This book just keeps delivering each and every month. Following the decisions made in the last issue, this issue deals with the aftermath of Hawkeye and Mockingbird deciding that they love each other too much to stay together. Hawkeye does some moping that puts him on notice, and Steve Rogers gives Hawkeye - no, Clint Barton - a piece of his mind. McCann does a wonderful job of writing a strong, motivational Steve Rogers without making the character sappy or over-the-top-ridiculous. Not only is McCann's Rogers inspirational to me, but he also pulls Hawkeye out of his self-pitying funk.

McCann doesn't stop with Rogers. This series has been well-crafted since the start, and this issue is no exception. McCann's characters have reason and purpose, individuality and expression. While I may not agree with Bobbi and Clint in their decision, I can certainly understand the rationale behind their decision as McCann puts it on the page. López and López continue to deliver beautiful work that appears effortless in its cleanliness, but at the same time spares no detail. I'd buy this book for the art alone or even the story alone, but the pairing is akin to a chocolate-peanut butter combination.

While this appears to be the end of "Hawkeye & Mockingbird," the next issue page at the end of this story promises to continue the adventure in the "Widowmaker" miniseries that starts up shortly. McCann recently popped by CBR to talk about both this series and "Widowmaker." While it appears as though that story is a natural progression from this series, I'm concerned that stutter-stopping and restarting this title might prove to be detrimental to its sales and wide-range recognition in much the same way that "Atlas" suffered.

I'm not going to go wishing away a great title. The creative team - powered by McCann's vision of this star-crossed couple's interaction with the greater Marvel universe - has delivered one of the most consistently solid books for the past half year. The team hasn't faltered and neither has the story. What the "Widowmaker" tale means for this book and the characters remains to be seen, but this issue certainly offers a nice bit of insight into whatever spins out over there.