Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon

"Okay.  This looks bad."  Those are the words that started off every story in Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon.  I got this book out from the library a long time ago.  I renewed it several times.  Brought it back, then took it back out again.  I finally got around to reading it today, almost two months later. And I really wish I had gotten to it sooner - it was a lot of fun!

Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon collects Hawkeye #1-5 (and Young Avengers #6, where Kate Bishop first meets Clint Barton).  Clint and Kate get into all sorts of trouble, from dealing with a gang of thieves stealing from villains, to trying to get a tape with some incredibly incriminating evidence for Clint, the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. back after a mole within S.H.I.E.L.D. releases it. 

I have to say, I was a super big fan of both Clint and Kate.  In a way they're both what I like about Batman: neither one of them have superpowers.  They're everyday people (ok, maybe really well trained everyday people) taking out the bad guys.  But besides the trick arrows Hawkeye has up his (or her) sleeve, they have to rely on their training, their wits, and a healthy dose of luck to see them through.  I'll definitely be keeping my eyes open for more Hawkeye books, particularly any more from Matt Fraction.

Marvel Fairy Tales

A few years ago (I think it was right before I started this blog) I read both X-Men Fairy Tales and Spiderman Fairy Tales. I found out Marvel was also writing an Avengers Fairy Tales, so I was really excited, having enjoyed the other two. But Avengers Fairy Tales took years before it was collected into a graphic novel. I finally got it this past June when I was visiting Toronto. I thought I would read it right away, but as you can see it's taken me about six months before I finally did (I attempted to read it a few months back but put it aside in favour of school books).

I'm not a big reader of Marvel comics, so I don't really know who most of the people are, specifically the Avengers (I'm a bit more familiar with Spiderman and X-Men). But that didn't stop me from enjoying this collection. As with the other two volumes, these fairy tales are retold using the Marvel characters. Marvel Fairy Tales has two stories I've read before (one each from the Spiderman and X-Men fairy tales) and then the 4 new Avengers tales: Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz, Pinocchio and Alice in Wonderland. All four stories were a lot of fun to read, and I really wish I'd gotten to them sooner!

I was going to say that I have now read all of the Marvel Fairy Tales, but Wikipedia notes that there may be a fourth collection forthcoming starring the Fantastic Four. I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for that one (and will hopefully get to it a bit sooner)!