Hawkeye Annual #1 Review

HAWKGUY ANNUAL  #1

by Matt Fraction and Javier Pulido

Tiny Kate monologue should be used for every single comic this year.

Alright, where the now  famous Hawkeye #11 teased a bunch of  developments for the series, it ended with Kate leaving Clint for a little CALIFORNIACATION! And this is what this whole issue is about. This is an all-Kate (and Pizza Dog) issue, and works as a standalone story well. It chronicles Kate's second encounter with Madame Masque, and I got to say, Fraction is killing it! And it feels like you get multiple issues worth of story crammed into the few pages here, but it never feels too compressed. The pacing is excellent, and Fraction writes Kate as if she could hold up her own series. Madame Masque serves as a generic villain, but she's still pretty entertaining to read (was it just me, or did you read all of her dialogue in Catherine Zeta-Jones' voice?) 

Javier Pulido's artwork is perfect for this kind of story. It's not as dark as the past few issues, so Aja and Francavilla wouldn't be able to nail the Mission Impossible feel of this. I love how he draws a tiny chibi-ish Kate in all of her monologue boxes, and whenever she's trying to make a decision, there are two mini Kates duking it out, and I thought that was the definition of AWESOME. The only thing I didn't like was his overuse of silhouettes. It works when used in the right places, but I thought he used it too much.

Hawkeye Annual #1 is a nice standlone chapter of the Hawkeye saga. So far, I've loved every issue of this series, and the Annual is no exception. And I wouldn't mind seeing a Pulido-drawn Kate solo series. 

STORY: 5/5

+ Kate holds up her own story

+ Great standalone

+ Excellent pacing, feels like there are a lot more pages than it actually has

+ Pizza Dog!

ART: 4/5

+ Perfect for the script

+ Mini-Kates

-  Heavily relies on silhouettes, to the point of annoyance

VERDICT: 4.5/5