Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Relase: September 9, 1965 Cover: November 1965 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee, Army Vet! Pencilled by Dick Ayers, Air Force Vet! Inked by Frank Ray, Air Force Vet! Lettered by S. Rosen, Teacher’s Pet! 20 pages
Stan and Dick want to take this opportunity to give a heartfelt thanks and well done to the countless wonderful guys and gals who did so much under the banner of the U.S.O., to keep up the morale of lonely Allied fighting men, both near and far from home! We’ll never forget ’em!
Happy Sam orders the Howlers on a furlough back to the States, including Percy and Hans.
Featuring: Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos Release: May 11, 1965 Cover: July 1965 12 cents Smashing script: Stan Lee Awesome art: Dick Ayers Inspired inking: Frank Ray Luscious lettering: Artie Simek 20 pages
Mister, when it comes to being tough, us Commandos invented the word!! And we don’t need a ravin’ Fuehrer to remind us how good we are!! All we gotta do is pick up a history book!! Mebbe we don’t push our weight around like you Nazis do! But, mebbe it’s because we know we don’t haveta! We got all the muscle we need– when we need it! And the dictator don’t live who can push us around!! Waddaya think of us “inferior races” now? Answer me, ya creep!! And then answer all the innocent people, all over the world, that ya been tramplin’ on–!!
We just saw an eye-patched Colonel Fury take over the international spy agency, SHIELD in the 1960s. Let’s head back to the 1940s to see the adventures of Sgt. Fury with two good eyes.
The credits on these Sgt. Fury books have usually emphasized the creators’ status as former military. “Ex-Sgt. Stan Lee”, “Ex-Corp. Dick Ayers”, “Ex-Corp. Frank Ray”. In fact, I think they’ve done that in every one of the first 19 issues of this series, but seem to be done with the practice now. I wonder why. They’re not phasing it out; they’ll just never mention the military service of the creators again.
We see the return of Baron Strucker’s Blitzkrieg Squad, introduced in issue 14, the Nazi counterparts to the Howling Commandos.
That truck seems to have a target on it.
Unless somebody has a better explanation, I’m going to suggest the logo is the RAF roundel, simply miscolored here, and not indicative of the Target corporation. The Turkish Air Force roundels look like the Target logo, but no British ones that I can find.
A bit of poking fun at themselves here. Fury’s rival Bull McGiveney claims all Fury knows how to do is rip up shirts.
A torn chest-revealing shirt is basically Fury’s uniform.
Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Release: April 8, 1965 Cover: June 1965 12 cents You’ll relive the torment of warfare in this script by Ex-Sgt. Stan Lee You’ll see the blaze of battle in this artwork by Ex-Corp. Dick Ayers You’ll feel the drama of conflict in this inking by Ex-Corp. Frank Ray You’ll hear the sounds of attack in this lettering by exquisite S. Rosen 20 pages
Let’s remind ourselves of the dramatic final page of the previous issue.
This story picks up where that left off. Lady Pamela Hawley died in a bombing raid before Nick could propose to her. Now we see him trying to deal with his pain and frustration. Will revenge bring him catharsis?
After Nick is working the Howlers too hard, Captain Sawyer orders a furlough. They decide to take their “furlough” in occupied Holland and track down the Squadron behind Pam’s death.
Since Roussos left, this title is having trouble finding a consistent inker for Ayers. We had Giacoia last issue and Ditko the issue before. This issue, Vince Colletta finds time between issues of Thor to lend his inks. Colletta had been a sergeant in the Air Force, so he fits the credits scheme of noting the military service of this series’ contributors.
We pick up where last issue left off, with the Commandos still in the Sahara desert. They are ready to return home, but are instead given a new assignment.
Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Release: January 12, 1965 Cover: March 1965 12 cents Written with machine gun power by Ex-Sgt. Stan Lee Drawn with howitzer impact by Ex-Corp. Dick Ayers Inked with rifle-fire sharpness by Ex-Corp. Frank Ray Lettered with bloodshot eyes by Artie Simek Civilian 1st Class 20 pages
The cover is striking because of the dominant yellow. We haven’t yet seen a cover with such a coloring scheme, but they’ll become more common, and they’ll always catch my eye. This particular color evokes the intense heat of the desert.
Hans Rooten takes his new place as squad mascot. He’s even got a uniform to indicate his “mascot” status. He’s written far more sensibly than, say, Rick Jones is in Avengers. He is allowed to train with the Commandos, but not on dangerous maneuvers, and he doesn’t go on missions, whereas the Avengers take Rick to fight most any super-villain.
The only not-particularly sensible thing is why they continue to let Hans believe his father is a traitor. Now that he’s safely in England, there’s surely no harm in telling the kid his father is a heroic Allied double agent. But these were his father’s wishes, so the child will go on thinking himself to be basically an orphan, with the Howlers the only family he has left.
This page is from the original comic, found online.
Hans has already figured out the character of Sgt. Fury: “He is yelling at me! That means he likes me!”
Hans wants to be a Howler when he grows up. Nick hopes that when he grows up, there won’t be any need for Howlers.
Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Release: December 10, 1964 Cover: February 1965 12 cents Writer: Stan Lee Artist: Dick Ayers Inker: Steve Ditko Letterer: S. Rosen 20 pages
This is pretty exciting. Ditko inking Ayers. Definitely the first time we’ve seen that. And the opposite of the roles I most associate each artist with. It’s mostly not obvious to my untrained eye that Ditko is the inker, but I think I see him shining through on some of the faces, particularly Captain Sawyer and some of the ladies.
George Roussos had been the regular inker up to this point, under the pseudonym George Bell. It looks like last month marked the end of his regular Marvel work for now. He will return in a couple years and eventually become a staff colorist at Marvel.
Roussos has likely been coloring many of the comics we’ve read as well, but I don’t often have colorist credits in front of me, and am anyway often reading these stories in recolored reprints. So I’ve certainly failed to appreciate his coloring contributions.
We’ll see Roussos once more in the near future, because we still haven’t read the Hulk story from last month. And then we’ll see him again, eventually.
The idea of these 15 issues has been to take the Commandos to every theatre of the war– Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, England, Japan, Africa… Holland was due.
