Best of the Decade: 2013 // Best of the Year

Welcome back to You Don’t Read Comics Best of the Decade! Our daily retrospective of the best comics this decade had to offer in celebration for the new year. Please refer to our post highlighting the criteria used to determine each year’s entry. We hope you enjoy today’s piece and encourage you to come back tomorrow.

You Don’t Read Comics’ best comic of 2013 is Hawkeye (vol. 4).

“Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, became the greatest sharpshooter known to man. He then joined the Avengers. This is what he’s doing when he’s not being an Avenger. That’s all you need to know.” These words are on the second page of Marvel Comics’ Hawkeye #1, and they, along with the words on the first page—” Okay. This looks bad.”—Really do sum up the series, but we’ll go a little further. Hawkeye focused on Clint’s efforts to protect his apartment building in Brooklyn from being emptied out and torn down by a group of Russain mobsters with a propensity for tracksuits and calling people “bro.” Hawkguy can’t do it alone, of course, but he’s got the help of Kate Bishop (another Hawkeye), his brother Barney, and of course, Lucky the Pizza Dog.

This volume of Hawkeye ran from 2012 to 2015. It was written by Matt Fraction. David Aja was the primary artist, but the book had several fantastic guest artists, including Javier Pulido, Steve Lieber, Jesse Hamm, Annie Wu, Francesco Francavilla, and Chris Eliopoulos. Most issues of the book were colored by Matt Hollingsworth (one annual was colored by Jordie Bellaire, and Francesco Francavilla colored the issues he drew). Most chapters were lettered by Chris Eliopoulos (David Aja and VC’s Clayton Cowles each lettered one installment as well). Thanks to the work of editors Sana Amanat and Steve Wacker, the book managed this embarrassment of artistic riches to keep a consistent tone and style through 22 issues and one annual.

This volume of Hawkeye was an A-list title through all four years of its publication. It’s our winner for 2013 because of one specific issue, however—an installment that may be one of the best single issues of comics of the decade—Hawkeye #11, which was published in June of 2013. The story that ran in that issue is titled “Pizza is My Business,” and tells the story of Lucky the Pizza Dog’s adventures solving a mystery and protecting his home. The issue is told entirely from Lucky’s point of view, and Fraction, Aja, Hollingsworth, and Eliopoulos use the language of comics expertly, putting the reader in the mind of a dog.

Fraction and Aja use pictograms, deceptive in their simplicity, to depict how Lucky sees the world using primarily his sense of smell. As dogs don’t see color the way humans do, Hollingsworth is very careful in where and where not to deploy color. Eliopoulos and Fraction choose to only show the words Lucky can understand, depicting everything else said as meaningless squiggles. And somehow, through all of this intellectual trickery and comics theory, the team has crafted a story that may well be the most emotionally compelling tale in an already heart-filled series.

It’s a testament to the work this team did leading up to “Pizza is My Business.” The reader is already so invested in Lucky. Clint, Kate, the Tracksuit Draculas, the Clown, and poor dead Grills that we’re willing to take a leap of faith into what seems on its surface to be an almost impenetrably experimental comic; but the rewards are immense. The issue also leads the reader into the future of the series, introducing Clint’s brother Barney for the first time, and telling the story of the split that takes Kate to LA for several issues.

Fraction’s time writing Hawkeye is already regarded as a classic run of comics and is reportedly one of the inspirations for the Hawkeye TV series premiering on Disney+ in 2021. It’s highly recommended for fans of screwball comedy, hard-boiled crime dramas, and people who love dogs. Hawkeye (vol 4) is a fantastic run, and issue #11, “Pizza is My Business,” is one of the best single issues of the decade, which is why Hawkeye is our Best Comic of 2013.

Honorable Mentions for 2013:

Ms. Marvel

Superior Foes of Spider-Man

Afterlife with Archie

March: Book One