Get Fury #5

In the penultimate issue of this 2024-25 miniseries, Frank Castle initiates his rescue of Nick Fury from the confines of the Hanoi Hilton. Meanwhile dirty CIA operatives Steve and Dave convince General Mackie to send out a group of commandos to eliminate Castle and Fury, branding them Communist double agents. 

It's a really powerful chapter, especially when seen through the eyes of Lt. Castle. As much as he needs to free Nick Fury from the notorious North Vietnamese prison, it's killing Frank to have to overlook the hundreds of other American POWS being held under deplorable conditions. 

Man, I just brainstormed  what would be a freaking awesome What If... What if the Punisher existed during the Vietnam War? Have Castle's wife killed while he's in Nam. Have him lose all care and go all Rambo, armed to the teeth, staging a raid on Hóa Lò. Through in a few characters from 1990's The 'Nam series. Have Larry Hama and Garth Ennis pen it together. Give it the Marvel MAX treatment. I would be first in line, pre-ordered for that epic! Think it over CB Cebulski! 

An awesome issue that opens up a multiverse of opportunities.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Get Fury #4

Col. Nick Fury has arrived at the notorious Hanoi Hilton. Lt. Frank Castle has established himself in the capitol city of North Vietnam, posing as a Soviet army advisor. But his Russian is limited and he's leaving a trail behind him everywhere he goes. Thankfully, Castle has found a pair of allies that have a way of getting inside the prison and they both have a history with Nick Fury. That's because one of them is Fury's former lover and the other is Nick's daughter.

Meanwhile, back at base, CIA agents Steve and Dave have uncovered further evidence that Castle and Fury are working together to end the agency's drug trade in Cambodia. Instead of following his orders to execute Nick Fury, it's becoming increasingly clear that Frank is going to rescue the Colonel. This is calling for a Plan B, which will mean the elimination of both Fury and Castle.

The scenes involving Frank Castle were perfect. I wouldn't change a thing; especially the whole added dimension of Nick's daughter being added to the mix. As for the scenes where Dave has figured out that Frank Castle was the last person to select for the Nick Fury mission, I understand the importance of those scenes. I just found that they went too freaking long. This is a 6 issue miniseries. But if Garth Ennis could have made the CIA scenes a little more streamlined, Get Fury could've ended in 4 issues. 5 tops.

I know that nothing that the CIA did in Southeast Asia was anything but concise or ethical. But I still felt like I could have done without a majority of it.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Get Fury #3

So you might be wondering how in the heck is Frank Castle able to operate in downtown Saigon in the middle of daylight. He's over 6 feet tall and whiter than paper. Not exactly the most Asian looking bloke in the heart of Communist Vietnam. He sticks out like a sore thumb.

It turns out that just as the South Vietnamese had American advisors, the North had advisors from the Soviet Union. This was totally new information to me but it makes total sense. So using what little amount of Russian he knows and his amazing array of survival skills, Castle is making do. But he's also leaving a rather long trail of bodies in his wake 

Back at base camp, there's a third party at play that I haven't mentioned in my previous 2 reviews: a pair of dirty CIA operatives named Steve and Dave. They've been involved in the illegal drug trafficking scheme in Cambodia; which is where Fury was captured by North Vietnamese forces. They believe that Col. Fury discovered the illicit trade and was in route to spill the beans on the whole operation. Thus why the push to send Lt. Castle into enemy territory to neutralize the future Director of SHIELD.

However, when a different pair of CIA spooks wind up dead in a locale that neither man would have frequented in a million years, Steve and Dave smell a rat. It turns out that the one guy to send to eliminate Nick Fury was the wrong G.I. to send. Because Fury and Castle have history. It turns out Nick has been using Frank to wipe out the loose threads dangling from the Cambodian drug trade.

Things just got complicated. Why couldn't Garth Ennis have just made this a simple extraction caper? Maybe you can't have the Punisher going after Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD without any sort of permanent repercussions. But did Ennis have to make the reason for Castle not eventually going through with his mission so freaking complex that I feel like I need one of those charts with the red strings going all cattywampus like an obsessed conspiracy theorist might have up in their bedroom??? 

The action parts are fantastic. The introduction of clandestine government programs was muddling at best. Yeah, I know that the CIA did some really unethical and illegal stuff in Southeast Asia during Nam. I have no doubt that they're still doing something in the name of American interests that would result in plausible deniability if the agents running the scams were ever found out in the open.  I just didn't need it's historical insertion into this story.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

Get Fury #2

Along with examining Nick Fury's time in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, Get Fury acts as another chapter in the origin story of Frank Castle, AKA the Punisher. A Marine Lieutenant on his third tour of duty, Castle has seen a lot of horrors and atrocities that have numbed him to the point of doing some very sinister things for the American armed forces. Hence his unquestioning ability to accept a CIA backed mission to infiltrate Hanoi and assassinate Nick Fury before he can be tortured into spilling all of his country's covert secrets.

With his wife, Maria, still alive and waiting for him back home, Frank still has his moral compass. His hands might be dirty. In fact, they're down right bloody. But Castle has yet to have lost his soul.

This issue sees Castle being snuck across enemy lines and taking up a presence in Hanoi. The process of getting the Marine into North Vietnam involves a thrilling dogfight sequence by Jacen Burrows, between an American jet (I'm not an expert but I am assuming that it's a Grumman A-6 Intruder based on looks) and some Communist surface-to-air missiles. I mean I know that Frank wasn't going to die because he's got to survive in order to one day become the Punisher. Yet I was enthralled by that scene. Plus, there's still the fate of the fighter pilot...

Another decent introductory issue that's setting up all the pieces to the chess board. Definitely not a wasted issue. Still pretty heavy on hard swears but it wasn't a chapter devoid of action.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Get Fury #1

When this miniseries was first advertised in Previews, I put it on my wish list. I didn't need to buy the issues new. But I am a big fan of Nick Fury, owning complete runs of many series, titles and one shots involving various incarnations of the character. Considering that Fury fought in World War II and Korea, it's natural to assume that the one-eyed super spy was poking around Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. 

In Get Fury, Nick has been captured by North Vietnamese forces while involved in a clandestine operation in Cambodia. CIA Intel has information that Fury is being transported to the infamous Hanoi Hilton POW prison, where he will be tortured until he reveals every little government secret hidden in the folds of his brain. To prevent sensitive information from getting to the Communists, Lt. Frank Castle, currently on his third tour of duty, has been assigned to enter Hanoi, infiltrate the prison and assassinate Nick Fury before his torturous information sessions can begin.

Get Fury was written by Garth Ennis. Had I known that, I probably would have skipped putting this title on my radar. I'm just not a fan of the North Irish writer. His stories have tons of blood, viscera and the F-word. Plus he's no fan of the American government, or just about any world power, unafraid of upsetting the skeletons in any nation's closet. Ennis is a lot like Tarantino; only without the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia. At least he refused to kill the puppy!

This 2024-25 miniseries marks the long awaited return of the Marvel MAX imprint. In other words, the House of Ideas version of Vertigo. If you ever wanted to see Nick Fury operating outside of the confines of the Comics Code, this is your chance. It's rather unsettling as I prefer the character when presented as a Our Man Flynn type of secret agent with an unlimited budget and madcap imagination. I'm going to trudge through this 6-issue series all the way through to the end. I just don't think that I'm going to like it.

Fantastic cover by Dave Johnson. Love this homage to the first appearance of the Punisher!

Worth Consuming, so far...

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Marvel

Many comic book collectors and fans consider Kingdom Come to be Alex Ross' best work. I like that possible future of the DC Universe. But it's not my favorite of his. I absolutely adore the Alex Ross/Kurt Busiek collaboration from 1994 known simply as Marvels. It follows the span of the Marvel Universe through the eyes of a human newspaper photographer trying to make sense of a world full of superheroes and villains.

So how in the world did I miss Ross' 2020-21 follow up, Marvel? 

Well, for one thing, I'm sure it had something to do with the pandemic. As much 'free time' as I supposedly had as a teacher having to go virtual, I did very little reading. I did even much less comic book shopping. During the pandemic, I had to attend so many useless Zoom meetings that should have been emails because the high ups in my district were terrified of being accused of not doing anything by political detractors. Plus, my anxiety was at such an all-time high, I had trouble focusing on reading. 

But once the pandemic was over and we all started exiting our homes like Punxsutawney Phil looking for his shadow, how did it still take me 4 years to discover this book? A very recent chance trip to Ollie's helped me to find this trade paperback for a very good deal. (If you're in the Durham NC area, there's still a couple dozen volumes of this book if you like to save money like I do.)

Marvel is what Alex Ross originally envisioned Marvels to be. It's an anthology unencumbered by the scope of current Marvel canon. An assortment of creators were to craft stories of their favorite characters in situations as realistic or far fetched as the imagination could reach. No timeline was off limits. Past, present, future or even alternate timeline was a possibility for the tales to be contained. Ultimately, Marvel Comics passed on this project, citing it to be an idea just too lofty for a relative newcomer in the comic book industry to tackle. So Ross put the idea back on the shelf, teamed up with Kurt Busiek and Marvel Comics history was made! (Made ironically by exploring Marvel Comics history.)

Jump forward to the approach of the 25th anniversary of Marvels. The House of Ideas approached Ross for a follow-up to the ground breaking mini. A couple of sequels, including a dark timeline 2-parter had already been done. Ross didn't really want to go back to that storyline. So he pulled deep into his portfolio and dusted off his original plans for Marvels. This time the editors whole-heartedly agreed to the miniseries.

The various stories that make up Marvel is framed with a Doctor Strange epic throughout the 6 issues of the mini. The demon Nightmare has placed the entire Marvel Universe into a deep sleep. His plan is to become the most powerful entity in the universe by drawing upon the hopes, fears and dreams of the heroes, villains and deities of the 616 Universe!

There's a ton of adventures in this book. Too many to give proper attention to. So I'll focus on just a trio of my favs. 

Alan Weiss explores an early adventure of Prince Namor set in the early days of the second World War. He's asked to infiltrate a new underwater mega-structure to determine if its a refuge for the wealthy hoping to avoid the coming global holocaust or is secretly an Axis underwater base. It's a story that shows a much more swashbuckling Sub-Mariner as opposed to the snobbish ruler of Atlantis that we know of today. Very thrilling and completely unexpected.

Speaking of unexpected, in a futuristic story set after 'The War of the Worlds', we see the apocalyptic gladiator games that Killraven was forced to compete in would be like if they were populated by super-heroic survivors of the alien invasion of Earth. I won't spoil the surprise of who makes it to the games. But it's an idea that if Marvel ever decided to expand on, I would making it a part of my pull list in a heartbeat. Featuring dynamic story and artwork by Daniel Acuna.

My choice for third is a tie. That's because we get a pair of stories starring my favorite non-superhero member of the Marvel Universe: Nick Fury. Adam Hughes crafts a Sgt. Fury story set at the very tail end of WW2. Greg Smallwood designed a whirlwind look at the Steranko era of Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD. Both were bookend looks at a fantastic character that to choose one over the other would be like a father picking a favorite child. 

This collection was tons of fun. The unexpected ending was both bizarre and yet perfectly fitting. Marvel might have supposed to have been a celebration of 1994's Marvels but by story's end, it wound up being a love story to Timely, Atlas and Marvel Comics and the influence it has made on American pop culture history!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Rick Mason: The Agent (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

The Marvel graphic novel, Rick Mason: The Agent is Marvel espionage to the finest degree. The 1989 work introduces readers to the international freelance super spy with immediate action and adventure, as well as setting the new character right into Marvel canon through his interactions with several established key Marvel figures. 

Mason uncovers a plot in Hong Kong where super powered criminals are planning a coup to overthrow the ruling British government. His work with MI-6 seemingly completed, Mason is contacted via an early Internet message board to meet with a contact in New York. The operative turns out to be Nick Fury as you've never seen him before. Under a heavy disguise and working off the books from SHIELD, Fury hires Mason to investigate the sudden removal of a Soviet backed junta in the fictional South American nation of Costa Brava by super powered mercenaries .

As much as the United States loves to see the Soviet Union removed from South America, something about the entire coup stinks. For Mason, the whole episode feels too much like what he uncovered in Hong Kong. Eager to get to the bottom of this mystery, Mason accepts the mission. But not before a visit to dear old dad.

Rick Mason's father is revealed to be the master weapons maker to the villainous stars, the Tinkerer. The Tinkerer has heard via his clientele that the Kingpin, Wilson Fisk, is backing the rebellion in return for exclusive access to Costa Brava's burgeoning drug trade. With Kingpin's nearly unlimited funds, the armored leader known only as Black Armor now rules the tiny nation, slaughtering both Soviet loyalists and supporters of the previous ruling parties indiscriminately.

Trading one brutal regime for another, Mason manages to raise up an army in order to defeat Black Armor's forces while simultaneously uncovering a global plot to replace crumbling Soviet backed governments with superhuman dictatorships. The Agent will definitely get his lumps and might get captured a time or two. But if he's smart enough, in true super spy fashion, Rick might even win the girl in the process of making the world 'safe' from tyranny. 

Rick Mason, The Agent was co-created by James Hudnall and John Ridgway. Hudnall wrote the script with Ridgway on art. Color art was provided by Lovern Kindzierski If you ended up becoming a fan of the new character after you completed this book, you're either in luck or in for some disappointment.  According to the Marvel Wiki, the Agent has only made 9 major appearances in the Marvel comic book universe. Most of those are in the pages of Ms. Marvel Volume 2. Mason does have an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and made a cameo in miniseries Deadline. Despite his limited use, Rick Mason managed to make it to the silver screen when he's portrayed by O-T Fagbenle in 2021's Black Widow. Fagbenle were return in an episode of Disney+'s Secret Invasion helping Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury out of a bind.

Worth Consuming!

Rating 8 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #26 (Set in South America) of the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Nick Fury Vs. Fin Fang Foom #1 (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

In 2024, shortly after stepping down as the head writer of Captain America, Marvel Comics announced that J. Michael Straczynski would be crafting an anthology team-up series. There would be no set main character, like with Marvel Two-In-One which saw the Fantastic Four's ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing pairing up with a different character every issue. This twist for the new series would be having 2 changing and unlikely characters interacting with each other. A sneak preview of the first issue showed the cover by Gary Frank depicting Rocket Raccoon dining inside the castle fortress of Doctor Doom!

In December, the idea of a monthly title was scrapped. But instead of Straczynski's hard work being banished to the Marvel vaults, it was decided that a slew of one-and-done specials would be produced. The 'Unlikely Duo One-Shots' would see Spidey taking on not the Sinester Six but a full SIXTEEN, the Voluminous Volstagg assisting Captain America and Ghost Rider offered a chance to be the galactic herald of Galactus. But the book that I absolutely had to have in my collection was the war time meeting of Nick Fury and the alien dragon Fin Fang Foom.

Set in October, 1940, World War II is raging across the globe, but the United States has yet to officially enter the conflict... officially. A few months earlier, Fury and his childhood friend Red Hargrove undertook a clandestine mission to the Netherlands. Now barnstorming throughout Europe in a dilapidated Fokker, Fury is once again recruited by Happy Sam Sawyer to investigate the disappearance of a number of planes owned by an American company in war torn China.

The American company is actually a front for a group of US Army based mercenaries called the Flying Tigers. Planes flying reconnaissance for the Chinese army fighting off the invading Imperial Japanese forces, have disappeared without a trace. Needing fearless pilots with military experience, Fury and Hargrove are perfect to uncover the secret of the missing airplanes. On one such mission, Fury attempts to get a closer look at a mysterious cloud that upon further investigation looks a lot like a dragon. But clouds aren't supposed to be green, have teeth and dive at you from a steep angle at a very high rate of speed!!!

J. Michael Straczynski does a fairly decent job of keeping this story in line with the established Marvel Comics canon. Fury and Hargrove 's first mission for Happy Sam in the Netherlands in Sgt. Fury #7 is referenced several times. Defeated at the hands of American mercenaries, Fin Fang Foom sets his hibernation chamber to reset for reemergence in 1961; the very year the character would make his Marvel debut in the pages of Strange Tales #89. Too bad Straczynski doesn't seem to know American history! The author has the Japanese attacking Pearl Harbor a year too early!

Can somebody say 'No Prize?'  Or is this part of a new timeline some fans are debating that will see the Axis powers somehow winning World War II? What unfolds in Stracynski's remaining one-shots due out this Summer could hold the answer.

Featuring artwork by Elena Casagrande. Cover by Gary Frank.

Completing this review completes Task #13 (A war Comic) of the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #101

If you ever wondered how such a mish-mash of lunatics get paired together to become the Howlers, this is the issue you've been waiting for. If you thought it was all because of selective service randomly drafting recruits for the war effort, I don't think you really understand the Marvel Way of storytelling. Sure, most of these guys got drafted into the Army. A couple volunteered to fight. However, the way the unit came together was a story of fate, heroics and teamwork.

I thought it was a very good story. However, a couple of things seemed a bit far fetched to me. For example, my favorite Howler, Dum Dum Dugan, was a strongman in a European travelling circus when he met Fury and his CO, 'Happy' Sam Sawyer. Because of how well they worked together, Dugan was put in Fury's outfit upon request. Would that sort of placement been allowed back in 1942? I've glossed over how Dugan's trademark bowler isn't GI. But could just anyone say 'that guy has moxie. Enlist him. Then put him in my platoon!' 

While all of the Howlers appear here, in all honesty, this story is more about how the Fury/Dugan team came about. It's also about Nick's good friend Red Hargrove, whose death during the attack on Pearl Harbor inspired Fury to become a commando. 

Reprinting issue #34 of the series, this issue is a bit of a rarity as it's the first half of a 2-parter. Most issues up to this point have been stand alone. With 1 or 2 exceptions. It's possible that we get more of the Howler's origin in the following issue. Hopefully, the origins of Dino, Izzy and especially my next favorite Howler, Gabe, will be presented in the next issue giving those hardworking grunts their just due!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #33

The Howlers find themselves in the balmy Mediterranean. They're assigned to escort a member of the Greek royal family back home in hopes of boosting the war effort against the invading fascist Italian forces.

Issue #33 features a notable guest star: Navy seaman Captain Simon Savage. Although he's still mysteriously referred to just 'The Skipper,' you get the feeling that Marvel has big plans for this character. In just 2 short years, he'll be leading his own squad of grunts. Sure, his spin-off won't last 2 full years. But that's more because of the demise in popularity of war comics and nothing personal against the seasoned helmsman. 

If Savage's solo series is half as exciting as a Howling Commandos issue in which he guest stars, I really wanna get my hands on them on day!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #32

One of my favorite issues of the series thus far. Yes, the Howlers fight Nazis, while strapped to some skis in the Bavarian Alps. But what takes this story to 11 is the main story which sees a Nazi spy infiltrating the Allies' British base and posing as a doctor. This physician hypnotizes the group's lone Jewish commando, Izzy Cohen, turning him into a traitor against the rest of the Howlers.

The irony of a Jew becoming an unwitting weapon of evil of the Nazis isn't lost on me. It's a thrilling story that speaks of the atrocities of the Holocaust without actually mentioning the horrors by name. It was Stan's brilliant way of making readers think without being preached at and dutiful discipline Roy Thomas put this Marvel Way of story writing to masterful use here! But I just got to ask: were Allied military bases just crawling with Nazi saboteurs?

Two issues in a row see Hitler's goons covertly operating within a stone's throw of London. We're 32 issues into the series and I think we've had a least a dozen spies and traitors in our midst. As much as I have praised the stories of this series being original; I mean we had hypnotism and G.I.s on skis in this issue alone. But was it really this bad during World War II to basically have half of all the occupants of your typical European theater military instillation be spies?! 

According to MI5's (British Intelligence Agency) website, 115 Nazi spies were apprehended in The UK alone. Apparently, all of them operated out of the same base as Fury's Able Company...

No wonder it took us over 4 years to win the war against the Germans!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars. 

Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #92

The plans for the Allied invasion of Europe have been finalized. The Howler's C.O., 'Happy' Sam Sawyer, has been kidnapped thanks to a Nazi spy on the base. It's up to Fury and his men to rescue Captain Sawyer before a squadron of allied bombers destroy the instillation in France where the officer is being interrogated. 

It's a thrilling race against time because success of the war effort takes priority over the life of just one man. Even if it's a man as highly regarded as Captain Sam Sawyer.

I knew that Fury and most of the Howlers would survive. Unless Nick, Dum Dum and Gabe are all secretly LMDs in the pages of Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD. However, as other members of the team, as well as other operatives and Allied soldiers have lost their lives in the 30 previous issues, I wasn't sure if Sawyer was going to make it. It gets really hairy there and the tension was so palpable that the last 4 pages felt like I was watching a suspenseful action thriller instead of reading a comic book. Great story telling by Roy Thomas!

Reprinting the main story from Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #31.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #132

Reprinting issue #30.

It's a change of scenery for Nick Fury and the Howlers. Instead of going behind the lines of Nazi Germany, the Howling Commandos are sent to fascist Italy; where they're immediately captured and sent to a POW camp.

Fury's men are immediately hated by the Canadian Air Force captain whose become the de facto leader of the prisoners in the camp. Capt. Andre has been able to forge an uneasy truce with his captors and any slight disruption to the apple cart could cause ripples to that relative calm. As rowdy as Fury and the Howlers get, it turns out that the Sarge's bad boy behavior in captivity is a ruse so that he can meet with the camp's commanding officer who is secretly a member of the Italian resistance against Mussolini. 

Now the mission completely changes. The Howlers are tasked with playing Hogan's Heroes by faking an escape, disguised as Italian soldiers in order to steal a massive shipment of gold in hopes of crippling Benito's war machine.

There's one thing to say about this series: no matter how far fetched and insane the Howler's missions are, they never get old. Like switching over from Germany to Italy. Or staging a robbery of Fascist gold. This story originally came out in 1966, 4 years before that amazing war-comedy starring Clint Eastwood, Kelly's Heroes, did. Since I've now encountered 2 different stories involving American troops stealing enemy gold, I'm wondering if that was something that actually happened during World War II... If so, I'd like to read a book about such heists.

Very interesting and exciting read.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #29

Fury and Baron Von Strucker battle with the fate of of a tiny French village literally in their hands. The Sgt. has the detonator in his mitts while his Nazi foe has the overriding kill switch within his grasp. 

Roy Thomas takes over the writing responsibilities from Stan Lee in this issue and the toe-headed wunderkind does a heck of a job. Artist Dick Ayers does one fine job as well and that thrilling cover by him- Amazing! Why isn't it considered one of the best of the Marvel Age of Comics?!

I had mentioned in my review of the last issue that I was surprised how wavering the Baron was feeling towards the final solution of Hitler. This issue, which may or may not, be the future leader of Hydra's last appearance in the World War II adventures of Nick Fury. If it is, then I have a sufficient explanation as to how Von Strucker becomes such a heartless would-be world leader of the Marvel Universe's most evil organizations!

An underrated classic!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #28

This issue is Stan Lee's swan song as head writer. To close things out, Lee pits Fury against his arch enemy, Baron Von Strucker!

I guess you could argue that Nick Fury's main foe is Adolph Hitler. But Fury does end up taking on Von Strucker as the head of Hydra later on in the 60s. So maybe I should refer to the Baron as Fury's most enduring enemy???

The Fuhrer himself guests in this issue, personally ordering Von Strucker to end the resistance forces in a town in France. The Howler's mission for this issue is to rescue the leaders of the French underground. However, when Fury discovers that the Nazis have rigged the entire town to explode, the Commandos must alter their plans to liberate the entire village!

A good issue that does something very implausible. It shows Von Strucker as not being 100% on board with Hitler's plans of total world dominance. It's that hint of a conscience that seems very out of character for the ruthless ruler of Hydra. Something must have happened between this issue and the swinging 60s to turn the Baron into a heartless terrorist leader.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos #128

In the pages of Essential Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos,Vol. 1, Fury's right hand man, Dum Dum Dugan was injured and sent stateside for rehabilitation. Unknown to the Howlers, Dugan was on his way back to them when his transport vehicle was shot down by the feared Nazi raider, the Sea Shark! Now as the Howlers, with help from the mysterious Navy Captain known only as the Skipper, scour the Atlantic for survivors of the attack, Dum Dum leads his comrades on a desperate mission of survival! That's because the Sea Shark has it in mind to finish off the job of elimination of all evidence of the villain's actions, which are in clear violation of the Geneva Convention!

As much as Stan Lee could milk a dead horse with endless appearances by Doctor Doom in the pages of the Fantastic Four or Magneto giving the X-Men constant fits, the Marvel legend sure could keep things fresh in the pages of Sgt. Fury. Plus Stan the Man wasn't afraid to shake up the Howler's lineup. 

I think being veterans of World War II, Stan and the rest of the bullpen did everything they could within the confines of the Comics Code to make the war in Sgt. Fury as realistic as possible. So they added a few Nazi villains that were colorfully on par with the typical comic book baddie. Based on the fact that this version of the war occurs in a universe filled with superheroes, it makes sense that these Nazis seemed like demonic mad scientists bent on world domination and the spread of evil. ( Man, I'm starting to sound like Stan Lee here...) However, in the pages of Sgt. Fury, good men died, got injured, and bore their scars internally as well as externally.

Look, I am a huge fan of Nick Fury. I love his super spy adventures and I just adore his stint in the United States Army. These issues are some of the best works of the Marvel Age of Comics. Being a war comic, which has a sorta niche following, these books are seriously underrated. I'm glad I got my hands on all of the issues I needed for a full story run before the secret of these gems got out!

Reprinting the main story from Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #26.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #89

Reprinting the main story from Sgt Fury #27, this issue details why Nick Fury wears an eye patch now as an Agent of SHIELD. 

While working incognito in the Bavarian Alps, Fury sustains an eye injury. But rather than let the accident scuttle his important mission, Fury continues on, having to adjust to a lack of depth perception when having to fight his way out of fisticuffs with a squadron of soused Nazis.

The cover is a bit misleading. Yes, the eye injury is why Nick Fury will one day don an eye patch. However, it doesn't cause him to lose his eye yet. The damage is done. However, the medic at the end of this story tells Fury that it will be a few years before he'll no longer be able to see out of his left eye. 

Fury's diminishing eye sight will probably play a part in upcoming issues of Howling Commandos. I await to see just what part it will play. For now, Nick has a pair of eyes, working in a capacity yet to be fully determined. Calling the events in this story the origin of Fury's eye patch is in my opinion a rather loose definition of the word 'origin'. Still, Stan Lee's tale is way better than the genesis of how the Samuel L. Jackson Nick Fury lost his eye.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #25

During another important mission, Nick Fury is separated from the rest of his team. In this midst of everything, Fury's has sustained a head injury. Now as his Howlers search for their missing leader, Fury imagines his allies are the enemy and continues to evade important medical help.

A great psychological thriller by Stan Lee. It ranks up there with the original D.O.A. starring Edmund O'Brien or some of Hitchcock's earliest stuff. Great art by Dick Ayers with a sinister looking cover by the King, Jack Kirby!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #82

Reprinting the Nick Fury story from Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #24, the Howlers earn some furlough time back in the States. While a couple of the team goes off to visit family, incognito Hollywood actor Dino arranges for a special USO style performance for the rest of his compatriots. Of course, it's not all glitz and glamour as Fury runs a foul of a secret Nazi cell operating in the United States. 

Lots of fisticuffs! Some really awesome cameos. Tinsel Town's most famous celebrities including Bob Hope appear. I really liked the reverse secret identity aspect of the story involving Dino Manelli. Enlisted under his birth name, none of the celebrities at the bash know that Dino is actually an Army grunt participating in top secret missions. Dino has used his connections as an actor to throw this private show from the Howlers. However, Dino is in disguise as his dashing leading man self, hosting the fete in a full tuxedo. None of his celebrity peers even suspect that Dino is one Fury's unit. In fact, I thought it rather hilarious when one actor wondered aloud why this handful of guys warranted such a celebration thrown by Dino.

A good story with a refreshing change of pace. I liked the downtime aspects better than the actual meat of the story. I'm just hoping that by going with some reprints in order to chronicle the complete World War II career of the Howling Commandos, I'm not missing anything like pages culled because of bronze age comic book page counts or a secondary feature starring a solo member of Fury's team. 

The things I do to save a buck ..

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars. 

Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #39

Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos ran from 1963-1981 for a grand total of 167 issues. However, if you want to read about every mission Nick Fury and his troops conducted during the Second World War, you only have to purchase about half of those issues! Starting with issue #80, new material alternated every other issue with reprints. The series switched to reprints only with issue #120 after sales reports showed that those 2nd chance stories sold as well as the originals did. Some later issues reprinted material that members of the Howling Commandos interacting with members of the Leathernecks lead by former Naval commander Captain Savage who spun off earlier in the pages of Sgt. Fury. 

The first 23 issues of the series were collected in the pages of Essential Marvel Sgt. Fury, Vol. 1, along with material from the debut annual. While ownership of the black and white omnibus is rather pricey, as the book is out of print, it beats trying to pay thousands of dollars for those first few books. Sgt. Fury #167, the last issue of the series, is like a snake biting its own tale, reprinting issue #1. If you wish to go the color route, there's the premium priced Marvel Masterworks, although the House of Ideas hasn't produced an edition past Volume 4, reprinting issues 33-43, released in 2012.

As for this collector, I bit the bullet on the Essential Marvel collection. Then I found a mix of first run and reprint issues in order to have a copy of each story printed from the original run. Sgt. Fury #39 is a first run issue. It introduces readers to Colonel Fritz Klaue, a Nazi officer with an iron hand- literally. Over the years, his son Ulysses Klaue will grow to become an internal thorn on the side of the nation of Wakanda.

The Howling Commandos are sent behind enemy lines to discover the secret of the Fortress of Fear! G-2 has received word that the Nazis are developing a top secret weapon code-named 'Thunderer.' Once the soldiers learn what the Thunderer is, they are to neutralize it by any means possible. Seeing that the super weapon is a jet propelled plane and the Howling Commandos have no way out of the Bavarian Alps, it looks like the Thunderer is going to be taxing some Americans back into Allied territory!

Written by Roy Thomas and Dick Ayers, who also pencils this issue. Inks by John Tartaglione.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.