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

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Sgt. Fury #26Sgt. FurySgt. 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.

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Sgt. Fury #25

Every Man My Enemy!

Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Release: October 12, 1965
Cover: December 1965
12 cents
Written in rage by: Stan Lee
Pencilled in panic by: Dick Ayers
Delineated in despair by: John Tartaglione
Lettered in the office by: Sam Rosen
20 pages

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Avengers #24Reading orderAvengers #25
Sgt. Fury #24Sgt. FurySgt. Fury #26

They seek a simple Nazi spy… an impersonator… nothing more! Little do they dream that they have the Fuehrer’s most dangerous agent in their midst! How they would tremble if they knew their foe is actually– the Red Skull!

Evocative cover not in Kirby’s usual mold for Sgt. Fury covers. Brings to mind the war comics covers of Joe Kubert, which this title owes many a debt to.

This is the first time we’ve seen John Tartaglione. He’s worked for Marvel on and off since the 1950s, with most of his work being in the romance genre. He’s going to become Ayers’ regular inker on this title for the next couple years.

Here’s an early example of his inking, over Pierce Rice from Marvel’s Amazing Detective Cases #6 (1951), and a contemporaneous example from Patsy Walker #124 (1965), over Al Hartley’s pencils.

Here are two examples of his pencil art, from Young Men #11 (1951) and True Secrets #13 (1952), both from Marvel.

Recall last issue, the Howlers were on furlough in America when they got urgent orders to return to Europe, with sealed instructions to be opened on the plane. Dum Dum was wounded and so remained in America. And Hans has gone to live with the Ralstons until the war ends.

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