Hawkeye #8 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Seriously, if you aren't reading this comic, you're pretty much missing the best thing happening in comics, like, ever.  No, really.

OK, I could talk about a lot in this comic.  I could talk about Fraction and Aja and Wu using the comic-book covers to detail Penny's entire backstory just as effectively as if they had spent pages of expository narrative on it.  I could talk about the fact that Fraction really calls into question Clint's motives here as he helps a woman that he doesn't know commit a crime (even if it's a "virtuous" crime, if you will).  But, first, I really want to talk about Clint playing asshole with his ex-lover, ex-wife, and current "friend."

When Hawkeye first slept with Penny, it seemed to provoke the obvious question:  "What about Spider-Woman?"  But, it was early days in the series and it seemed possible that Fraction was shooting at something more or less outside continuity.  Maybe not exactly outside continuity, but it appeared that Fraction wasn't going to let the series suffer under the weight of trying to reconcile his stories with Clint's appearances elsewhere.

But, by answering the question "What about Spider-Woman?", Fraction makes this series all the stronger.  I mean, Clint plays asshole with his ex-lover, ex-wife, and current "friend."  The guy invented charm.  But, he invented a certain bad-luck sort of charm, the type of charm that means, sure, the women you dated still want to spend time with you, but they're also unfortunately going to be there when a former one-night stand appears at the door of Avengers Mansion announcing that she shot someone and asking you to help her commit another crime.

Fraction doesn't just stand on the hilarity of that moment (hilarious, though it is),  In the middle of the fighting and the "bros," Clint mentions that he's not necessarily ready for a relationship with Jessica.  It's a brief comment, but it's probably the first time we've seen Clint actually address his relationship with Jessica.  Bendis just kept throwing them together and, if I'm not mistaken, she hasn't appeared in this title yet.

Together with helping Penny commit a crime, Fraction actually portrays Clint as spiraling out of control.  He shows us how he's a guy who tries to do the right thing, but often does it in a way that might not exactly have been ideal.  So, when things inevitably go wrong, he tries to compensate, making matters worse.  In nine issues, he's possibly screwed up his relationship with Jessica, invoked the wrath of seemingly the entire underworld, gotten arrested helping a woman he barely knows commit a crime, and provoked a war with a local gang that puts his neighbors at risk.  But, he does it with such a great amount of charm that you forget that, somewhere under the nice hair and handsome smile, is a guy who maybe needs some help.  We'll see if he gets it.  (I'm assuming not.)