When I last encountered the Hate-Monger it was in the pages of Fantastic Four (#s 21-22). Seemingly, the foe had died but this is comic books and well bad guys don't tend to stay deceased for long. But the Hate-Monger's return wasn't the only thing that perplexed me about this issue.
I bought Nick Fury #10 for a song. Not in great shape, but to pay only $4 for an original 1969 reader's copy with the cover still intact is not a bad deal. Being complete like that, this book shouldn't be missing any pages. Yet my copy started on page 4. There was no splash page, no title, and no credits. Why the book even starts off with Fury beating the crap outta a group of punks for no apparent reason.
Now artist/ writer Jim Steranko was known to be very experimental with his books- especially Nick Fury. So, having the book start in the middle of the action with no warning might have been one of his tests. If so, it failed completely on me because I spent a lot of time trying to find the title page elsewhere in the comic.
(And for those of you saying that this book was an error with pages missing from the print run or that they were torn out- there is no evidence of any ripped pages and the book has a definite ending and the ubiquitous letters page and Stan's Soapbox editorial are both included at the end of this issue. So, there... But if anyone could scan me those missing pages, that'd be sweet!)
Regardless of the strange beginning, this was a fun read. The art was classy and very Steranko. The painted cover is so retro cool! The dialogue was a little cheesy but so were most spy films of the era. Plus, it's a Christmas themed issue, people! That's like printed gold.
Worth Consuming
Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
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