Start your speculation engines, Marvel fandom. From Matt Fraction’s Tumblr:

Assuming that this is a tease of a new series to build on the Hawkeye success, this is obviously Good News (Fraction and Aja’s Hawkeye remains one of the best mainstream comics around, in my opinion), something outside of what you might expect from Marvel in terms of tone and visual aesthetic but all the better for that; you can tell that these guys are following their particular muse(s) instead of trying to toe some imaginary editorial line or whatever.

The idea of Fraction trying to replicate the trick with Black Widow or another character is an interesting one, if only because it’ll be interesting to see how important Aja is to the final product (The Javier Pulido-illustrated #4 and 5 of Hawkeye were a lot of fun, but definitely felt like a different book to me, in some intangible way that’s hard to explain; the pacing seemed different, and the iconography more… fantastic, if that makes sense?) and how the new artist – whoever that may be – impacts the direction of the new book.

I’m also reminded of Mark Waid and Indestructible Hulk; he’s on record as saying that he was basically told by Marvel to repeat what he did on Daredevil when given the Hulk, and while there’s reason to feel cynical about that just a little (It suggests that some feel as if what Waid/Rivera/Samnee et al are doing is an easily repeatable commodity, in some way), it’s also heartening if you choose to read it that way; certainly, the idea that “do what you did with this other book” is a welcome one if it’s meant in the sense of “We trust your instincts and will give you the space/support you need to work it out.” For those of us who are all too cynical and snarky about “Another X-book?” and similarities in tone or outlook across the Marvel line, this is exactly what we should be hoping for, surely?

(Also: If Fraction is getting another book to repeat Hawkeye with, just as Waid got Hulk to repeat Daredevil on, here’s hoping that (a) Marvel’s noticing that Stephen Wacker’s office is coming up with some gold in those thur IP hills, and (b) it heralds a new wave of creative risk-taking throughout Marvel as a result.)

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