Posted in: Comics | Tagged: david aja, hawkeye, Lucky, marvel, matt fraction, pizza dog

Hawkeye #11 – The Best Single Comic You'll Read Today, Even If You're Gary Groth

Today, Marvel publishes Hawkeye #11 by Matt Fraction and David Aja.

It's a story about Clint Barton (better known as Hawkeye)'s dog Lucky (better known as Pizza Dog).

It's about the way he sees, hears and smells his world, represented as a series of pictograms that are reminiscent of the work of Chris Ware. We get associated diagrams to show how a dog links person to place to attributes to smells. Sniffing through the trash, the diagrams show logical patterns in Lucky's thoughts, piecing clues together to identify their owners – and finding pizza.

As well as the world we see and hear, the dog's world extends round the sides, holding more information, portrayed in this comic as bleeding out with blue line architectural depictions of the world. There are also the snatches of human conversation that remind me of a classic Far Side cartoon. And, yes, Hawkeye being called a "total Clint" as a result.

Only the important pieces stick out, and its a pleasure to see a book like this semi-hand lettered, it really emphasises the strengths such a technique can bring. Then there is memory, and associated traits with people and things – and even drawing comparisons.

There are dog politics which are very far from human ones, even when one affects the other, and how memory affects current perception, all intertwining into one doggy internal narrative.

For anyone following the story so far, this will be a far richer experience, and there's one hell of an emotional kick at the end. Even if you haven't you should be able to work it out. Whose dog is Lucky's anyway?

Comics courtesy of Orbital Comics, London. Currently exhibiting Jason Atomic's Satanic Mojo, inspired by underground comics with work from Atomic, Shaky Kane, Garry Leach and more… for adults only. Go to the gallery and buy the comic…

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!