Issue(s): Marvel Fanfare #39 (Hawkeye story only)
Cover Date: Aug 88
Title: "The cat's tale"
Credits:
J.M. DeMatteis - Writer
Joe Staton - Penciler
Kim DeMulder - Inker
Al Milgrom - Editor

Review/plot:
Hawkeye has been feeling antsy and was snapping at the other Avengers at the compound, so he went off into the woods to be alone. And found a talking bear.

The bear takes him to Black Crow.

It's probably too late to worry about what's in the pipe after you've been talking to a bear.

The Black Crow wants Hawkeye to fight a Native American trickster god called the Cat and that he's actually part of an ancient lineage of warriors that has always fought the Cat. Hawkeye doesn't believe that and doesn't want to fight the Cat, but it's either that or go home smelling like skunk.

So fight the Cat it is. The Cat first tries to convince Hawkeye that it's a part of the natural cycle of things and there's no reason to fight.

And he nearly has Hawkeye convinced, or at least befuddled enough to leave. But Hawkeye looks back when he's not supposed to...

...so the fight is on.

Hawkeye kind of mystically clears his head of thoughts and emotions to defeat the Cat. He's not even sure what happened and the Black Crow has to explain it to him. Oh well, time to go home.

Bring back the talking bear!

Statement of Ownership Total Paid Circulation: Average of Past 12 months = 66,300. Single issue closest to filing date = 51,910.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP place this after Hawkeye's long string of Solo Avengers appearances between West Coast Avengers #31-32. The Moon Knight back-up feature takes place earlier in publication time and gets a separate entry.

References:

• The Black Crow's origin was shown in Captain America #292.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

DeMatteis really wanted Black Crow to happen.

Why do super-heroes think things like a talking bear is weird? I'm sure over the years battling various villains, they've seen it all. I never understood that.

Are those circ figures missing a zero? Those are astonishingly bad numbers for Marvel in this era. I bought a few issues of Solo Avengers on the newsstand, so I don't think this was a direct-only book. And even if it was, those seem like low numbers for the '80s

Oops, that's what I get for reading several chronology entries in a row: those are Fanfare numbers, not Solo Avengers. Yeah, I can believe Fanfare sold that poorly. It deserved to.

Also keep in mind that Fanfare was twice as expensive as a normal Marvel comic.

And was direct-market only.

"Some common herb..."; yeah, you know, just some kind bud, not thai stick, like what turned Stacy Keach into a lizard in that Cheech and Chong film.

Haven't seen much of Kim DeMulder these days. He had a good technique with his brush.

Nice penciling by Joe Staton. His cartoony style works for the surreal, hallucinogenic nature of the story.

Now that Disney owns Marvel they can bring back the talking bear and say it's Baloo :)