Kate Bishop is a superhero whose own series just belonged. In Hawkeye. Kate Bishop we get a very solid dose of adventures that will leave every reader in a good mood...
We could see how much potential there is in the character of Kate Bishop already in the third volume of the Hawkeye series with a script by Matt Fraction entitled L.A. Woman. It was entirely dedicated to Kate, who had to take a break from Clint Barton for a while and took a trip to Los Angeles. As you can see, this American city liked the superhero so much that the one in the solo series devoted to her decided to live there permanently. What can Kate do in Los Angeles? Well, take an example from another superhero she admires, Jessica Jones, and become a detective.
It is true that she cannot afford a license yet, but she makes up for in spirit, self-confidence and very often bravado, which is sometimes effective, sometimes just the opposite. She took her first steps in this role in L.A. Woman, but now it looks more official, along with the office, a sign on the door (only drawn on a piece of paper, though) and customers who somehow always drag her into bizarre matters. The ones that require an effective, but also sensitive to human harm, superheroine.
Kate Bishop draws people to her, Jessica Jones quite the opposite. Kate Bishop is likeable, still largely naive and innocent, also charming and often impetuous. So is this a good detective material? The answer is brought by several stories contained in the volume consisting of a dozen or so notebooks, in which this innocent girl is made by an excellent professional when the situation requires it. Kate will still mask her professional face with improvisation in action and cool lyrics, in which you feel the need to brighten the dark face of the dark city that we see through Kate's eyes in these stories. This is why things often seem more trivial than they really are, more frivolous and crazy, because that's what Kate is and her way of looking at the world must pass on to her readers.
This way of being is largely an escape from family traumas that return to the heroine in Hawkeye. Kate Bishop does not only in flashbacks. Is her mother alive or was she murdered by Kate's father? Why does the latter have to be a villain? Why did all this have to happen to such a nice girl? And why this damned Madame Masque, who, like in L.A. Woman is really getting under the skin of a superhero.
All of this should act like a cold shower on Kate and make her look like Jessica Jones, but it is the way of being Hawkeye's female version that is a kind of shield, protecting her from hostile reality and unpleasant life experiences. Therefore, a group of people gathers around her, not exactly typical side-kicks, who have similar experiences and still do not intend to lose the joy of life. Therefore, the comic draws the eye with a strongly cartoon line, maybe not as stylized as in the case of David Aja in Hawkeye, but still referring to the superhero classic straight from the Golden Age of Comics.
Because that's the story about Kate Bishop. On the one hand, it is modern in the way of narration and enjoys fictional solutions, on the other hand, it successfully refers to the carefree stories from the past, not only in the visual layer. Perhaps Thompson's scripts are too elaborate at times, but importantly, they stay in this entertaining convention where you can enjoy both the visual and the written side of the story. Besides, the fact that we are away from all events and the rule "nothing will be the same" is only a plus. And it is thanks to this that the Hawkeye series, both male and female, has become one of the brightest points of Marvel comic books in recent years.