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Hawkeye #8

Feb 2013
Matt Fraction, David Aja

Hawkeye #8 cover

Story Name:

My bad penny


Synopsis

Hawkeye #8 synopsis by Rob Johnson
Rating: 4 stars
This issue is scattered through with old-style comics 'covers'. The 1 on page 1 is called Doomed Love and shows Clint Barton's head surrounded by images of Kate Bishop and the 4 women in the following 2 paragraphs.

The issue opens with images of Cherry from #3 with the old leader of the Tracksuit Draculas 'mafia' from #1,3,6. They are in his office and she shoots a Dracula holding a small safe, and then runs out.

Now she's come to see Hawkeye (Clint Barton) in Avengers Mansion. She kisses him and asks for his help because her life is in danger. The scene is interrupted by 3 women with playing cards in their hair (don't ask because you won't get an answer):- ex-girlfriend Black Widow, ex-wife Mockingbird and current girlfriend Spider-Woman. (Nobody's wearing their supertogs, Clint's not even wearing much purple. But he does have some obligatory bandages.) Jessica Drew is understandably angry and Natasha Romanoff is suspicious as Cherry says she may have killed someone. Clint tries to pass her off as just the woman he bought his car from (#3), and hustles her out. Bobbi Morse shrugs it off as just the same old Clint Barton.

The 2nd internal cover is from Mystery Girl showing Cherry as a teen runaway from her abusive father in a stolen car.

Back at Clint's apartment a small stack of comics with the Mystery Girl issue on top has arrived by post. Cherry says she sent them to him but she asks him not to read them. She explains that she shot her ex-husband in self-defence. She can't tell the cops because it would be a parole violation. Her husband was 1 of the Tracksuit Draculas who have a small safe. She needs what's inside the safe to keep them from killing her. Barton asks if she's telling the truth and she replies that he'll just have to trust her, and not to ask her what's in the safe.

She proposes a straight robbery. Hawkeye will cause a distraction while she sneaks in for the safe. Clint doesn't really want to antagonise that gang more but Cherry seduces him into agreeing. Then she tells him the target is Bolvany Town in the Russian enclave Little Irkutsk. He recognises it as the name of a strip joint.

Cover 3: A Girl Like You with Cherry as a waitress with pole dancers in the background.

Cherry and Clint are in the back of Kate Bishop's Volkswagen Beetle. They go over the plan. Clint will cause mayhem while Cherry sneaks in wearing her pole-dancing outfit. Kate will be the getaway driver. But she says she's not hanging around to get arrested with the 2 of them, and she drives off.

Clint punches the Tracksuit doorman through the door and then has to fight more armed Dracula's inside. Panicked girls run away and Cherry runs the other way to the boss's office where she is relieved to find the safe. But the ancient boss walks in with a gun.

Cover 4: Love Crimes with Cherry searching through financial stuff full of discrepancies.

Cherry and the boss chat and we learn stuff. The ex she shot was his son, but he's not dead. She says neither of them will kill *her* because they need her to open the safe. Then Clint arrives and KO's him with 1 punch. But the cops arrive and arrest Clint while Cherry slips away with the safe.

After a night in jail and (unseen) lectures on un-Avenger behaviour from Tony Stark and Captain America, Clint returns home. Cherry is there and angry that he read her comics (though I don't know when he had the time). They were just 20 comics she bought for the issue numbers. The order of the stack displayed the code for the safe, but now Barton's jumbled them up. The safe allows you 3 attempts but then shuts forever and destroys its contents. It's useless to her now and so is he, so she leaves.

Cover 5: Love Fugitive with Cherry being sought by the Tracksuit Draculas.

This part is all about a meeting of mobsters angry at Hawkeye for disrupting their business. It's chaired by Kingpin with Typhoid Mary as his enforcer. He and Madame Masque are annoyed with Barton over events in #2 and #4-5. Hammerhead, Owl, Tombstone and Ringmaster with his Swordsman were also in #2. I don't know what in particular Mister Negative has got against the archer. The Tracksuit Dracula boss offers to arrange for Hawkeye's death for a consideration. After some haggling they agree.


 

Review / Commentaries


Hawkeye #8 Review by (July 9, 2022)
Annie Wu did everything on the fake comic cover pages.

It isn't until next issue that we'll understand the full significance of this issue's title when we learn that Cherry's real name is Penny.

In #2 Ringmaster stole loads of money from the other villains, but then the Hawkeye duo stole it from him. Kate Bishop is rich enough thank you, so Clint Barton used the money to buy his apartment block to stop the Tracksuit Draculas forcing everyone out so that their higher bosses could redevelop it.

Black Widow's last 5 (at least) apps have all been with Clint Barton as Hawkeye:- Secret Avengers (2013) #1-2, Avenging Spider-Man #20-21 again with the Secret Av including Clint, and Deadpool (2012) #6 with both as plain Avengers.

Mockingbird was also in SecAv#2, and before that in the last arc of New Avengers (2010), the last 2 issues of which guest-starred the Avengers including BW and Hawkeye.

Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) recently appeared in A+X #6 with CB supporting Captain Marvel and Wolverine, and in both stories in #8, 1 supporting Hawk and Deadpool and the other (without Clint) starring with Kitty Pryde.

Hammerhead and Ringmaster haven't been anywhere since #2, and Madame Masque was last in #5. Since #2 Owl and Tombstone were in Superior Spider-Man #10 as Norman Osborn became the Goblin King. Since #5 Kingpin appeared in Savage Wolverine #6-8 (when Logan and Elektra attacked his Hand) and Amazing Spider-Man #695-697 (with 2 Hobgoblins).

Typhoid Mary wasn't in those previous issues but was last seen (working for Kingpin as part of his Hand organisation) in Deadpool (2008) #50-52 (with X-Force).

Mr Negative is mainly a foe of Spidey but was last seen in Avengers (2010) #30 where Hawkeye and Spider-Woman foiled his latest plan. So maybe that's where Barton annoyed him.

Hammerhead, Mr Negative, Owl, Ringmaster and Tombstone will now disappear until #22.
Before then Madame Masque will occupy more of this series starting with Annual #1.

Kingpin on the other hand won't bother with the rest of this series, and will be seen next in Superior Spider-Man #14 as the Otto Octavius Spidey and the Goblin King take down Fisk's Shadowland empire.

Typhoid Mary goes her own way from this point to join Lady Deathstrike and others as the Sisterhood Of Mutants in X-Men (2013) #7-12.

To be continued next issue with all 5 hero(ine)s, Cherry and the Tracksuit Draculas.



> Hawkeye comic book info and issue index

Elektra

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Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

David Aja
David Aja
Matt Hollingsworth
David Aja (Cover Penciler)
David Aja (Cover Inker)
David Aja (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos.
Editor: Steve Wacker. Editor-in-chief: Axel Alonso.

Characters

Listed in alphabetical order. All stories.

Black Widow
Black Widow

(Natasha Romanoff)
Hawkeye
Hawkeye

(Katherine Elizabeth Bishop)
Hawkeye
Hawkeye

(Clinton Barton)
Kingpin
Kingpin

(Wilson Fisk)
Madame Masque
Madame Masque

(Giulietta Nefaria)
Spider-Woman
Spider-Woman

(Jessica Drew)
Plus: Hammerhead, Mr Negative, Owl, Tombstone, Typhoid Mary.

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