How can a Kate Bishop centric collection of comics NOT be good?? Seeing Hawkeye take LA and start conquering some villains is bound to be a fun time! Having already read the newer West Coast Avengers, I really enjoyed seeing Kate's foray into California territory and begin to establish a name for herself there. There were moments where the narrative felt a bit disjointed or incomplete, like the "ending" of the vampire arc (still not sure what was actually going on), and I didn't really give a care about the old 60s singer dude, BUT it was just fun to read anyways. The art in each issue was on point as usual, and the facial expressions and characteristics are incredibly well drawn. :) ( )

1714 ( )

Good times (and lots of bad, actually) with Kate Bishop in this installment and nary a Clint to be seen. Kate's misadventures in L.A. were entertaining, with lots of the humorous dialogue I've come to love in this series-lines that take me by surprise and make me laugh out loud, like when Kate asks if she gets a phone call at the police station and the cop's response is "Meh." And then she calls him from the same room. Priceless.
Kate's internal dialogue is as fun as when she's interacting with the villains and her new friends. I didn't like the art as much in this one, though.
Looking forward to the next. ( )

Kind of a change of pace with this volume, since it switches perspective from Clint Barton to the other Hawkeye, Kate Bishop, and seems to take on a different tone of narrative and pacing. The story is told in a bit more of a disjointed manner than normal (a lot of flashbacks, and side cuts to other plot lines), and combined with Kate's random antics (she's all over the place with seemingly less than even a marginal plan) it made this volume less enjoyable than previous collections. At the end of the volume we're left with more questions than answers, but Kate's entanglement with Madame Masque definitely ties back to the storyarc that was begun previously, so I'm hoping that the next volume will see Clint and Kate back on the same page (literally) and working together to take down this syndicate of villains. ( )

Continuing to crank through my review backlog here by filling in this gap in Hawkeye. I initially didn't like this collection and thought it was too much of a diversion from the story so far, but on further reflection it's actually really great. Fraction's writing for Kate is maybe a little too self-aware for its own good, but still manages to be really charming. The real stars here, though, are Pulido and Wu. Pulido's minimalist work on the annual manages to touch on the style of the series to date while also being distinctly its own thing, while Annie Wu's scratchier, more realistic style is actually perfect for this arc. Another series I look forward to owning all of (for some reason I never bought Little Hits in print?) ( )