Hawkeye and Mockingbird #2 - Hawkeye's attempt to help Mockingbird backfires. By the end of the issue it has really backfired. Phantom Rider decides to team-up with Crossfire, Hawkeye keeps trying to help, and Mockingbird and Dominic Fortune do some investigating and beating of thugs.Well, that bit with Mockingbird's family didn't go how I expected. I should have expected the apparent death at the end of the issue. Little early to have much impact on me. Or I'm so used to supporting character death it's completely ineffective. So McCann's perhaps moving too fast. I feel like that's part of the problem with all this talk about Mockingbird "shutting down". There's a lot of Hawkeye telling me that, but other than the fact she doesn't seem as cheery as I recall from Engelhart's West Coast Avengers I'm not sure I see it. And that could possibly be attributed the different writers, or the different eras of the titles as much as development with the character resulting from all the stuff she's been put through. Maybe it would work better if I'd read that mini-series that preceded this? I don't have a lot to say about David Lopez' art, though I did like the sepia-toned panel where Phantom Rider was ranting about it's legacy. The Phantom Rider in general looks suitably creepy, and not just because of the blank eyes.
Secret Six #23 - I look at the white-haired guy on the cover, I see David Cain, Cass Cain's assassin father. I could see him making a run at the Six for the right price, if he's still doing that stuff. I don't know what his current status is, and since it was probably established by that Batgirl mini-series from 2008, I'm probably better off not knowing. It's not David Cain anyway. Some stupid rich guys with expensive weapon suits and such decide to hire the Six, only to double-cross them and try to hunt them for sport. This goes about as well for the rich guys as you might expect. Meaning they all die, some more horribly than others. I'm a little disappointed, which is not something I like saying when we're talking things written by John Ostrander. The story works as a self-contained issue, it's just kind of bland. There's none of the usual conflict between the team, though it is kind of amusing to see rich guys waste their money killing (or trying to kill) serious hardcases. I assume it's some sort of payback for jocks whomping them in school.
I was interested to see how Ostrander would write the whole team when left to his own devices. He's collaborated with Simone on some issues starring the whole cast, but the last issue he wrote solo only involved Deadshot, and we know Ostrander can write him. His dialogue style isn't the same as Simone's but I still feel he nailed most of the characters. Ragdoll's not as lewd as he is under Simone, but the frightening absurdity he spouts was there. Not sure about his Catman though. He felt a bit like Bane, or maybe the Punisher.
RB Silva handles art chores, and I don't love it. People's heads seem too small for their bodies (especially Catman's), and there seemed to be some miscommunication between him and Ostrander. The lead guy says all the Six's weapons have been removed (save one bullet in Deadshot's right wrist magnum), but Scandal kills her guy by stabbing him in the face with her wrist blades, which ought to have been removed, right? Or is the point that the guys were incompetent and some how missed them, even though they apparently have some idea who they're up against? Also, could Deadshot hold a minigun previously mounted on a little helicopter thing (I'm really unclear on how big those things are. Smaller than a person, large attack heli sized, somewhere in between?) with one arm? I have no doubt he can shoot down a jet while firing from the hip, it's more a question of physical strength.
For this week's awards, Secret Six edges out Hawkeye & Mockingbird for Least Surprising Death, but H & M wins Best Villain Rant.
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