Random Happenstance

I barely remember what Hawkeye looks like without the mask. Is his hair shaped like that?


So, does he have a big 'H' on his forehead, or what?

This was back in the day; when, with few exceptions, heroes wore their full costumes 24-7. You were either ready for action or in your civilian identity, with none of this unmasking business. At this point, Hawkeye is so gung-ho on this West Coast team-leader thing that he probably sleeps in his costume, and Mockingbird has to keep hers on as well to humor him. And other reasons.

This exchange reminds me of old Spider-Man comics, when he would lift his mask a little to eat a sandwich or cup of coffee, and I wonder how many people saw him do that. Would they be less afraid and untrusting, if they knew he didn't have a spider-jaw under there? Why do I remember him doing that a lot in the 80's, and not so much before or since?

Rhodey has a point: the team at that point was four other people, all of whom were reasonably trustworthy. But revealing his secret has a few problems: besides having to explain what happened to Tony, without breaking Tony's trust; the Avengers might wonder from then on every time Iron Man shows up, which one is it? Tony? Jim? Happy Hogan? How would they know?

A little of that problem resurfaced in Byrne's run: after the Armor Wars, Tony had created a fake identity for the red-and-silver Iron Man, and faked his death. (Hmm. May have to look at that some other time, especially since the forensics seems really shaky, even with a small nuke involved.) After being shot and paralyzed by an insane ex-girlfriend (Iron Man was the first place I saw a stalker, if you can believe that!) Tony uses the armor to walk again. Since he was going to be in the armor anyway, he decides to rejoin the Avengers, and isn't exactly welcomed with open arms, especially since he won't say who he is in there. It seems kind of jerky, but Hank and Jan both seem to just figure it's Tony in there and don't press the issue.

Today's panel is from West Coast Avengers #3, written by Roger Stern, pencils by Bob Hall, inks by Brett Breeding.

Anyway, blogger's not loading pictures right this second, so coming up soon: Hulk!