Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Release: December 9, 1965
Cover: February 1966
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Dick Ayers
Delineation: John Tartaglione
Lettering: S. Rosen
20 pages
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|---|---|---|
| Amazing Spider-Man #34 | Reading order | X-Men #17 |
| Sgt. Fury #26 | Sgt. Fury | Sgt. Fury #28 |
The guys who give me orders have what it takes! They’re my kinda Joes! I’m proud to salute ’em… to fight with ’em… an’ to die with ’em if I haveta!
This issue promises the origins of Fury’s eypatch. The idea is that he has an eyepatch in his modern 1960s adventures as Colonel Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD, but not in these 1940s adventures as Sgt. Fury of the Howling Commandos. We have seen him fighting in Korea in the 1950s, and he didn’t have an eyepatch then. And we have seen him team up with the Fantastic Four in the 1960s, before the founding of SHIELD. And he didn’t have an eyepatch then either. So presumably this issue will tell us he got it some time in the 1960s. It would seem silly to tell us it happened in the 1940s, so I imagine that’s not what they’re about to do.
The Nazis have a new weapon, a beam of light that takes out planes. The Howlers are sent in. Dum Dum takes it out with a bazooka.
They had taken a German prisoner, but in the confusion he is able to get to a grenade. Fury is able to save the team by getting the grenade away, but he can’t avoid the blast in time, and his eye is wounded. He’ll wear a bandage over his eye for the remainder of the issue.
Hmmm… but see this is what I was concerned about. He shouldn’t have wounded his eye yet, right? And was this a good enough story? It was a heroic moment, but I would have expected maybe a little more to such a momentous reveal, like an alien cat or something. Maybe I’m judging too soon. Let’s finish the issue.
Despite being injured, Fury buys the Howlers time to escape, but ends up staying behind.
Which is good, as he finds Dr. Draus–the inventor of the MacGuffin, learns the secret of the device is only in the scientist’s head, and gets him out of Germany. These scientists should stop keeping their formulas in their heads. It never goes well for them.
This issue is notable for one more reason. Dr. Draus had an orderly named Eric he treated poorly. Nick convinces Eric to defect, and they escape Germany together. We’ll see Eric again.
This is our first time seeing Hermann Goering in our modern reading, but we’d seen him in old 1940s comics we’ve read, starting with Captain America Comics #2.
The ending is pretty good and answers my concerns from above. Stan was tracking the continuity details for once, and knew Fury shouldn’t need an eyepatch yet. His eye will continue to work for a while, but fail over time due to the injury.
And we even get a good story moment about it. Nick’s eye could have been saved by a procedure. But the procedure would have taken him out of the war for too long. He forgoes the procedure so he can return to combat, knowing the decision will eventually cost him his eye.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 54/100
Significance: ★★★★☆
Scans are from a reprint in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #129 (1975).
As we’ve seen before, Marvel needed to delete 2 pages worth of panels to shorten the comic in the reprint from 20 pages to 18.
The final 2 panels of page 2 are removed, and panels from the next pages are shifted forward. And then panels 4-5 of page 3 and panels 1-3 of page 4. At which point, they are back in sync, with one page less.
Then page 10 is removed entirely.
Characters:
- Sgt. Nick Fury
- Corporal Dum Dum Dugan
- Izzy Cohen
- Rebel Ralston
- Pinky Pinkerton
- Dino Manelli
- Gabe Jones
- Hermann “Fatso” Goering
- Dr. August Draus
- Eric
- Captain Sawyer
- Sgt. Bull McGiveney
Story notes:
- Nazis have a beam of light that can destroy planes. Howlers must destroy new weapon. Dum Dum brings a bazooka. Howlers air-dropped into Germany.
- Light makes planes engines conk out.
- Dum Dum takes out light with bazooka
- German prisoner tries to let off grenade. Fury gets it away from Howlers but is caught in blast. His eye wounded.
- Nick sees Goering, Hitler’s second-in-command, in bar.
- Only Dr. Draus knows formula for ray.
- Dr. Draus mistreats his orderly, Eric.
- Fury can understand most German, but not speak it convincingly.
- Fury gives himself away by not standing when they toast Hitler.
- Goering recognizes Fury from Strucker’s files and Hitler’s most-wanted list.
- Fury convinces Eric to defect.
- Draus able to fly a plane.
- They steal Ju-89 to escape.
- Original plan was: Howlers take out the light, McGiveney’s Maulers the factory. But they still need Dr. Draus to keep the next factory from being built.
- Betty Grable reference.
- Fury needed crucial emergency operation to retain eye, but it would have taken him out of action for a year, so Fury rejected it. Without his, his eye will degrade. It may take weeks or decades…
| Previous | #468 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Amazing Spider-Man #34 | Reading order | X-Men #17 |
| Sgt. Fury #26 | Sgt. Fury | Sgt. Fury #28 |
Well that was fun! I didn’t know what the original explanation for Fury’s eyepatch was before now.
I have an unreasonably strong love for Jonathan Hickman’s SHEILD/Secret Warriors series, which makes some good jokes about it before showing a very different explanation. No secret missions for Leonardo da Vinci here!
The Hickman SHIELD stuff was a lot of fun. But not quite in line with 1960s continuity in a couple places.
Wow Just WOW, when I think of the Howling Commandos this is the group I remember, I’m glad they found another life with The Cap, and the Annual with Cap and Bucky teaming up with Fury and Rebel Ransom lives in my heart even after 50+ years, so does a What If issue when WWll was fought in outer space
Glad it brings back memories!