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I continue with Fury’s adventures in the Marvel Age of Comics. I just finished Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandoes Vol. 1 so it is natural I progress onto this. Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD replaced the Human Torch in the pages of Strange Tales starting with #135 and he would share that title with Dr. Strange until #168. This volume collects most of those tales, starting with Strange Tales #135 (August 1965) and ending with #153 (February 1967). There’s an issue of Tales of Suspense thrown in as well (#78) since it featured Fury and was continued from Strange Tales #145. All of these stories run only about 12 pages so they are quick-hitting. Stan Lee handles the writing chores for most of the issues in here with some help from Jack Kirby (#148), Dennis O’Neil (#149) and Roy Thomas (#153). Jack is credited with art on all the issues though he provides just layouts for the majority of them. The finishers include John Severin (#’s 136-138), Joe Sinnot (#139), Don Heck (#’s 140, 145-148), Howard Purcell (#’s 143 & 144), Ogden Whitney (#149), John Buscema (#150) and Jim Steranko (#’s 151-153).
John Morrow pens the introduction and he’s a huge Jack Kirby fan. He really takes a look at the issues here with only Jack in mind and he gives Kirby a lot of credit for SHIELD and the things in here. He kind of slags the book a bit with Lee’s writing and really praises Kirby. I wish it was a little more indepth with the history of SHIELD and all but the introduction was still an interesting reading. He does mention that Steranko’s arrival helped the energy of the title but it wasn’t until he was freed from the reigns of Kirby’s layouts (which doesn’t happen until after this collection) that we’d really see this title blossom.
Spoilers Ahead
-Strange Tales #135- We meet the new Fury (complete with eye-patch) right away and we get a SHIELD mainstay – the LMD’s. He’s given the reigns of SHIELD and their big villain is shown right away, Hydra. Hydra is an international cult bent on world domination. Fury staves off an attempt on his life and he’s ready to take on Hydra.
-Strange Tales #136- Hydra tries to kill Fury but they just blunder into a trap that Fury’s set for them. The Hydra officer who set up the ambush is killed due to his ineptitude and Fury vows that it will be either he or Hydra that are destroyed.
-Strange Tales #137- SHIELD agents try to find a new Hydra bomb that will take the world hostage by orbiting Earth and it’s launching site but die as a result. They are able to send some information back to SHIELD and Fury. Fury and his two old Commando mates (Dum Dum and Gabe) try to find the bomb but they are too late, it has been launched into the sky. The leader of Hydra is shown to be some average joe business man named Leslie Farrington and his daughter is against his wishes.
-Strange Tales #138- Fury finds that the bomb has been launched and all seems lost except for one of Tony Stark’s weapons that would help destroy it. Hydra wants it and they go after Stark. They capture Fury in the process and bring him to their leader.
-Strange Tales #139- Hydra try some strange trippy interrogation on Fury but they get no information. Fury is able to make his escape with the help of Farrington’s daughter as Dum-Dum and Gabe plan an offensive to rescue Fury.
-Strange Tales #140- Nick and Farrington’s daughter are able to make their great escape from Hydra and the threat of Hydra is seemingly over forever.
-Strange Tales #141- This ties up loose ends with Hydra, as the supreme leader is killed and Fury allows the daughter to escape to repay her for saving his life. We then head to an ESP based storyline where two villains (Mentallo and the Fixer) are introduced as the next rivals to Fury.
-Strange Tales #142- The second act of the Mentallo/Fixer story sees Fury getting captured by dastardly duo.
-Strange Tales #143- The third act concludes with Fury escaping and some great Kirby-machines appearing as Fixer and Mentallo are defeated.
-Strange Tales #144- We go from one lame villain to another. This time it is the Druid and his egg. No, you read that correctly, he attacks with an egg. This issue introduces Jasper Sitwell as the fourth main character of the title behind Fury, Dum Dum and Gabe.
-Strange Tales #145- Fury tries to lure the Druid and his eggs into the open with an LMD and when that doesn’t work he just finds him and beats him up. Well, the Druid is gone. We do hear about a group called Them that seems to be running things.
-Tales of Suspense #78- This starts off the Them storyline by having a Fury team-up with Cap in Cap’s own book. Like I said, this just really brings Them to the forefront. I love when Kirby draws Cap because that seems to be when he’s really at his best and most inspired.
-Strange Tales #146- SHIELD takes on a new threat in AIM and their humanoid cyborgs. They find their underwater lair and quickly put and end to that little hideout.
-Strange Tales #147- Fury and his crew fight off some AIM goons as an AIM leader is starting his plot to get Fury out as head of SHIELD.
-Strange Tales #148- As a result of the AIM leader who’s playing SHIELD Fury is put on trial for his aggressions towards the AIM upper brass. Fury appears to be acquitted but he busts out and parachutes off the Heli-Carrier to finally defeat AIM.
-Strange Tales #149- Fury and the agents stop AIM when Fury impersonates an LMD that AIM desperately wants. AIM is given a final, crushing defeat but there’s a bigger issue at hand. It seems that Hydra was running them the whole time.
-Strange Tales #150- Hydra is alive and well and they have a sonic device at their hands that threatens the world. SHIELD models one of their own but it just injures Fury and Fury decides to take a break by going after the new leader of Hydra.
-Strange Tales #151- Fury gets himself captured but he’s able to escape. It turns out that was part of Hydra’s plan. They will bring that sonic device to SHIELD and destroy them and the world once and for all.
-Strange Tales #152- Fury realizes what’s been done with his ship and so with the ingenuity of Sitwell the ship is destroyed over the Hydra base and Hydra seems to be gone once again.
-Strange Tales #153- This issue ends things with the leader of Hydra (who is still a mystery) infiltrates SHIELD and gets into Fury’s good graces. I’ll guess we’ll have to wait for this conclusion later.
-The Bottom Line- This is a really cool collection from the Marvel archives. SHIELD was Marvel’s version of James Bond using one of the coolest characters in their universe; Nick Fury. While Nick doesn’t have the suave, sophisticated aura of Bond, he makes it up for it with toughness and attitude. The stories are all pretty simple if you go issue by issue but the way that they are built up over the 12 or 13 pages they have over the course of months of issues is impressive. Sure some of the devices and plots are a bit ham-handed but that’s they type of thing that made James Bond so much fun. The one drawback I have to this is that the artists seemed to change every few issues or so. Kirby did do the layouts on all the issues so he kept it looking similar but going from artist to artist could get a bit jarring at times. This was a cool collection but I’m really waiting for the next one when Steranko broke free of the Kirby layouts and revolutionized comic art forever. Recommended.
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