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Review added September 11, 2019
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Mockingbird
Review by Jouni Pohjola
"I can explain the Corgi", Barbara 'Bobbi' Morse (PhD, A-list spy, C-list superhero) informs the reader. And then she promptly doesn't. It's not the start of the story told in the first five issue arc of Chelsea Cain's controversy-inducing1 eight-issue run of Mockingbird, but as a scene it's a good tone-setter.
Mockingbird is one of the numerous reworkings/reboots of superhero characters that Marvel (and its competitor for capes-and-masks aficionados' money, DC) produce at irregularly regular intervals. The character was possibly chosen for a solo outing because of her being part of New Avengers superhero group (it's not the same lads & lassies those who, like me, have mostly or exclusively been relying on movies for their information on Marvel characters and story lines will be thinking of) but it looks like the publishing company didn't quite get what it was hoping for since the series didn't progress past eight issues (plus a single issue story published as Mockingbird: S.H.I.E.L.D. 50th Anniversary) under tutelage of Cain2. Which is unfortunate since it was in truth quite good for as long as it lasted.
The eight parts are split into two mostly unrelated story arcs, with the first and structurally somewhat complex one (issues 1-5) finding Bobbi on the trail of a secret being kept by her own employers and the second (issues 6-8), more straightforward one, superficially involving nothing much more than a murder mystery on a cruise ship. Both are told almost entirely from Bobbi's point of view and often it seems that she isn't necessarily telling things exactly as they happened either. Cain's background as a novelist gives her the necessary chops to pull of the double stunts of unreliable narrator and nonlinear story structure, and her primary artist Kate Niemczyk3 and colorist Rachelle Rosenberg deliver gorgeous visuals to match.
Apart from the unusually clever structure and deep examination into the main character's psyche for the genre, both stories are exceedingly funny. In fact, the second arc is downright zany. All of these features are quite welcome in a genre that more often than not serves linear plots designed to get serious cardboard characters into serious fistfights. Mockingbird is not that kind of superhero comic. In fact, it even manages to somewhat exceeds the borders of the sandbox it appeared in while still remaining true to the genre.
All fine and good, you say, but what about the Corgi content? In the first arc, there's not too much of that unfortunately apart from the scene referred to in the first paragraph above and a single frame visit to the British royal court. The second arc however remedies that with a veritable herd of rampaging Pembrokes jostling for space with cosplayers on a luxury liner sailing towards the Bermuda Triangle and regular appearances of Ka-Zar (one of the main character's pet) in almost every scene. While the Pems don't have too much really to do plotwise, there is a distinctly fictional breed of Corgis briefly involved as well that actually has a crucial role to play near the end of the second arc — or so we are given to assume anyway. Niemczyk's Corgis are rendered with equal skill and realism as the human characters, and as an icing on the cake you even get cute paperdolls of Ka-Zar along with those of the human protagonists in several issues!
Leaving the rather high Corgi content aside, who would I recommend this series to? Not to anyone who has problems with (superhero) comics dealing with issues (or even having an agenda — unless it's the kind of agenda one prefers of course) for one. Also, at least a rough knowledge of general concepts of Marvel universe is required or the story will become a mess of inexplicable references. Other than that, I'm quite ready to recommend it to most everyone who'd like to read a beautifully drawn comic that manages to combine interesting characterization and plots with tons of humor without being weighted down by an attempt to actually be Important Mainstream Literature™.
Since the separate issues of the comic are probably long out of print, the best hope for getting this series is finding the collection books that combine them. As far as I can tell, there are two options: Mockingbird, Vol. 1: I Can Explain and Mockingbird, Vol. 2: My Feminist Agenda that together contain the entire 8 issue run & Mockingbird: S.H.I.E.L.D. 50th Anniversary by the same author (as well as some New Avengers issues by some other folks as a filler), and Marvel's Mockingbird that contains eight issues apparently without any fillers.
1) Mockingbird writer receives support after cover backlash @ EW.com
2) Speculation about reasons for the series' cancelation (& more on the controversy) @ The Daily Beast
3) Issue 5 is drawn by Ibrahim Moustafa and Mockingbird: S.H.I.E.L.D. 50th Anniversary (which contains no Corgis) is drawn by Joëlle Jones who also provided the covers for the original single issues
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Review added September 11, 2019
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