Marvel 1964 Week--Tales Of Suspense #57!!

Well, let's see here...September 1964 has already brought us the origin of Doctor Doom. What other seminal events await us?

Yes, that's right. It's the origin and first appearance of everyone's favorite Marvel bowman, Hawkeye!!

I think it's safe to say that Hawkeye is one of the more popular characters in the Marvel pantheon. Clint Barton has been Hawkeye, and Goliath, and the Golden Archer, and Ronin. He's been in the Avengers and the West Coast Avengers and the Great Lakes Avengers and the Defenders and the Thunderbolts. He's been a villain as well as a hero. He was the first "non-star" Avenger to have his own mini-series, and he's had what, three of them, not to mention a lengthy stint as the main star of Solo Avengers. Oh, yeah, and he's been gratuitously killed, and just as gratuitously brought back (thank you, Bendis).

Why? Why is Hawkeye so popular, when by any rational standard we should be sneering that's he's just a knock off of Green Arrow, or Golden Arrow, of any of the 5,000 other archer characters? We can get a glimmer (but just a glimmer) in his debut.

But first:

And of creators:

Allow me the briefest defense of Don Heck. In the 70's and 80's it became somewhat fashionable to deride his work. And it's true that his style didn't "age" very well, when he was going up against the new generation of flashier artists like Perez or Giffen or Byrne. But in his prime, and with an inker who knew what to do, Heck was more than competent as a conveyer of action and excitement. No, he's no Kirby; yes, his figures were often stiff. But the man knew how to break down a page, and how to tell a story.

Anyway, our story. One of the problems with the early run of Iron Man is that Stan didn't seem to have a firm grip on exactly what to do with Tony Stark. I mean, here you have a cat who's a billionaire, one of the world's greatest geniuses, a playboy...and the best Stan could do was put him in a ridiculous love triangle story with a retired boxer and his secretary:



Tony Stark--a dick in any era.

Let's just say that this particular soap opera stuff was not amongst Stan's finest plot devices, and move on. In an effort to keep his date "unromantic," Stark takes Pepper to Coney Island. Yee-haw!! There they witness:

Well, of course a ride breaks, so who leaps into action?

Oh, Tony...you brought an attache case on a date? You schmuck.

Hawkeye (they never reveal the Clint Barton name in this story) is jealous that, for some odd reason, Iron Man is getting more attention than some carny sideshow. So he acts:




So Hawkeye goes out, foils a jewel heist...and of course NYPD's finest immediately assume he's a crook:

Really, no one was worse at telling heroes from villains than 1960's Marvel cops. Fortunately for Hawkeye, he is rescued by...

Ahh, the Black Widow, the world's sexiest commie.

That is some sublet. Oh, and Hawkeye is obviously pretty stupid.

And stupider.

Geez, Hawkeye, come on--you act like you've never even seen a woman before. 5 minutes and you're completely in her thrall?!?

Then, despite the fact that Iron Man had only 2/3 of this issue, we get: STILL! MORE! SOAP! OPERA!!

Thanks, Stan.

Anyway, Hawkeye shows up, and despite Shellhead's arrogant dismissal that any mere arrows could hurt him:

What? You're telling me you didn't even Simonize the armor? The "Invincible" Iron Man taken down by rust? Maybe I'm going to rethink that "one of the smartest men in the world" statement.

Of course, that was just an excuse to give the ladies some Tony Stark cheesecake:

Luckily, Tony has spare armor laying around. And here's another glimpse at the exciting life of a billionaire playboy:

Yup, my driver and secretary are at the drive-in, therefore I have nothing to do. Tony, Tony, Tony...you could be in Monaco with a Playboy bunny on your arm, you could be in the lab inventing TiVo or iPods or something fabulous. Lordy, you need some real friends...

Iron Man decides the best way to stop Hawkeye is to blow up his car.

And Hawkeye learned that Iron Man is actually a tiny bit tougher than he let on last time.

But still not that smart.

But iron beats bow, and Tony puts the kibosh on the mighty marksman:

But wait...Hawkeye's just playing possum, and has saved his mightiest arrow for last!

Unfortunately, he once again has underestimated the Golden Avenger...

...and killed his girlfriend:

D'oh!!

Clint...my man...you've known her for four panels. Stop acting like a teenager with a crush on Marcia Brady. Sigh...

Anyway, Hawkeye and the Widow get away in the fog, and we're left with a sad scene, as tragic Tony Stark wanders down the beach to the theme from the Hulk TV show:

Stan, it doesn't work (and even if it did, you're overselling it). You can't make Tony Stark into Peter Parker, no matter how hard you try. Stark's tragedies are nowhere near as intense as Parker's, and his prospects are much better. It's hard to feel pity for the billionaire playboy.

Then again, at least you didn't make him a fascist dictator.

As for Hawkeye, you can see the beginnings of the Clint Barton we know and love. The competitiveness, the hotheadedness, the brashness, the cockiness. And frankly, his trick arrows are cooler than Green Arrow's, at least for this one story. So, aside from being the dumbest dumbass possible over a woman he just met...hmmm, maybe he already is the Hawkeye we know and love.

The backup story for this issue?

Ah, Tales of the Watcher (We're still 2 months away from Captain America getting his Tales of Suspense series). It's not much of a story--the entire story boils down to a twist that might have seemed novel in 1964 but is pretty predictable in 2009. But we do get one very important lesson: Space Pirates shound not piss off the Watcher.

ELSEWHERE IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE:

Journey Into Mystery #108 featured yet another Thor/Loki hoedown, this time guest-starring Doctor Strange, and...hey, wait a minute. What's that cover blurb??

What, was Marvel trying to market to the female readership?

Thor--the first metrosexual hero!!