Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Release: July 8, 1965
Cover: September 1965
12 cents
Story: The greatest, by Stan Lee
Art: The first-ratest, by Dick Ayers
Inking: The ornatest, by Carl Hubbell
Lettering: The straightest, by Art Simek
20 pages
| Previous | #432 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Marvels #2 | PRELUDE | |
| Tales of Suspense #72 | Reading order | Amazing Spider-Man #29 |
| Sgt. Fury #21 | Sgt. Fury | Sgt. Fury #23 |
“Figure it wuz worth it, Sarge?”
“That’s for the history books, soldier!”
This story sets the Howlers on a mission that ties into a famous mission from World War II, Operation: Tidal Wave. This shows us where we are in time. It’s now August 1, 1943. The real-life operation was an ambitious bombing of Nazi oil refineries near Ploiești, Romania, which this comic will spell “Ploesti”.
Sergeants Fury and McGiveney will both be assigned to take their squads to provide preliminary support by destroying Nazi flak guns. McGiveney’s Maulers will be assigned to sabotage the main emplacements, while Fury and his Howlers will be assigned to destroy a train used to deploy mobile flak guns.
Of course, these two squads don’t get along and we’ve never before seen them try to work together. In fact, the story opens with them in a typical brawl, which gets interrupted by Captain Sawyer.
A Sergeant Lee and Corporal Ayers witness the Howlers going off to their mission. Lee decides he’s going to write stories about the Howlers one day and that Ayers can draw them. Indeed, we’ve met this Lee fellow a couple times before. We know he would go on to write the Fantastic Four comics, but would not get an invite to the FF wedding.
Sure enough, the rival squads step on each others’ toes a bit come the mission. The squads run into each other in the dark and mistake each other for the enemy. The confusion created leads to the capture of Fury and McGiveney.
The Nazis are pleased to see how Fury and McGiveney seem to hate each other, and want them to fight for amusement. But even these two rivals know how to work together when it counts. They may actually hate each other, but both know what side of the war they are on, and who the true enemy is.
At some point, Baron Strucker and the Blitzkrieg Squad show up. The issue was already pretty chaotic with the Howlers and the Maulers. Now the Blitzers create a giant free-for-all.
Their mission is successful and Operation Tidal Wave proceeds as history records it.
Izzy notes that the Allies lost 1/3 of their planes and soldiers in the attack. They wonder if the mission was worth it, and Fury says that’s for history to decide.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 51/100
Signifcance: ★★☆☆☆
I read this story in a reprint in Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandoes #124 (1974).
Characters:
- Bull McGiveney
- Sgt. Nick Fury
- Dum Dum Dugan
- Rebel Ralston
- Percy Pinkerton
- Private Gabe Jones
- Private Izzy Cohen
- Dino Manelli
- Captain Sawyer
- Sergeant Stan Lee
- Corporal Dick Ayers
- Baron Strucker
- Siegfried “Siggie”
- Ludwig
- Otto
- Ernst
- The charmer from the Blitz Squad
- The aristocrat from the Blitz Squad
We’ve been trying to work out the names of the Blitz Squad. We get a few clues and will update the chart made in issue 20. Ralston seems to call his rival “Ernst”; we’ll tentatively make that note, as the internet seems to agree. The text is hard to read, but Cohen might call one of them “Red”. Or he might be referring to his teammate, “Reb”. One of them gets called “Fritz”, but the Howlers use the same slang names for lots of Germans. Unfortunately, it seems to be the one in the toque getting called Fritz or Red, and we’ve already seen him referred to as both Ludwig and Otto. So we’ll leave those out for now.
| Attribute | Counterpart | Name | Hat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brawler | Dugan | Siegfried | Bavarian |
| Charmer | Manelli | ? | Ski cap |
| Musician | Jones | Ludvig/Ludwig? Otto? | Helmet? Toque? |
| Mechanic | Cohen | Otto? Ludwig? | Toque? Helmet? |
| Horseman | Ralston | Ernst | Army cap |
| Aristocrat | Pinkerton | ? | Beret |
Story notes:
- Maulers ordered to sabotage flak gun emplacements near Ploesti.
- Aboard a B-24 Liberator bound for Benghazi, Howlers are given their mission to destroy the flak train near Ploesti.
- After taking out the train, the Howlers spot barrage balloons.
- Strucker greatest fencing master to come out of Heidelberg
| Previous | #432 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Marvels #2 | PRELUDE | |
| Tales of Suspense #72 | Reading order | Amazing Spider-Man #29 |
| Sgt. Fury #21 | Sgt. Fury | Sgt. Fury #23 |
Hi Chris, really enjoying following along with your list. I think this is my favorite Sgt. Fury issue so far, as it was tied to a real-world historical event and it gave more nuance and depth to the Howlers-Maulers rivalry.
Great. Thanks for reading along!