Hawkeye #3

Nov 1983 · Marvel · 0.60 USD; 0.25 GBP; 0.75 CAD

📊 ~35,403 copies sold its debut month

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“Beating the Odds”

★ 1st appearance — Oddball

About this Issue

Hawkeye #3 delivers the first appearances of both Oddball (Elton Healey) and Bombshell (Wendy Conrad), two juggling-themed mercenaries who would go on to anchor the Death-Throws villain ensemble and resurface across Marvel titles for decades. As the penultimate chapter of Clint Barton's debut solo miniseries — the first time the character had headlined his own book after nearly two decades as a supporting Avenger — the issue escalates the central conflict by having Crossfire's hired goons actually overpower and capture both Hawkeye and Mockingbird, raising genuine dramatic stakes for the finale. The miniseries as a whole is the foundational text for the Hawkeye–Mockingbird relationship that soon produced the West Coast Avengers, and issue #3 is where their growing partnership is tested under the most punishing conditions of the run.

writer, artist Mark Gruenwald · artist Eliot Brown · inker Danny Bulanadi · colorist Christie Scheele · letterer Joe Rosen · cover Mark Gruenwald, Bob Layton

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $4

CGC 9.8 · 32 in census $87

CGC 9.6 · 24 in census $36*

CGC 9.4 · 12 in census $22*

CGC 9.2 · 5 in census $20*

CGC 9.0 · 4 in census $20*

CGC 8.5 · 6 in census $20*

Show all 13 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 4 in census $20*

CGC 7.5 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 7.0 · 3 in census $20*

CGC 6.5 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 6.0 none in existence

CGC 5.5 none in existence

CGC 5.0 · 2 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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History

The 1983 Hawkeye limited series was a product of the direct-market boom of the early 1980s, when surging specialty-shop sales prompted Marvel to greenlight a wave of four-issue miniseries for second-tier characters. Mark Gruenwald — then a full editor at Marvel overseeing titles including The Avengers and Captain America — wrote and penciled all four issues himself, making it his first significant solo creative project; Danny Bulanadi inked issues #3–4 while Brett Breeding handled the earlier chapters, and background detail was contributed by Eliot Brown. Editor Dennis O'Neil shepherded the series under Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, and the cover of issue #3 was finished by Bob Layton over Gruenwald's layouts. Gruenwald simultaneously used the miniseries to rationalize Bobbi Morse's tangled continuity from her Ka-Zar-era appearances, establishing the coherent Mockingbird biography that became the Marvel canonical version.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Oddball (Elton Healey), a juggling mercenary hired by Crossfire to eliminate Hawkeye and Mockingbird — all confirmed by the Marvel Database and multiple fan wikis.
First appearance of Bombshell (Wendy Conrad), an explosives-expert juggler and Oddball's partner, created by Mark Gruenwald; she and Oddball later became founding members of the Death-Throws villain group.
Written and penciled by Mark Gruenwald, inked by Danny Bulanadi, with background assists by Eliot Brown; cover by Mark Gruenwald and Bob Layton.
Edited by Dennis O'Neil under Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter; cover-dated November 1983, with an on-sale (newsstand) date of August 2, 1983.
The issue is the third of four chapters in Hawkeye's first-ever solo miniseries, which also marked the debut partnership and budding romance between Clint Barton and Bobbi Morse / Mockingbird.
Steve Rogers (Captain America) appears in the issue, consistent with his role in the broader arc where Crossfire's plan targets the superhero community.
The action centers on Grand Central Station, where Bombshell and Oddball successfully subdue both heroes and deliver them unconscious to Crossfire at Cross Technologies — one of the rare mid-series moments where the villains win outright.
The full four-issue miniseries has been collected in the Avengers: Hawkeye TPB, Mockingbird: Bobbi Morse, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2016), and Hawkeye Epic Collection: The Avenging Archer (2022).