Hawkeye 10, Superior Spider-Man 9

Hawkeye 10
Fraction (w) and Francavilla (a and c)

David Aja takes a day off as we get an origin story for new villain assassin the Clown. Mixed in with his tragic story as a young boy whose family owned a circus in a war-torn land is what's happening in the present day, wherein young Kate Bishop has run afoul of the creepy assassin. The Clown is attending a party Kate's father is throwing and, being the young socialite she is, she is forced to attend as well. As the two talk (she's interested in him from across the room as someone who doesn't look like her father's business partners), the audience is privy to the Clown's backstory. His parents were killed when the circus was burned down. As he and his brother Janek grew older, they learned to fend for themselves more, eventually even putting on plays for some tracksuits (presumably the same organization as our villainous tracksuits who had protected them a little earlier on). However, their somewhat more peaceful existence is interrupted when a bomb drops on the abandoned subway they were performing in. The tracksuits in question are killed, as is Janek, leaving young Kazi alone. That's where everything changed for him, sending him down the path of an assassin. He doesn't share all of this with Kate, obviously, but he shares his feelings about his job, saying that he loves what he does but that he came from a real hellhole (that's important hang on to that bit). His ticket out of hell was when he was contacted by the tracksuits and offered bundles of money. When she asks where he's from, he says "I told you. I came from Hell." As astute readers will know, this is also what he said to Grills before killing him last issue and again at the end of this issue (Fraction loves playing with time). Kate ends up going to see Clint as the end of the issue nears and finds him still sulking and having trouble shooting arrows accurately. Kate sidles up next to him and shoots her own, right down the target. She tries to get him to talk and he snaps at her, which she refuses to put up with. She shoots another arrow through her first arrow and leaves, calling him a clown (HA). Then we get the scene from last issue again, as Grills tells Hawkeye that if he's afraid that "she" doesn't want to see him again, he should writer her a letter. Last issue, it sounded like that "she" was Jessica. Is it? Or is it Kate? Only Grills seems to know and the secret dies with him all over again as the Clown kills him.
So an interesting backstory, for sure, for the Clown that is at once scary and sympathetic. There's also a lingering sense of fear throughout the issue as Fraction does not attempt to hide the fact that Kate is talking to Kazi at the party, who we know is out to kill Hawkeye and anyone close to him. We know it from the get-go so it's nerve-wracking to watch their interaction, waiting for him to attack Kate and suspecting he might as he watches her enter Clint's building. Good suspense, good story, tight background, and still some great character moments out of Kate particularly but also between Kate and Clint. The great thing this series has done is making us still love Hawkeye but forcing us to ask why we do. He's the everyman of the Avengers, sure, but he's not entirely likable. On top of that, everyone knows it. Even Clint doesn't like himself. He's a bundle of problems and the series wants us to take that seriously, not as some throwaway trait. Another good issue.

Superior Spider-Man 9
Slott (w) and Stegman (a) and Delgado (c)

Doc Ock has found Peter lurking in his brain (that "his" can be read with either name) and is determined to put a stop to it. The Peter in his brain seems to be the sum total of his memories, a Peter created out of the attachment to Peter's memories that Doc kept around in case he should need them. Knowing this is too risky, Doc has decided to purge all of those memories to be on the safe side. Peter fights back as he tries to set the machine up and Doc Ock uses his neural transmitter to send himself into the memories, attacking Peter on Peter's home turf. The two fight, first as Doc Ock and Peter, with Peter calling on the memories of all of his loved ones to give him strength and Doc calling on the memories of all of his fears to weaken him. Then Peter changes into Spider-Man to compete against Doc who, in turn, changes into his Spider-Man. They fight for a while physically and verbally, with Peter telling Doc that his methods are not heroic and that he's stepped so far off the line of power and responsibility. Doc counters this by asking Peter why he tried to stop Doc from saving the little girl's life and eventually forcing Peter to answer that he almost blew it because he didn't want Doc to get the neural transmitter so he wouldn't find Peter lurking in his brain. Doc says it almost cost the little girl her life and Peter backs off for a minute, giving Doc the in he needs. He defeats Peter and we're left with the memory-Peter forgetting his own name as his memory world crashes in around him. Doc emerges from the machine claiming victory.
Admittedly, this series has taken a turn I didn't expect. This is Spider-Man we're talking about. The guy who is Marvel's headliner. Let's take a step back and think about that because I think maybe these nine issues have created some separation from that fact. This is one of Marvel's top heroes and probably the most well-known hero Marvel has (definitely before Phase I of the movies, but maybe even still). And he died and was replaced by his enemy. That's where we are right now. And now the series has seemingly purged Peter's way back. Of course, the door may not be closed yet and, though I'm a little taken aback by how abruptly memory-Peter's story ended, I fully expect Peter to re-emerge at some point but the story isn't finished yet. Doc Ock is still in control of Peter's body and Peter is now nowhere to be seen. Risky moves through the last four+ months for Slott now as he continues to keep readers guessing about where he'll go next. I guess we'll just have to keep reading.