Make The Non-Costumed People Count

I'm a little annoyed the Hawkeye creative team killed Grills. He struck me as a sort of loud, but essentially kind-hearted, doofus. Not unlike Clint, only not as loud, or as pushy. A decent enough guy, in other words. Which is why it was an effective moment.

Then I realized it couldn't have been anyone else. Having Kazi kill some random person would establish his evil bonafides, but if they're trying to hit Hawkeye (and us) where it hurts, they have to use someone close to him. And there is no one else. There isn't any other supporting cast in the book (I consider Kate more of a co-star by this point than a supporting character), not that's received enough page time for us to care. But Grills has been popping up regularly, got to be the focus of half of issue 7. He was the only choice.

Which annoys me all over again. Because it's been 10 issues and Fraction and Aja have managed to give one supporting cast member enough depth for the reader to care about them in something other than abstract. If the Legion of Russian Al Davises* are going to try and destroy Clint where he lives, then the other tenants are going to get caught in the crossfire. It might be nice for them to be more than cardboard cutouts there strictly to be knocked over to show that this time it's serious business because civilian casualties. The Russians are bad guys, I'm thoroughly down with Clint and Kate thrashing them just on principle, but if you flesh out the people around them so that we care about them like Clint does, that helps to emphasize that Clint is actually protecting people in danger. Otherwise, it starts to feel like a pissing contest between him and the Russkies.

Give us a sense of how this mess is affecting the other tenants, good, bad, or indifferent. Do they even know what's going on? Is there a teenager pissed off because Clint's overzealous approach to strange vehicles frightened away their significant other? Are they being hassled walking back from the market? Were they able to afford a vacation because Clint's not bleeding them dry with exorbitant rents? I don't know, something that makes them real characters.

* It drives me nuts I didn't think of comparing the track suit buffoons to the former Oakland Raiders' owner sooner.