eric koenig – Coke ⊕ Comics

Sgt. Fury #37

In the Desert… To Die!

Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Release: October 11, 1966
Cover: December 1966
12 cents
Editor: Smilin’ Stan Lee
Scripter: Rascally Roy Thomas
Artist: Darlin’ Dick Ayers
Inker: Jivey John Tartaglione
Letterer: Sandy Sammy Rosen
Technical advisor in charge of parachuting: Jovial Johnny Hayes, ex-para-trooper, Marvel’s swingin’ circulation manager.
20 pages

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X-Men #27	Reading order	Amazing Spider-Man #44
Sgt. Fury #36	Sgt. Fury	Sgt. Fury #38

Now, like the blamed fly-boys always say… Geronimo!

A credit to Johnny Hayes, a name we don’t see often. We did recently see his name because a Bullpen Bulletin made it a point to name some of the behind the scenes staff. Here he gets credit for offering some consulting based on his days parachuting in the military.

I’m going to say that Thomas is really finding his footing on this title. Under Kirby this had been one of Marvel’s best comics, but it fell quickly to mediocrity when he left, with thin cookie cutter plots.

Stan Lee had remained the writer, but in practice as he was “writing” 20 titles every month, most of the storytelling was left to Ayers, who wasn’t up to it. We’re 9 issues into Thomas’ run, who likely is providing more plotting and scripting guidance to Ayers. Thomas had a slow start, but more and more, the comic feels like somebody is writing it.

Sgt. Fury #36

My Brother, My Enemy!

Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Release: September 8, 1966
Cover: November 1966
12 cents
Block-buster editing by Stan Lee
Bullet-scarred script by Roy Thomas
Battle-ready art by Dick Ayers
Bomb-happy inking by John Tartaglione
Ballpoint-pen lettering by Sam Rosen
20 pages

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Captain Atom #83, Story B	INTERLUDE
Daredevil #23	Reading order	Fantastic Four #57
Sgt. Fury #35	Sgt. Fury	Sgt. Fury #37

A traitor? Nein, I think not! If there be any traitor to the Fatherland, it is rather those who would lead it to the brink of disaster for the sake of their own personal glory!

The stories from this title had fallen into a pattern. The premise was always location-based. The Howlers had some mission in a new location. They completed it and went home.

Since taking over, Thomas has been trying to tell actual stories and have character arcs.

This issue is location-based. The Howlers go to the neutral territory of Switzerland, breaking any number of laws and treaties.

But there’s a premise and a larger character arc as well.

We met Eric in Sgt. Fury #27, when he defected from the Germans and came to Britain. But last issue it was decided Eric (whose last name we learned was Koenig) should join the Howlers, since Manelli was injured and recovering back in the States. This is his first mission with the Howlers.

So Thomas writes about a couple things pertaining to that, ideas that are more than “the Howlers have a mission and succeed”. The first is that he’s eager to prove himself, sometimes too eager and to everyone’s detriment.

I must prove myself… show the Commandos I am as good as any of them! I must! For, only thus will I ever be certain that they look on me as a man… not as an ex-Nazi!

Sgt. Fury #35

Berlin Breakout!

Berlin Breakout!
Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Release: August 9, 1966
Cover: October 1966
12 cents
Edited by Stan Lee
Scripted by Roy Thomas
Drawn by Dick Ayers
Inked by John Tartaglione
Lettered by Sam Rosen
Picketed by Baron Strucker
20 pages

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Sgt. Fury #34	Reading order	Fantastic Four #55
Sgt. Fury #34	Sgt. Fury	Sgt. Fury #36

I am not a traitor to my homeland! I want to save it… to free it from the tyranny of a madman like Adolf Hitler!

The Howlers are in custody in Berlin, set to be executed. Nick Fury intends to rescue them, but he’ll need help.

Part of that help will come from Fury’s good friend, Bull McGiveney. As well as Corporal Rickets Johnson from the Maulers. We learned his name two issues back, but now we get to put a face to it.

The other person is Eric, a German we met in Sgt. Fury #27. He’d been an aide to Goering, but defected to join the Allies. We didn’t get his surname then, but we now learn his full name is Eric Koenig.

Sgt. Fury #27

Fury Fights Alone!

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

Previous	#468	Next
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.