Hello and welcome to another exciting edition of Ye Olde School Café! This installment will bring us to the conclusion of our look at the 1983 classic Hawkeye mini-series! So far, we’ve seen Hawkeye meet up with the new girl in town, Mockingbird. Then the two of them were assaulted by some hit men on a mission. Luckily, they escaped, but when they confronted the villains, it didn’t go so well. Both of them were knocked unconscious, and taken to the secret base of an unknown foe. Let us return to the pages of this fine series by Mark Gruenwald, and see what’s in store for Hawkeye and Mockingbird!
As the scene unfolds, Mockingbird awakens after being knocked out by Bombshell and Oddball. She tries to wake Hawkeye, but he doesn’t respond at first. After some prodding, though, he wakes up, and they both are confronted by their captor, a man named Crossfire! The villain does a quick rundown of his exploits, and then also his plan to defeat not only the two heroes, but the entire superhero community! He has a plan laid out for The Avengers, The Fantastic Four, and just about everyone else!
Later, Bombshell and Oddball, both of whom are cocky as all get out, stroll in, untie both of our heroes, and then carry them to a room that looks like a bank vault! The two goons then leave the room, and tell Crossfire that everything is ready. He states that now they’re in the “White Room” he’s ready to proceed. Hawkeye and Mockingbird then share a moment, and it appears that if they escape this situation, they’ll begin a romantic relationship that’s been building. Suddenly, Crossfire throws a switch, and some sort of sound starts to scramble their minds. Hawkeye tries to resist, but before he knows it, Mockingbird kicks him right in the face! The two of them engage in a hand to hand battle for the ages!
Just as the fight is starting to get ugly, the effects begin to wear off. Hawkeye realizes that the sonic mind control will resume again, so he reaches into a pouch on his costume and finds a sonic arrow tip. He places it in his mouth, and bites down on it, causing it to rupture. The effect nullifies the sonic mind control of Crossfire, and now Hawkeye is going to go on the offensive. Just as he’s about to act, Mockingbird kicks him from behind. He realizes that he needs to get to Crossfire, so for her own good, he knocks her out with a few shots. He then pretends to collapse from the strain.
Next, Oddball picks him up, and then Bombshell grabs Mockingbird. As they carry them off, Hawkeye grabs one of Oddball’s pool balls, and knocks him out with it. He then throws a fastball at Bombshell, striking her in the back of the head and rendering her unconscious. Hawkeye then uses the element of surprise to confront Crossfire. As Hawkeye enters the room, Crossfire is pointing an arrow right at his head. He taunts Hawkeye, but then when it comes to action, he fails miserably. He can’t even pull back the bow far enough to launch an arrow, so the explosive-tip arrow falls right in font of him, knocking him out.
Hawkeye then rushes to find Mockingbird, knowing she’s in bad shape after the beating he gave her (above). He finds her, slumped over on the floor, and picks her up. He sees that he’s blackened one of her eyes, and bloodied her nose. She comes to, and the two share an intimate moment together. As the two heroes eventually gather up the villains and send them off to prison, Mockingbird tells Hawkeye how she feels about him. He acts flippant about it, and he walks away. The last scene we see is the two in a hot tub together, as we discover that Hawkeye blew her off because he couldn’t understand what she was saying, due to the fact that when he placed that sonic-tip arrow in his mouth to break Crossfire’s control over him, it caused him to become deaf. We are led to believe that the two are married now, and going to live happily ever after…or so they think!
This mini-series is nothing short of awesome and a true block in the foundation of Avengers history. If you haven’t read this story, get out and pick up the singles or the trade paperback immediately! A finer story about two of Marvel’s best Avengers, and one of their greatest couples cannot be found! Kudos to Mark Gruenwald (RIP)! See you next time!
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net
Gruenwald’s artwork was ALWAYS fantastic!
Sure was! He’s sorely missed as a solid creator and Marvel’s continuity cop, as well!