Dark Reign: Hawkeye #1

Creative Team
Writer: Andy Diggle
Artist: Tom Raney
Inker: Scott Hanna
Colorist: Guru E-FX

Story- Hawkeye

Review
Even though I have largely stayed away from the onslaught of Dark Reign titles, save for the ones I was already collecting before Secret Invasion, I couldn't help but be intrigued by a mini-series starring my favorite Daredevil villain Bullseye masquerading as a the hero name Hawkeye. After reading Dark Reign: Hawkeye #1 it is clear that Diggle, like Warren Ellis, he is able to tap into that psycho manic part of his mind that allows him to write some badass villain characters. I guess I shouldn't be surprised as I was highly impressed with Diggle's work on Thunderbolts.

For anyone that read Ellis and Diggle's Thunderbolts you know that Norman Osborn and Bullseye have some great chemistry. It just feels that anytime these two have a conversation you know that either one could snap at any second as both have been shown to be completely psychotic characters. But what makes their conversations in this issue, and when they were starring in Thunderbolts, special is that their is an added interest that Norman is taking meds in order to control his psycho Green Goblin persona to maintain a professional appearance but Bullseye is completely unapologetic and he could easily kill Norman if he wanted to, which is what he tells Norman in this issue. It is this part of this series that may be the most interesting part of this series as we know that Norman will not be happy about all the crazy villainous acts Bullseye committed at the end of this issue and most likely in future issues.

Speaking of the ending I have to say that the ending of this issue was just awesome and an act that will come to no surprise to anyone that is familiar with Bullseyes character. Now I do not want to spoil anything as it is a scene you should read for yourself but simply put that last scene makes the $3.99 price tag worth the buy. Diggle did a great job writing that final scene as we see what a danger Norman is really in for having a team of supervillains masquerading as superheroes is to the power he now controls.

The one thing were this issue does go wrong though, and it is not Diggle fault, is that I continue not to buy Norman's rise to power. I don't know how Norman as Iron Patriot has been portrayed over in Dark Avengers but in the opening scene with the Dark Avengers trying to stop the "rogue" Hulk-Buster armor Norman came of as an incompetent leader as all he did was get in the way of his teammates just because he wanted the glory of being responsable for taking the Hulk-Buster unit down. And also I don't get why Ben Ulrich seems to be the only one to question Norman about his rise to power as it seems that during these first few months of Dark Reign questions like the one Ulrich asked should have been ask by the media before.

On the art side of things I found Tom Raney's artwork to be a mixed bag for me. Raney has a great dynamic style that could perfectly fit a team title like the Avengers or the X-Men but for a title like Dark Reign: Hawkeye I don't see his art fit the dark tone of this book. For a mini-series centered around Bullseye I kind of expect more of a Aja or Lark type artwork were they can carry the dark tone that Diggle is aiming for with this title. Still I like Raney's artwork but feel that he is an odd fit for a title like this one

Issue Rating
Story: 8.2/10 - Diggle continues to impress with how well he is able to write villain characters.
Art: 7.7/10 - Raney's art is impressive though his artwork does not fit the dark tone of this book.
Overall: 7.95/10 - Overall Dark Reign: Hawkeye was a great start for what should be a fun mini-series. If you have been enjoying Diggle's work on Thunderbolts so far I definitely recommend getting this mini-series.