Nov 1979
Wings and Arrows!
by Steven Grant, Mark Gruenwald, Roger Stern, John Byrne, Dan Green, Jim Novak, Ben Sean
Hawkeye finds himself temporarily out of a job after he is replaced on the Avengers roster by Falcon. Hawkeye leaves Avengers mansion disgruntled but before long he lands a job at Cross Technological Enterprises (CTE) as their new security chief.
Deathbird breaks into Warehouse 12 during Hawkeye’s first week on the job. Hawkeye confronts her and they fight inside the warehouse. Deathbird seems to be too much for the archer to handle but Hawkeye evens the odds and defeats her. She is hauled away by CTE security guards but not until after Hawkeye kisses her, which enrages her.
There is a little more going on in this issue than what I described above but most of the other goings on are tied into future Avengers storylines and have nothing to do with Hawkeye.
I don’t know enough about Deathbird at this point in her publication history to judge her. I recall that she almost killed Colossus in a future issue of X-Men. Hawkeye seems to be out of his league fighting Deathbird. His powerset is not on the same level as either Ms. Marvel or Colossus and yet he prevails. I’m not sure what to make of that.
This was a fun read. The most important thing in my eyes is that this story lays groundwork for the Hawkeye limited series by showing the beginning of Hawkeye’s tenure as Cross Technological Enterprises security chief.
Notes
Deathbird first appeared in Ms. Marvel 9 (Sep 1977). She also appeared in Ms. Marvel 10 and 22 prior to appearing in this issue of Avengers. Her next appearance after this issue of Avengers was in Uncanny X-Men 155 (Mar 1982) which is where I first encountered her. I have not read her appearances in Ms. Marvel. Her three appearances in Ms. Marvel plus those in Uncanny X-Men (155-157, 161-162) were written by Chris Claremont.
Deathbird’s first two appearances were reprinted in the first Ms. Marvel Epic Collection (This Woman, This Warrior) and her third was reprinted in the second Ms. Marvel Epic Collection (The Woman Who Fell to Earth). Both of those Epic Collections can be found on Hoopla. I’m not going to go back and read them now but I’ve been wanting to read the Brood Saga again. Maybe I will read those three issues just prior to reading the Brood Saga, whenever I get around to doing that.
There are editors notes that refer to three other stories.
Avengers Annual 9 (1979) - According to the indexer notes in the Grand Comics Database this story took place between Avengers 188 and 189. I read this story in Apr 2018 and considered it to be the final chapter in Bill Mantlo’s run on Iron Man. See my posts with the Iron Man-tlo tag for my thoughts about that run (Iron Man 95-115, Avengers Annual 9).
Marvel Premiere 49 (Aug 1979) - I think this is the first story to star the Falcon. Most of his appearances up to this point were in issues of Captain America but he had made guest appearances in several other series. I have this issue in my collection. According to my records I bought it back in 2016 but I don’t have any record of having read it.
Defenders 76 (Oct 1979) and 77 (Nov 1979) - Wasp (who does not appear in this issue of Avengers but talks on the phone with Yellowjacket (who does) appears in both of these issues. I have not read either of these issues. According to indexer notes on Grand Comic Database these issues are the end of the story of Omega the Unknown, a comic book series that I have not read and do not own.
Additionally, Thor makes a vague reference to things going on in his own series. I believe that’s a reference to The Eternals Saga which began with Thor Annual 7 (1978) and then continued from Thor 283 (May 1979) through Thor 301 (Nov 1980). I’ve read Thor Annual 7 but I have not read the other issues.
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