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Hawkeye: Kate Bishop

Hawkeye: Kate Bishop, Vol. 1: Anchor Points

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Remember Hawkeye? No, not that Hawkeye - your favorite Hawkeye, the former Young Avenger, the butt-kicking hero who had to save that other Hawkguy all the time and basically keep his life in some semblance of order. Yup, you know her, it's the dazzling Kate Bishop - making her solo comics debut! Kate is heading back out west and returning to Los Angeles, with her bow and arrow and P.I. badge in tow. There are crimes to solve and she's the best archer to handle 'em! The City of Angels has a new guardian angel. This is Kate Bishop like you've never seen her before, in a brand-new saga that really hits the mark!

COLLECTING: HAWKEYE 1-6

136 pages, Paperback

First published June 13, 2017

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About the author

Kelly Thompson

676 books881 followers
KELLY THOMPSON has a degree in Sequential Art from The Savannah College of Art & Design. Her love of comics and superheroes have compelled her since she first discovered them as a teenager. Currently living in Portland, Oregon with her boyfriend and the two brilliant cats that run their lives, you can find Kelly all over the Internet where she is generally well liked, except where she's detested.

Kelly has published two novels - THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING (2012) and STORYKILLER (2014) and the graphic novel HEART IN A BOX from Dark Horse Comics (2015). She's currently writing ROGUE & GAMBIT, HAWKEYE, and PHASMA for Marvel Comics and GHOSTBUSTERS for IDW. Other major credits include: A-Force, Captain Marvel & The Carol Corps, Jem and The Holograms, Misfits, Power Rangers Pink, and the creator-owned mini-series Mega Princess.

Kelly's ambitions are eclipsed only by her desire to exist entirely in pajamas. Fortunately pajamas and writers go hand in hand (most of the time). Please buy all her stuff so that she can buy (and wear) more pajamas.

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5 stars
1,508 (36%)
4 stars
1,773 (43%)
3 stars
705 (17%)
2 stars
98 (2%)
1 star
31 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 503 reviews
Profile Image for Anne.
4,372 reviews70.2k followers
September 3, 2019
Kelly Thompson did a pretty decent job with Kate, even if this first volume didn't blow me out of the water.
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I didn't totally connect with Bishop and her world until it got a bit closer to the end of the arc when she does the team-up with Jessica Jones. Chad summed it up nicely in his review when he said that this felt like Thompson trying to channel Fraction's version of Clint. I like the general tone, but I think Kate can do better than become Marvel's Great Value brand Hawkeye.

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The story was fun and fluffy, but there wasn't a lot of substance to it. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing! Especially when you're looking for something that you can eyeball and enjoy. It just didn't suck me in the way I thought it would.

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I'm hoping that this was just the volume where the title finds its feet because the general concept is really cool and Kate is a fun character that can definitely carry a title.
In the end, I thought it was a light, breezy book that has potential for Bishop fans!
Profile Image for Christy.
1,505 reviews287 followers
May 21, 2017
This book has:

1. A relatable kick ass female hero
2. A Jessica Jones cameo
3. A Scooby team
4. A dragon

And you should read it.
Profile Image for Chelsea &#x1f3f3;️‍&#x1f308;.
1,782 reviews6 followers
June 13, 2017
More like 3.5 stars but I'm rounding up because I enjoyed reading this.

I'm super pleased we've gotten solo series for Kate and America. And no, not just because I ship them. These were the two stand out characters from Young Avengers to me and if we could get a David Alleyne book, I'd be happy forever! I adore Kate Bishop as a character. While I kinda hate that writers are turning most female superheroes into this type smarmy, quippy personality (*cough cough* recent Barbara Gordon writers) Kate was the first I encountered and I love her! I fell in love with her in YA and Fraction's run just cemented it. I think that's why I didn't love this series as much as I wanted to. This just isn't as charming as Fraction's Kate.

I like what Thompson did with the first volume of A-Force but the second was a disappointment. Largely because of CW II but also because sometimes the jokes don't land for me. Not all of Kate's quips landed for me. I wanted the side characters to mean a little more. Yes, I know this is the first volume but I feel like they kind of popped in for two seconds and next thing I know, Kate is calling them friends? A huge problem I had with this is that I felt like both conclusions were blah. I left slightly uncertain if the story was really over.

I really liked Jessica Jones' cameo. Honestly, I liked her appearance here more than all of Bendis' current run of Jessica Jones. Her two issues were the best part of this volume for me and I really wish I could have a book where they team up.

I enjoyed the first title page with the nods to the Hawkeye series and Kate drawing a heart over the "i" in America's name. I loved the surprise cameo at the end of the book. I love Kate as always, although I miss Fraction's portrayal of her.

Overall, this is a recommend from me if you like the character but I wish the stories were stronger. I wanted to like this more than I did. I hope the next volume is stronger.

3.5 stars.
Profile Image for Chad.
9,095 reviews992 followers
September 30, 2017
Kelly Thompson puts on her best Matt Fraction impersonation. This book wants so badly to be Fraction's Hawkeye. Kate is just an inept as Clint. Even though she's trying to be a P.I., she bumbles into solutions to her cases. She's constantly quipping but her jokes often fall flat. Even the art and coloring is trying it's best to mimic David Aja. Kate shouldn't be a pale imitation of Clint Barton. She's always been portrayed as a strong, independent woman and I feel that's missing here until Jessica Jones shows up and gives us a character that I wanted to read more of.
Profile Image for Calista.
4,712 reviews31.3k followers
June 17, 2019
A superhero detective story. Kate Bishop is the daughter of Hawkeye and she has struck off on her own as Hawkeye. She has opened her office and she's trying to make a living with her P.I. business. Toward the end of the volume, Jessica Jones shows up and Kate can learn about the business.

Kate is rather annoying in a fun way. It reminds me a little of Veronica Mars. There is plenty of California culture in this story. It's fun, but it's nothing out of this world. There also really wasn't a big foil for Kate. There is someone using some sort of drug to make zombies out of people when they are activated and then it seemed to be easily overcome and the story moves on.

There is a mystery in this. I will continue with this.
Profile Image for Rory Wilding.
719 reviews24 followers
April 9, 2018
During this past week, I revisited one of my favourite comic runs, which is Hawkeye by Matt Fraction and David Aja. Published around the same time at the release of Joss Whedon's The Avengers, which somewhat underused Clint Barton, this solo title showcased the character when he's not avenging and more about his witty adventures during his off-days. During my initial read of the comic, it was my introduction to the female Hawkeye Kate Bishop who debuted in the Young Avengers during the mid-noughties, but a couple of years, Bishop finally got her solo book.

As Kate moves back to Los Angeles and begins her own Private Eye investigations, it doesn't start too well as the residents were expecting Clint, but Kate is eventually approached by a college student who needs her help with a stalker. During Fraction's run, there are a number of issues that were about Bishop's first outing in California as half-superhero, half-private eye and although there were the weakest issues of that run in how it changed character gears, it was still fun seeing how the Young Avenger gets by on her own.

Taking cue from those issues, Kelly Thompson is doing her best Matt Fraction impression as she retains that youthful and bumbling sensibility for Bishop, who doesn't always make the best decisions (such as not paying for a P.I. license) but her intentions are good and her numerous interactions with her own Scooby gang brings out the best of this volume.

However, as much as I love Kate Bishop, I didn't quite love this comic and that largely comes down to the storytelling. As I've said before, it does seem like Thompson is taking cues from Fraction's run so it's hard not to differentiate between the two as because this book lacks the self-aware humour of the early run, you feel somewhat distant from the story that is about a missing-person case involving a masked cult who are about mind-control. As for the second arc where Kate partners up with professional superhero/private eye Jessica Jones (although it's never explained why she's in Los Angeles), the interaction between the two has its funny moments, but once again the story just seems lacking, even if it involves a dragon.

Reminiscent of the work of David Aja, Leonardo Romero's art is simplistic, but expressive in both character design and environments, especially towards the larger panels where Kate with her "Hawkeye vision" (if that's a thing) spot noticeable people walking or items scattered throughout the area, including her fetish towards hot male abs. The last two issues were drawn by Michael Walsh, whose art is looser compared to Romero's with a number of characters looking like they have very thin heads. Given his strength as illustrating dialogue scenes as oppose to action set-pieces, this does feel like a step-down for Walsh, especially having read issue #6 of Chip Zdarsky's Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man.

Not that it's a terrible comic as there's enough to like about this volume, mostly from the witty characterisation of Kate Bishop and despite how different it wants to be, this Hawkeye tries and fails to capture that magic of its superior predecessor.
Profile Image for Paul.
2,201 reviews20 followers
November 8, 2017
Really liked the story, really liked the artwork (other than a couple of dodgy panels that looked like they'd been badly Photoshopped). Cracking book.
Profile Image for Scott.
1,982 reviews228 followers
May 4, 2019
Kate 'Hawkeye' Bishop flies solo, leaving the Big Apple to go "down these mean streets" of sunny So-Cal (territory lovingly mined by my fave pulp fictionists Chandler and MacDonald) to make it as a superhero AND private investigator. Did I mention her P.I. license hasn't been approved yet?

That's our lovable and capable Kate. Whether stopping a Point Break / Reservoir Dogs-inspired robbery in progress or facing down a socialite-turned-fire-breathing-dragon (is that some sort of metaphor? don't ask) on the steps of the iconic Griffith Observatory, she handles herself with aplomb and seals the deal with occasionally quippy dialogue / thought boxes (straight out of mid-series Spenser: For Hire by Robert B. Parker) as well. It was funny, entertaining, and guest-stars visiting gumshoe Jessica Jones. Like the tagline says - "Where trouble lurks, Bishop works!"

4.5 stars
Profile Image for James DeSantis.
Author 17 books1,177 followers
December 16, 2017
I like Kelly Thompson, she super cool. I like Hawkeye, she's fun. So why didn't I "love" this?

Well this is two arcs here. First is about a missing case. Well it starts off as a girl getting stalked and then goes missing. We slowly find out the reason behind it is a virus of sorts going around, a chemical imbalance, that makes people hate. I believe it's trying to be a metaphor for the internet and how it can be a place filled with hatred and everyone begins to follow like sheep. Least that's what I got, I can be way off. Second story features fan favorite Jessica Jones! That made me very exciting as I love her and she basically is teaching Hawkeye the ways of P.I.

Good: I liked the first story. It was a little heavy handed but worked well mostly due to Kate being super fun with her dialog. Bouncy and easy to get in to with a decent side cast. I also really enjoyed Jessica Jones with Kate, kind of felt like sisters working together. Very cool.

Bad: Not a huge fan of the art. Fells like trying to be Hawkeye Fraction Run a few years back but not as well done. I also thought the storylines kind of went flat by the end. Neither really kept me interested and if wasn't for Kate I probably would have dropped it.

Overall I was kind of let down. I really do love Kate Bishop, and I think Kelly is a solid writer, but I just didn't love it. I still enjoyed it enough to have a good time reading but I can't help but feel it could be way better. I'd give it a 2.5 but I'll bump it to a 3 for Kate and Jessica being great together. Hoping to enjoy Volume 2 better!
Profile Image for James.
2,460 reviews68 followers
May 11, 2020
3.5 stars. This book was pretty decent. Two story arcs in this one. The 1st, Kate takes on a case where a young lady is being cyber harassed and she is worried it might escalate. Of course it does and she ends up getting kidnapped. This was fun following Kate as she dived into this case to find this missing girl. Some cool hijinks and and cool new characters that help Kate along the way. This was my fav out of the two stories. The 2nd, Jessica Jones shows up and they work together on another missing persons case. This story was just ok, wasn’t quite as fun as the first story but solid. Overall, pretty good volume, looking forward to read the next one.
Profile Image for RG.
3,088 reviews
June 14, 2018
This just felt like a simpler version of Fractions story. The first arc involved a cult like group and the 2nd arc involved jessica jones and some actors in a way. They just never took off. A little to simple and easy going. The humour was well done and the action solid. Kate did seem to get into trouble and get out of trouble just the way hawkeye does. Solid but not amazing.
Profile Image for Wing Kee.
2,091 reviews32 followers
August 19, 2017
Personal voice be awesome.

World: The art is great, it's full of character and that's what this book needs. The sense of motion is not there, but the sense of style and tone is great. The world building is solid and gives a good foundation for Kate in her little piece of the MU. Her little slice of Los Angeles is interesting and the cast of characters around her is fun and weird and exactly what this little world needs.

Story: The story is small and fun. It's full of life and character and quirky stuff. It feels like a Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) and Jessica Drew type of story and that's great. There are some wonderful female characters in Marvel right now and Kate is one of them. The pacing for the story is good, as is the tone and the story. We got a little glimpse of this in Fractions run and this is an extension of that, it's good. I like her where she is and handling the one loose end that Fraction left for the new creative team.

Characters: Kate is such a wonderful character, her personal voice is great, she's sassy, she's fun, she's just so different from Clint that this book feels fun and fresh. I like the rest of the cast too, her new friends are funny and quirky and team hawkeye is just an interesting group of people to hang out with. Having Jessica show up is also great, I love training books.

A good first arc for the new creative team and I can't wait to see Kate doing this with her new family!

Onward to the next book!
Profile Image for Molly™☺.
795 reviews56 followers
January 12, 2022
75% | B+ | Great

"Excuse me, I'm here to make a deposit. Do you accept...sass?!"

Kate Bishop has started her own business, Hawkeye Investigations, but with no license and barely any traction, she finds it hard to make a living. However, cases start to come up here and there, and it's up to Los Angeles' Hawkeye to solve the crimes


An absolute joy to read from start to finish, volume 1 shows that Kate can stand on her own without having to fall back on the more well known Hawkeye, Clint Barton. There's a lot of wacky stuff that goes down in this volume, ranging from boys who get buff on negativity and anger to literal dragons. The art is perfect for this story as it doesn't seem to take itself too seriously - somewhat like Kate - whilst still being pleasing to the eye. I especially like the Sherlock-esque panels with the purple circles honing in on important details. The appearance of Jessica Jones is the highlight, and the two women bounce off each other really well, creating a fun dynamic which I hope to see again. If you enjoyed Fraction's run of Hawkeye, definitely give this a read as it hits many of the same beats whilst adding in its own flavour of storytelling.
Profile Image for Des Fox.
1,012 reviews18 followers
October 25, 2017
This was great! I was absolutely impressed. The spirit of Fraction's Hawkeye book is alive and well in these pages, though magically non-derivative of that work. Thompson and Romero have their own chemistry going on, and it's a lot of fun. Kate is an excellent character, and her dialogue is an absolute joy to read. The story-telling is excellent, written like a true detective story in the MU canon, complete with mind control and dragons. I'd like to see where this goes, because it has all the potential to become a modern Marvel classic and there are a couple dangling threads which demand to be followed-up on.

Also, the Blazing Arrow hip-hop variant may well be my favorite of the bunch.
Profile Image for Giacomo.
24 reviews23 followers
April 18, 2023
Prima parte della serie su Kate Bishop scritta da Kelly Thompson.

Inizio davvero interessante, l’autrice attinge a molti degli elementi già visti nella serie Hawkeye scritta da Matt Fraction (serie fantastica davvero consigliata), oltre ad aggiungerne di nuovi.
Ottimo anche il lavoro di caratterizzazione di Kate dandole la giusta dose di irriverenza e comicità all'interno della storia.
Buona la parte grafica. I disegni, anche se con uno stile molto semplice, si adattano molto bene alla storia.
Profile Image for Travis Duke.
1,026 reviews14 followers
November 4, 2017
Fun and playful but rooted in a very old school style of storytelling. Kate Bishop is Hawkeye for the west coast and make no mistake she is silly, sassy, and very playful in the writing and vocab. However the story is an old school P.I. crime story that gives a throwback to older comics. More important there are no mentions or sighting of avengers raining down on the book and I was glad. There is a cameo from a friend which is no surprise but it fits the story nicely. Basicly Kate is tracking down her Dad but winds up helping a college student who has a creepy hacker following her. Kate goes down the rabbit hole and ends up needing some backup.

It's a simple detective story with some modern jokes and language that help keep it fresh. I'm sure some people will dislike it but there is no time traveling, or robots, or people with supercomputers, it's got a good core with detective crime solving. I will read more
Profile Image for Logan.
1,012 reviews37 followers
February 19, 2018
Story was decent enough, and the Jessica Jones part were cool. My only issue is how dialogue heavy the book is, especially the first few issues, but once it gets to the Jessica Jones part it got a bit better, and Kate is still a cool protag! If you have read the previous Matt Fraction stuff, artwork wise its still the same, at least this series keeps its art style unlike many others.
Profile Image for Lindsey.
60 reviews38 followers
July 4, 2017
Read in single issues.

Really loved this first volume. Definitely going to continue reading Kate Bishop's solo title. Such a cool character with lots of sass! I'm so pleased she got her own book. Kudos to Kelly Thompson's writing!
Profile Image for Allison.
488 reviews194 followers
July 12, 2017
I hope this doesn't get cancelled like Mockingbird because it's filling that little void in my heart. FUNNY. Cute. Bad-ass. The snaaaaaark.
Profile Image for Tar Buendía.
1,283 reviews74 followers
May 23, 2018
Qué requetebonico todo. Me encanta, la adoro y me ha calentado el corazón mucho. El final de la historia del dragón puf, el amor. No sé, leedla y a disfrutar. Cultura pop y mujeres a tope.
Profile Image for Garrett.
1,731 reviews23 followers
June 16, 2017
Why do you read comics? When I was a kid, the four-issue limited series was an intoxicating enterprise, because you could take a good idea and give it four issues of tight consideration, tell a good story and be done with it. One-shots and summertime annuals were even better, because it was one fat issue of standalone story - you knew you would be satisfied, and that the amount of backstory brought to the table would be minimal, or at least footnoted. This, along with the volume I will next review, captures that spirit of good, fun, comics again - pulling us out of the realm of epic undertakings and into the streets with enjoyable-but-not-perfect heroes (a tradition reaching back to early Spider-Man books) who are on adventures and tell a good story.

And keep it socially relevant. Kelly Thompson's Kate Bishop Hawkeye collection hits every necessary note; Marvel Universe references abound, there's a guest star, and Kate's internal dialogue is awesome. While there is a long arc continuing from the older collections, the short arcs command attention, and the long informs the short, instead of bossing it around. The book is funny, paced well, and avoids big testosterone fight scenes, favoring instead character-motivated action sequences where Kate, with no powers, is frequently knocked around. The mood of barely-getting-this-done from the recent Hawkeye books is in full effect here, and the art is pretty, loose, and mostly works. I enjoyed virtually everything about this, highly recommend it, and will read more.
Profile Image for Shannon Appelcline.
Author 25 books149 followers
June 15, 2017
Matt Fraction's Hawkeye really revamped the format of superhero comics, creating stories that were much more about their characters and their lives than their super heroics. Patsy Walker and Spider-Woman are some of the books that followed in its footsteps. And, the new Hawkeye does too, but this time it's all about Kate, not Kate and Clint.

Oh, Fraction's Hawkeye was clever in a bunch of other ways too, and Thompson's Hawkeye doesn't have that. But it's still got an eye to clever art and storytelling that's reminiscent of what came before. It's a worthy addition to the mythos that began with Fraction and continued with Lemire.

This volume also has an appearance by Jessica Jones in the last two issues, and she's always delightful. Plus there's a metaplot about Kate's father that I want to learn more about.
Profile Image for Frédéric.
1,432 reviews70 followers
March 18, 2018
Cute and fun character(s) but rather weak stories.

Kate Bishop, P.I. (well, when she finds 200$ for the license) sets up on the west coast to find her father and gets involved in cases in the meantime.

Two stories here. One with a mind-controlling cult and one with a Jessica Jones cameo and... a dragon.

For now the book is totally character-driven. I've read it- and will read vol.2 for that matter- because of Kate. She's smart, she's cool, she makes lousy but fun punchlines. She even manages to assemble a Scooby-gang in the first issues (even the dog is back) that'll probably get more attention in future issues. This whole crew and Kate's shenanigans hold the reader's attention more than the mind-controlling plot, a bit too cartoony to sound really serious despite a gross ending.

As for the cameo of Jessica Jones, it totally holds the last two issues together. The "Sunset Boulevard" intro scene was great but the rest was similar to non-existent but for our two kick-ass P.I.s interactions.

I like this new Hawkeye. It's a fun easy read with very likeable characters and decent art and colors but don't expect any tortuous and dark plot or mind-blowing concepts.

Ps: the covers by Julian Totino Tedesco are really great.

 
Profile Image for Cassandra Rose.
523 reviews62 followers
January 1, 2018
ORIGINALLY POSTED: https://bibliomantics.com/2018/01/01/...

Hawkeye is back (no, not that Hawkeye, Kate Bishop Hawkeye) to once again take down crime on the west coast. Written by Kelly Thompson, who brings the sassy and spunky heroine to life in her solo comic book debut, the first volume in this short-lived series is a fun adventure complete with cults, dragons and even a cameo from a fellow P.I.
Profile Image for Andrew.
743 reviews19 followers
January 16, 2019
A solid continuation of the "Kate-in-California" tangent from Matt Fraction's "Hawkeye" run....3 years too late. I would probably rate this higher if it'd immediately followed Fraction's run, as it would have felt more fresh and also it would have caught me at a time in my life when I was still consistently reading new Marvel books. As it stands, I found this pretty diverting and clever, but I'm not super-motivated to continue the series.
Profile Image for Amber.
3,245 reviews34 followers
December 16, 2016
Uhmm maybe have to add the individual issues

But hell yeah, ya'll, it's Kate Bishop!!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 503 reviews

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