Hawkeye #12: Review

Jul 2013

Matt Fraction, Francesco Francavilla

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Story Name:

Then came Barney

Review & Comments

Rating:

Hawkeye #12 Review by Rob Johnson (July 23, 2022)

Francesco Francavilla returns as guest artist again.

The meeting between Lucky, Barney and the 2 Tracksuit Draculas was seen last issue from Lucky's POV.

We 1st met Barney Barton in Avengers #64, which is also the 1st time we learned Hawkeye's name to be Clint Barton. (His then love Natasha Romanoff had never used it!) There Barney was a villain but seemingly died helping the team. We learned about his past in Av#64-65 and Solo Av #2 and the 2003 Hawkeye mini-series.

But it wasn't until the 2011 Hawkeye: Blindspot mini-series that he turned up alive again. He was trained as an archer by Trickshot who had trained young Clint alongside the Swordsman. Trickshot died and Barney took over the villainous identity. Barney then became the alternate Hawkeye in Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers, last seen a couple of months ago in DA v2 #190 (a continuation of Thunderbolts).

But now he's here down on his luck.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Hawkeye #12 Synopsis by Rob Johnson

By the end of the issue it'll be confirmed that the vagrant is Barney Barton so I'll use the name throughout.

Barney uses a payphone to ring his brother Clint Barton and arrange to meet at his apartment block at 9:00 tomorrow.

Next morning Barney rings Clint's buzzer but gets no answer. He begs bike messenger Aimee for some change but she ignores him. Then he tries 2 guys in a van opposite but they are 2 of the Tracksuit Draculas (the 2 who were cruel to Lucky the Pizza Dog before Hawkeye rescued him from them in #1). They promise him 5 dollars if he lets them hit in the face, which they do repeatedly. Lucky comes to his rescue and the TDs reconise him as their old dog Arrow. While they're distracted Barney escapes with his bag.

Now we get a flashback to Clint and Barney's childhood. Barney tries to teach his younger brother how to flip a coin at a bottle fast enough to break it. Clint's aim is true but he's not strong enough. Their father is abusive to them and their mother. At dinner that evening Clint loses his temper and attacks his pa, but just gets a black eye. That night Barney teaches Clint how to punch successfully, taking the blows and calling for more.

In the present the TDs return with more Draculas in the evening and find Barney sleeping in an alley. They offer him a roll of 100s to let them all beat him up for 2 minutes. He takes the blows until the 2 mins are up. Then we realise he's conned them. He expertly beats *them* up until they run away to the van. But then he pulls a bow out of his bag and shoots out 1 of their tires as they drive away, causing them to crash into a lamppost. He takes the roll of money and leaves them with the reminder that they still owe him 5 dollars. He goes to a liquor store and breaks 1 of the 100 dollar bills for a bottle of booze and a quarter for the phone. He rings Clint again and asks if he meant 9 in the morning or in the evening.

Another flashback shows the boys being informed by a cop that their parents have been killed in a car crash. Clint is glad.

Now Barney finds Clint and Lucky waiting for him. The brothers embrace.

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