Well, that didn’t take long: Hawkeye to Return in ‘New Avengers’

As was announced way back in August, Hawkeye’s a-coming back in December.

I guess you can’t keep a good character down for long.

The good news is that he is bringing Alex Maleev with him. There’s no bigger news around the iFanboy headquarters than new Alex Maleev art. We run from office to office hopping up and down, clapping our hands and exclaiming things like “Did you see it?! Did you see it?! It’s ever so lovely!”

Click through to read the press release, some sample pages (minus words) and some additional thoughts.

Hawkeye and the Scarlet Witch Return in The New Avengers #26

She’s killed him twice, and twice she has brought him back to life. But what happens when Hawkeye confronts his long-time friend, former teammate, and killer, the Scarlet Witch, in The New Avengers #26?

New Avengers writer Brian Michael Bendis re-teams with artist Alex Maleev to reform the Eisner Award-winning creative team behind Daredevil and The New Avengers: Illuminati for this special stand-alone issue spotlighting the return of Hawkeye and the Scarlet Witch.

Last seen in the conclusion to House of M in which the Scarlet Witch seemingly killed and then resurrected Hawkeye, find out where these two former Avengers have been since that tragic day and where their future lies in the Marvel Universe.

In this next important chapter in New Avengers history, Bendis and Maleev present the “Ballad of Clint Barton and Wanda Maximoff” in The New Avengers #26.

Well, now I’m officially concerned. I know that Joe Quesada and company have said over and over that the point of Civil War is to shake-up the status quo in the Marvel Universe. To change a heroic landscape where most of the characters had become way too chummy. To bring back some of that tension you had in the early days when Spider-Man and Daredevil would run into each other on a rooftop and be uneasy with each other, not asking about how the wife is or how the law practice is going.

I applaud this.

But now with Wanda Maximoff (apparently) bringing Hawkeye back to life, I wonder what else she’s going to undo with those wonderful deus ex mach– I mean, chaos powers of hers.

I have to truly believe that Marvel and Joe Quesada have the desire to do what they have said they have set out to do with Civil War. But maybe everything won’t change. The question keeps popping up — hell, we talked about it again in the latest podcast — but can you let Peter Parker stay revealed to the world as Spider-Man? Is that something, as Marvel, you want to have (semi) permanent? Can it rationally, and believably work, story-wise. Or does Wanda snap her fingers and have everyone in the world forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man? It’s happened before in comics – when Hal Jordan was The Spectre he made the world forget that Wally West was The Flash.

Actually, the more I think about this, the more I actually like the idea of Wanda making the world forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. In fact, if I were in charge, I’d take it a step further and have everyone forget everyone else’s secret identity. Mark Waid did this in JLA a while back and it only lasted a few issues, but if they were really truly looking to shake-up the status quo then they should recreate the Marvel Universe into a place where it’s not that Spider-Man and Daredevil don’t fully trust each other, it’s that they don’t know who is even under the mask (although, with Daredevil that’s a valid concern anyway).

It seems to me that the way that Civil War is shaking out, most of the heroes are going to end up falling on the anti-registration side, so I wonder how much things are going to change anyway. If it ends up with just everyone hating Iron Man (you could throw his most loyal foot soldiers in there too – Reed Richards, Ms. Marvel, Wasp and Hank Pym), is that enough? I guess there could be a wariness amongst the heroes. “Why didn’t you join our side sooner?” “There’s bound to be another split sometime – how much can I really trust this person?” That might lend an interesting layer to things, but these are nuances that take talented writing to pull off without seeming hackneyed and obvious.

I still say this whole thing should end with Tony Stark being the new major super villain in the Marvel Universe. That would be badass.

Comments

  1. While I’m instantly inclined to call bullshit, I’m not quite sure where I ultiately stand on this.

  2. I don’t know what post Civil War Marvel is going to look like, but it is fun to think about.

    I would be willing to bet registration and the Negative Zone prison will be out the window.

    Apparently, Tony Stark will be over at SHIELD, which will put him in position to enact that superhero-team-in-every-state plan he mentioned. That could be fun. Also I doubt many of the heroes are going to trust Tony in that position. That might be good for a couple stories.

    Cap will be leading the New Avengers and probably continuing to push that comic in the direction it was going pre-Civil War. That comic has some unresolved plot lines to return to.

    Peter’s identity being exposed is something I hope doesn’t get undone right away or ever. They haven’t done anything with it. I dont know what they can do with it, but it isn’t my job to come up with the stories. It is my job to buy the comics.

    As far as Fantastic Four (does anyone care what happens in this book?). I say Reed says, “Go fuck yourself,” to the family that abandoned him and he forms an all new Fantastic Four. Reed, the Enchantress, Mephisto, and Blastaar. That would be fun for a while.

    As far as Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch, I bet this is just a one-shot thing to transition us away from Civil War. Maybe I am being too naive, but both of these characters are exactly what a lot of fans have been wanting. I don’t think Marvel is going to give them back to us just yet. Marvel seems to be enjoying messing with the fans and I don’t think they’re done with us yet.

  3. Mmmmm… Bendis/Maleev.

    Is there a better pairing out there? I’m not certain. I can’t wait for the Spider-Woman monthly, and I’m not certain I would have cared about that if ANYONE else was the creative team (unless Rucka wrote it).

    “As far as Fantastic Four (does anyone care what happens in this book?).”

    Count me as one of those who cares. I grew up on the Byrne FF run (late, anyway – FF #277 was one of my first comics, and Byrne FF were some of my first back issues), and I’ve always had a soft spot for the team, despite the fact that they have only had two other impressive run in the last 20 years (Simonson and Aguirre-Sacasa/McNiven), but for some reason, I keep buying whenever a new creative team takes over, only to be disappointed. I was crushed when even the great Mark Waid couldn’t pull it off. Hopefully, McDuffie will finally right the Marvel flagship title!

    Wait, no… put Bendis/Maleev on it!

  4. “As far as Fantastic Four (does anyone care what happens in this book?).”

    I personally don’t care. There have been times when I’ve read it where it wasn’t completely bad but overall I’m doing a whole fuck space thing. I don’t know why but I just can’t get into it. Also, Reed Richards is an asshole. Not just now but always(great recent example: The social services thing from the issues where they sent the Hulk to space. They’re like the worst parents ever). I can’t root for him.

  5. That is some ugly Scarlet Witch right there.

  6. Blaspheme.

  7. I love the idea of Iron Man ending up as a villain, or in the Nick Fury/Maria Hill role but with that villain slant because that character hasn’t had anything interesting to do aside from battle alcoholism in 20 years. I think outing Spidey is the bravest thing that Civil War has done and the real burden will fall on Jeph Loeb post-CW to establish Peter’s new place in the world. Certainly hasn’t hurt Daredevil to have Murdock outed, but then Spidey’s identity is more central to his character than DD’s is. Reed’s behavior in the FF just overall has demanded some kind of apocalyptic family event, and I don’t know where they’re going to take it, but he’s such a continual self-absorbed a@@hole to his family that you’d have to kind of wonder why they WOULDN’T leave. Hawkeye’s back….whatever. Honestly, I didn’t care when he died and his quasi-return in House of M was underwhelming. I like the Scarlet Witch as this damaged, crazy person of mass destruction. Quesada has said that he actually finds post-CW Marvel to be more interesting than CW and I think he could be right, it just needs to be handled better than DC handled the OYL mish mash.

  8. What the hell hapen to Scarlet Witch she looks ugly
    .She is like one of my favorite mutant, she looks old.My favorite mutant is NIGHTCRAWLER!.Anyway it looks like is going to be a good story.
    bye
    Yanira

  9. Blaspheme

  10. If by blaspheme, you mean, “Why yes, I do agree wholeheartedly, my good chap.” I agree.