Featuring: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD Release: January 10, 1967 Cover: April 1967 12 cents Edited by: Stan Lee (Marvel’s James Bond) Written and drawn by: Jim Steranko (Marvel’s Man Flint) Letted by: Sam Rosen (Marvel’s Secret Squirrel) 12 pages
And so saying, the SHIELD agent’s finger begins to tighten on the trigger… his trance-like face telling of the incredible turmoil seething within… Then, the overwhelming force of the spell sweeps over his ego, as once again, the Supreme Hydra’s command echoes through his mind…
Jim Steranko is now writing and drawing Nick Fury, Agent Of SHIELD, and credited for doing so. Wally Wood had wanted that for Daredevil but was turned down.
Does this show Lee’s faith in the newcomer Steranko? Or is it just that he’s busy and become somewhat indifferent?
Steranko delivers quite the opening splash page, so maybe he’ll do okay with this assignment.
What are we looking at? It’s called the Vortex Beam. It seems to be like a tractor beam they use as a fancy elevator. Best as I can tell, people get onto a disc on the ground and then get lifted onto the Heli-Carrier. We see some VIPs and a strange device coming on the ship that way.
Featuring: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD Release: December 8, 1966 Cover: March 1967 12 cents Edited by: Stan Lee Scripted by: Roy Thomas Plotted and drawn by: Jim Steranko Lettered by: Sam Rosen 12 pages
The training wheels are off for Jim Steranko. In his first couple issues, he’d been drawing off layouts from Kirby, but Kirby has stepped away. The newcomer Steranko has drawn this all by himself.
And he even gets a plotting credit for his work. Something it took Ditko and Kirby years to get. That folks like Orlando and Wood left the company over.
Roy Thomas was also on scripting duties last issue, but this won’t be a regular gig for him. This is his second and final turn on the series.
AUTOFAC is the AI system that does SHIELD’s thinking. If they feed it what they know about Supreme Hydra, it will deduce their identity.
Can you, reader, deduce the identity of Supreme Hydra before AUTOFAC can? If not, maybe we should just surrender to AI.
We get a detailed diagram of the Heli-Carrier. Below the story notes, we recorded all the rooms and notes.
Featuring: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD Release: July 7, 1966 Cover: October 1966 12 cents Edited by: Stan Lee Layouts by: Jack Kirby Script by: Denny O’Neil Art by: Ogden Whitney Lettering by: Artie Simek Ammunition by the Forbush Pyrotechnic Co. 12 pages
Hydra can never be killed! Althrough you have captured Hydra’s body, its head is still free… It shall last forever! It has resources you have not dreamed of… resources that will insure its ultimate triumph!
It’s rare that the scripter doesn’t get credited ahead of the artists. When Lee was scripting, his name always came first. Now that Lee is editing, the editor’s name comes first. But then he put Kirby’s layouts ahead of the scripting and art in the credits.
The credits claim this issue’s writer and artist are surprises.
At this point, we know Denny O’Neil. He’s been taking over the scripting duties on Dr. Strange. But the name Ogden Whitney is new to us.
Featuring: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD! Release: June 9, 1966 Cover: September 1966 12 cents Edited (in absentia) by… Stan Lee Layouts and script by… Jack Kirby Pencilling and inking by… Don Heck Lettering by… Sam Rosen 12 pages
Part of the month when Stan is on vacation. Kirby did the script. Stan still claims to have edited the comic while also claiming to not be in the office. His name still comes first in the credits.
The first script we’ve seen Kirby get credit for in our Marvel reading.
Certainly not the first script Kirby deserved credit for.
The battle against AIM/Them continues. I’d almost gotten in my head that AIM and Them were just different names for the same organization. But then last issue AIM was described as a branch of Them.
Now the narrator tells us AIM is in league with Them.
After a failed attempt to kill Nick Fury, Count Bornag Royale notes that AIM must improve its prestige with Them. That suggests there really is a distinction. My current thinking is that AIM is a branch of Them.
Featuring: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD Release: April 12, 1966 Cover: July 1966 12 cents Far-fetched script by Stan Lee Fantastic layouts by Jack Kirby Fabulous pencilling by Don Heck Fanciful inking by Mickey Demeo Freehand lettering by Sam Rosen 12 pages
We’re dealin’ with an outfit that can turn out artificial men to do any kinda job… just like Marvel can grind out comic books!
The word of late has been Them. Them financed the Fixer. Them sent a chemical android to attack Nick Fury and Captain America. Them consists of several brilliant scientists.
Spinning right out of the Captain America adventure, Nick Fury has traced that android to this swampland.
In a bit of bravado, and a wink at the other titles, Fury notes that SHIELD agents aren’t superheroes. They don’t always win.
Featuring: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD Release: May 4, 1965 Cover: August 1965 12 cents Writer: Stan Lee Artist: Jack Kirby Inked by: Dick Ayers Lettered by: Artie Simek 12 pages
It’s 1965. Thunderball will be hitting the cinemas in Decembr, the 4th consecutive year Sean Connery will go into action as 007.
In the second film, From Russia with Love, we were introduced to a global criminal organization that it takes a dedicated government to fight– SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion).
The head of SPECTRE wasn’t named and we didn’t see his face, only his kitten. The kitten plainly identifies him as evil.
These movies are popular, and the rest of the entertainment industry is taking notice.
Michael Caine just went into “action” in a more subdued and bureaucratic spy tale as Harry Palmer, definitely not the world’s best spy.
Television will soon be satirizing this secret agent genre with Get Smart, in which Maxwell Smart of CONTROL fights against KAOS, an international organization of evil.
The following year, secret agents on TV will be offered an impossible mission, if they choose to accept it.
Probably most relevantly, the previous year introduced The Man from UNCLE (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement), letting us know that these organizations should have acronyms for names.
(Picture chosen especially for my mother)
In the 1950s, Marvel had dabbled in every genre, including the occasional spy series like Spy Fighters or Kent Blake of the Secret Service.
Now they are bursting at the seams with the expanding superhero genre. They have one current war title, Sgt. Fury, which we’ve been reading with the superhero comics for some reason.
They haven’t abandoned their long successful romance/humor girl genre, and Millie and Patsy each carry two titles still. And three western heroes still carry titles: Two-Gun Kid, Rawhide Kid, and Kid Colt.
They’re ready to ride on the booming spy genre with their own 007 or Man from Uncle. They’ll need a secret spy organization with a cool title that’s really an acronym. And they’ll need an evil organization to pit them against. Preferably headed by a mysterious man with a kitten.
And a star to headline these adventures. New character? Or look to their already expansive cast of characters.
We know from the pages of Fantastic Four that Sgt. Fury of World War II is now Colonel Fury of the CIA. Why invent a new top spy when you already have one?
Where to put them? Make a new title? No, you’re having crazy distribution problems at the moment and are artificially limited in the number of titles you can put out. Why Captain America and Iron Man need to share a book.
I’ve got it! Strange Tales. The Human Torch/Thing stories all sucked, so we cancelled them. Our new spy series can share this former horror title with Dr. Strange. Makes sense to me.
On that note, I then have to recall that we haven’t actually read any Dr. Strange stories since issue 129, 6 issues ago. We read the wonderful Human Torch stories from issues 130-134, but skipped the Dr. Strange stories.
But now that Nick Fury is taking over the first half of the book, I would like to… still not read the Dr. Strange stories. Not just yet. We’ll read this first half of this comic, then return to it later. Even though, with the new Dr. Strange movie out, a Dr. Strange post would be topical.
