All-New Hawkeye #3 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

One of the constants through the various iterations of this series is that everyone accepts without question that Clint and Kate don't have a romantic relationship.  Sure, they have their moments of sexual tension, but their relationship is mostly a refutation of the "When Harry Met Sally" premise that men and women can't be friends.

Clint is reminded of the importance of that relationship when he goes to visit Barney on the small island that he bought.  (Whether the "he" in that sentence is Barney or Clint is one of the on-going jokes of the issue.)  Barn has gained some weight and is enjoying retired life on the island.  He tells Clint that it feels good not to be running anymore, and Clint bristles when Barney implies that he's still running.  In the end, Barney gives him one last piece of advice.  He tells him that Kate has always been his best relationship because he didn't make the mistake of getting romantically involved with her.  He tells Clint that she's his anchor, and he encourages him to fix their relationship because he's frankly a mess.

But, Lemire also reminds us that it's important for Kate as well.  Kate sends home a nice guy that she met the previous night when he made the mistake of getting her coffee.  She calls America to tell her about it, and America tells her that she's starting to sound like the other Hawkeye.  Although America isn't Clint's biggest fan, it's clear that she also thinks that Kate is lost.  Lemire is implying here that Kate might bring Clint order, but he gives her direction.

These streams inform the future narrative that plays in the background, as Clint and Kate engage in a doomed mission to free the Project:  Communion kids from S.H.I.E.L.D.  As Kate holds the body of one of the kids (after Maria Hill shot her), she tells Clint that it's his fault, that they should've never left the kids.  But, this future fades as Clint approaches Kate in the present, telling her the same thing.  It took them awhile to find each other, but it looks like the Hawkeyes are the Hawkeyes again.

*** (three of five stars)

All-New Hawyeke #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Man, it's great to have the band together again.  Sure, Lemire advances the plot, but he makes sure that it doesn't get in the way of the banter.

We learn that the Mandarin kept Clint and Kate alive because he had managed to capture one of the triplets and he needs Kate's help in making "it" work.  Kate realizes that S.H.I.E.L.D. has cut her and Clint loose in the hope that the Mandarin will kill them.  I'm not sure why they'd want them dead, but Lemire is clearly getting to that.  We also still don't know what S.H.I.E.L.D. was doing with the triplets when they killed all those people in China.  But, again, since the issue ends with Clint and Kate en route to take down S.H.I.E.L.D., I'm guessing that we're going to get answers sooner rather than later.  (By the way, they're able to escape from the Mandarin due to the unexpected -- and totally awesome -- intervention of Marvel Boy, Kate's Plan B.)

But, this issue is really less about the MacGuffin and more about Clint and Kate.  In a flashback, we see America Chavez try to convince Kate that saving "self-absorbed, chronically self-destructive" Clint isn't her responsibility, since he's a grown man.  Kate acknowledges that, but she's clearly struggling with it, though it seems that she eventually agrees with America.  In the future, though, it's all about the old-person banter.  Clint just wishes that he was on the couch in sweatpants with Lucky 2.  Don't we all?

*** (three of five stars)

All-New Hawkeye #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Lemire jumps right into it here, showing us Clint and Kate fighting in the present and the future.  In doing so, he really shows how great he is at writing emotions and relationships.

Each fight has an entirely different tenor from the other one.  In the first one, Kate asserts her independence from Clint.  He's disappointed because he thinks everything is going great, but Lemire makes it clear that he only sees it that way because their partnership revolves entirely about him.  He sees Kate as his only functional relationship, and she's tired of worrying about him, because they're not actually in a relationship and because it seems to be a one-way street.  It's heart-breakingly real.  Twenty years into the future, the roles are essentially reversed.  Clint is a recluse, but Kate approaches him to right a wrong from their past:  the Project:  Communion kids have killed 30,000 people in China (even though the public blames the Mandarin for it).  Unlike the first fight, Lemire doesn't make Kate's motives as clear here.  It's pretty obvious that she could've handled the mission by herself, since she's not only sitting on her own Batcave (the "Nest) and support staff (the "Hawkeyes"), but also enjoys a close relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D.  Is she trying to use the mission to draw out Clint?  She doesn't really seem like she cares that much to risk the operational insecurity that comes with bringing him into the mission.   But, we'll have to wait and see.

At any rate, it's a solid re-start.  Lemire doesn't go with a flashy reboot, like Slott did in "Amazing Spider-Man."  But, he also doesn't leave us confused about how we got to this point, as he has in "New Avengers."  We know exactly where we are and where we're going, and he assures us that this book remains about the Hawkeyes (and Pizza Dog).  For now, it's all I needed.

*** (three of five stars)