I started up my computer to blog last night, opened my text editor and sat there looking at my blinking cursor. All day I kept thinking, what I am I going to blog about? And nothing came to mind. But something usually does so I wasn’t worried. Even when I sat down to write I wasn’t worried. But then after staring at the screen for five minutes with nothing happening, well then I just sighed. So instead of writing I read some poetry and then did some core exercises and some free weights. That brought me to the Zwift group ride I lead on Wednesday nights.
Of course this morning while walking through the downtown Minneapolis skyway from the train to work I remembered something I could write about! Mockingbird.
Mockingbird, Volume 1: I Can Explain by Chelsea Cain is about Bobbi Morse, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. I was going to wait until I read volume two and write about them together, but since I couldn’t think of anything else to write about tonight instead, you get a comic review padded with frivolous babble.
Bobbi is a top agent, smart, sassy, and always rescuing her two ex-husbands from the bad guys. She is not a superhero but she has always wanted to be. But without special powers, what’s a girl to do? Science! It is her science smarts that took her to S.H.I.E.L.D. I have a great sample of a couple panels for you but the superfluous photo deleting spree I went on the other day has made it go poof!
The panels were an example of the biting feminist wit of this comic that often made me squeal with delight. There is a picture of the beefy male superheroes in their spandex costumes. Bobbi comments that since superheroes were all men when she was a kid, her thoughts turned to…science! And then the next panel is high school Bobbi being eagerly nerdy in class. Then we have grown up Bobbi looking through a microscope and saying, but things are better now, women are equal, etc, etc. And then another bubble, just kidding, it still sucks.
The story is fast and fun and I can hardly wait for volume two from the library. But I am also terribly sad and angry because after volume two there will be no more. Chelsea Cain was so badly trolled on Twitter for her blatantly feminist Bobbi that she deleted her account and decided to not write anymore issues of Mockingbird. Her Marvel editors were generally supportive, but the vitriol was too much. Cain should not have had to suffer through the online hate, and as much as I wish her to be a superhero who could stand up to it all, I understand her decision. It pisses me off that a bunch of misogynist troglodytes ruined such a fantastic comic. They may have won this round, but evolution says their days are numbered.
I sometimes get so stuck when it comes to blogging ideas. I went through a period when I was not able to come up with anything new. I also went through a period when I started many posts and was just not able to finish for various reasons.
I seem to be doing OK now.
Feminists or any woman who shows concern for women’s issues routinely come under scathing attack on Twitter. Multiple friends of mine have been targeted. It is very disturbing trend. It shows that there is something with society.
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Brian Joseph, some days are easier than others, eh? I think all of us have trouble sometimes. Yeah, the internet and Twitter especially can be really horrible. I am sorry to hear you have multiple friends who have been targeted. Definitely something wrong with society!
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Why do these trolls have so much power? This sounds like an awesome comic!
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Perhaps comics are not regarded highly enough but the silencing of Chelsea Cain is a disturbing trend that publishers and writers must find ways of checking.
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Ian, yes, her silencing is very disturbing. I am all for freedom of speech and all that but platforms like Twitter that allow bullying and death threats and threats of rape really need to get their act together. They always says they are working on it but it never goes far enough.
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Agreed.
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wanderwolf, I know! It is so frustrating. The comic is great and I would so love to have more comics like it, not just Mockingbird, but in general.
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“And then another bubble, just kidding, it still sucks.” Indeed. It’s outrageous that Cain left Twitter because of misogynist trolls. I like your take on it, though. I think their days are numbered too.
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AMB, There might be more days left to them then we’d like, but I have to believe that one day these guys will no longer exist.
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I suppose there have always been bullies and people with horrible thoughts knocking around, but I can never decide whether it’s better that we can now hear them (on, e.g., Twitter) so we know what we face as a society, or whether it was better when they were just muttering nastily to themselves and we didn’t know. When I read things like this I think the latter. Poor woman, what an appalling thing to happen to her.
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Helen, I know what you mean. Sometimes I think that since we can all hear them now is worse in some ways because they feel more emboldened and less isolated. But at the same time the voices rising up in opposition gain strength too. It’s hard and Cain and others like her should not have to suffer the hatred from such a small group of people.
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OMG…that’s simply awful that you bully someone like this! I mean you can be all macho as you want and no one, absolutely no one bats an eye lid at you masochist bullshit, but hey, be a strong woman and raise your voice, we will bully you until the end of civilization! This is simply too horrible….
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cirtnecce, I know, it’s really terrible and in spite of all the voices of support for Cain, it was too much, which is understandable. I’m not sure she will ever venture into comics again.
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I read something once that said Marvel should have an institutionalized thing where they prepare their female writers for the backlash that comes with being a lady in comics. Like have a course about online safety and how to avoid being doxxed and what Marvel will do for you if there’s a troll bonanza. Which I think is a great point, but also an incredibly tragic commentary on the state of the world.
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Dear Lord what is WRONG with people?
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Jenny, a good idea to have that class but that it is even a thing is so horribly wrong. I appreciate Marvel for not giving in to the trolls and recognizing the value of women’s voices and keep at being more inclusive, but damn, the backlash is heartbreaking and the brave women who step out into it are saints.
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Ugh. That’s awful. Sometimes I wish the internet were never invented. But then again, I wouldn’t have found such lovely book people! 🙂
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Laila, I know! I am so happy to have found such wonderful book people too! But filthy underbelly of the internet is truly sickening.
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I do not understand these trolls. Ugh. I don’t typically read comics but I feel like I need to in support of this author!
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Iliana, and the even sadder thing is that it isn’t just her that had been trolled. I wish I could say it is getting better for women in comics but it really isn’t, not yet anyway.
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Wow Stefanie, that’s absolutely terrible. Sometimes human beings completely defeat me. Why people can’t just agree to differ I’ll never really understand. Social media has so many great aspects, but when it results in silencing someone, then I almost wish we didn’t have it, because in pre-social-media days she may have got some hate mail (probably through her publisher) but that would likely have been it. And she would probably have continued because the intensity would not have been there nor been so direct.
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whisperinggums, yes you are very likely right about pre-social media days. And since the m ail probably would have come through her publisher they could have screened out the death and rape threats. Though I have to wonder how many there actually would have been if someone had to actually put it in the mail. I think there are laws against sending that sort of mail. There should be laws about making threats online too.
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We do have cyber bullying laws in Australia which include threatening, harassing and stalking by email. Don’t you have that in the US?
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We have laws for something like email but not for things like Twitter, unfortunately.
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In Australia the focus is cyberbullying not the means, and so from the law’s pov it is a crime whether by email, sms, social media.
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I think your laws are further along than ours on this matter. It seems we have protections here for kids, though they don’t work all that well, but not much protection for adults.
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Yes, sounds like we do, and that they’ve been framed to cater for new technologies. Here too though I’d say they are not always easy to enforce.
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Really?! What is wrong with people. If you don’t like a comic (or any other piece of literature) why do you have to be such a troll about it? Do people not have anything better to do with their time? Sadly, I know they apparently do not. Now I will have to find those comics and read them and show my support. Sheesh. As for turning on the computer and not having any inspiration? Me, raising hand this weekend. I might have managed a little inspiration but I had no energy, so will try again tonight. I finished the second Paper Girls comic, btw. Only to discover that there is no third, yet….they are just one or two individual comic books into the next segment. Sigh. Have you read the second one yet? You will know it ends with a cliffhanger if so….
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Danielle, the trolls said she wasn’t true to the original character, plus the in your face feminism was too much for them apparently. You know how women speaking up for themselves just have to go and “ruin” everything! Since you are on a comic spree you might like this one. It helps to know a little about SHIELD but it isn’t required.
I have not read the second Paper Girls yet. I am still waiting my turn for it at the library. I had no idea there were only two do far! Argh! Another one that I am going to have wait impatiently for the continuation!
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