Occupy Avengers #1
Writer: David F. Walker
Penciler: Carlos Pacheco
Inker: Rafael Fonteriz
Colorist: Sonia Oback
Letters: Clayton Coweles
Publisher: Marvel
A review by Gregory Brothers
Because of delays and such of the Civil War II event, Marvel is starting to run into a situation where their new Now! line of books are starting to come out before readers know what the final repercussions of the event are. Fortunately for readers, Occupy Avengers, while part of the new Now! line, only partially deals with things that have already happened in the drug out event. That being said if you have no idea what’s going on over in Civil War II, and don’t what that spoiled, skip this book for now and skip this review as I will be talking about a major plot point from the series.
If you have been reading comics for long enough you will know that any character with any type of history to them will have one of the following three kinds of stories written about them: a death story, a resurrection story, and a redemption story. Sometimes they may even get multiple of each kind. That being said, Occupy Avengers is definitely a redemption story for Clint Barton, also known as the on again off again Avenger, Hawkeye.
Although Occupy Avengers serves as a redemption story for Hawkeye, it is not the public, nor is it his fellow heroes that he is trying to redeem himself for. Instead he is trying to redeem himself in his own mind. During the events of Civil War II, Hawkeye has to make an extremely hard decision, and that is to kill Bruce Banner before he becomes the Hulk again. Compounding the guilt that Hawkeye has is the fact that it was not a choice that he made on his own when he saw that people might be in danger, but instead it was a choice he had to make based on Banner himself forcing Hawkeye to promise him he would put him down if he every say him becoming The Hulk again. While the court system has already tried Hawkeye and found him not guilty, it does not mean that the guilt of killing one of his close friends has not had an impact on him.
I say Occupy Avengers is a redemption story because we start with Barton at a diner in a small town in New Mexico. As he is trying to enjoy his meal, people continue to thank him for killing The Hulk. A visit from the town sheriff confirms that Barton is travelling the country seeking out social injustices and seeing what he can do to alleviate the problems. With the help of the towns deputy, Red Wolf, Barton visits the local Native American reservation to start to solve the mystery behind the towns contaminated water. As is par for the course in these types of stories, his poking around draws the attention of some type of sinister corporation, who sends in their private soldiers to knock Barton and Red Wolf off the trail.
The choice to call this book Occupy Avengers is a curious one and I think that it was more than likely done for a couple of reasons. The first being that they did not want to call it Hawkeye as it is a totally different feel of any of the solo series that Hawkeye has been in before, and they do not want to confuse people with the Kate Bishop Hawkeye book that is also out there. The other reason that they more than likely chose the name is Marvel knows that the name Avengers on a cover will move books. Make no mistake about it, despite the name, this is a ground level solo character book as it is presented in this first issue. Whether it will stay like that beyond this first issue or after this first arc is still to be determined. The focus on Barton in this role is an important one. The events of Civil War II had a major effect on him, and it is important to show the reader that this will not be the same Hawkeye they are used to reading. Instead he is going to take the guilt that he has, and try and channel it into giving back to those that can not always protect themselves, which should lead to some major character development if done right.
The Verdict
Buy it! If done right, Occupy Avengers could turn out to be a brilliant series that could be used to touch on social injustices that are happening in the real world. Using Barton in these stories will allow him to tackle some of his demons and give back, while showcasing the skills that he has developed as one of the few now super-powered members of the Avengers. The use of inner dialogue really gives you a good feel of where Barton is coming from in this first issue. In addition, the art is done brilliantly with good use of things like shadows and splash pages to draw the reader’s attention to the proper place on a panel.
