Astonishing Tales #6
Astonishing Tales #6 (June 1971) holds a firm place in Bronze Age history as the first comic book appearance of Barbara "Bobbi" Morse, the future S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and Avenger known as Mockingbird — one of Marvel's most durably important female heroes. Her debut is deliberately understated: an unnamed, frantic brunette arriving at Ka-Zar's English estate, a brief scene that nonetheless seeded a character arc lasting decades and eventually intersecting with the West Coast Avengers, Hawkeye, and the broader Marvel espionage world. The issue's Doctor Doom half delivers the first direct confrontation between Doom and the Black Panther, staging the first major incursion into Wakanda and making Vibranium a contested resource in Marvel storytelling years before the element became a cornerstone of the wider mythology. Taken together, the two stories make this a genuinely double-barreled key issue of the early Bronze Age.
In "‘Ware the Winds of Death!," Gerry Conway and Barry Smith introduce the enigmatic Damon the Man-God, whose arrival unleashes chaos upon the Savage Land. With the landscape itself under threat, Bobbi Morse joins forces with the siblings Tatia and Emuel as ancient forces stir beneath the jungle canopy. The cover by John Buscema and Frank Giacoia captures the storm of danger brewing in this 1971 Marvel classic.
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Astonishing Tales launched in 1970 as one of Marvel's revived split-feature anthology books, pairing Ka-Zar and Doctor Doom in roughly ten-page stories each issue, edited throughout by Stan Lee. By issue #6, the Ka-Zar feature had passed through Stan Lee and Jack Kirby to the team of writer Gerry Conway and penciler Barry Windsor-Smith (then credited as "Barry Smith"), inked by Bill Everett — the creative trio responsible for Bobbi Morse's debut. The Doctor Doom half was scripted by Larry Lieber (Stan Lee's brother, who had been writing the feature since issue #3) and penciled by George Tuska with inks by Mike Esposito; the cover was drawn by John Buscema and inked by Frank Giacoia. A complicating footnote: a Len Wein and Neal Adams story featuring a version of Bobbi Morse had been commissioned for the cancelled Savage Tales #2 around the same time, meaning Conway and Windsor-Smith introduced her in print first, while Wein and Adams had conceptually developed the character independently — that earlier story eventually surfaced in flashback in Astonishing Tales #12.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Barbara "Bobbi" Morse (later Mockingbird/Huntress/Agent 19), appearing unnamed in the Ka-Zar story written by Gerry Conway and penciled by Barry Windsor-Smith, inked by Bill Everett.
- Bobbi Morse appears as a mysterious brunette arriving at Ka-Zar's (Kevin Plunder's) English country estate; her full name is not revealed until Astonishing Tales #12 (June 1972).
- The Doctor Doom story, 'The Tentacles of the Tyrant!', written by Larry Lieber with art by George Tuska and inks by Mike Esposito, depicts Doctor Doom's first direct assault on Wakanda in pursuit of Vibranium — the opening chapter of a two-part confrontation with Black Panther concluded in issue #7.
- The Black Panther's story in this issue continues from Avengers #58.
- Cover art is by John Buscema (pencils) and Frank Giacoia (inks); Stan Lee served as editor.
- Also introduces Damon the Man-God (villain), and Tongah's siblings Tatia and Emuel, in the Savage Land-set Ka-Zar story.
- An in-house advertisement within the issue promotes Marvelmania posters featuring the Fantastic Four, the Black Knight, Silver Surfer and Galactus, and Thor — accounting for several of the characters indexed in this issue.
- Both stories from this issue have been reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Ka-Zar Vol. 1 (2013) and the Doctor Doom half in Essential Super-Villain Team-Up (2004); the Ka-Zar story also appeared in Black Panther: The Early Years Omnibus (2022) and Doctor Doom: The Book of Doom Omnibus (2022).
Cast · 35 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Introduction of Damon the Man-God and his subsequent attack on the Savage Land. Also introduces Bobbi Morse and Tongah's sister and brother, Tatia and Emuel.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).