Daily December #4: Mockingbird and me

[topaz119]

(yes, I'm running behind already, on the second day that I had a topic. shocker, eh?)

ladymercury_10 gave me the topic Bobbi Morse, aka Mockingbird, who is sitting in a really interesting position in the current Marvel universes. My icon is from the recent standalone issue Mockingbird: S.H.I.E.L.D. 50th Anniversary #1, written by Chelsea Cain, art by Joelle Jones, and let me just say how much I am loving the artwork in this one. Clean, strong, great palette (in the rest of the picture this is cropped from, she's holding a gun (in a proper two-handed grip) and her (short, squared-off) nails are this awesome pop of turquoise-y blue. This particular issue is a one-off, so the story is quick but it is all about Bobbi, which is always nice. They've recently announced an actual solo title run, which is also cool, but the art is very different and I'm not grooving on it.

I guess we'll see? I'm not going to argue with getting more of her, and I do know where Chelsea Cain is coming from when she says Bobbi's been used to tell other people's stories, but I have to point out that despite being called Hawkeye and Mockingbird, that particular run was all about Bobbi's past and how she was working her way back from the whole Skrull fridging thing. The villain was tied to her backstory, the team was hers, the family dynamics were hers, and Clint was there mostly as the love interest. I mention this because this really was my introduction to Mockingbird and it was a *good* one.

Reading comics for me is always an exercise in picking and choosing and being prepared for favorite characters to fall apart (no, I'm not still bitter about Dark Phoenix even after nearly 40 years, why do you ask? and someday I feel like Wonder Woman might come back to me, too), so I'm very good at skimming and skipping and keeping those things that made me love a character close to my heart and not letting them slide off into obscurity (because then you enable the 'but it's always been this way' argument when, no, actually it hasn't.)

So, sidetrack aside, I'm pretty happy with the Bobbi of Agents of Shield (though I am behind on that, so I can't really talk about where she is right now) even if I'm sad that the badass ex-husband is Hunter rather than Clint. No offense to Nick Blood, as I actually do like him and his character, and I get the realities of getting Hawkeye onto a weekly show, but... hmpf. The heart wants what it wants. (I did manage to get both Bobbi and Hunter into in deep with you darling, which was fun and will actually serve a narrative purpose beyond an action sequence if I can ever pull the rest of that fic together.

And for visual aids: here's my Mockingbird tag on tumblr.

Comments

[sperrywink]

I'm now intrigued by that Mockingbird one-shot. I like the style of your icon too.

[topaz119]

I really love the art in that one-shot. It really helps to define her character.

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

I really liked the Mockingbird one-shot, too, especially the art. I'm excited for Bobbi's upcoming solo comic!

no, I'm not still bitter about Dark Phoenix even after nearly 40 years, why do you ask?
I would be interested in hearing this story if you are interested in telling it. I've read the Dark Phoenix Saga but not a lot of the stuff immediately before or immediately after it.

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

Oh, that sounds like a good daily topic--I will add it to my list! (Because I'll probably go over the character limit for a comment once I get started!)

[alphaflyer.livejournal.com]

I find Bobbi a lot more interesting now than I did 3 years ago, when she was merely an "ex-wife" that I'd never seen outside of Wikipedia. Now I've seen her in AoS, but her voice is still not that clear to me -- only through her interactions with Hunter. I'd like to get to know HER, and I feel that I haven't.

They took the scientist angle away from her (guess Fitz and Simmons had that market cornered) and her badassery isn't really character-defining. Even her relationship with Hunter isn't that much of a fertile ground to mine for HER personality. Last Tuesday's ep came a bit closer, but we've got a long way to go.

All this to say -- please keep writing her, so that I may know her.

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

Yeah, see I knew she was Clint's ex-wife, but then I went and read Hawkeye and Mockingbird (mostly because it feeds into Widowmaker and I was on a quest to read more Natasha (I know you're so surprised by that!)) and while comic book writers generally can't write a romance to save their souls, they did manage to write a good *character* for her. Clint was handled pretty well, too, and had more shades to his character than just the wise-cracking archer (they pulled in his history as team leader for the West Coast Avengers, so they were clashing a little in how their leadership styles differed, not just with their complicated romantic history.)

Anyway. It turns out that was a good place to start and the recent one-shot was good, too. I'm less than enthused about the artwork for the new ongoing--I think it makes her look too young. Even her cameos in Fraction/Aja's Hawkeye gave her the appearance of a grown woman (with some style beyond the usual 'badass female'.)

I guess we'll see, and I can always ignore canon. I'm pretty good at that. :D