ash_hernick's review
3.0
"Hawkeye: Team Spirit" collects issues #5-10 of West Coast Avengers and issues #1-5 of War Of The Realms: Journey Into Mystery. Both runs feature Kate Bishop as a member of different superhero teams. I had drastically different thoughts about the two different comic runs this book collected, so I've decided to split my review up accordingly:
West Coast Avengers
This is probably one of my favorite of the new superhero teams Marvel's come up with. All of the characters click really well together, and I love seeing them interact with each other - Gwenpool especially adds a fun layer to the banter of the crew. I'm also always happy to see America, Kate, and Clint, so it was fun to see them interacting with one another! I'm not as familiar with some of the other members of the team, but I thought they were all well-written for comic book characters. One of the narrative devices of this comic is that it includes talking head monologues, like the kind on reality television - at first it was strange seeing this in comic form, but it grew on me after a while. It really works for the style of the comic! Also, Gwen gets a tiny pet shark (with legs!) and that was so fun. Not mention that almost everyone on this superhero team is queer - that definitely sold me on the book, too.
On that note, there were some odd artistic choices for this comic. In general I liked the art but there were some panels where the female characters were drawn with boob proportions that made no sense. Not to mention the random cutouts in Kate's suit. There's one panel in the comic where she gets nicked by a knife because it hits one of the cutouts in her suit and I was sitting there like "If you weren't wearing a suit with completely unnecessary cutouts, maybe you wouldn't have gotten hurt." I don't know the gender of the artist who worked on this run, but sometimes the art seemed a bit objectifying, and that was just weird. Still, I really liked this comic overall - I'd give it 4/5 stars if I was reviewing this alone.
War Of The Realms: Journey into Mystery
I was unfamiliar with most of the characters featured in this team-up (not to mention the events leading up to the narrative in general) so I had a hard time getting into this book. The writers keep mentioning other comic runs during character dialogue and telling the reader to check out other arcs, when I wish we could just finish on the story at hand. At the same time, I can acknowledge that plugging other arcs is pretty common for Marvel - it's a frustrating constant in a lot of Marvel comics.
Despite this, I had some fun watching Miles Morales and Kate Bishop run around in a camper van with some other heroes, even if I wasn't as familiar with the other characters. Miles's friendship with Thori (a dog-god) was super cute, and I wish I'd seen more of the other supers becoming buddies. I also enjoyed the road trip style hijinks - I just wish I'd understood more of the references in this comic (or that the writers gave me more context instead of just trying to get me to read other comics). The art was so-so. Half the time I hated it, the other half I loved it. I wouldn't recommend this to someone unless they had a pretty thorough knowledge of most late 2010s Thor comics, as well as an understanding of the Skrull Secret Invasion arc. If I were reading this on it's own, I'd probably give it a 3/5 or a 2/5.
West Coast Avengers
This is probably one of my favorite of the new superhero teams Marvel's come up with. All of the characters click really well together, and I love seeing them interact with each other - Gwenpool especially adds a fun layer to the banter of the crew. I'm also always happy to see America, Kate, and Clint, so it was fun to see them interacting with one another! I'm not as familiar with some of the other members of the team, but I thought they were all well-written for comic book characters. One of the narrative devices of this comic is that it includes talking head monologues, like the kind on reality television - at first it was strange seeing this in comic form, but it grew on me after a while. It really works for the style of the comic! Also, Gwen gets a tiny pet shark (with legs!) and that was so fun. Not mention that almost everyone on this superhero team is queer - that definitely sold me on the book, too.
On that note, there were some odd artistic choices for this comic. In general I liked the art but there were some panels where the female characters were drawn with boob proportions that made no sense. Not to mention the random cutouts in Kate's suit. There's one panel in the comic where she gets nicked by a knife because it hits one of the cutouts in her suit and I was sitting there like "If you weren't wearing a suit with completely unnecessary cutouts, maybe you wouldn't have gotten hurt." I don't know the gender of the artist who worked on this run, but sometimes the art seemed a bit objectifying, and that was just weird. Still, I really liked this comic overall - I'd give it 4/5 stars if I was reviewing this alone.
War Of The Realms: Journey into Mystery
I was unfamiliar with most of the characters featured in this team-up (not to mention the events leading up to the narrative in general) so I had a hard time getting into this book. The writers keep mentioning other comic runs during character dialogue and telling the reader to check out other arcs, when I wish we could just finish on the story at hand. At the same time, I can acknowledge that plugging other arcs is pretty common for Marvel - it's a frustrating constant in a lot of Marvel comics.
Despite this, I had some fun watching Miles Morales and Kate Bishop run around in a camper van with some other heroes, even if I wasn't as familiar with the other characters. Miles's friendship with Thori (a dog-god) was super cute, and I wish I'd seen more of the other supers becoming buddies. I also enjoyed the road trip style hijinks - I just wish I'd understood more of the references in this comic (or that the writers gave me more context instead of just trying to get me to read other comics). The art was so-so. Half the time I hated it, the other half I loved it. I wouldn't recommend this to someone unless they had a pretty thorough knowledge of most late 2010s Thor comics, as well as an understanding of the Skrull Secret Invasion arc. If I were reading this on it's own, I'd probably give it a 3/5 or a 2/5.
almostlikequake's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
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