10 Best Modern Age Marvel #1 Comics

If you were to ask most people to name their favourite Avenger, either a comic reader or a cinema goer, few would have said Hawkeye.

Although Clint Barton has long been a member of the Marvel universe, he was just never as cool as Iron Man, as gritty as Daredevil or as badass as Luke Cage. For the most part, he was a guy in a garish purple costume with a bow and arrow, often portrayed as having a mouth and temper disproportionate to his abilities.

The most exciting aspect of his character was that he was a reformed member of the Masters of Evil. Once that well was dry the only thing left was to change his identity and become Ronin. That was until Matt Fraction, David Aja and Matt Hollingsworth took the character and produced one of the most critically acclaimed books of the 21st century in 2012.

The creative team started by looking at Clint outside the context of the Avengers, focusing on his "Downtime" and partnering him up with Kate Bishop, his counterpart from the Young Avengers series. The key to the creators' success was rebuilding Clint's personal life, introducing a new cast of interesting characters and telling stories on a much more intimate scale.