[UPDATE 3/12: Well, this crashed the internet and the giveaway got pulled. Geek power]. Comics, like video games, aren’t relegated to the arena of children’s entertainment anymore. And why should they be? An adult can appreciate the complex themes in the new George Saunders and also like looking at skillfully drawn art. And sometimes comics get into complex themes, which hey, bonus. And, like every other form of media out there, comics can be found in a digital format now. Which removes some of the tactile thrill of reading one, but opens up other possibilities. Like, say, giving away 700 first issues for free. And oh hey, look, Marvel is doing just that, right now.
In conjunction with comic app Comixology, Marvel is giving away first issues ranging from the strange (Hit Monkey) to the many, many first issues of their different Spider-Man runs. You’ve got until Tuesday to collect all of them, but seeing as how this has started a feeding frenzy on Comixology’s website and is straining their servers, we’d suggest you start downloading them now.
But where to start? Luckily for you, we have a recommendation: Hawkeye #1. The Matt Fraction-penned Hawkeye series is an amazing use of an oft-mocked hero. Beyond the beautiful, 60s-style artwork, Fraction takes the fact that Hawkeye is just a guy with no powers and turns it into a positive, giving us a look into what he does as a dude living as an everyman in Brooklyn. Which is sometimes an occasional superhero-like adventure for S.H.I.E.L.D and sometimes is helping his buddy survive Sandy out in the Rockaways. Yep, that’s right, an Avenger versus Sandy, proving once and for all that the hurricane was a supervillain.
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Hawkeye is one of the best comics going right now.
Besides hurricanes, he also fights corrupt landlords and track-suited Russian mobsters who, coincidentally, are one and the same.