Mockingbird Vol. 1: I Can Explain

by Chelsea Cain

[Quirky Cat]

Thanks to all of her appearances in the Avengers (as well as TV shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) many know who Mockingbird (AKA Bobbi Fisher) is. She’s finally getting her own series, and it’s looking like it’ll be an interesting one. This world is brought to you by Chelsea Cain (Gretchen Lowell Series, Kick Lannigan Series) and Kate Niemczyk (Invincible Iron Man, Man-Thing).

Spoiler Warning

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this series, if I’m being honest. I figured it’d be a little on the silly side, with some strong feminists points. What I got was a series with a really creative writing style. The first issue hints at several different points (an assumption made based on the title of the second volume), all of which become minor plots in their own right during the following issues. They all tie in to the main plot, and thus the first issue introduced. The last issue in the volume ties it all back together and cleans up all the lose points. It’s quite brilliant, actually. I’d love to see more writing of that kind, and hopefully Mockingbird will keep it up for their future issues!
Like many new series, Mockingbird wasn’t afraid to pull in established characters as cameos. They didn’t go overboard however, and most of the cameos were short and sweet (many being characters in the background with no lines what-so-ever). The notable appearances (where they actually were given the opportunity to speak) would include Lance Hunter, Hawkeye, Spider-Man (Miles Morales), and believe it or not, Howard the Duck.
When you list the cameos out like that it actually sounds pretty odd, but I promise they made complete sense in the context of the series. As mentioned above, the first and last issues connect the following four together. If one were to skip the introduction they’d likely miss out on the fact that the later four issues aren’t truly one-shot stories - though they can certainly appear to be just that.
The three issues in between establish Bobbi’s identity as an agent; she’s constantly running around on missions. It appears that she’s rather good at rescue missions (and I love the flip of the old ‘man has to rescue the woman’ trope, as she seems to constantly be saving her current and past lovers, brilliant move). The getups she has to wear to complete her mission are at times odd (if not outright comical), but I suppose that’s the nature of the job.
This was an intriguing start, to say the least. If they can continue to keep up this writing style I’ll certainly be interested in continuing to read it. So here’s hoping they do just that! On the bright side, I’m pretty behind in this series, so hopefully I can jump straight to the second volume to see how that one is.