Mockingbird Appreciation

[Muffin Crud]

I think someone seriously needs to write a new comic with Bobbi and explain she was exposed to hallucinogenic compounds and that this whole series was her tripping. Because, DAMN, that is some f*cked up thinking there, that her being a cheat who let a guy fall to his death is better than being a sex assault survivor who let her abuser fall to his death.

I think they can fix it by just having Bobbi -- following the events on the cruise -- confront Clint and call him out on his hypocrisy regarding the killing rule and how he chose to view her actions as cheating instead of what it really was.

But will a writer or marvel do that anytime soon? :/

[spirit2011]

Right, but fictional characters don't have agency, because they do whatever authors tell them to.

Rape is bad and it became a trope in superhero comics, but it also happens to real people and it doesn't make them tainted, or failures, or un-feminist. "I'm always in charge and I make my own decisions" is like, great on a narrative level but not an irl defense against rape, and rape doesn't only happen to women (and men!) who aren't sufficiently empowered. It can feel that way, though, but that's why it's important to push back, imo. Thus, telling stories from a survivor is also a potentially feminist act, also important and empowering… and because comics are what they are, this doesn't really undo the publishing of a rape story (since that happened still and you can go read it, it'll be still be published in collected editions and referenced in a ton of Bobbi's other comics) but it does cut off the narrative of Bobbi as a survivor. I feel like to do this retcon successfully you'd have to be aware of and sensitive to that.

Of course we also need a story of survivors, but how much of them is too much? That is the laziest trope for female characters.
of course it will still be on paper, but stories out of conitnuity has less weight.

a story very similar to this was retconned on DC, green arrow had been druged and raped by shado then later it was retconned as consensual and I guess green arrow cheated on black canary again.

Batman being raped by talia was also later retconned too

Ew, what? No one is acting like it's sacred. I think most people would actively hope it was something that never happened to a character.

Her letting Phantom Rider fall to his death however, is one of the most notable things in Mockingbird's (and well, Marvel) history.

You can't undo it and have it barely affect things negatively. It screws up just about everything for worse.

Well a hero letting another person fall to death should not be th emost notable moment of the hero. Of course there is all the context that it happened and made it justified

[Muffin Crud]

Of course we also need a story of survivors, but how much of them is too much? That is the laziest trope for female characters.
of course it will still be on paper, but stories out of conitnuity has less weight.

a story very similar to this was retconned on DC, green arrow had been druged and raped by shado then later it was retconned as consensual and I guess green arrow cheated on black canary again.

Batman being raped by talia was also later retconned too




Well a hero letting another person fall to death should not be th emost notable moment of the hero. Of course there is all the context that it happened and made it justified

It's only the most notable moment because a) it's a uniquely dark moment and had major repercussions and b) nothing has approached that level of awareness beyond Bobbi dying/returning & getting injected with the infinity formula.

[LocoSteve]

I wonder if the (apparent) poor sales on Mockingbird are down to the non-linear narrative and the way the story is told with Bobbi being an unreliable narrator.

I think its down to A.) MockingBird isn't a really popular character, B.) Its a feminist book written by an amateur feminist that don't win the approval of a lot of comic readers who would view such a book- like they did with Angela Queen of Hel- as sjw/pc drivel.

[Agent Z]

Of course we also need a story of survivors, but how much of them is too much? That is the laziest trope for female characters.
of course it will still be on paper, but stories out of conitnuity has less weight.

a story very similar to this was retconned on DC, green arrow had been druged and raped by shado then later it was retconned as consensual and I guess green arrow cheated on black canary again.

Batman being raped by talia was also later retconned too




Well a hero letting another person fall to death should not be th emost notable moment of the hero. Of course there is all the context that it happened and made it justified

The Green Arrow situation was later on acknowledged as rape again in the 2000s. The only reason it was even seen as consensual in the first place was because of people misunderstanding the original scene.

[Tiamatty]

I think its down to A.) MockingBird isn't a really popular character, B.) Its a feminist book written by an amateur feminist that don't win the approval of a lot of comic readers who would view such a book- like they did with Angela Queen of Hel- as sjw/pc drivel.

Best-selling thriller author = "amateur." Sure.

[Captain Wessex]

be fair, that was "amateur feminist".

how does one become a professional feminist?

[Muffin Crud]

I'm so confused...

[Mockingbird]

I'm just going to do what I did after Clint's characterisation went down the pan and ignore it.

The series was cancelled after #5, and the only thing past #5 that exists are some cool panels posted by the artist, which imply a threesome between Bobbi, Clint, and Lance.

[LocoSteve]

Best-selling thriller author = "amateur." Sure.

Just because your book sold alot of copies does not mean you are a good writer, or good at writing about feminist issues. 50 shades of Gray is a good example that comes to mind.

[Tiamatty]

Just because your book sold alot of copies does not mean you are a good writer, or good at writing about feminist issues. 50 shades of Gray is a good example that comes to mind.

You may not like Cain as a writer. But she is not a frigging "amateur." She is a professional author, and to claim otherwise is false.

[Rich Johnston]

Exactly! You don't retcon a rape victim to be some sort of willing "cheater." I just can't conceivably see someone as smart and outspoken as Cain do that and see it as some sort of positive.

I hate that bleeding cool is running with that as the headline to boot

Heaven help we report what actually happened.

[Mockingbird]

Just because your book sold alot of copies does not mean you are a good writer, or good at writing about feminist issues. 50 shades of Gray is a good example that comes to mind.

The annoying thing is that her books are good, and she honestly is a great writer. This issue was just... ugh. Just thinking about it makes me feel physically sick.

[spark627]

I don't understand this idea that we aren't supposed to trust Bobbi's narrative. Nothing about Bobbi's personality over the past few decades supports that. This series completely failed in so many ways, which is shocking considering how good the one shot was, but he one shot and the series seem like different writers, characters etc.

I appreciate that Cain wanted to take back a traumatic experience and tell it from Bobbi's POv, since in the past it only served Clints story, but, IMO, she did it terribly.

My biggest frustration is that if you think about the 8 issues.... nothing happened. Nothing was resolved. This series will have zero impact on Miockingbird.

[Matternativ]

Wow I really wanted to have that retcon having been a misunderstanding that got "lost in translation" but the twitter posts erased any doubt. That is... very unfortunate.
As much as I loved this series this ending definitly tarnishes it.