Nick Fury from the Beginning (reviews by shaxper)

[dan bailey]

Wow. Nice bashing of both Reagan & Bush in the space of less than a page. Well done.

Given the right circumstances, I'll be happy to make those look like haikus of praise.

[Jolly Mon]

Given the right circumstances, I'll be happy to make those look like haikus of praise.

Well don't let me stop you. After all, who doesn't love a good haiku?

[dan bailey]

Which is why I just will never get the Dixie flag. I hope I don't rouse the ire of the fellow poster and proud son of the South whose thinking I so respect, but man, I will never figure that out.

Here's what I wrote on that subject in an exchange in the "Meanwhile ..." thread with Confessor back in early October --

i'm not exactly a stranger to the concept of Confederate heritage, as it were, & find nothing inherently offensive about the so-called Rebel flag or, for the most part, the history it represents. (That is, the history of Bull Run, Chickamauga, Antietam, Shiloh, Gettysburg, etc., & most assuredly not the attempted perpetuation of the horrid institution of slavery ... though, again, delineating between the two isn't easily done.)

Certainly if I were black, though, & maybe if I were a Yankee, I can easily imagine feeling very differently, so I personally take no umbrage when people express negativity toward the idea.

It's unfortunate that things have reached the point where seeing a Confederate flag on a bumper sticker or the window of a pickup truck or in someone's yard makes me automatically think either "redneck" or "racist" (to the extent that those labels aren't mutually inclusive, anyway), but that predilection dates from decades ago.

Anyway, sensibilities being what they are (again, very understandably so), I'll go out on a limb & say the Southern states that fought tooth & nail to keep elements of the Confederate battle emblem in their state flags were being criminally insensitive at best & downright backwards & stupid to a stereotype-corroborating degree at worst. Actually, strike that -- genuine racism is a possible option, too, & god knows that would be worse.

Of course, part of it, & other of the more truculent aspects of Southern regionalism, is motivated by a resentment toward outside opprobrium. I can criticize stereotypically ignorant, drawling, stupid, probably toothless crackers at any opportunity I choose (i.e. pretty much any time I turn on the sports talk show out of Birmingham when I'm driving home from work), but Yankees best not do so.

[berk]

You can't stand Southern accents? (Mine supposedly isn't at all pronounced; I've had people peg me from the way I talk as being from Connecticut or somedamnedwhere, or even New Zealand, but that was back in grad school. For all I know, of course, my fellow Alabama transplant MWGallaher sounds like Foghorn Leghorn.)

I used to think I disliked Southern US accents, until I actually heard one in real life and thought it sounded pretty nice. So now what I think I didn't like was the stagey, Hollywood version of it that you hear on tv and in the movies (and BTW, why is it on tv but in the movies?).

Haven't heard much about that Super movie, maybe I'll give it a shot. Kick-Ass I haven't read or seen, but a friend of mine told me the movie is a good laugh so I might have a look one of these days. Like many of the best-known comics writers of the present time Millar does come across as a self-satisfied arsehole in the press, but I haven't read enough of his stuff to have a strong opinion on his writing. Nothing he's done has caught my interest much so far.

[dan bailey]

I used to think I disliked Southern US accents, until I actually heard one in real life and thought it sounded pretty nice. So now what I think I didn't like was the stagey, Hollywood version of it that you hear on tv and in the movies (and BTW, why is it on tv but in the movies?).

Some of 'em drive me up the wall, if the truth be told, real-life examples as well as Hollywood versions. My own accent, as I noted, supposedly isn't at all representative, but god only knows what 10 1/2 years in the middle of Alabama have done to my speech. (Where I grew up is actually about 40 miles from the Texas state line, where I suppose theoretically the South ends & the West begins, but denizens of that part of the Lone Star State pretty much sound like extras from Deliverance, anyway, especially when proximity to Louisiana -- the border of which is some 20 miles south of my hometown -- is figured into the equation.) Kurt & Rob could speak to that; these days, I probably sound like I was raised on grits, sorghum & deep=fried grease, with a side helping of backyard dirt.

To be honest, while prince hal called me a "true son of the South" above, I'm really a pretty sorry example of a native -- vegetarian for large swathes of years, never fired or even held a (non-BB) gun in my life, not much use for football, atheist/agnostic, politically somewhere to the left of Trotsky, etc. etc. etc.

Like many of the best-known comics writers of the present time Millar does come across as a self-satisfied arsehole in the press,

It definitely seems to be a common tendency (Grant Morrison & Brian Michael Bendis, come on down!), but in my eyes Millar puts the others in the shade in that unfortuante regard.

but I haven't read enough of his stuff to have a strong opinion on his writing. Nothing he's done has caught my interest much so far.

I quite liked his launching of the "Marvel Zombies" concept in Ultimate FF (shock horror! yes, I did read the series for a year or so!) a few years back, but then Marvel of course had to drive it into the ground, & then into the earth's mantle, & finally into the damned core of the planet.

[berk]

It definitely seems to be a common tendency (Grant Morrison & Brian Michael Bendis, come on down!), but in my eyes Millar puts the others in the shade in that unfortuante regard.

Morrison's an exception for me. I usually enjoy his interviews, or used to at least, and enjoy his enthusiasm and thoughtful analysis of various characters.

For the others, I don't think they're bad guys, necessarily, but somehow they all seem to think it's cool to express a sort of casual contempt for their medium and their audience from time to time. I can think of a few possible reasons behind it, not all of them conscious on their part, perhaps. Could be partly an understandable defence mechanism against the virulent criticism and complaining they're exposed to on the internet, for example. And there's a lot of posturing, trying to sound like they're in the big leagues - which in their minds seems to be the movies - it's interesting how they try to emulate the lingo "pitching" story ideas, and so on - and the flip side of that is a hint of embarrassment that they're writing comics about Superman. And I think it might reflect in part the style of humour in American entertainment that's been prevalent the last couple decades or more - a sort of sneering, ironic stance that looks down on its targets with contempt (that word again) - so there could be a generational factor for geezers like us. Sometimes I get the impression some of these guys think they're just doing the same kind of humorous self-promotion Stan Lee used to do and have no idea how obnoxious they're coming across.

[shaxper]

Note: at this point in the reviews, the Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. feature begins running in Strange Tales. While I, myself, have argued that reading the second Dr. Strange feature along with it is integral to fully enjoying both features since they were written in parallel and, I would argue, to balance out each other's tones, I will only be reviewing the Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. feature because it is the only portion that is directly relevant to this reviews thread.

Strange Tales #135

"The Man for the Job"
writer: Stan Lee
pencils: Jack Kirby
inks: Dick Ayers
letters: Artie Simek

grade: A


Two things are clear at this point in the history of The Howling Commandos:

1. Stan Lee was getting very excited about this universe of superheroes he was building and desperately wanted to incorporate the Howling Commandos into it.
2. Fans wanted the Howling Commandos to remain grounded in historic fiction and apart from the emerging Marvel Universe.

And so we have our solution -- present day Nick Fury engaged in a new kind of war, facing the same kind of antagonist the Howlers did, but in a world open to sci fi imaginative fancy and free to comfortably cross over with superheroes without the connection seeming like a stretch (and, in fact, Tony Stark is featured prominently in this story, teasing us with the idea that we might eventually see Iron Man in these pages -- though we won't). After all, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mission was far more dire and significant than anything most superheroes were engaged in at the time.

It's a perfect marriage, really -- the low brow, grounded Nick Fury in a glamorous, high tech James Bond world. There's tons of comedy in the mismatch, though (fortunately) Stan and Jack keep it subtle and implied rather than outright stated. However, they're also careful to show that an experienced and hardened ex-non com soldier is far more ideal for such a desperate mission than a pretty boy like James Bond would be. They also play up the importance of his having to lead and depend upon others, just like a non com, rather than going it on one's own and expecting to be successful in that method.

I find HYDRA to be a fascinating choice for a villain. Yes, it's a great concept for an evil organization, and yes it's a logical extension of Hitler and the Third Reich (those connections are shown more clearly as the series progresses), but it's also interesting to me that Stan and Jack would take a war hero from the 1940s, and place him in modern day to fight a fictitious evil empire rather than going with the obvious choice of the Soviet Union, the empire that Americans perceived as being an evil threat to our world at the time. Perhaps there's a subtle commentary in that decision. Clearly, Stan and Jack didn't perceive the Red Scare as being the same level of threat (or at least not the same clearly defined good vs. evil struggle) that Nazi Germany had been.

So let's talk about this Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-Enforcement Division. Yeah, comics were full of those terrible Man From U.N.C.L.E. inspired acronyms at the time (remember T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and U.N.D.E.R.S.E.A. Agent?), but what does "Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-Enforcement Division" really mean? I mean, if SHIELD is just a division of the Supreme Headquarters, than what IS the Supreme Headquarters? We never ever hear about it, and the agent initially helping Fury in this issue even says, "I serve the American division of a secret international organization whose code name is...SHIELD!" clearly indicating that SHIELD is its own organization with its own divisions. Essentially, wouldn't SHIELD be more accurately called IEL?

There really isn't too much to discuss about this first story in its own right since it's really just an introduction to the entire premise. I will say, though, that while the Steranko era is better remembered because of its amazing art, this was always the very best SHIELD era in my opinion, both for the fantastic sweeping story arc and for Kirby's art which, while not on Steranko's level, is pretty sweet here, especially when we get our first look at the SHIELD Heli-Carrier.

In the end, I suppose Stan Lee's intention of bringing the Howlers into the Marvel Universe didn't really work. It captures the basic idea of Nick Fury as leading commander against an evil organization bent on world conquest, but virtually everything else has changed -- and for the better. The comedy is more subtle, the imagination richer and more rewarding, the concept isn't restrained by factual history (which Lee largely ignored previously anyway), and I absolutely love the idea of a sweeping story arc with HYDRA as the villain rather than self-contained stories about individual battles. All that remains to be seen is whether Nick will gain a band of compatriots as fun as The Howlers could be, and if this series will make it its mission to break new ground and advocate controversial ideas about tolerance and brotherhood the way the Howling Commandos have.


Minor details:

- I'm assuming Tony Stark didn't have to submit to the "most thorough electro-chemical analyzer known to man when coming aboard the Heli-Carrier. Otherwise, they'd probably want to know what's up with the thing on his chest.

- Wow. HYDRA can repeatedly compromise an organization as well put together as SHIELD, learning that Fury will be their new commander before even he knows and planting a bomb under his interview chair. I have to believe much of this was Jack's idea since Lee's best solo effort to create antagonists for Nick Fury to date has been the Blitzkrieg Squad of Baron Strucker.


I'm incredibly excited to read these again. It had always been my assumption that the SHIELD stories came along later on since they're so much better than the Sgt. Fury stories (sorry if I offended anyone with that opinion), but I think it might just be the difference of having Kirby aboard as co-plotter. I hear the Sgt. Fury stories get better around issue #40, but it's going to be hard to return to them in the meanwhile while constantly comparing them to the SHIELD stories.
-

[shaxper]

[i]While I, myself, have argued that reading the second Dr. Strange feature along with it is integral to fully enjoying both features since they were written in parallel and, I would argue, to balance out each other's tones,

Thought I'd explain this a little further and, at the same time, encourage anyone who wants to keep pace with these reviews to ABSOLUTELY read the Dr. Strange feature even while I'm not reviewing it. It's the best Dr. Strange stuff ever written, but even more than that, it enhances the SHIELD stories in contrast.

Allow me to quote myself from a long while back:

When Doctor Strange first began as a backup feature in Strange Tales, the title was utterly direction-less. The Human Torch, which had recently become the magazine's primary feature, had little to do with either the magazine's title or Doctor Strange. They were two seemingly unrelated features thrown together into one arbitrary magazine, and reading the two, back to back each month, was jarring. They had entirely unrelated moods, themes, concepts, and characterizations. Looking at Doctor Strange's first twenty four appearances, all paired with The Human Torch, the original context of the magazine seems entirely irrelevant and unimportant for this reprint edition.

However, a fundamental shift occurred with Strange Tales #135. Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. replaced the Human Torch as the magazine's primary feature. At first glance, this ongoing feature seemed just as jarring and unrelated to Doctor Strange as its predecessor, but there was a subtle genius at play with the pairing of these two features. To begin with, both features explored the opposite ends of the spectrum of "Strange Tales." Doctor Strange dealt with strange tales of the dark occult while S.H.I.E.L.D. dealt with the strange tales of bright science fiction adventure. The living embodiment of Eternity regulating the use of magic in the cosmos and a super secret department of psychics listening in on the world for signs of danger -- both concepts landed firmly in the realms of the "strange," but in entirely different ways, and both were mere samples of the strangeness contained within the worlds of Nick Fury and Stephen Strange.

More importantly, though, the two titles truly worked with and supported one another. Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. was a bright feature about unmitigated success. It was never a question of whether Fury and the crew would win the day, but more an issue of the level of excitement and flare they would bring to the fight. Fury always came out on top, aided with his indomitable will, his teammates' unwavering loyalty, and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s unlimited imagination and resources.

Doctor Strange, in contrast, was a dark feature about persistent loss and humility. Strange was a mere mortal dabbling with cosmic entities he could barely comprehend while his aged and deteriorating mentor was often too weak to be anything more than a liability. At best, the good doctor could only hope to stave off an inter-dimensional warlord for a short time or trade one cosmic threat for another. There were few true victories, instead leaving our hero to struggle for the luck and will to endure, keeping the Earth safe for another day.

This was dark, bold material for comics of the late 1960s, and as fresh and dramatically rich as it was, it was difficult to stomach on its own, just as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s bright and shiny victories began to feel flat and simplistic when read by themselves. However, when read together, the two features balanced each other out immensely, offering relief from one another and also enhancing each other in contrast. Doctor Strange felt darker and more powerful in contrast to the simplicity of S.H.I.E.L.D., which felt more wondrous and generously optimistic in contrast to the downbeat humility of Doctor Strange. I don't believe this was an accident either. Stan Lee was writing and co-plotting both features at the time, and even had the first major story arc for both features run concurrently, both culminating in issue #141. Clearly, he was attempting to create a relationship between the two features on some level, and I think that relationship was a source of great strength for both features. To read the Doctor Strange issues alone, without the contrast that the S.H.I.E.L.D. installments offered, weakens the impact of the title and even goes so far as to make it feel tedious after a while.

[shaxper]

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #21

"To Free a Hostage"
writer: Stan Lee
pencils: Dick Ayers
inks: Carl Hubbell
letters: Artie Simek

grade: D+

Reading Agent of SHIELD again has really spoiled me. In contrast, this next installment in the Sgt Fury title feels disappointingly generic: a ludicrous mission, the same wisecracks each time (though Dum Dum neglected to mention his wife this time around), a moment where the astonished Nazis comment on how they outnumber the Howling Commandos and yet they are winning, etc. etc. etc. For a comic that, at various times, has taken an active interest in communicating bold messages about tolerance as well as depicting the true horrors of war, things are starting to feel awfully vanilla. I at least enjoyed beginning the story with Izzy's anguish and guilt as he believes for a moment that he's killed the Howlers (nice start to any issue of a comic), but this all gets lost after only a page, and the generic plot proceeds in its place.

Really, where's the reward in reading this book, month after month? It seems like you should buy one really good issue and just keep reading it again. Of course, that's not fair. There were plenty of stronger issues in the beginning, but things are wearing thin. Maybe it's time for old Stan to step aside and let someone else take the helm?


minor details:

- The Howlers' ideal time off from duty involves getting into one bar fight, tiring of it, and then wanting to go back on a mission. Okay, that was cute.

- Some of Stan's playful/sarcastic narration around this point in the story was amusing as well.

- Bull McGiveny -- why? Stan has been forcing this would-be rival to Fury down our throats for months now, and it just isn't working.

- More weird use of red saturation by the colorist in this issue, especially the random German officer on page 6 and the even more random leg in the foreground on page 14.

- Let's be clear: The Howlers raided a prison camp to free ONE girl and left the rest to fend for themselves. They couldn't fit one more person in the car? How many prisoners ended up being killed for this escape attempt? Pretty damn short-sighted victory by my count.

- I liked the fact that Fury bothered to acknowledge that he knew what it felt like to lose someone upon learning that the girl's mother has died (see, there's your extra car space). That was pretty much the only moment of the story that didn't feel canned/generic.

- What a weirdly paced story. So much of the action is in trying to get the girl home, but Fury and the gang have been stranded behind enemy lines tons of times in the past. This is hardly suspenseful and merely feels like a desperate ploy to stretch out the story, even while the ending gets rushed as a result. The scientist learns his wife has died and gets over it all in the same panel on the final page.

- The Nazis couldn't figure out by Fury's broadcast that they'd be looking for a pick-up along the English Channel?


Plot summary in one sentence: The Howlers go on a mission to free a top Allied scientist's wife and daughter from a Nazi prison camp, they get the daughter (the mother had already died), but get stuck behind enemy lines when their methods of escape keep getting thwarted, so they struggle on and eventually get a radio message through to HQ, allowing them to be picked up by boat and taken back to England.


So not a thrilling story by any means. And yet, judging by T-shirt sales, an upcoming annual, and Fury's presence in Strange Tales now, it seems as though this book was selling pretty well at the time. I guess that doesn't provide them with much of a reason to shake things up anytime soon.

[shaxper]

Strange Tales #136

"Find Fury or Die!"
writer: Stan Lee
layouts: Jack Kirby
finishing: John Severin (first work on a Marvel comic since the Golden Age)
letters: Artie Simek

grade: B


Once again, the struggle we saw between Stan and Jack in driving the Sgt. Fury title rears its head. While full of outlandishly imaginative spy stuff and some gorgeous visuals (particularly at the beginning), this is a generally silly story with lots of suspension of disbelief required in order to follow it, especially when an entire platoon of HYDRA soldiers are out on the streets of Manhattan in broad daylight, and yet no cops or National Guard forces show up to do anything about it. Clearly, Kirby just wanted to have fun with this one, just as he often wanted to do with Fury and the Howlers.

And this issue certainly was fun, especially with the outlandishly booby-trapped barber shop Fury uses to throw off his pursuers, which takes up the bulk of the story.


minor details:

-Section W is mentioned for the first time as having created a weapon that hypnotizes others. I assume this is SHIELD's experimental weapons division.

-This issue features the first appearance of "Slim" and two other unnamed SHIELD agents who assist Fury in the barbershop. While they play the roles of co-stars in this issue, I don't believe we'll ever see them again. Maybe that's the point -- every SHIELD agent is a hero worthy of having his/her own story told. Or maybe Stan or Jack just decided they didn't like them enough to keep using them.

- I don't think we ever learn where HYDRA keeps finding its inexhaustable supply of middle managers clambering to step in as soon as their previous superior is murdered for failing once. I wonder if that aspect of Darth Vader was borrowed from this book, or if the arch villain who kills subordinates who fail was already an established arch type prior to this story.


Plot synopsis in one long sentence: Fury is followed by HYDRA agents, he goes into a booby trapped barbershop where three other agents help him take down his pursuers, he uses an experimental weapon to convince the pursuers that SHIELD headquarters is in a nearby booby trapped warehouse, the HYDRA platoon goes in and is captured, and the HYDRA commander responsible for organizing this mission is killed for his failure, with a new agent rising to take his place.

[prince hal]

- I don't think we ever learn where HYDRA keeps finding its inexhaustable supply of middle managers clambering to step in as soon as their previous superior is murdered for failing once. I wonder if that aspect of Darth Vader was borrowed from this book, or if the arch villain who kills subordinates who fail was already an established arch type prior to this story.

Or how their equally inexhaustible supply of underlings are paid. Do they get a check every Friday made out by HYDRA, or some dummy company? Why are they so damn loyal?

[shaxper]

Or how their equally inexhaustible supply of underlings are paid. Do they get a check every Friday made out by HYDRA, or some dummy company? Why are they so damn loyal?

I suppose they have nations and businesses offering charitable contributions to assist in the downfall of the US and Europe. In the sales pitch, they probably just omitted the portion about taking over the world. We also know they had ties to major international businesses, if I recall correctly. I think that was revealed somewhere between #140 and #142.

The loyalty bit confuses me too. How can you be psyched to step up when the guy who had the position before you is being murdered right in front of you for failing only once in a career of otherwise brilliant successes? Maybe the money and the power are enough for these people.

[dan bailey]

If memory serves, Bob, the Hydra agent from Deadpool a few years ago (before Marvel, as is its wont, ran the franchise into the ground a la Wolverine or Spider-Man), stayed with the organization because of the health coverage.

[shaxper]

Sgt. Fury And His Howling Commandos Annual #1

This issue includes two reprints ("Lord Ha-Ha's Last Laugh!" and "At the Mercy of Baron Strucker!") as well as supplemental features providing the names and faces of all the major characters and supporting cast and giving a basic look at Able Company's HQ and armament setup at the white cliffs of Dover. It also contains the following original story:

"Commission in Korea!"
writer: Stan Lee
pencils: Dick Ayers
inks: Frankie Ray
letters: Artie Simek

grade: C+

As Tolworthy has repeatedly pointed out, this is the story that killed most of the potential the Sgt Fury series had. Whereas the unexpected deaths of first Junior and more recently Pam Hawley had shaken readers to their cores and proven that anything can happen in war, this story, set a full decade after the present day of the regular Sgt. Fury series, took away all of that dramatic uncertainty by showing all of the Howlers alive and well in the future. Not only, then, could no one die; no one new could be added to the cast either. Heck, everyone's still even wearing the same haircuts, though (thankfully) they all look slightly older (most noticeably Happy Sam).

Here's what we learn about the future of the Howlers:

- They all left the military after WWII
- Sam was promoted to Colonel
- Nick is promoted to Lieutenant at the end of the story (this aligns nicely with FF #21, which established that Nick remained a sergeant through the end of the war but had been promoted to colonel by 1964)
- Dino, Gabe, Reb, Izzy, Percy, Dum-Dum, and Nick are all alive and well and have all reenlisted because of the Korean War.
- Captain Savage (still unnamed, as this is only his third cameo appearance at this point) is still alive and has reenlisted as well.


The story, itself, is pretty forgettable until the end. Stan clearly sees the North Koreans as yet another totally black and white set of evil villains for violating international law and crossing the 38th parallel, thereby putting Fury and crew in the right for doing whatever is necessary to take them down. As a result, the North Koreans are handled with the same joking disrespect as Stan and Dick always gave to the Nazis -- bumbling, cowardly, awed by what real heroes could do.

the plot synopsis: The Howlers have reenlisted and are reassembled, they are ordered to sneak onto an illegal North Korean air base at the 38th parallel and blow it up, Happy Sam comes along and is surprisingly willing to hang back and lend command to Fury after having a bullet graze his shoulder, the Howlers win the day, and it turns out that Sam was hanging back in order to give Fury a chance to prove his leadership so that Sam could promote him to Lieutenant.


A pretty forgettable story that, in terms of continuity, did far more harm than Stan could have possibly imagined at the time. Still, it was fun as always, watching Sam try to take down an entire Korean horde on his own while cornered was pretty cool, and the promotion at the end was kind of fun to see.

[shaxper]

If memory serves, Bob, the Hydra agent from Deadpool a few years ago (before Marvel, as is its wont, ran the franchise into the ground a la Wolverine or Spider-Man), stayed with the organization because of the health coverage.

I Love it!