where is Clint nowadays? I finished reading matt fractions run and I'm not sure if he has an ongoing solo? and I'm also pretty sure he's not part of the avenger or west coast avenger team, neither is he in the new avengers. what current/ongoing runs is Clint part of nowadays. (Also, if you're aware, why is he being distanced so much from the avengers. considering he's almost a founder (so are wanda and pietro, lowkey) and has been the leader of west coast avengers in the past?
the short answer is currently clint doesn't have an ongoing solo and isn't on any of those teams
onto the second part of your question:
he was last on the avengers emergency response squad, which was featured in a limited series (avengers assemble v3) and still technically exists in infinity comics (titled astonishing avengers for some reason?). so technically, he is currently on an avengers roster and kicking it up in an avengers mansion... sometimes? full-time? he's on call? i'm not sure anymore. let's say he's on the avengers equivalent of the pitt bc that's more fun.
since you mentioned completing the fraction/aja run and idk how much you've read after, i've recently updated my chronological clint reading guide to add some more recent series where clint appeared more substantially. it didn't take long bc there was only one thing to add lol. lmao. now onto the meat of things--
why is clint not on the new thunderbolts roster?
clint was the leader (which i once had to add to wikipedia smh. the people have to know) of the thunderbolts for 50+ issues in its first volume, aka what set the ground for what the thunderbolts are. also, there was a new thunderbolts series with him that ended just 2 years ago. guess which team name was used for a new movie that wasn't based on the initial concept and had no one from the original roster? guess which team has a new ongoing? guess who is (isn't) on the roster? the answer here is sweet, sweet mcu synergy
why is clint not on the new west coast avengers roster?
as we know, clint is a founder of the wca (which i also had to add to wikipedia smh) along with bobbi. neither of them are on the current volume's roster. i don't think tigra is either? i haven't really checked in on the series, so i can only surmise that the reason is editorial thought this:
why is clint not on the current new avengers roster?
clint featured prominently in new avengers v1 and, at times, was a de facto leader. however, this was clint in his ronin guise. the second the avengers reformed classic style, clint put on his hawkeye gear and shortly after said bye-bye to the team when he realized he didn't have wolverine omnipresence capabilities (having admitted to only staying for the amount that he did bc he was hanging out with bobbi). funnily enough, bucky is currently on both the thunderbolts and new avengers roster rn. he's a hot item. only one issue of this new new avengers has come out, so no clue if clint's gonna show up, but i doubt it.
why is clint not on the current avengers (no adjectives) roster?
i have no idea what's going on in avengers v9. if clint shows up i might take a peek and figure it out (i think i did for kate?). he has not shown up </3
now back to your earlier question:
comics can already be a dice roll for everyone's special little characters as it is, as any random calamity can make it so that they just suddenly stop appearing for over a decade (hi bobbi!). however, that's usually bc they've been killed or mostly killed (are you alive if your body has essentially been taken over by an android?), and also the span of time a character is out of commission has shrunken as time goes on bc of the frequency of Major Events (Totally Decisive) (The Last One) (Final v1) (Everybody Dies) (Final v2) (RealFinalDraft.docx).
enter: editorial purgatory. your special little guy is alive and well (mostly?), but god knows where. now, i complain bc clint does show up every now and again, which is more than many can say for their favs, but as you've pointed out, clint is literally one of The avengers. he's their second ever recruit--and their first was captain america!!
c'mon!!! for decades, he was practically the team's glue. and sure, one time they set off a bomb in space and left him there, but they felt really bad about it!
around when the avengers movie came out, clint was suddenly showing up everywhere. it wasn't wolverine level, but if there was an avengers-adjacent series by god was he gonna show up. so he had many, many appearances over the span of a few years. his fourth solo by fraction and aja even came out afterward, and this was his first ongoing where he didn't have to share half the issue with some other character
he also switched costumes at this time, which i think is emblematic of the other reason for ramping up (and for the matter at hand, later ramping down) his appearances: mcu synergy. i think some people would be surprised to learn that the hulk was on the avengers for like 5 seconds and then dipped bc such is the agony of the hulk, and suddenly was back on the team after nearly 40 years bc he was in the movie--the opposite of distanced for this guy! on merch featuring the avengers team using their comic (or cartoon) counterparts, hulk would often be there but clint absent, which i always thought was funny if you think of how many avengers appearances clint had banked vs the hulk's comparatively meager few (at the time)
anyways, people who only sparingly saw the movies unfortunately sometimes came to the conclusion that "hawkeye is useless bc he just has a bow lol." now there is many a comic that delves into this whole deal...but you decide if any screentime was devoted to that on a deeper level.
did this contribute to less comic appearances for clint? i guess i can't really say, but i don't think so. what it did lead to is more than a few "lol why is clint even here" jokes in the comics, bc people will end up integrating jokes of the cultural consciousness into their works. i guess. even if they're overplayed. there's a secondary complication with this bc many people read hawkeye v4 (the fraction and aja run) without much familiarity with clint bc it's very stylish, well-done, and significantly, accessible. without that familiarity, some didn't track the trajectory of clint in the preceding years with his whole deal in that series, and were left with certain impressions of clint as a character that were meant to be perceived in a certain context (i have posts explaining more so i'm not gonna get off track here). the complication is subsequent writers in other series tried to get on board with the earned popularity of hawkeye v4 by trying their hand at dialogue and jokes etc. in an attempt to emulate it. unfortunately, many portrayals were lacking and just made him seem like the butt of a joke and not the most capable guy, when he's literally a longstanding avenger who's saved the team from death more than once despite having no powers.
but i digress. is that why clint is being distanced? not really, but a constant questioning and belittlement of his capabilities makes it feel that way bc it disregards his contributions to the team to present readers, so they're not necessarily clamoring for him to show up. writers have mostly stopped doing this, but it was like a decade's worth of some of his appearances.
so, i guess we're back here:
right, editorial purgatory. basically they just haven't okayed putting him in something substantial for a bit (it's only been 5 months since his last non-infinity comic team appearance, which is not that long in the grand scheme of things for many a character, but seems like an eternity for such a prominent avenger). are writers making pitches of series featuring clint? did now-existing series have pitches where clint is on the roster and it subsequently didn't work out? idk! those are the kinds of things you only find out after-the-fact if a writer happens to mention it.
basically my answer is it could be a lot of things, but idk.
alternatively, they kicked his ass out for saying this:
in which case i understand. i understand.
