Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Release: January 10, 1967
Cover: March 1967
12 cents
Explosive editing by Stan Lee
Scorching scripting by Roy Thomas
Piping-hot plotting and drawing by Dick Ayers
Inflammable Inking by John Tartaglione
Lukewarm lettering by Sam Rosen
20 pages
| Previous | #661 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| X-Men #30 | Reading order | Fantastic Four #61 |
| Sgt. Fury #39 | Sgt. Fury | Sgt. Fury #41 |
Perhaps it is not I, Sergeant, so much as what I stand for… A France that one day shall be free again!
D-Day is approaching, but the Allies will need the help of the French Resistance, and an important leader has been captured.
His names is Jacques Dernier. The Commandos know him as Frenchie. The editor’s note lets us know we met him in Sgt. Fury #21.
Let’s peek back to that. We do meet two French resistance fighters. And Nick does start calling one of them Frenchie. Their meeting is brief.
However, the names of the two fighters are Armand and Francois. No Jacques. It’s not clear which name is Frenchie’s, and I’m not convinced the names are even used consistently in the issue. But definitely no Jacques.
That this issue brings back an obscure character from a single scene 20 issues back is exactly what I expect from Roy Thomas. But to not get his details right… disappointing.
Their contact in the French resistance is Claire. There’s a good dynamic between Claire and Eric. She hates Germans. “The Germans… All Germans… are my nation’s enemies!”
Understandable, as the Germans are occupying her country. They killed her parents. They hold her friends captive.
He has to convince her not all Germans are bad. “Not all Germans are Nazis,” he claims.
The first country the Nazis invaded was their own.
“How can I prove to them that they must not hate every German?” he wonders.
Fury leads the mission to rescue Frenchie, and find him alone. He claims his companions have already been executed. Adding rather coldly, “Those are the fortunes of war, mon ami!”
Suddenly, Fury strikes Frenchie. It’s because Frenchie knew Eric, when he hadn’t been with them in their last meeting. Fury deduced Frenchie was a spy in disguise.
They get the real Frenchie and his comrades out, blow up the command post, then prepare to return home.
That the spy knew of Eric is of great concern to him. The Nazis know he is now a Commando. He fears this will make his sister in Berlin unsafe.
A welcome surprise awaits the Commandos on their return. Dino’s surgery was a success and he has returned. Not necessarily to rejoin the Commandos just yet. Apparently he is here to make a movie. We’ll see how that plays out next issue.
Jacques “Frenchie” Dernier was played by Bruno Ricci in Captain America: The First Avenger.
Tell It To Fury.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 55/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
Characters:
- Sgt. Nick Fury
- Izzy Cohen
- Rebel Ralston
- Gabe Jones
- Dum Dum Dugan
- Eric Koenig
- Percy Pinkerton
- Captain Happy Sam Sawyer
- Claire
- Nazi disguised as Frenchie
- Jacques Dernier/Frenchie/Armand?/Francois?
- Dino Manelli
Minor characters:
- Otto (German soldier)
- Franz (German soldier)
Story notes:
- Fury leading the Commandos on an intense training run; they are on edge because they don’t know how Dino’s operation turned out.
- D-Day still approaching.
- Leaders of the French Underground had been captured by Nazis, including Jacquees Dernier, “Frenchie”.
- The Commandos will only have two hours after landing in France to rescue Frenchie, the other French resistance leaders, and blow up the command post.
- Claire meets the Howlers on a French beach. Dugan is impressed they sent a girl; proves why the French resistance is working.
- Claire pulls a gun on Eric because he is German.
- Germans killed Claire’s parents and hold Jacques prisoner.
- Frenchie had heard rumors of a new shipment of explosives, and led a mission to sabotage them, but it was a trap. Claire escaped.
- Fury has Claire lead them, but declines more help from the Underground, because he does not want to risk more lives.
- Fury found the compound strangely deserted. Frenchie’s comrades had just been executed. Or so he claims.
- Fury figured out Frenchie was a spy when he knew Eric’s name.
- They give the spy Dum Dum’s shirt, and he is killed by awaiting Germans.
- Frenchie and his comrades had not been executed yet.
- Germans kill Franz, aiming for Cohen.
- While hiding, Dum Dum uses a mirror to help with aim. Why is he carrying the mirror? To look at his mother-in-law without turning into stone.
- The Howlers escape and blow up the command post.
- Glenn Miller reference.
- Claire learns her quarrel is not with all Germans, just Nazis.
- Eric is concerned the spy knew his name, and that his sister in Berlin may be in peril.
- Nick has no siblings.
- The Commandos catch a boat across the channel.
- The Comamndos return to base to find a VIP waiting.
- Dino Manelli has returned. Officially, to make a movie.
| Previous | #661 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| X-Men #30 | Reading order | Fantastic Four #61 |
| Sgt. Fury #39 | Sgt. Fury | Sgt. Fury #41 |
