RETRO REVIEW: Collateral Damage in Hawkeye (2012) #18

by Rebecca Kaplan · Published December 19, 2021 · Updated December 17, 2021

In Hawkeye (2012) #18 by Matt Fraction, Annie Wu, Matt Hollingsworth, and Chris Eliopoulos, with a cover by David Aja, we learn all about Kate Bishop’s mysterious SoCal friend. Back in the Hawkeye #13, it seemed like Harold H. Harold may have just been a figment of Kate’s over-Columbo’d brain… but in Hawkeye #18, we learn that he’s a real-life crime writer. One who has pissed off some supervillains!

Hawkeye #18

Photo Credit: Marvel Unlimited.

In this issue, we get a story that focuses on Los Angeles, and the way it’s different from New York. Part of this is seeing the weird crime that Harold H. Harold has been investigating over the decades that have comprised his career, but one of my favorite details was the fact that, once he could afford it, Harold H. Harold began shipping in paper coffee cups from New York City (you can’t find those weird blue ones anywhere in SoCal).

I recognize that cup. Photo Credit: Marvel Unlimited.

In fact, this issue has plenty of amazing shout-outs to Hawkeye’s current locale, several of them coming from LAX itself.

Including that weird restaurant at the center of the airport! Does anyone ever eat there? Why don’t they take out the trash? Kate and her friends are asking the real questions.

Photo Credit: Marvel Unlimited.

Just like the way that one of Clint’s friends, Grills, ends up dying at the hands of a supervillain, so does Kate’s friend, Harold. But as with other character foils, there are some key differences here. While Grills was an entirely innocent bystander, Harold ends up dying because of his own past decisions. This makes it somewhat less tragic than the death of Grills… but just as Clint feels responsible for the death of his friend, Kate feels responsible for the death of hers.