A comiXologist Recommends (a book about a character who should have gotten her own book a long time ago)

Mockingbird #1

Written by Chelsea Cain

Art by Kate Niemczyk

Colors by Rachelle Rosenberg

Bobbi Morse, aka Agent 19, aka Mockingbird, is a top S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who probably doesn’t have time for your nonsense.  She definitely doesn’t have time for constant check-ins with the S.H.I.E.L.D. medical lab. But this is what happens when you’re experimentally brought back to life with Super-Soldier Serum and Infinity Formula.

Superhero books don’t often focus on the physical toll that being super takes on the heroes.  It’s all well and good if you’ve got special powers, but if you’re a regular super-person like Bobbi, you’d better hope that S.H.I.E.L.D. has good medical benefits.  

Judging by the rotating cast of characters in the clinic’s waiting room, they do.  Is that Tony Stark reading a pamphlet on venereal disease? Anyway…

Like Chelsea Cain’s 50^th Anniversary of S.H.I.E.L.D. Mockingbird one-shot, this book is so much fun to read.  The art by Kate Niemczyk matches Cain’s witty writing perfectly.  Both provide well executed sarcasm and humor without muddying the story in irreverence.  I strongly recommend taking the time to look closely at the artwork because this issue is, according to Cain, the first piece of a puzzle.  You won’t want to overlook the details!    

I’m pretty excited for Mockingbird to have a creative team primarily made up of women (in addition to Cain and Niemczyk, we’ve got Rachelle Rosenberg on colors, as well as Alanna Smith and Katie Kubert on editorial).  And while I wouldn’t necessarily object to a cameo by an ex-with-abs (hey, Bobbi has good taste in mistakes), I’m looking forward to a book about what makes Mockingbird such a complex, smart, all-around awesome character.

Tia Vasiliou is a Digital Editor at ComiXology. You can listen to her talk about comics and awesome women on the I Read Comic Books podcast from Destroy the Cyborg.