Written by Chelsea Cain.
Issues # 1-5 Art by Kate Niemczyk (Issues # 1-4); Ibraham Moustafa (Issue # 5 only); Sean Parsons; Rachelle Rosenberg; Joe Caramagna; & cover artist Joëlle Jones (with Rosenberg).
S.H.I.E.L.D. 50th Anniversary # 1 Art by Joëlle Jones; Sean Parsons, Rachelle Rosenberg; Sean Parsons; Joe Caramagna; & cover artist Paul Renaud.
Collection Cover Art by Joëlle Jones & Rachelle Rosenberg.
SUMMARY:
Released by Marvel Comics in 2016, this episodic 136-page trade paperback collects that same year’s Mockingbird # 1-5 and the one-shot Mockingbird: S.H.I.E.L.D. 50th Anniversary # 1.
Recently resurrected via an experimental combination of the Super Soldier serum and the Infinity immortality formula, Dr. Barbara “Bobbi” Morse, aka Mockingbird, is now required to attend weekly check-ups and on-demand appointments by the S.H.I.E.L.D. Medical Clinic. Hidden a full ten stories beneath New York City’s Chelsea Market, Bobbi is less-than-thrilled with this mandated healthcare plan.
Issue # 1 reveals that S.H.I.E.L.D. scientific personnel is monitoring Bobbi for potential side effects. More so, Bobbi realizes that she is experiencing symptoms of a strange virus. Mockinbird’s ongoing suspicions also expose S.H.I.E.L.D.’s ulterior motive behind why she is now exhibiting psychic powers. This two-parter is later completed in Issue # 5, as Bobbi is trapped in the medical facility with Miles Morales’ Spider-Man and Howard the Duck. It’s up to them to retrieve an experimental cure for this virus that has resurrected S.H.I.E.L.D.’s medical cadavers into psychic zombies.
Set a month earlier, Issue # 2 has an undercover Mockingbird in London to rescue her part-time lover, S.H.I.E.L.D. operative Lancelot “Lance” Hunter. Held captive in an underground S&M faction of the Hellfire Club, Lance is Bobbi’s only potential back-up against the Black Queen’s small army. Worse yet, the inappropriately-dressed duo must quickly thwart an assassination plot targeting the British monarchy. Queen Elizabeth makes a brief cameo.
In Issue # 3, in New York City, Mockingbird is reminded of how her incessant childhood desire to be a super-hero was replaced by scientific ambitions. Her subsequent doctorate in biology (and/or biochemistry) will be necessary to help Bobbi resolve a televised hostage crisis. Holding four middle school classmates captive inside a force field several stories up, Mockingbird’s adversary is unusual. Specifically, Rachel is a bewildered and lonely 12-year-old girl, who just discovered she has super-powers. Worse yet, Rachel doesn’t understand how her light-based powers work or their limitations. It’s up to Bobbi to improvise an intervention as both a hostage negotiator and single-woman SWAT team.
Set a week before Issue # 1, Bobbi is in the Middle East investigating a mass die-off of Saiga antelopes infected with the same bacterial infection she has. Then, the day before Issue # 1, Bobbi infiltrates an underwater T.I.M. (Total Idea Mechanics) lab to rescue her captive ex-husband, Clint “Hawkeye” Barton. A vial he has stolen from this terrorist group may help Bobbi thwart her mutating virus. To Clint’s horror, Bobbi risks drowning herself to test to what degree the virus is mind-altering her judgment. Issue # 5 completes Bobbi’s virus storyline, as she battles with Miles Morales against S.H.I.E.L.D.’s horde of medical facility zombies.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. 50th Anniversary one-shot revisits Bobbi’s initial first appearance dating back to 1971’s Astonishing Tales # 6. Bobbi leaves Lance Hunter at home to probe the home invasion murder of her former mentor, S.H.I.E.L.D. biochemist Dr. Wilma Calvin. In a high-tech Georgia morgue, Bobbi and Wilma’s scientist son, Percy, conduct an unauthorized second autopsy on his mother’s corpse. Bobbi immediately realizes something isn’t right, but she is willing to risk her life on this instinctive hunch. Before she can return to Lance, Mockingbird quietly comes to terms with her past life: as a biochemist and what might have been, if not for Wilma Calvin.
Notes: This title is also available digitally. Issue # 1 gag cameos include: Hercules, Luke Cage & Jessica Jones; Tony Stark; Howard the Duck; & Black Widow.
REVIEW:
As routine or deliberately hodge-podge as Mockingbird, Volume 1: I Can Explain will seem, it’s still a mighty fun read for adults. With Chelsea Cain’s snarky writing and the art team’s excellent visuals, Mockingbird’s hard-nosed spy adventures deliver solid entertainment. The occasionally naughty inferences are amusing, as Cain’s playful flippancy hits the right plot twists on cue. It’s a welcome sign that Mockingbird has evolved past merely playing Marvel’s answer to Black Canary.
More so, Mockingbird, Volume 1: I Can Explain confirms that Bobbi Morse is a solo Avenger capable of carrying her own title.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT:
Preceding is a full-page portrait of each cover by Joëlle Jones & Rachelle Rosenberg. Also included is a page featuring two ¼-sizes variants for Issue # 1 (‘Women of Power’ by artist Kirbi Fagan and a kid-friendly Mockingbird by Skottie Young). After Issue # 4, a single page depicts both artist Jeff Dekal’s ‘hip-hop’ Issue # 1 variant and artist Afu Chan’s variant.
Later, again in ¼-size, there are additional variants. For Issue # 2, the variant artists are: 1. Nen Chang; 2. Kirbi Fagan; and 3. a Civil War-themed variant by Pasqual Ferry & Frank D’Armata. For Issue # 3, the variant artist is Elizabeth Torque.
Taken from Mockingbird # 1, there is an insightful, page-length letter to fans from writer Chelsea Cain. From Issues # 2-5, there are four individual paper doll accessory cut-out pages for some tongue-in-cheek fun-and-games.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 7 Stars
