Marvel Pick Of The Week – May 25, 2016
By Matt Conner
Pick Of The Week goes to Mockingbird, a title that puts a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent up against a mean twelve year-old girl and points out that that’s a pretty fair fight.
Spoilers ahead!
Pick Of The Week: Mockingbird 3, by Chelsea Cain and Kate Niemczyk
Mockingbird has been a treat, a solo series green-lit on the character’s popularity on television’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. but accessible to folks like me who only know her in print. In her comic career, she was a feminist icon for being a great solo character, a talented agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and one of the first divorced female characters in comics. This solo series has brought up so much of the wit and courage of the character, and this issue dives into the feminist aspects in a way I’ve never seen.
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This week, Mockingbird has to assist local authorities in taking down a twelve year-old girl. Yes, this girl has powers, and Bobbi has to use her love of science to figure out the rules of Rachel’s mutation. But the speech bubbles make it clear – when the local detective asks if she thinks Rachel’s dangerous, Bobbi whispers, “All twelve year-old girls are dangerous.” And in flashbacks, Bobbi remembers twelve as the age when she stopped believing she could get superpowers because statistically, almost all of the Avengers were men. She remembers twelve as the age when she dove into math and science as alternatives, only realizing a decade later that “You don’t need a Y-chromosome to be a super hero… you just need balls.” While all the men flounder before Rachel, Mockingbird accurately assesses the hostage situation:
"Middle school female friendships are intense. They shift, fall apart, reassemble. A sixth-grade girl will stab her friends in the back. She will spread rumors. She will slam doors. She will taunt and yell and accuse. But come between her and those same friends? She will rip your throat out."
Chelsea Cain is writing about a group we just don’t see in comics all that often. Adolescents across the gender spectrum seem to show up as vulnerable family members of the hero, or as plucky sidekicks, or freaking out as their mutant powers kick in. This is the first I’ve read of an intelligent adult woman writing with compassion and discernment about the awful and wonderful aspects of being a young woman in a female social unit. This is Queen Bees And Wannabes, this is Mean Girls, this is Pretty Little Liars. But with more kicking. And a jetpack. I want more of this.
Honorable Mentions:
Captain America: Steve Rogers #1, for giving me a legit scare. Read Red Skull’s pitch to join HYDRA and tell me how that differs from the rhetoric of one of our nation’s most prominent political candidates. You can’t.
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #8, for sending Squirrel Girl on a series of lovely bad dates but especially for making one of them a doomed romantic murderbot.
Patsy Walker, AKA Hellcat #6, because any time a mainstream comic book raises bisexual visibility, I’m going to boost the signal. In this case, Patsy’s wonderful gay roommate turns out to bat for both teams.
Catch up on previous Marvel Picks of the Week here!