Hawkeye, Volume 3: L.A. Woman by Matt Fraction
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Kate Bishop takes a leave from NYC and Clint, heading for sunny LA. Clint is in trouble but won’t let anyone help and Kate’s not willing to let him circle the drain. However, once she’s out in LA, trouble comes to find her. And it’s related to the trouble Clint is in. We meet Madame Masque who we first met in the first volume (or maybe it was the second?). She seems to be more of Kate’s antagonist than Clint’s but since she pulls all the strings of the criminal world in Hawkeye’s universe they may be more connected than I think.
Kate is manipulates by Madame Masque although we don’t get why she wears the mask. Kate made her angry because she got the drop on her, previously. Kate knows that Madame Masque is out to get her and plays into her plot, but doesn’t quite know how to get herself out. Throughout the volume both Kate and Madame Masque are given some back story and as for Madame Masque we do get to find out just what makes her a villain. Let’s just say there’s body snatching involved. Like a good comic, they don’t really explain what’s going on. We are only given enough information from Harold H. Harold in order to know it’s creepy and bad.
Not having other superhero back up, Kate relies on the friends she’s made in her new home including the local cop. Apparently there is a series in which Kate is part of the West Coast Avengers. While we don’t see any of them, SHIELD shows up at the end, so there’s that connection.
