Fraction, Matt
About the Author:
Matt Fraction is married to writer Kelly Sue DeConnick.
AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:
4 out of 5
(2 books)
TOP PICK:
Hawkeye: My Life As A Weapon
Hawkeye: My Life As A Weapon
(Art by David Aja, Javier Pulido, Alan Davis and Mark Farmer)
Book 1. This book tells stories of Clint Barton's life outside of his time as an Avenger, working with fellow Hawkeye Kate Bishop to tackle thugs and criminals otherwise beneath the notice of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
This critically-acclaimed book features the updating, re-energising and, to a certain extent, reinventing of Hawkeye. The once-garishly-costumed hero gets a revamp which sees him as more of an everyman, trying to make his way in New York without superpowers whilst also living up to his role as an Avenger. It makes him instantly more accessible and more likeable than the character has ever been before. There's also a brilliant humanity to Clint here, with his crime-fighting adventures sparked mostly by simple empathy instead of some innate desire to save the day.
There are two other factors to this book that earn it its justified place as a modern classic. The first is simply David Aja's art style which uses the visual medium to tell the story in ways that I've not really seen elsewhere. Things like the layouts of the page are used in such a way that they become as important to the storytelling as the dialogue or the actual action itself.
The other, and probably best, element which elevates this book is Clint's relationship to Kate Bishop. As a sassy, confident rich girl she's every bit Clint's equal whilst also being his opposite in many ways. Their mutual respect and affection is very much the emotional core to this story and has made me very keen to watch the impending (at time of writing) Disney+ TV series about these characters.
4 out of 5
Punisher War Journal: Civil War
(Art by Ariel Olivetti and Mike Deodato)
A tie-in to 'Civil War' by Mark Millar, in which the Superhuman Registration Act tears the Marvel Universe apart. With the world's heroes fighting each other, Frank Castle is hard pressed to keep down the supervillains attempting to take advantage, particularly with SHIELD's G. W. Bridge in hot pursuit. However, the Punisher is forced to take a side in the Civil War when he saves Spider-Man from two supervillains who have been sanctioned by Iron Man himself.
Castle's involvement with the rebellious Secret Avengers is the best element of this book, particularly the up and down relationship between him and Captain America, whom we learn helped to train Castle before Vietnam.
The second-best element of this book is seeing the Punisher take on (and take down) the Rhino!
4 out of 5
Collaborations & Anthologies
Avengers vs X-Men (here)
Civil War: Marvel Universe (here)
Fear Itself (here)
Iron Fist: The Fury Of Iron Fist/The Last Iron Fist Story (here)
Iron Man: Iron Man Is Born/The Five Nightmares (here)
Punisher War Journal: Secret Invasion (here)
Star Wars: From A Certain Point Of View (here)
The Immortal Iron Fist: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 (here)