Fanboy Comics Contributor Jason Enright brings you his top comic book picks for the week.

Hawkeye #1
by Matt Fraction, David Aja, and Matt Hollingsworth

This is a perfect Issue #1. First off it’s a completely stand-alone story. Fraction doesn’t try to hook you into reading Issue #2, it is like he says, “I’m going to tell a great story, and if you like it, you’ll be back.” Second, it’s a wonderful mix of humor, action, and drama. Third, it is a great introduction to the title character. Fraction really does a great job defining what kind of hero Hawkeye is. Even better, he doesn’t suit up as Hawkeye in this issue. He saves the day as Clint Barton. Clint is incredibly likeable. He’s funny and he fights the good fight in his own unique way. Also, David Aja and Matt Hollingsworth deliver really cool art. Their style is simple, yet incredibly expressive. Buy this book, you’ll like it, and even if you don’t end up adding it to your pull list, oh well. You still got a really good story about Hawkeye for $2.99, and that’s something you can’t say everyday.

Animal Man #12
by Jeff Lemire, Scott Snyder, and Steve Pugh

*and*

Swamp Thing #12
by Scott Snyder, Jeff Lemire, Marco Rudy, Dan Green, and Andy Owens

So, all the issues of Animal Man and Swamp Thing have been building to this crossover event: Rotworld. These two issues are great for new readers, as they take a little time to catch us up on the story before diving into the new arc. They do a great job introducing all of the main characters and establishing the conflict, and then everything goes crazy. Lemire and Snyder have done a wonderful job building these characters and the mythology of the red, the green, and the rot, and now, after 11 issues, they get to unleash their master plan. These two issues serve as the prologue, and then starting in Issue #13 of each, the heroes return to their own books for a few stand-alone issues before another crossover month to wrap it up. If you haven’t been reading the 2 best books in DC’s New 52, then this is as good a place as any to start.

You may have noticed that I didn’t stick to my usual format of picking one Marvel, one DC, and one indie book this week. That is because Fanboy Comics has started doing advance reviews for Image, BOOM!, and Dark Horse. So, if you want to see all of the reviews I did for some of those books, check out the links below.



http://www.fanboycomics.net/blogs/jason-enright/1183-mind-the-gap-3-advance-comic-book-review

http://www.fanboycomics.net/blogs/jason-enright/1182-harvest-1-advance-comic-book-review

http://www.fanboycomics.net/blogs/jason-enright/1184-higher-earth-3-advance-comic-book-review