As just announced at NYCC, the departing team of Matt Fraction and Dave Aja (and Annie Wu and Matt Hollingsworth, etc. etc.) will have very qualified replacements. Stunningly qualified ones, in fact. There will be a new “Hawkeye” ongoing launched in March of 2015, and its creative team is a doozy: writer Jeff Lemire and artist Ramon Perez.
The duo, both beloved for their more independent works like Lemire’s “Essex County” and “Sweet Tooth” and Perez’s adaptation of Jim Henson’s “A Tale of Sand”, have done highly touted work on Marvel and DC works before, but this might be the best fit for either. It’s also Lemire’s first full Marvel work, having worked on a Wendigo story in “Strange Tales” in the past, but beyond that, this is just an utterly spectacular team. It’s a hell of a team to follow, but both of these guys are award winners and fan favorites.
CBR has a long chat with the two of them and editor Sana Amanat (who will be working on the book), and it’s an interesting read where they talk about the importance of Kate Bishop, how nervous Lemire was to follow up Fraction and Aja, similarities to previous works Lemire has done, and more. Either way though, this is an immense win for Marvel, and I have to wonder how much time this leaves for Lemire to keep doing DC work, what with all of his Valiant and creator-owned work as well? Interesting times.
