Hawkeye #2

David Aja's cover for this 2012 Marvel series distills Hawkeye down to his pure essence — Clint Barton in his dark costume, sunglasses on, bow drawn taut with a full quiver at his back, framed by bold purple-and-blue graphic arrows and instructional diagrams that give the whole design a sleek, almost manual-like clarity. Matt Hollingsworth's restrained color palette of purple, blue, and grey makes it one of the most stylishly minimal superhero covers of its year. Matt Fraction, David Aja, and Matt Hollingsworth were clearly building something special with this run, and issue #2 — "Vagabond Code" — is a great place to see that vision in full stride.