Old Man Hawkeye #11: “An Eye for an Eye part 11: ‘Finding Zemo'”

Prequel stories are prickly beasts. On the one hand, it’s fun to read about a protagonist’s earlier adventures, which can also lead to filling in gaps in the original story. But on the other hand, it creates a predicament for the writer: how do you generate suspense when your characters’ stories have already concluded?

Unfortunately, in the case of Old Man Hawkeye #11, writer Ethan Sacks doesn’t seem to have the answer to that question. Everything proceeds forward in an extremely straightforward manner, because ultimately we all know that Clint has to end up blind and morally broken for “Old Man Logan.” Events occur because the story needs them to. So when Clint’s fighting Captain Hydra, there’s no real stakes, especially with the deus ex machina conclusion that is telegraphed a mile away. Clint jams the syringe into him, his head explodes, and that’s that. Scene. Move on to the next set piece.

A big part of this issue’s problems lie in Sacks’ inability to deliver key moments. The Zemo reveal is supposed to be shocking and impactful, but falls flat. Similarly, Clint’s decision to leave the scientists to their fate should be a major moment, signaling how far he’s fallen – but instead, it really just feels like the story going through the motions. Even Avalanche rendering the archer fully blind doesn’t really register, because we know he has to eventually go fully blind anyway. The moment therefore hinges on the “How is he going to get out of this?” trope, but again, since we already know Clint’s ultimate fate, it doesn’t really matter.

The writing’s not all bad, though. Sacks writes the Hawkeyes’ relationship really well – he clearly understands their “inverted siblings” relationship, with “little sister” Kate always admonishing “big brother” Clint and picking up his slack. He also nails that arrogant entitlement that Zemo is known for. Even in his reduced state, he can’t help but look down on Clint. I wish we had been given that level of engagement with Captain Hydra, but sadly he winds up just being An Obstacle To Be Overcome, with no personality or motives of his own.

The art, too, is functional at best. Francesco Mobili gets the job done, but that’s about it. There’s nothing garish or unpleasant about his art, but it’s fairly basic in execution. His panel layouts are competent and easy to read, but lack a dynamism to really convey anything other than step-by-step rote story progression. But his expressions are often vacuous, not conveying emotion very well at all. It’s said the eyes are the windows to the soul, but in the case of Mobili’s characters, that soul is very empty indeed. But occasionally he chooses to go completely over the top in ways that make no sense – when Clint kills Zemo, there’s at least three-dozen arrows sticking out of his body from every conceivable angle, which is pretty ludicrous to say the least. Where did all those arrows come from?! No amount of suspension of disbelief can sell this image. It’s over the top for the sake of it.