|
Hawkeye is a character I have always found to be very interesting. As an un-powered super-hero in the mighty Avengers, he filled the role of punching bag quite often. And, like his senior counterpart in the Justice League of America, Green Arrow, he also played the role of dissenter from the status quo. His opinions were usually less political than Green Arrow's, but then, Clint Barton doesn't have Ollie Queen's burden of White Liberal Guilt. Clint's just more of a contrarian and I like that.
I am, myself, often accused of being contrarian, and not unjustly. I come from the school of thought that says, "Just because most people are doing/saying/believing something, anything, in no way makes it right/true/prudent". I think most writers have written Hawkeye with a touch of that philosophy in his character.
Clint Barton learned his trade the old fashioned way, in the circus. There was a time when kids dreamed of running away and joining the circus. This is one of the reasons circuses have always been so closely tied to comic characters, particularly costumed heroes. Going all the way back to Superman, whose costume is based on circus acrobat and strongman costumes, right down to the embarrassing-bulge concealing shorts outside the tights. Circuses offered an escape from the drudgery many kids saw in their lives and the colorful costumes and exotic animals were just icing on the cake. Of course, when kids actually did run away to the circus, they often ran right back home after discovering shoveling mounds of horse manure was infinitely preferable to shoveling MOUNTAINS of elephant dung. But, hey, that's the real world for you.
Anyway, young Clint was an orphan who fled the orphanage and joined the circus. He trained with the bow and arrow under two men he would later discover to be criminals. When he refused to join them, he was badly beaten and hospitalized.
Later, when he happened to see Iron Man in action, he decided to use his skills with a bow to fight crime, but due to a misunderstanding that has become one of the standard tropes in comics, he was mistaken for a villain. To make matters worse, he fell in love with the Black Widow, back in her Soviet spy days, and helped her steal technology from Tony Stark. Not a great start for a young hero, but wait, there's more!
His entry into the Avengers is just as dicey. He breaks into Avengers Mansion and ties up Jarvis, the team's butler. However, he manages to convince Captain America that he's not a bad guy and is accepted into the Avengers (probably out of desperation, as most of the team had recently stepped down).
Hawkeye's costumes have always been complicated affairs, and always looked to me like mix-and-match jobs, or lame super-adaptoid mélanges. Attempts to give him a sleeker look have fallen flat, with me, usually because they over play the flat black or dump what I think are key elements common to his costumes through most of his history.
At DC, the costume to beat is always, Superman. He's the prototype, the archetype and at DC, tights, cape and chest-emblem were the standard for decades. At Marvel, I think that role goes to Captain America. While Namor and the Human Torch came first, Namor's sequin Speedo inspires nausea more than anything, and Torch's cover-all, while simplicity itself, lacks any distinctive design elements. Cap is pure marketing gold.
Hawkeye has, for most of his career, shared key elements with Cap in his costume design. The initial on the cowl, for one. The short sleeves and cuffed boots. The archaic weapon and mail. Cap is the inspiration for the "Can Do" hero, even though he technically has super-strength, he's still meat and bone and not bulletproof.
I recycled many elements from previous Hawkeye costumes for my design. The shoulder straps with pouches are practical, as are the belt pouches. That's a Leatherman tool on his belt between the purple pouches, by the way. Far too few heroes carry tools. I ain't telling what's hidden under the cuffs of the boots. I made the mail shirt cover the entire torso, since the soft belly needs the most protection from sharp attacks. The double quiver is an idea I had a long time ago, because in a fight, you need LOTS of arrows and you can't always re-use your shafts, especially aluminum shafts. Of course, he probably uses some carbon fiber composite shafts that are nearly impossible to break or warp.
Of course, there's the classic mask.
The bow was made in Google SketchUp, because I hate having an unsymmetrical bow and I have a bad habit of drawing them that way.
Well, that's a wrap. See you next year!
www.heroblog.com
www.adastracomic.com
Copyright © 2008 Joe Singleton
|
|
