Mockingbird: Bobbi Morse, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Astonishing Tales #10, 12-13, 15-20

by Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Mike Friedrich

Discover how Barbara Morse became the Avenger known as Mockingbird! She's a S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist who's trained for action and destined for greatness, and she's hunting down the Man-Thing in the Savage Land - with a little help from Ka-Zar! But what happens when the wild man follows Bobbi back to the urban jungle, and onto the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier?
ASTONISHING TALES (1970) 10, 12-13, 15-20; KA-ZAR (1974) 3-5; MARVEL TEAM-UP (1972) 95; HAWKEYE (1983) 1-4; MATERIAL FROM ASTONISHING TALES (1970) 8; SAVAGE TALES (1971) 8; MARVEL SUPER ACTION 1

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Comic Book

433 pages, Paperback

First published August 30, 2016

About the author

Roy Thomas was the FIRST Editor-in-Chief at Marvel--After Stan Lee stepped down from the position. Roy is a longtime comic book writer and editor. Thomas has written comics for Archie, Charlton, DC, Heroic Publishing, Marvel, and Topps over the years. Thomas currently edits the fanzine Alter Ego for Twomorrow's Publishing. He was Editor for Marvel comics from 1972-1974. He wrote for several titles at Marvel, such as Avengers, Thor, Invaders, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and notably Conan the Barbarian. Thomas is also known for his championing of Golden Age comic-book heroes — particularly the 1940s superhero team the Justice Society of America — and for lengthy writing stints on Marvel's X-Men and Avengers, and DC Comics' All-Star Squadron, among other titles.

Also a legendary creator. Creations include Wolverine, Carol Danvers, Ghost Rider, Vision, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Valkyrie, Morbius, Doc Samson, and Ultron. Roy has also worked for Archie, Charlton, and DC among others over the years.

Reviews

[J. Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

As other reviewers have pointed out, Mockingbird is barely in this -- the majority of the stories here are devoted to Ka-Zar, a blond Tarzan-type, with Bobbi (Mockingbird) Morse lurking in the background as a minor supporting character. The stories here are not horrible, but Ka-Zar himself is an insufferable bore, stomping around, beating his chest, and referring to himself in the third person. No wonder Bobbi dumps him before their romance ever really gets off the ground. Once Bobbi actually becomes Mockingbird, in the last 1/4 of the book, things get a little more interesting, but she's still mostly playing second fiddle to male heroes (Spider-Man, Hawkeye).

This book is really only interesting from a historical perspective; it's a time capsule of a particular era, and an example of how characters in a "shared universe" can get shuffled around from one writer to another, getting reinvented over and over again until something finally clicks. If you like Mockingbird today, then yes, this is where she came from. But unless you're an absolute completist, you probably don't need to see how the sausage was made...

[Memphis Evans · Rating 2 out of 5]

Largely terrible. This is 300 pages of Ka-Zar, the dullest character in the Marvel universe. Yes, there's a one issue foray into The Huntress identity and a four issue Hawkeye miniseries that sort of has the Mockingbird that is suggested by the cover and featured in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D tv show. But any book where the best advice I can give you is "skip directly to page 300" only deserves a star or two. Yikes.

[Kathy Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilariously vintage Stan Lee. It's a comic book. Read if 1) you're obsessed with the Bobbi Morse /Mockingbird character and want to know every scrap of information, or 2) you find old Timey Marvel World amusing. if you enjoyed the recent short-lived Mockingbird comics, this probably won't ring the same chimes.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what it appears to be. Most of it is stupid, silly, bad Ka-Zar comics from the 1970s; very little actual Mockingbird in it. If you want to read some actual Mockingbird comics, go get the two trades written by Chelsea Cain instead.

[Jimbo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection is bizarre in more ways than one. First off the majority of the book is actual Ka-Zar with a few pages of Bobbi Morse thrown in. The first appearance of Bobbi is as a auburned hair woman that has mental images of Lord Plunderer in trouble (That story goes by the wayside very quickly). Then after another brown-haired Bobbi in Astonishing Tales, we are now in the Savage Land wit Ka-Zar and she is BARELY in the next first half of the book. Until Marvel Super Hero issue of Huntress do we really get a picture of who this scientist, turned agent, turned fighter truly is.

The last part of the book is her intro to Spider-Man in Marvel Team-up as her first appearance as Mockingbird, then in the four-part Hawkeye story in 1983.

The book really isn't Mockingbird, but at the same time we do get to see Bobbi Morse grow into who is Mockingbird, so in some respects it is her story, but really Ka-Zar owns this collection. (by the way, I loved the Marvel version of Tarzan (Ka-Zar) in all these stories until the Man-God (or Maa Gog ape man--that story was so far fetched and this collection did not explain the mist that changed him at all, so I guess I am out of luck on that storyline.)

[Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

There was a LOT to get to in this collection, mostly focusing on Ka-Zar and the Savage Land. For most of the book, I was having trouble with my computer - and more trouble keeping track of who I was supposed to be reading about. The art was EXCELLENT for the time, in proportion, and Bobbi Morse doesn't look like the average modern comics woman. People knew how to draw distinctive characters back then, and she was distinctive from the modern super-bimbos you see today. The story lines were gripping, too, but again, the presence of Ka-Zar and Zabu tended to overshadow the presence of Bobbi. On the other hand, if not FOR the two of them, the stories could not have been told. A toss-up overall.

[Chris Browning · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great deal of fun, and fascinating to see Morse fail to stick as a mere love interest and slowly but surely become a more interesting character in her own right. In fact the greatest joy of the book is seeing how characters like this became more distinct and assured after playing second fiddle - it’s very much a snapshot of seventies Marvel for good and ill

Also, Hawkeye apparently relaxes to Mantovani which is... not what I was expecting. Funnier than the reggae line in another story here which is one of the weirdest non sequiturs I can remember

[Matt Sautman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Going into this knowing that the bulk of this collection is a Ka-Zar anthology played a major role in my ability to enjoy this volume. The title of this graphic novel should be Bobbi Morse: Mockingbird Origins, as these comics comprise the origins of how Bobbi adopted the Mockingbird persona after serving initially as a SHIELD agent tasked with recruiting Ka-Zar for a mission involving the Man-Thing. As a character, Bobbi is minor across the majority of these stories, but this volume makes for an excellent prequel to West Coast Avengers.

[DOUGLAS J BERRY · Rating 5 out of 5]

A complete collection of every mockingbird appearance ,no matter how brief.

This starts with Barbara Morse being a background character in Ka-zar to gradually getting more to do and better outfits. It does seem realistic that she move up shield ranks slowly.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though a lot of this was dedicated to Ka-Zar, I feel that this was a worth-while volume for those of us interested in Mockingbird's backstory.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much Ka-Zar! Loved the MTU and Hawkeye mini, though.

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice to refresh my memory on Bobbi Morse’s journey from Kazar supporting character to Mrs Hawkeye.

[Claire · Rating 1 out of 5]

Marvel is so weak. They COULD just develop new content for the dozens of diverse, not cishet white men characters that already exist, ooooor they could throw together a terrible collection of old, ugly comics where these characters were first introduced and are barely featured.

Because in a 400-some odd page collection all about Bobbi Morse aka Mockingbird, what I *really* wanted to see is 300+ pages of Ka-Zar, the world’s biggest man child.

Stop giving us the shitty old content!! Give us new content!! This is a horrible excuse for a Mockingbird collection!!!!!