Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandoes
Release: July 2, 1963
Cover: September 1963
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
22 pages
The scans below are taken from a reprint in Special Marvel Edition #5, from 1972.
The goal of this blog is to get at the large meta-story that is the Marvel Universe. What we are mostly reading is a collection of titles that don’t seem to be particularly related except for one piece of glue: the Fantastic Four. At this point, the Fantastic Four have met Spider-Man, Hulk, Namor, and Ant-Man. They have not yet met up with Iron Man or Thor, but we have here a more unlikely connection. The story of how Reed Richards met Sgt. Fury.
Of course, the bonds will be forming even stronger in another comic that premieres this very same day, one which really ties the universe together, just as a rug might do to a room.
The action here begins with Nazi saboteurs trying to sneak onto the coast of England…
Continues as the Commandoes enjoy a relaxing day off in Stratford-on-Avon…
And finally leads us to Italy, where they meet up with an OSS agent and Italian partisans to free a trapped American division behind Massacre Mountain.
The OSS officer of course turns out to be none other than Major Reed Richards. This gives us some more clue to Reed’s age if he’s already a Major by 1943/44. We know he joined the armed forces after graduating college, but may have graduated young and moved through the ranks quickly given that it’s wartime. The point is, this story takes place around 18 years before we meet him as Mr. Fantastic, and he’s already a Major. It’s thus hard to imagine he’s any younger than 41 or so when he gained his powers, and even that is pushing it.
Notably, Stan Lee was 39 and Kirby was 44 when they created the Fantastic Four. Reed was probably supposed to be around their age.
We also meet U.S. war correspondents. Fury has some fine words for them generally, but not the suspicious Hank Smith.
This remains the funniest of the books we are reading.
Gabe refers to Jonah Jones at the Embers. This seems an apocryphal reference for a story set in 1943. The Embers was a New York nightclub which opened in 1951, and famous jazz trumpeter Jonah Jones played there in the 1950s and 1960s.
The comic ends with a World War II shopping list.
Rating: ★★★½, 62/100
Significance: ★★★★☆
I read this story in Sgt. Fury Epic Collection vol. 1: The Howling Commandoes. You can also find it in Marvel Masterworks: Sgt. Fury vol. 1. Or on Kindle.
Characters:
- Sgt. Nick Fury
- Cpl. Dum-Dum Dugan
- Dino Manelli
- “Rebel” Ralston
- Izzy Cohen
- “Junior” Juniper
- Gabriel Jones
- Capt. “Happy Sam” Sawyer
- Major Richards
- Hans Schmidt/Hank Smith
- General Curtis
Minor characters:
- Ben (runs the guard house)
Story notes:
- German language phrases: “mach schnell”, “kamerad”, and generally spelling english words with a ‘w’ using a ‘v’ instead.
- Prisoners sent to G-2 (US military intelligence staff) for questioning
- Dugan again complains about wife
- Team relaxes in Stratford-on-Avon; drink at “The King’s Whistle”; get into brawl; end up in guard house.
- Scene set in Mediterranean on P.T. (Patrol Torpedo) boat off coast of Italy, trying to run Nazi blockade.
- OSS — Office of Strategic Services, America’s counter-espionage service
- Division trapped behind Massacre Mountain; Reed has found an escape route, and the Howlers must get them that info.
- General Curtis head of trapped division; will recognize the code words: “Tunnel of Caesar”.
- Dino speaks Italian.
- Two US correspondents join group– Hank Smith of New York Globe turns out to be Hans Schmidt, a spy.
- A tunnel is cleared by the bust of Caesar to clear the trapped division.
- US forces reached Italy on July 10, 1943. D-Day was June 6 1944. This story should be set somewhere between those dates.
#96 story in reading order
Next: Journey Into Mystery #96
Previous: Fantastic Four Annual 1, Story B
