Sgt. Fury #29

Armageddon!

Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Release: February 10, 1966
Cover: April 1966
12 cents
Explosive editing by: Stan Lee
Seething script by: Roy Thomas
Pulsating pencils by: Dick Ayers
Invigorating inking by: John Tartaglione
Lacksadaisal lettering by Sam Rosen
20 pages

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Armageddon… that the day when good and evil are supposed ta lock horns for the last time… with the good guys comin’ out on top! ‘Course, I know we went through that ‘war to end war’ jazz before! Still, a guy can’t help hopin’–! Yeah, every once in a while, I get ta thinkin’… mebbe this one will be the last war! Mebbe—

We met Roy Thomas in his first Marvel story featuring Millie the Model. He’s since done other work for Millie and for Kid Colt Outlaw. He has a couple other credits out there because he’d submitted some story ideas to other companies before landing the Marvel gig, and they’re now seeing print. We saw him a second time on a confusingly credited issue of Iron Man that seemed like they’d recruited everybody around.

This will be his first ongoing series. He’ll script the next 12 issues of Sgt. Fury. And the first time any of these Marvel titles have seen Stan Lee take a break of longer than a couple issues. Stan Lee has penned his last Sgt. Fury script. Without much fanfare.

Of course, Stan Lee still gets his name first in the credits. He is indeed the editor for this and all the titles.

It’s worth noting that right away Thomas will start referencing the continuity of earlier issues.

Thomas picks up where Lee left off with a tense face-off between Fury and his archnemesis, Baron Strucker. Strucker has a switch which will blow up the entire city; Fury a trigger to blow the building they are both in.

Except Fury is bluffing. His explosives aren’t wired yet.

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Sgt. Fury Annual 1

Commission in Korea!

Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Release: July 1, 1965
Cover: 1965
25 cents
Story: Smilin’ Stan Lee
Art: Darlin’ Dick Ayers
Inking: Frisky Frankie Ray
Lettering: Artful Artie Simek
15 pages

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They have been shown, in the only way they understand, that free men can always strike back!

We check in with Sgt. Fury during the Korean War. The Commandos are sent on a secret mission across the 38th Parallel. Based on a cursory knowledge of the war, the massive American presence combined with a reticence to cross the 38th Parallel would place this story in July-August 1950.

The remaining Commandos all survived WWII and re-enlisted when the Korean War broke out. All of them have attained at least the rank of Sergeant, but they still seem to be in the same formation with the same personnel from 1943.

The narrator reminds us that the US are the good guys, who play by the agreed-upon rules of war. Unlike those Reds.

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Sgt. Fury #10

On to Okinawa!

Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Release: July 9, 1964
Cover: September 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee (the ol’ three-striper himself)
Illustrated by: Dick Ayers ( the ol’ high-flyin’ corporal)
Inked by: Geo. Bell
Lettered by: S. Rosen
22 pages

A feature of this comic has been a desire to send the Howlers to every theater of the war. They are based in England, but have already fought in Germany, Italy, Africa… now they’re off to Japan. Does it make any actual sense that a single squadron would have such geographically disparate missions? I don’t think we’re supposed to worry about it.

Captain Sawyer describes Okinawa as Japanese-occupied. An odd phrasing. Japan had conquered it over 60 years earlier. At some point, it’s just part of Japan. At the time the comic was published, Okinawa was occupied by America, but has since been returned to Japan. It remains part of Japan to this day.

Captain Sawyer and the other characters refer to the Japanese as “Japs”. Today, this is generally recognized as a racial slur that was prevalent among 1940s Americans. Having the characters use such language is likely historically accurate.

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