“All-New Hawkeye” #1 – 10 out of 10 – Marvel; Written by Jeff Lemire (“Sweet Tooth”); Drawn by Ramón Pérez (“Amazing Spider-Man: Learning to Crawl”); Art by Ramón Pérez and Ian Herring (“Spider-Man & the X-Men”); Lettering by Joe Sabino (“Deadpool Kills”); In Stores 3/4/2015.

Most comic book fans shudder when a new direction is announced for their favorite series. Everyone (including the honorable-fake internet judge, John Hodgman) has recognized the brilliance, beauty and influence that Matt Fraction and David Aja’s “Hawkeye” brought to the world of tights and capes. At New York Comic Con in October, Marvel announced Jeff Lemire would be writing a new Hawkeye series picking up where Fraction’s would eventually end, and Pizza Dog fans everywhere felt the familiar chill and shudder of creative change (see “Hawkeye” #11 for Pizza Dog).

Lemire, who has had a long tenure at DC, comes to “All-New Hawkeye” after completing a run on the New 52’s “Green Arrow.”

“I have no fondness for archers per se,” Lemire told the New York Daily News. “It’s just kind of a coincidence that I was coming off that book and this book was offered.”

What was not a coincidence was editor Sana Amanat choosing Ramón Pérez and Ian Herring as the talent to pick up the reigns after such a monumental run by Aja and his team. In fact, Amanat acknowledges the difficulty of following in the wake of such a trend-setting comic book series in “All-New Hawkeye” #1’s letter page:

“How do you dare to follow a first act like Fraction and Aja? You tell your own story. You weave a new adventure with the heart, humor and soul of Hawkeye—and we’re not just talking about Clint.”

“All-New Hawkeye” #1 contains two stories: one of Clint Barong and his older brother Barney’s early years in foster care, and the continuing story of Hawkeye (Clint Barton) and Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) in the employment of S.H.I.E.L.D. The early-years story is told through dreamy, water-color inspired art that has a Hawkeye-pastel inspired color palette. The Clint-Kate story is told through panels that would have David Aja or Steve Lieber doing double takes for style infringement.

The creative team does an A+ job showing readers rather than telling them. The issue uses no omniscient or first-person internal narration. The dialogue used in the early-years panels is reminiscent of the flashbacks in the preceding “Hawkeye” series and truly sets a tone for what will sure to be a heart-wrenching Hawkeye origin story. The Clint-Kate dialogue feels much like the Fraction-scribed banter that made readers fall in love with Kate Bishop.

The two narratives eventually bleed into each other. Normally, two stories with such different art styles would clash when blended, or when mixed, both would lose their uniqueness in the convergence. However, Pérez and Herring pull it off.

“All-New Hawkeye” #1 earns (my first to be given) 10 out of 10. Fans of the previous “Hawkeye” series will love this book. New readers will be introduced to a beautiful story that hints and an ocean of sadness just below the surface. Call your local comic shop and get this series on your pull list.

Click for PDF preview of “All-New Hawkeye” #1.

Trent Hunsaker is a podcaster and popculturalist. Podcasting for Kevin Smith’s SModcast Internet Radio and the A Part of Him Podcast Network, he also operates Death Ray Comics, sweats, and reads comics – but mostly just sweats.

As always, “Five & Three” brings you my favorite things in comics this week. Every week I pick my five favorite covers and three favorite panels to create “Five & Three”. I like to talk about why I picked the covers and panels and welcome hecklers and trend setters alike. 

So many great comics came back this week and many of them are making an appearance this week. Starting us off though is another “Star Wars” comic variant only this one is for issue #2 by Leinil Francis Yu.

With more variants making an appearance I’m picking the hallmark #250 issue of “Spawn” with art done by Skottie Young.

Valiant is making great comic books with an amazingly rich and storied universe. Their latest, “Imperium” makes an appearance with a variant to issue #1 by Hairsine and Muller.

I think homage covers are the best. This one by Jay Shaw for “Return of the Living Deadpool #1” was a must for this list.

“Saga” is back with a powerful issue #25. I am still on board for this book and if you’re wondering if you should jump on, #25 is the perfect jumping on point. That being said, you’re doing yourself a disservice by not picking up the trades and catching up first.

“Velvet” by Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, and colors by Elizabeth Breitweiser, has been a cheeky spy thriller with nod’s to “James Bond” but with the strength of a female lead. The story is just starting to reveal itself but it’s the small moments that keep me hooked. 

Did Hawkeye come back and no one noticed or did it make a splash? I know the delays have been aweful but at least we may be getting the final part of Matt Fraction, David Aja and Matt Hollingsworth’s story before Jeff Lemire and Ramon Perez take are passed the bow and quiver.

I know the Internets have had some contention about DC’s upcoming “Convergence” storyline but I have enjoyed the weekly “The New 52 Future’s End” leading up to whatever “Convergence” ends up being. Panels like this magnificent one of a bearded Superman in jeans and a t-shirt are reasons I’ve been a fan.

That’s all for this week. If you disagree with a pick, let me know in the comments or on Twitter @MarkAvo or on
Instagram @TheMarkAvo. If you think I should’ve picked something else or if you have a pick in mind for next week, give me a shout out and let me know. If you’d like to check out more “Five and Three” comic book moments start with “Five and Three” from last week. Walking Dead is back!

Starting off this week we’ve got a great cover from “Hawkeye” issue 17 that reminds me of the robots from Saga. Sure the issue is a holiday special from fill in artist Chris Eliopoulos that’s giving Aja more time to catch up on future issues, but that doesn’t mean it’s a comic without a holiday. St. Paddy’s day is next week and the issue is number 17. 

If you want some hard cop drama I suggest you read “Red Team” by Garth Ennis and Craig Cermak. The story wrapped with this issue that readers had to wait a few months for. The story ends on a great note and I’m pretty sure it’ll be a movie at some point in the future.

“Monster & Madman” is another book I got for my horror fan wife. The pedigree of this book is excellent. Steve Niles is the writer (“30 Days of Night”), and the story is about Jack the Ripper and Frankenstein’s monster!

I’m not reading “FBP: Federal Bureau of Physics” but other bots are and they say it’s great. I say the cover is terrific. Agree or disagree, let me know in the comments below.

“Captain Marvel” renumbers for a perfect jumping on point. The cover is great but the content is even better. It’s a great comic for anyone but if you’ve wanted a comic book that’s perfect for that young daughter or niece in your life, this is it.

Could “Superior Foes of Spiderman” please keep going forever?

“All-New X-Men” #24 has just the right amount of humor from the Guardians of the Galaxy and a perfect pinch of the Star Jammers. I can’t read everything so choosing books gets difficult. Bendis keeps me hooked with his “All-New X-Men” because of so many reasons and humor is just another reason I can’t drop this book.

The big finisher for the week is from Batman #29 because Greg Capullo is a Go-Censored-mn Rock Star. The homage to Frank Miller is so obvious but that only elevates this particular panel that’s a full page. I usually stay away from full pages but how could I resist? Ain’t it beautiful?

That’s it for this week. Sometimes you gotta keep it short because the Sandman is calling. No, really, I have some catching up to do on some “Sandman” titles. Didn’t like my picks? Loved my picks? Let me know on Twitter @MarkAvo. If you’d like to admire some more art you can visit the deviantART podcast I occasionally guest in. If you need more “Five and Three” action, check out last week’s article here. After that, come back next week. I’ll be here on the same bot channel, approximately the same bot time. Oh, and Happy Pi Day! 

Welcome to “Five and Three”, your home for a visual review of the best things comics has to offer this week. Long time readers will know that big weeks like this week mean the field is full of favorite moments. I may not have picked yours. If I didn’t, don’t forget to sound off in the comments section on the bottom of the page. Without further ado, here are my favorite moments from this week in comics.

Let’s start off with a cover to a book I want everyone to go out and pick up. Zenescope and Comixology have made it easy for everyone to read “Vikings” issue 1. How did they make it easy to pick up you ask? Simple, the issue is free! If you have a web browser you have the ability to read this digital short on the Comixology website. I’m sure it’s available in other areas, and will probably be in print in the near future, but why not give it a go now? Look at how bad arse those Vikings are!

Next up is a fun one by Andy Hirsch. The cover to issue 10 of “Regular Show” from Kaboom! is light-hearted, a great cover gag, and some excellent cartooning.

The next two covers playoff off of a similar concept.  Each one focuses attention on the center face/skull and has faces/skulls on either side of the center for artistic impact. The first one I’d like you to take a look at is “Dead Boy Detective” issue 3 from Vertigo. The cover artist is none other than the enigmatic Mark Buckingham. The cover is obviously going to be of a high caliber when Buckingham is the artist, but to get a surreal and spine tingling start to a story set in the world of Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman” is a real treat.

Eduardo Risso brings us a more colorful cover with a similar theme to “Dead Boy Detective” issue 3. The theme may be similar but the Candy skull decoration of Lono’s face isn’t spine tingling, it is hair raising. The difference between the two may be subtle but it’s basically that detectives help people and Lono rarely helps anyone but himself. When Lono does aide others, like he has throughout “100 Bullets: Brother Lono”, people get hurt and people get dead.

My final choice for the covers section this week is “Nemo: The Roses of Berlin” by comic book legend Alan Moore. The art for this story, set in the world of “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”, is by Kevin O’Neil. The magnificent pencils and colors stand out like a war poster from World War II but with a touch of the pop-art style found in the burlesque advertisements of the 30’s that would later morph into the style used for pin-ups during the war. O’Neil’s colors are a picture perfect balance of cool and contrasting warm colors. They help to make the story elements in the cover sell the story inside. We’re told not to judge a book by its cover but sometimes you jump in when a cover is as well done as the one for “Nemo” is.

Onto the panels! So many comic books, so many panels and so many balloons! How’s about I just choose some that made me giggle and end with Batman?

First up is this little joke found in the pages of “Rat Queens” issue 5. You will not find a page in “Rat Queens” where something isn’t funny. If you’re a fan of “Superior Foes of Spiderman”, “Quantum and Woody“, or  on of the Deadpool books by either Bunn or Duggan and Posehn, I suggest you give this one a go. Kurtis J Weibe and John “Roc” Upchurch make a deadly combination if you’re allergic to laughter.

Do I just choose Hawkeye because I’m a fanboy, bro? How dare you ask that of me bro?! Bro, Hawkeye is amazing. Fraction is amazing. Aja is amazing. Hollingsworth is amazing. OK, maybe I’m a fanbro, but what are you going to do about it bro? If you ask the magic word of me on Twitter Bro, I’ll skip picking a Hawkeye book just for you…. If you don’t Tweet me bro, expect more Hawkeye picks in the future.

I’ve picked “Batman Superman” this week because I like Jae Lee’s art and I loved how Bruce is uncomfortable being a normal human. Being normal is outside his comfort zone. Instinctiviley trusting someone he’s just met is not something Batman does, but he lets himself go with it because she’s family. Also, I picked this because you’ve got to see how beautiful Helena and Kara are in this book. Lee’s busy style is very sensual when it needs to be. In this book, The World’s Finest are the essence of that sensuality.

That’s it for this week bro! If you’ve got some comments that you feel are better understood in under 140 characters, find me on Twitter @MarkAvo. If you want more 5 and 3 picks from previous weeks you can start with last week here. If you’ve already seen those a few times now don’t worry, I’ll be back next week with more bro moments in comic books – same bro time, same bro channel.*

*Big Shiny Robot is a website and not a channel. If you’re unable to tune in it’s because I’ve overused Fraction’s bro joke in this article and your TV isn’t web enabled. – Also, ARTICLE 100 BRO!