The Mockingbird Controversy, AKA What the f*** did I just read?
Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2017 6:34 am
So, apologies for being late to this party, but I was doing a little bit of internet reading and I came across something that might have made me bruise my face with how hard I facepalmed.
So, a while back, Mockingbird's solo series was canceled due to low sales, going the way of The Black Knight book and several other series that should have been a self contained limited series to test the waters rather than just try for a new book. And they chose to use this cover to end the issue:
Now, at the time I just figured it was the comic book equivalent of click-baiting. I wasn't following Mockingbird, I had no idea what the content of the book was, etc. I just knew this fit in with the politics of Marvel at the time, where causing controversy will boost sales and they were emulating some really toxic SJW notions in a lot of their writing. This was just a way to get positive reviews from alleged feminists and to piss off trolls, which generates controversy, and as a result, it got the most sales of the series. But then I heard that the writer had been chased off of twitter due to harassment over the issue, and that there was more to the controversy than just one final middle finger to fans on the cover.
What I read . . . . well, see the title.
In case anyone doesn't know, there's a moment in Mockingbird's career that defined her and Hawkeye's relationship. Initially a happy couple, during a time travel story with the West Coast Avengers, the heroes teamed up with several western heroes, including the Phantom Rider of the era, Lincoln Slade. Shenanigans happen and Slade kidnaps Bobbi just as the other Avengers are teleported away. He uses various drugs and potions to basically mind control Bobbi and . . . well, under that influence, they have sex. The story never uses the "R" word, but it's very clear from everyone's reactions that Bobbi was raped.
Eventually, the mind control is broken thanks to several other heroes and Bobbi remembering her love for Hawkeye. And Bobbi is PISSED. She confronts Slade, beats several different shades of crap out of him, and during the fight Slade winds up dangling off the edge of a cliff. He begs her to save him, and instead of doing the typical hero move of sparing the villain, Mockingbird lets him fall to his death.
When the team came back for her, she lied to Hawkeye about what had happened, saying she had gotten away from Slade and that Slade had killed himself. Everything was good for a while, only for Slade to come back as an actual ghost to start haunting her. Eventually she confided in several other members of the team about what had happened, and they encouraged her to just be honest with Clint and he'll understand. Unfortunately for her, the Phantom Rider appears to Clint and explains that she killed him. Clint is so pissed that she Bobbi lied to him and apparently murdered someone that he's extremely confrontational when Bobbi approaches him. Bobbi, still on an emotional rollercoaster from the rape and her guilt about killing someone who was helpless, is just as confrontational right back. Arguments get heated, and the two divorce each other.
Supposedly the idea was to have them patch it up after a storyarc or two, but the writer left and subsequent writers dragged their feet in getting them back together, but they did reconcile.
It was a difficult but honest examination of someone who was raped, who fought back and defeated her oppressor, and who handled the situation badly after. It was about two people who loved each other, but felt they couldn't count on each other due one bad argument. And it was a showcase of how its possible to move past a horrible tragedy like this and for a couple, despite the bumps, to eventually overcome it.
Or it WAS, anyway. Because now it's RETCON time!
The "barely married" line makes it seem like they broke up over a conversation where she is being amazingly blaze' about having killed someone. Only her dialogue makes it seem like she thinks that Slade was an ACTUAL ghost when he died, and therefore couldn't be killed. Except Slade was just a normal man with a few gimmicks and tricks to make himself appear to be supernatural. He only became a ghost after she killed him. It makes me wonder if the writer actually read the original story.
Anyway, the Phantom Rider returns again, and tries to command some pirates to attack the crew. And we get this gem.
I just . . . . I have no words.
And then we get this exchange:
So, according to this, Bobbi had consensual sex with the Phantom Rider. There was no mind control, no rape, she just chose to cheat on her husband with another man. A man she later killed.
The writer later said she wanted to erase the rape in order to give Bobbi back her agency. I wonder if she really understands what that term means. Because apparently, "agency" isn't being a woman who was drugged an raped, who then confronted and defeated her her rapist, and endured several other hardships, only to remain a strong, independent woman. Apparently "agency" is choosing to cheat on your husband with someone, and then murdering that man because . . . reasons? Or does she think she didn't kill him because he was a ghost after his murder?
This is the worst kind of retcon. It tries to paint Hawkeye as some guy in denial about his wife deciding to cheat on another man, and divorcing her over other reasons because his ego couldn't handle the idea of her cheating on him, while she remains a strong, independent woman who just did what she wanted.
Instead, it basically makes Bobbi into kind of a bitch, cheating on her husband, killing someone and then apparently saying it's Clint's fault that they got divorced. Like he should have just dealt with it and moved on. It shows a ridiculous amount of self-awareness and potentially damages both Bobbi and Clint.
Thankfully this will probably be ignored, but if the rest of the book was like this, then good riddance.
Am I being too harsh? Is there some context I'm missing? Please let me know.
So, a while back, Mockingbird's solo series was canceled due to low sales, going the way of The Black Knight book and several other series that should have been a self contained limited series to test the waters rather than just try for a new book. And they chose to use this cover to end the issue:
Now, at the time I just figured it was the comic book equivalent of click-baiting. I wasn't following Mockingbird, I had no idea what the content of the book was, etc. I just knew this fit in with the politics of Marvel at the time, where causing controversy will boost sales and they were emulating some really toxic SJW notions in a lot of their writing. This was just a way to get positive reviews from alleged feminists and to piss off trolls, which generates controversy, and as a result, it got the most sales of the series. But then I heard that the writer had been chased off of twitter due to harassment over the issue, and that there was more to the controversy than just one final middle finger to fans on the cover.
What I read . . . . well, see the title.
In case anyone doesn't know, there's a moment in Mockingbird's career that defined her and Hawkeye's relationship. Initially a happy couple, during a time travel story with the West Coast Avengers, the heroes teamed up with several western heroes, including the Phantom Rider of the era, Lincoln Slade. Shenanigans happen and Slade kidnaps Bobbi just as the other Avengers are teleported away. He uses various drugs and potions to basically mind control Bobbi and . . . well, under that influence, they have sex. The story never uses the "R" word, but it's very clear from everyone's reactions that Bobbi was raped.
Eventually, the mind control is broken thanks to several other heroes and Bobbi remembering her love for Hawkeye. And Bobbi is PISSED. She confronts Slade, beats several different shades of crap out of him, and during the fight Slade winds up dangling off the edge of a cliff. He begs her to save him, and instead of doing the typical hero move of sparing the villain, Mockingbird lets him fall to his death.
When the team came back for her, she lied to Hawkeye about what had happened, saying she had gotten away from Slade and that Slade had killed himself. Everything was good for a while, only for Slade to come back as an actual ghost to start haunting her. Eventually she confided in several other members of the team about what had happened, and they encouraged her to just be honest with Clint and he'll understand. Unfortunately for her, the Phantom Rider appears to Clint and explains that she killed him. Clint is so pissed that she Bobbi lied to him and apparently murdered someone that he's extremely confrontational when Bobbi approaches him. Bobbi, still on an emotional rollercoaster from the rape and her guilt about killing someone who was helpless, is just as confrontational right back. Arguments get heated, and the two divorce each other.
Supposedly the idea was to have them patch it up after a storyarc or two, but the writer left and subsequent writers dragged their feet in getting them back together, but they did reconcile.
It was a difficult but honest examination of someone who was raped, who fought back and defeated her oppressor, and who handled the situation badly after. It was about two people who loved each other, but felt they couldn't count on each other due one bad argument. And it was a showcase of how its possible to move past a horrible tragedy like this and for a couple, despite the bumps, to eventually overcome it.
Or it WAS, anyway. Because now it's RETCON time!
The "barely married" line makes it seem like they broke up over a conversation where she is being amazingly blaze' about having killed someone. Only her dialogue makes it seem like she thinks that Slade was an ACTUAL ghost when he died, and therefore couldn't be killed. Except Slade was just a normal man with a few gimmicks and tricks to make himself appear to be supernatural. He only became a ghost after she killed him. It makes me wonder if the writer actually read the original story.
Anyway, the Phantom Rider returns again, and tries to command some pirates to attack the crew. And we get this gem.
I just . . . . I have no words.
And then we get this exchange:
So, according to this, Bobbi had consensual sex with the Phantom Rider. There was no mind control, no rape, she just chose to cheat on her husband with another man. A man she later killed.
The writer later said she wanted to erase the rape in order to give Bobbi back her agency. I wonder if she really understands what that term means. Because apparently, "agency" isn't being a woman who was drugged an raped, who then confronted and defeated her her rapist, and endured several other hardships, only to remain a strong, independent woman. Apparently "agency" is choosing to cheat on your husband with someone, and then murdering that man because . . . reasons? Or does she think she didn't kill him because he was a ghost after his murder?
This is the worst kind of retcon. It tries to paint Hawkeye as some guy in denial about his wife deciding to cheat on another man, and divorcing her over other reasons because his ego couldn't handle the idea of her cheating on him, while she remains a strong, independent woman who just did what she wanted.
Instead, it basically makes Bobbi into kind of a bitch, cheating on her husband, killing someone and then apparently saying it's Clint's fault that they got divorced. Like he should have just dealt with it and moved on. It shows a ridiculous amount of self-awareness and potentially damages both Bobbi and Clint.
Thankfully this will probably be ignored, but if the rest of the book was like this, then good riddance.
Am I being too harsh? Is there some context I'm missing? Please let me know.