Mockingbird: I Can Explain

by Chelsea Cain, Kate Niemczyk, Ibrahim Moustafa & Rachelle Rosenberg
collects Mockingbird #1-5 and SHIELD 50th Anniversary
volumes one | two – complete

Welp, I really wanted to like Mockingbird, but it didn’t happen.

Mockingbird, aka Bobbi Morse, has been around in Avengers and SHIELD, but this is my first encounter with the character. Granted, her adventures were pretty fun – an underwater sea rescue, laboratory zombie attack, and meeting Queen Elizabeth! But I just couldn’t get over the MAJOR MARY SUE that is Bobbi Morse.

What’s a Mary Sue? Oh, sweetie, you were never on fanfiction.net, were you? A Mary Sue (or Gary Stu, for male characters) is a perfect character, often wish fulfillment by fanfiction writers. There’s a difference between Mary Sue and a powerful, prophecy-type female character who intimidates insecure man trolls (like Rey from Star Wars)….

….but that’s not the case for Bobbs here, who:

• Is cis, white, thin, hourglass figured and blonde, (aka the cumulative genes that fit American society’s definition of privilege beauty,)
• Blonde including the most TUMBLY of hair,
• A biochemist PhD geneticist who also can perform an autopsy somehow,
• with the Infinity Formula and Super Soldier serum in her DNA, making her extra spesh,
• And on top of that she eventually develops superpowers,
• Has a hot British boyfriend named Lance,
• But also gets her flirt on with ex hubby Clint Barton,
• She, and I quote, “eats pretty well” and “works out,”
• Has an excellent sense of humor,
• Never mentions financial concerns and therefore doesn’t have them, and,
• Did I mention how great her hair looks, even while doing SCIENCE. She doesn’t even need a MESSY BUN.

Here’s the thing. I am all for excellent female heroes – and as much as I adore Kate Bishop, it was great to see a woman on top of her shit. Getting it. Not pining for her ex. Looking at a career full of dudes and saying, I’ll work harder. And I really think that was Cain’s intention. (And yes, fictional character and male gaze and all of that.) But in order to be excellent, characters also have to be flawed. It’s not a gender thing – I have the same issue with Superman (who is often so invincible and good-hearted it approaches Gary Stu). Superheroes are already a kind of wish fulfillment, but I could not find any sort of flaw in Bobbi.

Even being a divorcee – not a flaw, but an event that could have provided a window into her flaws – basically just means her ex (Clint Barton) is another love interest. Seeing Bobbi moderately dressed and her Two Hot Guys in boxers was a nice reversal, but it still kinda reads like fanfiction.

And that’s too bad, because even with the weird pacing of the book (issues 2-4 take place during time lapses in #1), I did enjoy the overall tone. Bobbi has a great sense of humor, and while the extended science metaphors got a little boring, still great they were narrated by a woman. And then Bobbi makes a swipe at society not talking about tampons. I love how Cain has no probs poking fun at this and other “feminist agenda” humor, to quote a certain final cover that made aforementioned insecure man trolls noisy (they definitely don’t want to hear about tampons) and Marvel cower before them (pretty disgusting and unsurprising). I could have lived without Niemczyk’s pouty lipped, MOST TUMBLY HAIR art though. (Moustafa, below in #5, was better but a weird style change.)

SPOILERS. Bobbi’s Mary Sueness takes a weird turn in the SHIELD Anniversary issue, when she hops out of bed with Hot Boyfriend talking about Hot Ex, to learn that Bobbi’s mentor, Wilma Calvin, who “changed the trajectory of her life” by bringing her into SHIELD, has been murdered. Are there emotions? Hell no! She does an autopsy – on her mentor! – discovers Wilma’s own son killed her, takes him out, and that is THAT. Back to HOT LANCE and are you serious??!?? What a huge wasted opportunity! I looked Calvin up and the character has existed since the 1970’s – and yet here we never see her alive, she’s just a victim. Over the last five issues we could have seen a great relationship between these two women, we RARELY see female mentorship in superhero comics (only DC’s Babs/Stephanie comes to mind) – instead the focus is on Bobbi’s hot men.

Wilma, also a woman of color,  was extremely badass – civil rights activist, champion of science, single mom who also held down a SHIELD job – damn I wanted to meet this woman before she was dead. (Too bad we only are told those things in her eulogy.) And just because Bobbi has it together doesn’t mean be a robot about this death of a significant person in her life. All perceived feminism of Mockingbird seemed to go out the window in this issue.

A Mary Sue story is at best infuriating and at worst utterly boring – especially when it torpedoes an actually interesting relationship between women, but still preaches feminism. Buuut, we can always use more women like Bobbi who are in charge and not apologizing for it. And I loved Cain’s unabashed humor and writing directed at women. I hope the second and final arc is better than the first. And I’m looking forward to reading the first trade of her new Image comic Maneater, which has gotten a lot of buzz. (update: review of volume one here.)

Woman World

by Aminder Dhaliwal

Due to a mysterious genetic disorder, fewer and fewer men are being born. Dhaliwal’s hilarious and heartwarming graphic novel (adapted from her webcomic on Instagram) imagines men completely die out, and a generation that has never known men set out to establish themselves as the newest iteration of the human species – complete with a flag modeled after Beyonce’s thighs. 

Woman World is essentially a combination of Kate Beaton’s Hark: A Vagrant!, Noelle Stevenson’s Lumberjanes, and Brian Vaughan’s Y: The Last Man. A scientist discovers men are dying out, but the world leadership ignores him until it’s too late – it’s a bold commentary on the response to climate change, (or lack of, especially here in America nowadays) and like Y, we never really learn the cause of man’s extinction. But the point is that the women are just fine on their own, thank you very much.

The women worry about the future of the human race beyond sperm banks, to be sure, but it’s more of an existential worry – most of the focus is on relationships. There are a few jabs at men and the sexism of the pre-extinction world – the women adorably wonder how we were taken care of on our periods – but nothing so devastating that it reads like a satire. Instead, it’s a heartfelt story about women, with each half or full page spread dedicated to a different vignette that are sometimes one-shot jokes, others help move the narrative along. They are more concerned with building hospitals, correcting each others’ grammar, and tackling their crippling anxiety – things that have literally nothing to do with the absence of men – and that’s also the punchline. Women in this book aren’t shooting each other down or competing for a man’s attention. They mostly skew bi, anyway.

And it was absolutely fantastic how all identifying women survive – as one (trans) woman puts it, “Not every woman gets a period, not every woman gets breasts, not every woman bears children.” PREACH.

And Woman World is very funny, with quite a few well-timed jabs at Paul Blart, dildo factories, and dilapidated Starbucks chains. The village’s youngest girl, Emiko, has a majority of the heartwarming moments with the oldest, her grandmother Ulaana. Dhaliwal’s style is in the same realm as Noelle Stevenson, Kate Beaton and Adventure Time and it works beautifully here. Dhaliwal’s expressions are absolutely fantastic especially her use of color peppered throughout.

The cast of characters were nice to follow but also at times annoyingly docile – even the village’s mayor Gaia finds it impossible to ask for a vote, even if she’s the sole candidate. The greatest interpersonal conflict is one woman’s unrequited crush on another, who is already in a relationship. According to the village’s doctor, the Capital is where all the advanced technology exists, so the village feels almost like a utopian return to the Garden of Eden, sans Adam. (The prologue mentions that due to a cascade of natural disasters the world was also thrown into chaos, accounting for their lack of technology.) Not one of the women in this story were complicated or aggressive – though most have typical insecurities that are the subject of humor in the story – but those traditionally masculine qualities still exist in women, and I would imagine so even without men. Is the point that the women are learning to just be women in a man-less world? Maybe.

Even if a lack of struggle also made it a bit less engaging, Woman World was a quick enjoyable read with a lot of laughs throughout, and some deeper questions about feminism (does it exist without men?) and how certain systems might change if more women were in charge – better maternity leave and compassion for menstrual cramps, for example. Recommended – and not just for the female-identifying crowd.

Isola 1

by Brenden Fletcher, Karl Kerschl & Msassyk
collects Isola #1-5
volume reviews one | two

**Isola is my 100th review! Huzzah!!!!! **

Isola is a fantasy tale that Image recommends to fans of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s films, and for good reason. First and foremost Isola is simply gorgeous. Artist Karl Kerschl and colorist Msassyk create lush nature landscapes with ethereal, bold color palettes that are just wonderful to look at – I already want it in hardcover.

The humans in Isola’s world have a sophisticated look to them with just a hint of anime, like a grown up Titan AE (if we’re going to continue the obscure 2000’s animation reference, Rook has serious Akima vibes), and the focus on weird magic and expressive/slightly grotesque animals are beautifully drawn, definitely with a Miyazaki, Princess Mononoke atmosphere. Reading Isola takes longer than usual because there are several moments in each issue, particularly those with less dialogue, where you’ll just have to stop and appreciate it.

The story: first of all, the less you know the better. Rook is captain of the queen’s guard. She is on a secret quest accompanied by a tiger. That is about all you should know heading in, and maybe then that’s too much.

Isola starts off very slow, not knowing much about the characters or the world itself and filled with vague, intentionally confusing dialogue. We expect this in fantasy world building (Monstress and Saga are good examples), particularly what may become an epic, long series – it’s less about understanding everything (which would result in copious amounts of exposition) and feeling like you’re in the world, all the while being aware as more answers come your way.

Fletcher and Kerschl also build moments of silence throughout the book that are reminiscent of both Miyazaki and the Samurai Jack series. The silent tiger who can’t directly communicate with Rook is so brilliantly expressive, thanks to Kershl and Msassyk, adding both to the story and the beautiful artwork.

Just like most first chapters to a fantasy book, how much you enjoy Isola’s story largely depends on your patience. Unlike Monstress’ Maika and Saga’s Alana, Isola’s leading woman Rook is much more reserved – she’s a dedicated warrior and protector, and we randomly learn her dad was a farmer. I think Fletcher did as much character work as he could with Rook, balancing other characters and world building, but midway through when more is revealed, Rook’s less than strong personality meant less payoff in those “aha” moments.

A fantasy book can be confusing, as long as it’s grounded in character, or to a lesser extent, a grounded love of the world. There’s an atmosphere of both, but because it wasn’t stronger than that, the final ‘conflict’ was a bit of a letdown. While the first half of the book was slow and enigmatic, the second half suddenly picks up the pace and introduces us to a lot of characters and more than one reveal by way of flashback – not my favorite way to provide answers in a fantasy book. I would have preferred a more even pacing, and waiting on some of those reveals for at least another book – but thankfully not everything has been answered and who knows how epic a story Fletcher and Kerschl plan to tell.

The story’s pacing may have been off, but at least it’s very, very pretty.

SPOILERS. Lots of fantasy tropes – and usual portrayals of gender in fantasy – are completely turned on their heads in this first arc of Isola. Olwyn is Queen even though she has a brother, a woman is the captain of her guard – oh, and they are definitely in love with each other! But for the little we get from Rook, we see even less from Olwyn. A queer relationship can’t be solely defined by its queerness, and I’m sure we’ll see more of their relationship in the next volume – and on that note it will be interesting to see how much of a patriarchy this world lives in, too.

Finally, why does every fantasy story feel the need to recreate some new language that is close enough to ours to just be annoying?  Isola’s “frek” is just trying to be Batman Beyond’s “schway.” Stop trying to make frek happen.

Isola has the potential to become one of my favorite ongoing series – and an immediate hardcover buy too. Lots of stories have a rough season one – here’s hoping season two is better.

I’m going to end with some love for Akima. Titan A.E. was A GREAT MOVIE, OKAY. Even if the main character was literally named KALE.

Invincible 1

by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, Ryan Ottley & Bill Crabtree
collects Invincible #1-13 [Ultimate Collection]

Invincible is one of Image Comics’ most popular series, co-created by Robert Kirkman of The Walking Dead fame with a runtime of 15 years and 144 issues. I read the very first issue a few years ago and wasn’t hooked – I’m glad I returned to it, especially with an Invincible animated series coming to Amazon in 2020 and a phenomenal voice cast to boot. An imperfect book with some serious gender issues, Invincible attempts a humorous take on the superhero genre with a story that started off slow, but became more intriguing after the first arc.

The story follows Mark Grayson, a high school kid whose relatively normal life ends when his superpowers emerge. Mark takes up the mantle Invincible alongside his father Nolan, alien protector of Earth with a mustache that would make Tom Selleck proud, known as Omni-Man. (The two will be voiced by Steven Yeun and JK Simmons respectively, which is just perfect).

Invincible is first and foremost a superhero story, but it also never misses an opportunity to tease and subvert superhero tropes – Nolan’s saving-the-world career is old hat to Mark and his mom Debbie, which makes for some funny scenes. Nolan whizzes off in the middle of dinner to save the earth from a nuclear explosion, while Mark and Debbie barely bat an eye between bites. Nolan and Mark “play” catch by tossing the ball around the world, airborne above their house.

This expands to the rest of the story too. Mark accidentally tells his best friend about his powers, who then requests a joyride, Lois Lane style.  Mark deescalates a fight with a one-eyed alien in space by talking with him – and his name is Allen. (Fry is lucky Leela never met him.) There are scores of hilarious villains poking fun at classic counterparts, and asshole heroes with terrible names like Rex Splode. And there are CLEAR parodies of superheroes (and one DC team in particular) and other nerdy shows, which might have been funny for some, but honestly pulled me out of the story.

But like most great superhero stories, Invincible’s strength is that it’s really about relationships. Well, one relationship at the moment – this is a father-son tale and a parallel coming of age story for Mark. Interestingly, Nolan and Mark get most of the conversation time – necessary for the story being told – but Nolan lets Mark figure out his powers for himself and doesn’t do much direct coaching. He is both constantly absent saving the world, and completely trusting of Mark too – which is somewhat explained later.

However this first volume doesn’t actually spend a lot of time getting to know Mark, and aside from his quick wit and comic book reading (…he really is like Peter Parker) there isn’t much to give him a strong personality. He’s so…stable. Mark has a few good friends, including Eve (also a superhero and 100% the MJ of this story, but with Starfire’s powers and hair); he’s a nerd but he dates a girl who basically throws herself at him; he has no discernible insecurities; he does his homework and saves the world without big screwups. And unfortunately, we are also introduced to a large cast – Mark’s family, friends, a main superhero team and a teen team, several villains and other side characters. Perhaps part of the satire is how normal Mark is even though he’s got a superhero dad – but the character didn’t seem very strong to me, especially when the shit really hits the fan. (more on that in spoilers below.)

You know the writers watched Star Trek: TNG when they gave Deanna a useless line and Allen encounters them during a season without Wesley Crusher.

I hope you enjoy ANGRY FEMINIST rants because here comes one!

Even as a father-son journey it was disappointing that Debbie, Mark’s mom and the only non-powered member of the family, has barely any role, agency or personality in all thirteen issues. She is basically just a housewife who makes dinner, sleeps with her husband as many times as he wants (and calls him an “animal”), and launders Mark’s costume.

Similarly Eve has very little personality – “Mary Jane Love Interest” is basically where it ends, but without the MJ sass and with far more victimhood, pouting when her jerk boyfriend cheats on her (she reacts in the most weak way too) and Mark gets involved with Amber  – as if Eve didn’t have any friends or a life before she met Mark. Eve has far less character than badass preteen Monster Girl who appears in only one scene but almost steals the entire book in it.

All the adult women sport large chests and elastic waists (INCLUDING THE ALIENS); Mark’s “girlfriend” Amber has no speaking lines, and only serves to hit on Mark and drive a wedge between him and Eve; the “Wonder Woman” character is the only Justice League member who is sexualized, waking up naked and proclaiming she will be sleeping over at her partner’s more often. (Kirkman, a queer relationship doesn’t count as diverse when it’s clearly just for the male gaze.) Eve and Amazon lady are the only female superheroes but instead of being defined by their powers or as people, they are defined by their bodies, as the love interest and sex object.

Even with the subversion of superhero tropes, Kirkman doesn’t change this trope that has existed since the birth of superheroes from the late 30’s: it 100% feels written for straight guys, by straight guys.

It doesn’t have to be this way: see Paper Girls, among many other great comics with great female characters, written by men. But with Robert Kirkman it’s a troubling pattern, not just with The Walking Dead comics, but some all-out sexism claiming that women are “scientifically weaker” than men. All of these gender issues now make sense – and if the series continues in this vein, I won’t read it anymore, full stop.

The angle of Eve’s landing,  (an underage character, don’t forget), plus the fact that she didn’t immediately dump Rex Splode’s ass after that “oh what’s that your school friends are being murdered ok byeee” kind of says it all about her character. Also, who smecks? Gross.

SPOILERS. On that note of the Big Reveal of this first arc – Nolan’s true origin, purpose and multiple murders – was brilliantly set up and told, as Nolan tells the truth to Mark in altered panels from issue two. The superhero deaths (and misdirection leading up to it) were shocking and quite graphic compared to earlier moments which just added to the “oh shit” moment that sets the tone of the series. Nolan and Mark’s climactic fight was so well done in its scale and dialogue, but things suddenly patched up after the fallout, with little to no development from Mark. Time passes without us seeing Mark struggle to accept that his father has completely betrayed their family and Earth, has left – but of course we’ll see him again. Not to mention Mark’s role in thousands of deaths.
And on the spot he accepts Probably Evil Government Guy And Mr Burns Twin’s proposal to step into his father’s shoes without even consulting his mom. How is he so trusting? Wanna bet Debbie is happy her son (who is still in high school) is now Earth’s top line protector? Oh wait, she’s just heading off to bed. Like Eve, Debbie crumples into victimhood instead of doing anything useful. Hopefully we’ll get more development from Mark and Debbie in the next arc (and this is a looong series) but for something as devastating as this reveal, I was surprised that the dialogue went to Mark and Allen exposition, not Mark and his mom processing all of this.

Finally, I was not crazy about the art. Walker and Ottley’s pencils got much better after the first five issues or so, which can happen as an artist finds their footing in a series, and the style is very strong during action or movement oriented scenes. It has a Saturday morning cartoon quality to it, as it does encourage the reader, like the content, to not take things too seriously. But personally it just isn’t my favorite, and sometimes the broad, sketchy nature led to some awkward faces and body angles (especially, as I mentioned before, when it came to women). Walker and Ottley’s faces are very expressive and use multiple identical panels for excellent comedic timing in many scenes. This leads to some great meta humor when Mark meets a favorite artist who apparently uses the same device in his own comics. (PS: Walker and Ottley definitely sounds like a law firm.)

Overall, I’m not completely floored like some who are totally obsessed with Invincible, but I definitely enjoyed the second half of the story more than the first half. There is so much potential here and now that the story has finally gotten started, I’m willing to see what the rest of these eleven giant volumes have in store. Unless Kirkman keeps writing Eve and Debbie as weak.

Kill or Be Killed 1

by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
collects Kill or Be Killed #1-4

This is my first Brubaker/Phillips story and while the story concept is very compelling, there are a few things that held me back from fully enjoying it.

Basically grad student Dylan tries to take his own life, and the Devil comes to visit. As repayment for the life he tried to take, Dylan has to kill someone every month who deserves to die – or he does. The origin story is told in reverse order so we start with a bang (pun intended) and then work out how Dylan got there.

It’s an interesting and gritty concept: typical person is forced into vigilantism but also must decide which strangers deserves to die, or lose their own life – that is interesting, compelling psychological stuff. Unfortunately Dylan oh so conveniently remembers a guy from his past who did something so heinous, and the guy oh so conveniently lives near him, and Dylan gets a weapon – you get it. The second month Dylan has to make a kill presents more issues (otherwise it’d be a boring book) but he also proves to be quite the idiot.

This is where the story kind of lost it for me. Dylan’s personality is comparable to a wet sock. He constantly makes himself the victim and all he does is complain. His extensive stream of consciousness is an opportunity to potentially go into mental illness (a la Moon Knight), loneliness or any other number of things but it’s not there. Dylan is a grad student but his life seems rather aimless and empty, what he’s studying is still a mystery and doesn’t support his character – a professor reminds him about an essay on Cervantes, so is it Spanish or literature? Neither really make sense with his personality. A protagonist doesn’t have to be likable but Dylan could be far less annoying.

Also, his best friend and roommate’s girlfriend Kira (who he happens to be sleeping with) is just terrible. She basically has one melancholy line in the whole thing that isn’t related to her sleeping with both her roommate and best friend. It doesn’t help much that Dylan thinks that he must have Kira in order to live, like she’s an object and having her only thing that validates him as a person. Kira is probably aware and it’s why she’s stringing him along; her upbringing and how sex played into it (below) could justify her actions but it certainly doesn’t make her a sympathetic or engaging character.

Phillips’ art is a good match, which makes sense because the two have collaborated on a lot of stories together. He’s great at tense violent scenes, and I really like how he drew the devil. But I don’t like his art much personally, especially how he draws faces, at times the expressions seemed weird and in a few panels Dylan looked 10 years younger or older. Dylan looks like white cis “everyman” to the point of forgettable hilarity and Kira is every redhead comic book love interest ever. Breitweiser’s colors are moody with the occasional burst of red – Dylan’s mask, Kira’s hair, and of course blood.

Iiiit’s time for your favorite segment, ANGRY FEMINIST RANT!

So around issue 3 the book became ridiculously gratuitous. Boobs everywhere. Now look I’m not a prude (I love Sex Criminals), and nudity and sex is absolutely okay when it adds to the story. And the book has a strong sex theme. Dylan’s dad drew porn, which Dylan and his friends ogled at as kids;  Kira’s mom didn’t hide her active sex life from her daughter growing up (yet it’s still only female bodies we see). Dylan’s first target sexually abused children, and his next target is associated with a strip club.

But Dylan doesn’t connect the two in his mind that way, and book doesn’t seem to have a cohesive commentary about sex, not yet anyway, at this point it’s just an excuse to draw lots of naked women. The fact that Kira becomes one of those women – and Phillips decides she also likes to go commando – doesn’t help matters. By the final page it felt like Brubaker and Phillips are shouting in the face of all readers who aren’t attracted to women, “THIS COMIC IS NOT FOR YOU.”

There are more volumes of Kill or Be Killed – four in all, I believe – but I have plenty of other things on my list that I want to read more.