Eye On Hawkeye: Aw, compilation, no.

Or a look at the complex curation of the Hawkeye Omnibus,
by Matt Fraction, David Aja, Annie Wu, Matt Hollingsworth, Javier Pulido, Francesco Francavilla, Steve Lieber, Jesse Hamm, Chris Eliopoulos, Jordie Bellaire, Clayton Cowles, Alan Davis, Mark Farmer, Paul Mounts, and Corey Petit; Marvel Comics

The craft of comic making involves a bunch of interrelated disciplines. There is artwork, obviously, a combination of drawing, inking, and colouring. There is writing the plot and scripting dialogue. And of course there is lettering, which marries the two. Combined this creates the storytelling of the actual comic. I spend the majority of my time on this blog trying to understand and discuss storytelling and the creative choices that create that. But this approach ignores another group of comics professionals who also contribute to the process in a much more silent way: the editors. This part of the team helps guide the story, fixes mistakes, coordinates the workflow of creators and probably does a million other things that as a reader I take for granted. A friend of mine who is an editor calls it an invisible discipline. 

I recently got the Hawkeye Omnibus as a gift and beyond being great (thank you spouse!), it's an interesting object to look at curation and the role of editors. Specifically, I want to talk about curation as part of storytelling and take a closer look at some of the choices in the Hawkeye Omnibus.

Yadda yadda yadda *SPOILERS*!

The Fraction/Aja/Wu/Hollingsworth/Elipoulos/etc run on Hawkeye is one of my favourite comics. It's also a comic that fundamentally changed how I write about and read comic books. As a critic/wonk this comic was a gateway to looking at storytelling as a process and was instrumental in shaping my voice as a comics writer. So I love this comic, and having the omnibus as a hardy, curated collection is pretty great.

Another thing about reading the curated collection is that it was remarkably different than reading the issues as they came out. When reading Hawkeye episodically there was so much expectation for the next issue and time for every moment and in-joke to percolate and be savoured. And there was a community of Hawkguys out there bro bro broing and hawkblocking and being great at boats and echoing my enthusiasm for the comic. Reading the entire comic in one sitting is a lot more solitary and small. The pace of the comic, the fact I could just move on to the next issue, maybe shrinks some of these moments. (Although, it could be that this is just a reread effect...) The omnibus does work great for showcasing the interconnectivity and thoughtful planning between issues though: Hawkeye is filled with foreshadowing, Checkov's guns, running jokes, and clever easter eggs that really standout when the comic is consumed all at once. I think there is maybe a lot to be said that episodic comic issues and collections might be separate mediums like tv and film. 

The Hawkeye Omnibus is obviously an artifact of curation. The publication of Hawkeye was pretty complicated. The comic had delays, rotating artists, issues published out of order, and an extra issue inserted into the process for charity. Some of the narrative was published out of chronological order and certain comics happened in overlapping time frames. So taking these issues and working them into a logical, definitive order involves a number of editorial choices.

For the most part I don't think there is necessarily an objectively correct choice. Like, take Hawkeye #7, the comic made to engage with Hurricane Sandy. The comic is set in late October but was released after the Christmas issue of Hawkeye (#6). It makes logical sense to put this issue in plot order and have the Hurricane Sandy issue come before the Xmas one. And yet, the Hurricane Sandy issue plays with the "Hawkguy" running joke which was introduced and explained in the Xmas issue. Following plot chronology instead of publication order creates a tiny story snarl. Or take Hawkeye #17, the Winter Holiday Animal Cartoon themed issue. It clearly slots into the story right after Xmas Hawkeye (#6) but was published much, much later. So again it makes plot sense to move it into its plot chronology. But then again, Holiday Cartoon Hawkeye has character parodies from deeper in the series and the entire issue deals with series themes rendered into the medium of winter holiday cartoons. So I found it really didn't hit the same encompassing celebration/summary/commentary notes when placed in an earlier reading order position. (The issue to me reads more like a late season flashback episode than a normal episode out of order, if that makes sense.) And then there are the concurrent Clint/Kate stories. Do they read best interspersed or read as discrete subchapters? Or do both orders work: interspersed in an omnibus, but discrete in smaller collections? I think a curator can make a compelling case for multiple ordering arrangements and that every possible arrangement of issues will come with storytelling tradeoffs.

That said, I do think there was one particularly bad curation choice in the Hawkeye Omnibus which was putting Young Avengers Presents #6 as the first issue/chapter of the collection.

I think every storytelling choice is made in attempt to serve a purpose. So there must be a reason that YAP #6 was chosen for inclusion in the Hawkeye Omnibus and for why it was made the first chapter. I think part of it is that YAP #6 was written by Matt Fraction and contains both Clint and Kate. As such the comic could be considered part of Fraction's grand body of work with the characters. (Which massively discounts the authorial stamp of the series' artists, but whatever.) YAP #6 is also a comic that deals with the fact that there are two Hawkeyes in the Marvel Universe, that Kate had taken the mantle while Clint was temporarily dead (comics!), and that the two hash it out and conclude that they can both be Hawkeye. So this issue does work as an introduction to the two characters and their kind of complicated relationship. So maybe the purpose of YAP #6 was to provide the reader with some context and clarity about what the Hawkeyes deal was.

But I don't think it actually provides narrative clarity or serves a storytelling purpose in the broader Hawkeye story.

Part of the problem is YAP #6 introduces a whole bunch of irrelevant and confusing information. Sure it has Clint and Kate and them dealing with both being Hawkeye, but it also has Patriot (who?), Clint as Ronin (what?), and deals with the complicated illegal vs sanctioned Avengers continuity post Mavel Civil War comics circa 2006 (why?). This is so much information that has no direct bearing on Hawkeye and I think creates more questions than it answers. It also introduces a pretty complicated Marvel Universe status quo that is wildly out of date and has zero bearing on Hawkeye, a comic which exists almost completely separate from the publisher's main continuity. Including YAP #6 to introduce Clint and Kate is like... me making someone watch the entirety of the Lord of the Rings films to show them that one of the guys from Flight of the Conchords plays an elf. 

Which is all the more confusing because the main Hawkeye series does a great job of introducing Clint and Kate. Hawkeye #1 is a nearly perfect first issue that, among other things, gives the reader all of the relevant information about who Clint is and what they need to know about his situation. Hawkeye #2 involves a murder circus and sets up some important series plot stuff, but also serves as an introduction to Kate, the fact that there are two Hawkeyes, and shows how the Hawkeye's relationship basically works. Essentially all of the relevant character information is contained in these two issues of the main Hawkeye run. These issues manage to do this efficiently and without any extraneous information, characters, or continuity baggage. Including YAP #6 doesn't include anything not covered better in Hawkeye #1-2 and is therefore a redundant inclusion. 

 

The other thing to consider about Hawkeye #1 is that it has a perfect first panel. The comic opens with Hawkeye falling backwards out of a broken window shooting a grapple-arrow while narration says "Okay..." "This looks bad." We see Clint as Hawkeye clearly in over his head. We see him faced with the peril of falling to his death, a big problem for him, but a trivial annoyance to to flying or indestructible Avenger teammates. It's an exciting, attention grabbing panel that establishes the thematic contract of the Hawkeye series in a single image (the Avenger who is just a guy). It's also, serendipitously, almost identical to one of the most icon Hawkeye moments in the Avengers movie, which gives this panel the magic power of being a familiar landing place for movie fans who might want to try a comic. Putting YAP #6 in front of this panel dilutes the effectiveness of this panel as an introduction which hurts the effectiveness of the Hawkeye series. It also makes the first images in the omnibus Kate and  Patriot (who?) having an awkward conversation in a carriage... which is a much worse way to open a series. This is just inexplicable storytelling.

There is also the significant fact that Young Avengers Presents #6 has a completely different aesthetic than Hawkeye. I love Alan Davis art because it is correct to, but his classic superhero style married to representative, gradient colours does not fit in with the actual Hawkeye comics. Hawkeye as a series features a diverse group of artists, and yet, largely from the consistent, minimalist flat colours of Hollingsworth, the comic manages to have a unified visual identity. Which is absolutely integral to the experience of reading Hawkeye. I cannot emphasize enough just how important the look of Hawkeye is to this series. For a readers first experience of Hawkeye to be a comic that radically diverges from the series artistically is a baffling choice.

So the Hawkeye Omnibus is kind of a mixed bag for me. I love having the series collected in a single edition and the curation within Hawkeye itself is consistent and logical. However, the inclusion of Young Avengers Presents #6 is perplexing and it's placement as the first comic in the book is nonsensical. YAP #6 is not part of Hawkeye and should, at best, be a bonus extra in the backup material. 

More broadly speaking, I think there is a lesson here about the role of editors and curation: when it is done well it is an invisible art, but when it is done poorly it is distracting and damages storytelling.

Previously:

Eye on Hawkeye #22: constructing an ending

Eye on Hawkeye #21: deconstructing a page
Eye on Hawkeye #20: rebuilding narratives

Eye on Hawkeye #19 pt. 2: Structural wayfinding.
Eye on Hawkeye #19 pt.1: Empathy Machine

Eye on Hawkeye #18: Colours and setting.
Eye on Hawkeye #15: Composition, Layout, and colours.
Eye on Hawkeye #16: Smart layouts and chilling moods.
Eye on Hawkeye #14: Repetitive panels as a device.

Eye on Hawkeye #13: The shattered timeline of Hawkeye

Eye on Hawkeye # Annual Pt. 2: Remixing Hawkeye #3 with Annual thought captions.

Eye on Hawkeye # Annual Pt. 1: Using silhouettes in arguments
Eye on Hawkeye #12: Setting up the perfect splash page

Eye on Hawkeye #11 pt. 3: Action packed layouts!

Eye on Hawkeye #11 pt. 2: Lucky & Clint, Narrative Similarities
Eye on Hawkeye #11 pt. 1: A Dog's Perspective
Eye on Hawkeye #10: Colours and Mood

Eye on Hawkeye #9: Layout and Eye Guiding

Eye on Hawkeye #8: Art and Information

Eye on Hawkeye #7: Setting as Character and Steve Lieber

Eye on Hawkeye #6 pt. 2: Great Writing

Eye on Hawkeye #6 pt. 1: Clever Layouts

Eye on Hawkeye #3: Motion in a Static Medium

Eye on Hawkeye #2: Sock Holes and Characterization

Sentencing She-Hulk #10, #11, and #12

Or a look at a great double page spread in She-Hulk #10 and #11
by Charles Soule, Javier Pulido, Munsta Vicente, Gus Pillsbury; Marvel Comics

I love comics that use unexpected and clever ways to encode extra information. I also love collaborative comics that showcase how every member of the creative team contributes to making bold storytelling choices work. She-Hulk routinely has a great double page spreads that exemplify both. Just these great flourishes of design that are just really interesting comics. Comics worth taking a closer look at.

This post has *SPOILERS* for She-Hulk #10  and #11 in it.

This super efficient double page spread from She-Hulk #10 conveys a ton of information in a really smart way. The story of the spread is that young Steve Rogers and his friend meet in New York and then travel by train to Los Angeles. And the way this is conveyed is perfectly clever and filled with comics goodness.

This page has a ton of layered collaborative tricks that makes it work in interesting ways. Broadly speaking the underlying design breaks the page into three storytelling zones: a triangular top section, a horizontal region bound by the train tracks, and a lower triangular section. The top section has drawings of the Brooklyn bridge and Empire State in the winter clearly establish the setting as New York, the train tracks then boldly signify rail travel, and the short sleaves and cinematic marquee in the bottom section depicts LA. This setting break is emphasized by the colouring which depicts old New York with a grey, grainy heavily muted colour like an old photograph but depicts LA in a warmer, sepia tone like old film. This colour shift helps to deliniate the two storytelling regions clearly. And then there is the lettering which interacts with the bold graphical elements, mainly the train tracks, to help guide the reader through the artwork in a manner that is counter-normal and adds a lot of cool effects. It's a great team effort.

What all of this does is make the page organically read in a weird way. Specifically the reader moves across the top of the page from left to right, and then down the tracks from right to left, before moving throgh the LA story portion left to right. This makes the reader travel an extra long way through the page which helps convey the emotional sense of distance and travelling. It also has the really cool effect of making the train tracks from New York to LA move East-to-West on North-to-South on the page like the actual journey. And in a cheeky bit of cleverness, the page has a decidedly "Z" shape to the reader route which is reflected in the "Mark of Zorro" marquee in LA which is totally fun. This is a fantastic page of comics.

She-Hulk #11 opens with some tremendous double-page spreads that make tremendous use of space, onomatopoeia, and design to magnify the events occurring in the pages. This first spread comes after a page turn and begins with Titania, the super-strong lady in purple, cold-cocking a surprised She-Hulk right off the page and through several walls. This spread, beyond being kind of beautiful, makes really great use of space to emphasize horizontal distance. Readers enter the page in the top left, get drawn into the circle shape of Titania's punch and then alone the sound effect and motion line of She-Hulk flying through the air and off the page. It's a quick journey left to right filled with surprise. Readers then shift down the page and read the "Titanium Blues" issue title which stretches from left to right across the whole width of the comic, which again results in rapid left to right eye path. Finally the reader carriage returns to the bottom row of panels and again cruises in a clean, uncluttered left to right pan along the flight path of She-Hulk as she tumbles through walls and offices. This way the reader has cruised across the full width of the comic three complete times following the original punch which really emphasizes just how far She-Hulk has flown from the blow. Which really emphasizes the force and drama of that punch. THWAMM!

Following another page turn the reader is confronted with another double-page spread that makes a thoughtful use of space to emphasize motion and action. In this case the larger canvas is used to emphasize vertical motion instead of horizontal, using tall narrow panels to change the orientation of events. Readers enter this layout in the top left in a panel where Titania snags Shulkie, pans down to Titania twirling She-Hulk by her leg and is thrown quickly to the top of the next panel column which mimics the motion depicted. The net column of panels is interesting in that the first image encountered is actually the final panel of a vertical sequence. The reader sees She-Hulk flying up off the page and then sees the preceding images of her smashing through the stories below and Titania's actual throw. By presenting these panels in reverse-chronological order this section of the page feels simultaneous, as if the events depicted are so fast that they cannot be presented in the normal order. It's like the comics equivalent of a sonic boom trailing a hypersonic jet. Also, by stacking these panels this section of the layout really sells the vertical orientation of the motion and sets the stage for the next region of the page. The last section of the layout takes the reader in a very clean, quick line from the top left with She-Hulk being launched from her office, over Manhattan at the apex of her flight, and down to her landing in the New Jersey Palisades. This part of the spread is interesting in that the reader path actually lies perpendicular to She-Hulk's flight path, and yet the details and iconography of her flight is so elegantly simplified that the reader can take it in as they progress from top left to bottom right. Which of course makes the page feel fairly quick. At the same time, the way that backsplash panel of She-Hulk in flight is sufficiently complicated that I found myself pausing on it and taking in the details for a moment, which for me is so amazingly evocative of that feeling of serene freefall. It's this moment of weightlessness and altitude that is just kind of perfect. This is a really, really cool chunk of comics.

This page from She-Hulk 12 is almost the polar opposite of the other double page spreads gathered here: perfect simplicity. While the other layouts are filled with complex guidelines and ornate layouts to capture complex storytelling or rapid motion, this double page spread distills everything down to a single perfect moment. Gone is the background. Gone is the design. All that remains is looming tidal wave of fearsome She-Hulk poised to crash down on Nightwatch hiding behind puny sibilant platitudes.  It's a breathless freezeframe of catharsis made all the better for it's scale and lack of distractions and cathartic ending to the series.

I hope She-Hulk is only in recess, because I am not ready for this concept and creative team to be adjourned.

Previously:
She-Hulk #1: Fun layouts

Sentencing She-Hulk #1

Or a look at some really innovative layouts in She-Hulk #1
by Charles Soule, Javier Pulido, Munsta Vicente; Marvel Comics

I really enjoyed She-Hulk #1. The hook of She-Hulk being the star of a law procedural with a light, comedic-ish air, while not completely original, is always good fun and Charles Soule, with his perspective as a practicing lawyer, really portrays the practice of law in an interesting and nuanced way in She-Hulk #1. It's a really fun comic.

She-Hulk #1 is also a really great looking, and technically interesting comic with some absolutely dynamite layouts by Javier Pulido paired with some fantastic colouring by Munsta Vicente. I'm going to take a closer look at a couple of my favourite layouts.

There will be *SPOILERS* for She-Hulk #1, so don't commit a crime against yourself and read the comic first.

I am absolutely in love with this page: Team Shulkie deliver a really interesting pair of sequences that happen simultaneously. One story on the page is that She-Hulk, having quit her high paying law job hits up the local lawyer bar to unwind with whiskey (as is proper [assuming it is done responsibly]). She-Hulk's story ends in the last panel when a lady suddenly appears and says hello. However, this page has a second story which shows the suddenly-appearing-woman canvassing the lawyer bar with a red folder in the background showing where this woman came from. The way I read the page, I saw the entire She-Hulk story without even noticing the second story of folder-woman, so that I was just as completely surprised by her appearance as She-Hulk. Which is kind of great comics: I experienced the same She-Hulk-self-involvement and then surprise as the protagonist.

Now, admittedly, this might be because I am terrible at reading comics and missed something obvious that everyone else in the world noticed. But, the thing is, I've noticed some design elements that seem designed to trick the reader into only following the She-Hulk story and then doubling back to read folder-lady's tale.

My first pass of this page was governed by She-Hulk. She is the sole character in the foreground and is making a number of interesting, dynamic gestures and motions that change from panel to panel and guide the the reader down the gradual left-to-right line of her positioning. Just by body language and posing there is a rich enough pool of visual information to keep the reader busy and focused on Shulkie. This effect is magnified by the colouring. She-Hulk is coloured her bright, emerald green and is wearing a bright, white blouse, which compared with the drab, cooler colours of the background stands out considerably. Especially, when you account for how BIG the emerald/white colour blocks are compared to the much smaller, broken up colour patches of the people and wall signs in the background. Basically, the colouring of the She-Hulk story is just brighter and bolder and helps keep the reader focused on her story instead of the background.

(And really, the She-Hulk story almost functions without any background since tumblr, bottle, waiters arm, and bar top convey the key setting information in the foreground. Which is a really smart choice if you buy my argument that the artwork is designed to misdirect the reader into paying less attention to the background.)

It was these elements that kept me focusing on She-Hulk and her story on this page and made the appearance of folder-lady such an effective surprise.

Of course, once folder-lady appeared, and I realized she was an important character, I went back through the page and found the whole other story. And many of the same compositional elements used to steer through the foreground are also used to move the reader through the background folder-lady story. Colours highlight the woman's blonder hair and the red of the folder to catch the reader. Similarly the woman's gesture and her relationship to the folder helps make a visual guide that leads the reader through her story so that the folder-lady part of the page ends just as effectively with her looking at She-Hulk. It's a pretty clean, nice little sequence. 

And combined, I think, these two layered sequences make this page super interesting. Misdirection keeps the reader focused on She-Hulk and maximizes surprise, and then rewards the reader with a hidden, yet important story of folder-lady failing to find a lawyer. It's really cool, and honestly, how often do you see comics pages designed to be read twice?

This double page spread is also pretty awesome and does some really cool things with panel shape and perspective to emphasize some really interesting elements of the page that makes the drama/comedy of the page work.

The crux of what I love about this spread is the LOOOoooooooonnnnngggg hallway and how the art emphasizes the heck out of this distance to great effect. The composition, with its 18th floor Ding!, takes from the top of the first panel into the top of the second panel. This places us at the end of the hall and then, as we, look down the very tall panel we see, and experience, just how far away She-Hulk is from the end of the hallway. What's even more great about this is Shulkie is on an angle and facing upwards along the hallway which makes the distance loom larger and emphasizes the uphill-climb-challenge of walking down this very long hallway. This leads into the next two panels which show She-Hulk progressing along the hallway, but also walking uphill, continuing to emphasize the gruelling effort of walking down such a long-ass hallway. The composition then doubles back towards the centre of the page where we meet Legal, Tony Starks lawyer. The result of this doubleback is that the reading path takes just about the longest route possible to get from the elevator to Legal which makes us the reader actually experience the length of the hall. It is absolutely an amazing bit of design and layout work.

She-Hulk #1 is a fantastic comic that has me super excited to read more She-Hulk.

Atoll Comics Round 12

Or changes to my top-ten comics 

Due to poverty and an urge to buy better comics, I have decided to be super-selective about which superhero comics I read. Harnessing the Awesome Power of Maths, I have determined that I can afford to read 10 ongoing titles. So I get to read 10, and only 10, titles published by either Marvel or DC as well as one trade paperback a week of my choosing.

A complication of this is that I am forced to drop an on-going title if I want to try reading a new on-going title, an act of very tough love. Being financially responsible is the worst.

I will be adding She-Hulk and dropping FF.

Why She-Hulk: She-Hulk is absolutely the kind of comic I want to read from mainstream Marvel. It's fun, has an interesting narrative angle (lawyer She-Hulk fixing problems she can't punchout), and is absolutely beautiful with just masterful artwork by Javier Pulido. It's great!

Actually, I think the magic of She-Hulk goes beyond quirk and execution. I'm a career academic who TA's to supplement my income which means I spend a lot of time trying to figure out when people have no idea what they are talking about. So I'd like to think I'm developing a sense for when people are experts or trying to fake it. And the thing is She-Hulk is a comic that is being written by Charles Soule who is an actual, real life lawyer and his expertise really shines through. The result is a comic that feels authentic and nuanced and interesting. While, you know, still being fun and charming and funny. 

And that's not even getting to the art team of Javier Pulido and Muntsa Vicente. She-Hulk is a comic that visually is basically perfect. Javier Pulido has a gorgeous clean style, amazing character acting chops, and just endlessly fascinating approaches to layout that make even the most legal-proceeding heavy sequences interesting to look at. Muntsa Vicente, meanwhile, is the perfect colourist with a bright, pop-arty, flat colouring style that is the perfect partner for Pulido's lineart. She-Hulk is a comic with the kind of art that is worth the price of admission.

If you like my taste in comics, especially those in my top-ten mainstream books, than the first issue of She-Hulk is pretty much a must read. If it is any indication of the kind of book the whole series will be, than it will absolutely be a top-ten comic.

Why not FF: FF is another great comic that has ended. For being a comic I almost didn't buy into, largely because I was so happy with Hickman's FF, I ended up really enjoying the Fraction/Allreds version. This FF wasn't the high concept Sci-fi book that emphasized the weird nature of child genius, but was instead, at its best, a book about a bunch of kooky comic book kids being fun. FF was like this joyful celebration of everything that is great about comics that was also a really well made comic. But like most really great and original mainstream comics, it has an ending and that means it's time to say goodbye and replace it in my Pull List.

Previously:

Atoll Comics Round 11: Ms. Marvel in and Young Avengers out

Atoll Comics Round 10: Black Widow in and The Movement out

Atoll Comics Round 9: The Movement in and The Indestructible Hulk out

Atoll Comics Round 8: The Indestructible Hulk and FF in and Uncanny Avengers out
Atoll Comics Round 7: Young Avengers in and Winter Solider out
Atoll Comics Round 6: Either The Indestructible Hulk or FF in and Batwoman out
Atoll Comics Round 5: Avengers in and Fantastic Four/FF out
Atoll Comics Round 4: Avengers Assemble in and The Invincible Ironman out
Atoll Comics Round 3: Uncanny Avengers in and Ultimate Spider-Man out
Atoll Comics Round 2: Hawkeye in and The Flash out
Atoll Comics Round 1: Captain Marvel in and Thunderbots/Dark Avengers out
Atoll Comics Round 0: The originals

Eye On Hawkeye # Annual 1 Pt. 2

Or having some fun with the caption boxes of the first Hawkeye Annual using a sequence from Hawkeye #3
Collectively by Matt Fraction, Javier Pulido, David Aja, Matt Hollingsworth, Clayton Cowles, and Chris Eliopoulus

This post is going to involve serious *SPOILERS* from Hawkeye #3 and potentially mild *SPOILERS* from the new Hawkeye Annual. Be aware.

One of my favourite things about the Hawkeye Annual is the way thought captions are presented in the issue. The combination of hilarious, idiosyncratic dialogue, playful font, and expressive cartoon face is a lot of fun. But these captions are also great for a variety of reasons I have discussed previously. But, to sum up, they are innovative because they provide direct info about Kate's emotions, provide additional character details, and develop Kate's internal life. It's good stuff.

But, I can't help but apply this kind of thought process to what we have already seen of Kate in Hawkeye. Because, if this is what and how she is thinking in the Hawkeye Annual, than she is likely thinking like this in previous issues too. Say, like in the Hawkeye #3, the car chase one.

And actually.... I think it might be fun to apply some of the captions from the Annual to Hawkeye #3. 

So I'm going to take these two pages here, and add try adding Kate thought captions and see how it works out. This is what I came up with:

So what do you think? Does it work? Should dropping in comic-Kate thought captions into other issues of Hawkeye or Young Avengers be a thing? 

I think it could be a thing.

Previously:

Eye on Hawkeye # Annual Pt. 1: Using silhouettes in arguments
Eye on Hawkeye #12: Setting up the perfect splash page

Eye on Hawkeye #11 pt. 3: Action packed layouts!

Eye on Hawkeye #11 pt. 2: Lucky & Clint, Narratively Similarities
Eye on Hawkeye #11 pt. 1: A Dog's Perspective
Eye on Hawkeye #10: Colours and Mood

Eye on Hawkeye #9: Layout and Eye Guiding

Eye on Hawkeye #8: Art and Information

Eye on Hawkeye #7: Setting as Character and Steve Lieber

Eye on Hawkeye #6 pt. 2: Great Writing

Eye on Hawkeye #6 pt. 1: Clever Layouts

Eye on Hawkeye #3: Motion in a Static Medium

Eye on Hawkeye #2: Sock Holes and Characterization

Eye on Hawkeye # Annual 1 Pt. 1

Or the use of silhouettes to make arguments better in the first Hawkeye Annual
By Matt Fraction, Javier Pulido, Matt Hollingsworth, and Clayton Cowles; Marvel Comics

The Hawkeye Annual is another great comic in the Hawkguy tradition. This issue follows Kate Bishop Hawkeye, Lady Hawkguy, as she packs her bags and Pizza Dog, travels to California, and has a run in with an old foe. It is a really fun issue. Because I am apparently becoming this series internet stalker, I noticed some smart creative decisions that are maybe worth unpacking.

As always *SPOILERS* will follow. Read the comic first.

The first thing I love about this comic is that Katey-Kate got the Hawkguy treatment: she gets beat up fighting some goons and gets to wear the trademark nose-bridge-bandaid. Which, actually, is a pretty great visual representation of how out of her element she is. In previous issues Kate has always been the Hawkeye with her life more-or-less together, and unlike Clint, she manages not to get her butt kicked and seldom is bandaged up. This is really the first issue that you see Kate scattered, and unprepared, and injured. It's fun.

(Also, I love how Pulido's Kate looks like a teenager. The contrast between her and Whitney Frost really emphasizes how young and inexperienced she is. I kind of love it when younger characters look young in comics.)

(Also, also, the decision to have a femme fatale go after a female character by using her glamour and kind of just being a nice person is a pretty refreshing twist on the archetype.)

Another neat aspect of the Hakweye Annual are the thought captions. For one, they are pretty cute, and frequently pretty funny and fun. But, I think they are also really smart for a couple reasons. The first is character: the cartoony faces, loose hand written font, and frequently goofy thoughts really help cement the youth and inexperience of Kate. Also, the range of thoughts and wildly expressive faces in these thought captions really bely the cool exterior of Kate we have seen throughout Hawkeye, so these captions really add a depth to her previous appearances. As cool as she may have looked, her internal life in these previous issues were probably alive with these kinds of thoughts. These captions are also really cool from a comics-information-encoding perspective by directly showing the emotions of Kate that come with each thought. Normal, text-only captions only show the language of the thoughts, so you can only infer the accompanying emotions, but the captions in the Hawkeye Annual unambiguously convey the emotions coupled to each thought. It's kind of like the comics equivalent of how internal monologues in film have the tone of the actor's voice to convey emotion. It's a straight forward approach that really enhances Kate's internal life. 

But, I think the neatest technical thing about the Hawkeye Annual is how the silhouette motif is used during some of the scenes. Now, representing characters by their black outlines occurs throughout the issue, and in a lot of scenes seems to be mostly a stylistic choice. But, in certain scenes the silhouettes seem designed to enhance certain personal disconnects between characters. Let me explain...

Okay. I feel like arguments, particularly hurtful ones, are about a breakdown in empathy. Instead of having a reasoned discussion, considering the needs and perspective of all involved, and reaching some kind of consensus or reasonable compromise, people just focus on what they want or how they feel and go with that. Maybe they say things that aren't true about the other person, but true of a kind of emotionally constructed version of the person they are arguing with. And maybe, as they become more hurt, arguing people say things they don't mean, that don't accurately reflect how they feel. This argument between Kate and Clint from the beginning of the Annual seems like that kind of argument.

And I think silhouettes are used in this conversation to emphasize the emotional disconnect and lack of empathy between Clint and Kate in this situation. When they say hurtful things, things that are not strictly fair and hurtful, they say them to silhouettes as if they aren't actually seeing each other. Moreover, when they say these hurtful things they are also represented in outline, as if they are not being themselves either when they say these things. And in those moments when Kate and Clint are genuinely concerned with people outside themselves we see them in detail: when Clint takes a moment to consider what Kate says in the first row, or seriously asks where she is going, or when Kate brings Pizza Dog with her out of concern for him we see the characters and they see each other. It's a really clever choice that adds a lot of tension to the argument.

This page here has kind of the same thing happening. In it Kate and her dad and his partner have another fight and again silhouettes are intelligently used to show emotional disconnects. Every person, Kate, Kate's Dad, Kate's Dad's wife (Hawkdad? Hawkspouse?) are all concerned with their own feelings and needs. Kate clearly wants to be treated as an adult and doesn't approve of her father's choice of spouse. Kate's Dad wants Kate to respect his choice and to spend time with him and be his daughter. And Kate's Dad's wife, I think, just wants Kate to like her a bit. But, they aren't really empathizing with each other, I mean other than the central third of the strip where, for a moment, actual conversation happens (and we see the characters). And so most of this conversation happens as shadowy not-people.

Which is kind of a perfect representation of a teenagers relationship with their parents (at least in some moments). Parents maybe see their teen children as kids and have a certain expectation of obedience while teens see their parents maybe as family institutions more than people while also rebelling against their parental authority. And in this context parents and teens don't necessarily relate to each others' perspectives with all of the love and baggage that clouds their interactions. And so these parent-teen fights are about arguing with silhouettes, representations of each other, rather than necessarily with each other. Which makes the use of outlines in this section kind of brilliant.

The Hawkeye Annual is a great comic and worth checking out even if you usually hate annuals.

Previously:

Eye on Hawkeye #12: Setting up the perfect splash page

Eye on Hawkeye #11 pt. 3: Action packed layouts!

Eye on Hawkeye #11 pt. 2: Lucky & Clint, Narratively Similarities
Eye on Hawkeye #11 pt. 1: A Dog's Perspective
Eye on Hawkeye #10: Colours and Mood

Eye on Hawkeye #9: Layout and Eye Guiding

Eye on Hawkeye #8: Art and Information

Eye on Hawkeye #7: Setting as Character and Steve Lieber

Eye on Hawkeye #6 pt. 2: Great Writing

Eye on Hawkeye #6 pt. 1: Clever Layouts

Eye on Hawkeye #3: Motion in a Static Medium

Eye on Hawkeye #2: Sock Holes and Characterization