Title: Till Death Do Us Part
Cover: Mark Gruenwald, Bob Layton
Writer: Mark Gruenwald
Pencils: Mark Gruenwald
Inks: Danny Bulanadi
Background Assistant: Eliot Brown
Colors: Christie Scheele
Letters: Joe Rosen
Editor: Dennis O’Neil
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter
Cover Price: $0.60
Cover Date: December1983
Release Date: August 1983
Synopsis: The finale of the Hawkeye Limited Series opens with Hawkeye
and Mockingbird shackled to the wall in the coffin-filed basement of a mortuary.
They soon meet their nemesis, who identifies himself as Crossfire and explains
his origins as a CIA agent who went rogue and became a mercenary for hire. In order to prevent future opposition to his
nefarious schemes, Crossfire initially hatched a plot to eliminate all
superheroes, which was thwarted by Moon Knight and The Thing in MarvelTwo-In-One #52 (June 1979).
Crossfire’s new plot involves a machine that can send sonic subliminal
messages to directly stimulate the rage centers of living brains, which he plans
to use on all of the heroes that attend Hawkeye’s funeral. He believes that he can make the heroes
savagely attack each other, resulting in the slaughter of many of the weaker
heroes and undermining the confidence of the survivors who will be wracked with
guilt and likely subject to incarceration or government regulation.
Crossfire tells Hawkeye that he was chosen because he was
the weakest and most vulnerable costumed crime fighter in town and he intends
to test out his rage machine on him and Mockingbird. After being deposited in a special room
by Bombshell and Oddball, Hawkeye and Mockingbird are driven to mortal combat
by Crossfire’s rage machine. They fight
savagely in what is a remarkably evenly matched contest, although Mockingbird
is clearly more skilled at hand-to-hand combat.
During the melee, Crossfire turns off the machine in order to
see how long it takes for the heroes to return to normal. This respite gives Hawkeye
the opportunity to activate a sonic arrowhead that he had concealed in his
tunic pouch. He places the arrowhead in
his mouth, which blocks the effect of Crossfire’s rage machine and allows him
to think clearly when the fight begins again.
With a clear head, Hawkeye is able to beat Mockingbird, knocking her
unconscious and then pretending to pass out himself.
Believing that Mockingbird is dead and Hawkeye is
unconscious from his injuries, Crossfire has Bombshell and Oddball retrieve their
bodies. Hawkeye is able to incapacitate
both of the minions and runs off to track down Crossfire. He finds the villain waiting for him, armed
with his bow and arrow. To Crossfire’s
surprise, he doesn’t have the strength to draw Hawkeye’s longbow and the concussion
arrow falls the ground and explodes.
“Weakest hero in town, am I, sucker? Then what does that
make you? You didn’t have the strength
to pull my 250 pound bow!” quips Hawkeye.
With Crossfire out of action, Hawkeye runs back to find
Mockingbird, breaking into tears when he thinks that he’s killed her. Fortunately she stirs and they embrace. The
ending of the comic is really great because it’s a twist on the happy romantic
ending that you would assume.
Mockingbird declares herself to Hawkeye, but the hero is deaf because of
the effect of the sonic arrowhead and just nods his head, pretending to
understand what she was saying and then walking away to her complete surprise.
But… There is of course a happy ending as the last page of
the issue finds our two heroes in a heart-shaped hot tub on their honeymoon at
a resort in the Pocono Mountains in New York.
The Hawkeye Limited Series was the hero’s first real solo
adventure and a compelling look at a hero in the real world with a job and life
outside of the Avengers. Having just read it all again, it’s a fun series that
stands the test of time as a story that is as important and definitive in its
own way for Clint Barton as Chris Claremont and Frank Miller’s Wolverine
Limited Series for Logan. Hawkeye goes from being a solid second string
character to a strong solo lead. He gets a new costume, saves the Marvel
Universe from a nefarious plot, gets married and starts life down a new path
that that ultimately leads to the formation of the West Coast Avengers and
solidifies Hawkeye as one of the most beloved characters in the Marvel
Universe.
Those were sweeping developments for the House of Ideas that seemed to want to preserve their characters unchanged for all time. It was early days for Marvel’s Limited Series format that allowed it to really add depth to the characters in its universe and Kudos to Mark Gruenwald who really flexed his creative muscles with this story. His rare turn as an artist really pays off because it’s clear how important this story was for him.
Those were sweeping developments for the House of Ideas that seemed to want to preserve their characters unchanged for all time. It was early days for Marvel’s Limited Series format that allowed it to really add depth to the characters in its universe and Kudos to Mark Gruenwald who really flexed his creative muscles with this story. His rare turn as an artist really pays off because it’s clear how important this story was for him.
Source: Kraalo Archives, Marvel Comics
As a big Clint fan, it was one of the few bright spots of Marvel in the '80s.., I restarted collecting both DC and Marvel while in college.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't stand the eventual Al Milgrom art on seemingly EVERYTHING I bought by then, but some of the stories were great, to include the WCA limited series.
The regular series..? Eh.., not so much.