Hawkeye
bursts into the offices of mid-level crook Speedo, beats up all his hoods, and
demands to know what Speedo knows about the vigilante Blind Justice. Speedo
knows nothing so Hawkeye leaves him with a threat. Angry, Speedo calls his boss
(a woman whose face is in shadow) demanding she have the Avenger killed; Boss
Lady approves but only if they can frame another party for the murder,
suggesting Blind Justice….
At
West Coast Avengers Compound, Hawkeye is going through rigorous training
exercises while being interviewed by reporter Gayle Rogers. Mockingbird takes a
call and hands it to Hawkeye; Speedo is calling to say something big is going
on down at the docks that night and Blind Justice might be there. We know it’s
a trap….
Hawkeye
shows up at the docks at midnight and is surprised that no one seems to be
around. What he doesn’t know is that a mysterious figure is creeping up behind
each of Speedo’s gang and putting them out of action. Then the rest come into
the open and Clint takes action with a bevy of trick arrows and then his secret
ally shows himself: it is the Shroud and he envelops the docks in dark mist;
Hawkeye is at a loss because he can’t see to fight while Shroud clobbers all
the baddies. Hawkeye is annoyed because he was hoping to nab Blind Justice but
Shroud points to the two men on a rooftop across the street. It is Speedo and
his henchman Zipper watching the battle through binoculars. Suddenly, Zipper is
gone and Speedo finds himself facing Blind Justice. Hawkeye fires some arrows
to distract them but the two men shoot at each other simultaneously. Speedo is
electrocuted and Justice falls into the river. Hawkeye and Shroud are certain
the vigilante is dead but as they leave we see a gloved hand rise from the
water….
“Memoirs”
4.5/5
Writer:
J.M. DeMatteis. Pencils: June Brigman. Inks: Stan Drake. Colors: Paul Becton.
Letters: Jack Morelli.
Synopsis:
Patsy Walker appears on Bill Montague’s talk show to promote her autobiography.
She is ill-at-ease as Montague has a reputation as an aggressive interviewer
and he starts off by questioning the reality of her accounts of her husband
Daimon Hellstrom being the Son of Satan and her support for mutants. While
talking about her first husband Buzz Baxter, Baxter, in the guise of Mad-Dog,
invades the studio, bites Patsy on the neck, drugging her, and carries her
off….
She
awakens dressed in her Hellcat costume in a warehouse. Mad-Dog confesses he
still loves her and insists that she loves him. She denies this claiming their
marriage was a mistake. He blames her desire for independence for their divorce
and says he became Mad-Dog just for her, so that they could become costumed
heroes together. She attacks him and they fight, she insisting that she never
loved him and he claiming she did. She claws at his face and bashes his head
against a crate and he goes out. She then realizes that she did love Buzz once
and her desire to leave her old life behind led her to banish that from her
memories….