Barton. Good fun.

As the two split up to pursue separate missions, we get a double-page spread. On the left, we have Kate...
 
And on the right we have Clint:

Do you see? Do you see?!?!?!?!? My gosh, that's got to be those first time I've seen actual thought balloons in a Big Two comic in years!

It's a clever conceit--the character from the present using narrative captions, the dude from the past using "old-fashioned" and currently verboten thought balloons!! Good on you, Kelly Thompson!

And, of course Clint Barton isn't going to self-narrate his life like a junior high student filling a journal with portentous self-analytical musings. He's just going to be thinking to himself, dammit!!

Again, not every character or story is ill-served by narrative captions. Hell, lots of the time they work beautifully, and are the preferable mode.

But by that same token, the arbitrary industry diktat that all comics must now use captions makes no more sense than declaring that everyone must use thought balloons. Not every character "thinks" in literary-sounding essays, playing the Watcher in their own life, spewing out Rod-Serling-end-of-the-episode lessons while they're fighting.

So I hope that, rather than a cute one-off device, this signals a softening of the industry fatwa against our friend, the thought balloon. Probably not, but a man can dream.

Next, we can work on getting rid of that damned Asgardian font...

The Avengers are choosing a new line-up!!

And as filler/a framing device, the media is giving us Avengers history.

Things get puzzling when they get to Hank Pym...




When reporters admit they don't understand the topics they're covering!! Tonight at 11!

I hope this poor reporter is retired now, because with several more identity changes/mental breakdowns, he would probably find Pym even more confusing. And with new costumes and female Hawkeyes, well, his poor head would explode.

From Avengers #151 (1976)

Some people, it seems, disagreed with my statement yesterday that "there is no possible universe in which Green Arrow will ever be as cool as Hawkeye."

Well, not to stir a tempest in a teapot, but my statement was empirically, objectively, logically and certifiably true.

Let's go to the science, shall we? [FYI, we're going with comic book incarnations here. Which actually levels the playing field a bit, as MCU Hawkeye blew up Loki with an exploding arrow]

ORIGIN:
Oliver Queen is the original 1%-er, a billionaire. Not a particularly good one, as he's lost and restored his fortune more times than DC has announced and changed plans for a Wonder Woman film. He became a hero because that's what billionaires did back then.

Hawkeye was an orphan who ran away and joined the circus. Literally. And was taught to be a marksman by a super-villain.

Easy win for Hawkeye.

COSTUME:
People like to make fun of Hawkeye's purple outfit.

And that's OK. Because the thing actually looks pretty good in the hands of a good artist:

And most people forget about this one:

PHWOOOOAARRRRRR!!!

I'll take that over ersatz Robin Hood any day.

OTHER POWERS:
Green Arrow fires arrows. And more arrows.

Clint Barton, however, also was...

GOLIATH.

Another clear decision for Hawkeye.

HOTTER GIRLFRIEND:

I'm not sure that this is a valid criteria, but let's play anyway.

Sure, Oliver has had, in some continuities, a long-term relationship with Black Canary.

Of course, despite having a hot girlfriend, Green Arrow has had multiple (multiple) infidelities, and a string of illegitimate children (apparently he never packed the condom arrow). And Dinah dumped him (more than once).

And I really think you're selling Hawkeye's hot girlfriend/wife short:

And let's not forget--Clint Barton has probably the ultimate tie-breaker:

So, yeah...Black Widow AND Mockingbird. Pretty clear win for the Hawkster.

SIDEKICK:

I'm pretty sure that this hasn't happened to Kate Bishop yet:


Another win for Hawkguy!

GREATEST TRIUMPHS:

Well, Hawkeye once beat the Collector, all by himself, after all of the other Avengers had been captured.

Oh, yeah, and Hawkeye also once beat the Grandmaster all by his lonesome, after all of the East and West Coast Avengers were all killed (they got better).

Meanwhile, Green Arrow had a tough time with this guy.

This is getting repetitive. A win for Hawkeye!!

LEADERSHIP: 

Hawkeye was chairman and founder of the West Coast Avengers.

Hawkeye was leader of the Thunderbolts for quite awhile, getting super-villains to go straight, and turning them into effective heroes.

Green Arrow once led...well, he once...well, erm...as near as I can tell, Oliver Queen has never been in charge of anything (except for failing businesses). He's more interested in reflexively arguing with whomever is in charge...

I think you know where this is going...

RANDOM POINTS:

They both died and came back. A toss-up, unless you want to give Ollie demerits for being revived by the Hal Jordan Spectre.

Hawkeye went back in time to ye olde West, and fought Kang with the Two-Gun Kid.

Green Arrow had an Arrow Cave and an Arrow-Mobile and an Arrow-Signal...and obviously the world's biggest case of Batman envy.

Green Arrow's beard, man...that chin hair...

Green Arrow has killed crooks. A lot. Big demerits in my book.

Well, none of that is enough to sway the final results: Hawkeye 1,000,000,000 and Green Arrow 0.

Sorry, Green Arrow fans--it's science!

We've already seen how, with all of the other Avengers captured, Hawkeye beat the Collector all by his lonesome.

Well, that wasn't Clint Barton's only solo triumph over cosmic beings.

The Grandmaster, because he's a dickweed, has captured Death, and wants to trigger a new Big Bang. But, because he's addicted to games, he has to give someone a chance to stop him.

But all of the East And West Coast Avengers, well, kind of died during Round I, except for Hawkeye and Cap. And there's no way they're going to survive Round II.

Until Hawkeye has an idea...
















Oh, Clint.

Look, Hawkeye has defeated TWO of the Elders Of The Universe...all by himself!! That's some Thanos level shit there, folks.

So there's my series pitch--Hawkeye traveling around, beating cosmic threats with carny tricks and sly charm.

Tell me you wouldn't read the hell out of that book...

From Avengers Annual #16 (1987)

Some bad news for all those hoping that Mockingbird and Hawkeye might be getting back together, from a far-flung hypothetical 2046:

Can we get a close-up, Cambot?

Yeah, that makes it pretty clear where Hawkeye will be hanging his quiver, right?

Let the 'shipping begin!!

From last week's Rocket Raccoon #9

Travel back with me, chums, to the halcyon days of "The Michael Saga," as this week's Friday Night Fights previews Avengers 3: Infinity War (well, it should preview it, if anyone has any sense).

Sensing an oncoming war that may well destroy humanity, Elder Of The Universe and original hoarder the Collector has been, well, collecting Avengers, so he can look at them after the apocalypse (but then his glasses will break, and he can't see them anymore...goddammit, Burgess Meredith should have played the Collector, shouldn't he?!?!).

Anyhoo, the Collector has successfully captured every single Avenger ever and sealed them in Lucite.

Well, except one. He hasn't caught Hawkeye yet. But, c'mon. Hawkeye. Right? No problem. This should only take a panel or two...






























THAK!!!!!

Man, if Joss Whedon doesn't use this in Avengers 3, he's gonna have some 'splainin' to do!!

Spacebooger notes that if the Collector were to try this today, he'd better bring along a few extra long-boxes, because there's a whole lot more Avengers to collect...

The weakest brings down the strongest in Avengers #174 (1978), by Jim Shooter (plot), Bill Mantlo (script), Dave Wenzel (pencils) and Pablo Marcos (inks)

Now is the time for you to go and vote for my fight!! Why?!?! Hawkguy, before he was hipster cool!! Now go vote!!