braino-saur – Coke & Comics

Strange Tales #140

The End of Hydra!

Featuring: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD
Release: October 12, 1965
Cover: January 1966
12 pages
Senses-shattering story by: Stan Lee
Power-packed presentation by: Jack Kirby
Drama-drenched drawing by: Don Heck
Dreamy-designed delineation by: Joe Sinnott
Booboo-bulging balloons by: Sam Rosen
12 pages

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Mankind cannot live in fear of Hydra! In the name of SHIELD… in the name of universal freedom… I cannot fail!

Kirby. Heck. Sinnott. That’s a lot of artists to draw 12 pages of comic. (A heck of a lot.)

“Booboo-bulging balloons” took a bit of deciphering. I think Stan’s claiming the letterer makes a lot of mistakes. The word balloons are bulging fit to burst with mistakes.

Hydra could have served as a looming background threat for some time to come. But they decided it was time to settle it up. This is part 6 of the “Hydra Saga”. SHIELD agents are swarming Hydra’s headquarters for the final battle.

Strange Tales #139

The Brave Die Hard!

Featuring: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD
Release: September 9, 1965
Cover: December 1965
12 cents
Sensationally written by: Stan Lee
Spectacularly laid-out by: Jack Kirby
Superbly illustrated by: Joe Sinnott
Silently lettered by: Artie Simek
12 pages

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Strange Tales #138, Story B	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #139, Story B

You know that no insurance company would give a policy to a SHIELD man! There’s only one thing we won’t die of– and that’s old age!

I think you can tell at a glance my copy of this comic has seen better days.

The cover’s an interesting gimmick. It’s mostly just the first page of the issue, but then it has Dr. Strange holding the page. The caption tells us, “Amost everybody reads SHIELD!”

The Dr. Strange figure is drawn by Marie Severin, sister of John Severin, who drew the last couple issues of SHIELD. She’s been doing staff work at Marvel, but will soon enough be chosen to draw Dr. Strange herself.

You kind of get the sense that they didn’t have a cover at all, and this got thrown together by staff. But they get a nice test run for Ms. Severin on the Doctor.

The story opens with Nick Fury in outer space being pursued by…err… that… thing.

Ah, he’s being subjected to some virtual reality thing designed to pry from his mind the secrets of Stark’s new weapon, the, err, braino-saur.

Strange Tales #138

Sometime the Good Guys Lose!

Featuring: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD
Release: August 10, 1965
Cover: November 1965
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee, sultan of script!
Laid out by: Jack Kirby, master of melodrama!
Drawn by: Johnny Severin, archduke of art!
Lettered by: S. Rosen, prince of penmanship!
12 pages

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Strange Tales #137, Story B	Reading order	Strange Tales #138, Story B
Strange Tales #137, Story B	Strange Tales	Strange Tales #138, Story B

And knock off that “Colonel” jazz, Mister! I keep thinkin’ ya mean someone else!

Nick Fury gets the cover again, even though the Dr. Strange story is one of the single greatest issues of all time.

Last issue, we watched three SHIELD agents sacrifice their lives in an attempt to find Hydra’s Betatron Bomb. Nick reflects on that as he realizes they are just moments too late to prevent the launch. And Hydra can now hold the world hostage.

Even Hydra has an org chart in every presentation.

Tony Stark has a secret invention which can help, but before he shows it to Fury, Hydra attacks the Stark plant. Tony is able to save himself, but not Fury, who is captured by Hydra.