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Ultimate Comics Hawkeye #3 - Part Three of Four

5

Hawkeye leads a team into the Southeast Asian Republic to find and destroy the mutant serum.

Hawkeye, Firestar, Jean Grey, Derek Morgan, and the Hulk head to the SEAR, and things don't go exactly according to plan.

The Good

This is the perfect companion to Ultimate Comics X-Men, which is also awesome. Hawkeye works perfectly in a leader role and he's (aside from Hulk, who isn't really working with anyone) a great "father figure" to the other heroes, and by father figure, I mean a team leader who knows what he's doing.

It's hard to tell whether I like this or Ultimate Comics X-Men more, but I can say they read like two different books. Hawkeye comes off more as a covert-op team or more like Secret Avengers, but better. It also has that "hidden world within our own world" feel to it. This book has a great amount of action in it, including Hulk smashing everything in his path, and each team member is a necessity to the team. No one is there just "hanging out." Don't let that fool you though because this book really is about Hawkeye, who is incredibly bad ass.

I love Hickman's writing. It tends to be pretty high concept (See Red Wing), and this book has elements of that, but Hickman keeps it pretty low-key, and balances it with characters we love. Working with Hickman is Rafa Sandoval on pencils, Jordi Tarragona on inks, and Brad Anderson on colors. There is a two page splash, in this issue, that is downright awesome-tastic (what a terrible, made-up word). This is a great creative team and they're making this book one of the funnest to read at Marvel.

The Bad

It's not a big deal, but that last page reveal... I couldn't stop thinking "Deathstorm." If you see it, you'll know what I mean.

The Verdict

This new season of Ultimate books is top notch, and collectively, the best it has ever been, and I feel like Ultimate Hawkeye is really leading the way. If you love what's going on in Ultimate Comics X-Men, then you'll enjoy this issue since it has a few of those characters popping up in here. The creative team of this book is dynamite, and I'm loving the direction this book is going. I highly recommend this issue and this series.