Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos


Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos was a comic book series created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee and published by Marvel Comics from 1963 to 1981. The main character, Sgt. Nick Fury, later became the leader of Marvel's super-spy agency, S.H.I.E.L.D. The title also featured the Howling Commandos, a fictional World War II unit that first appeared in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1.

Publication history

Stan Lee has described the series Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos as having come about due to a bet with his publisher, Martin Goodman that the Lee-Kirby style could make a book sell even with the worst title Lee could devise. Lee elaborated on that claim in a 2007 interview, responding to the suggestion that the series title did not necessarily seem bad:
Comics-artist contemporary John Severin recalled in an interview conducted in the early 2000s that in the late 1950s, Kirby had approached him to be partners on a syndicated, newspaper comic strip "set in Europe during World War Two; the hero would be a tough, cigar-chomping sergeant with a squad of oddball GIs — sort of an adult Boy Commandos", referring to a 1940s wartime "kid gang" comics series Kirby had co-created for DC Comics.
Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos followed an elite special unit, the First Attack Squad, nicknamed the "Howling Commandos", which was stationed in a military base in England to fight missions primarily, but not exclusively, in the European theatre of World War II. Under Captain "Happy Sam" Sawyer, Fury was the cigar-chomping noncom who led the racially and ethnically integrated unit. Lee was obliged to send a memo to the color separator at the printing plant to confirm that the character Gabe Jones was African American, after the character had appeared with Caucasian coloring in the first issue.
The series ran 167 issues, though with reprints alternating with new stories from issue #80, and only in reprints after issue #120 ; at this point the formal copyrighted title in the indicia, which had been simply Sgt. Fury, was changed to match the trademarked cover logo, Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos. Following seven issues by creators Lee and Kirby, penciller Dick Ayers began his long stint on what would be his signature series, penciling 95 issues, including two extra-length annuals. John Severin later joined as inker, forming a long-running, award-winning team; he would, additionally, both pencil and ink issues #44-46. The series' only other pencilers came on one issue each by Tom Sutton and Herb Trimpe
Roy Thomas followed Lee as writer, himself followed by Gary Friedrich, for whom this also became a signature series. Ayers said in 1977, "Stan Lee left Fury first to Roy Thomas because the superheroes were gaining in popularity at that time it was best he concentrate on them", referring to the young Marvel's then growing line of superhero comics, such as Fantastic Four and The Amazing Spider-Man. "I must admit I resented somewhat those superheroes taking Stan away from Fury!
Friedrich began as a co-scripter of issues #42-44. The Friedrich-Ayers-Severin team began in earnest, however, with #45, the first of what would be several of the series' "The" stories: "The War Lover", a shaded exploration of a trigger-happy soldier and the line drawn, even in war, between killing and murder. Daring for the time, when majority public sentiment still supported the undeclared Vietnam War, the story balanced present-day issues while demonstrating that even in what is referred to as "a just war", a larger morality prevails. As one writer in the 1970s observed,
& John Severin.
At his best, Ayers' art in Sgt. Fury showed "a clear, forthright storyteller, excellent in medium close shots with a subtly out-of-focus background. He blended large panels with thin or small ones for movement, and often provided vast, cinemascopic panoramas for his writers to work with.... ven in a scene that would ordinarily be static you could feel his characters breathing." Inker Severin "took the art even further, laying dark, scratchy inks" that gave grit to Ayers' pencils. Ayers himself "liked the results of John Severin's work on Sgt. Fury immensely", he said in 1977. "He added details beyond what I'd put in. He always seemed to go one step beyond."
Friedrich continued through #83, with the late part of this run having reprint issues alternating with new stories. He returned for the even-numbered issues from #94-114.
Sgt. Fury ran concurrently with two other, short-lived Marvel World War II series, Capt. Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders, which lasted 19 issues from 1968–1970; and Combat Kelly and the Deadly Dozen, which lasted nine issues from 1972-1973. The Howlers guest starred in #6 and #11 of the former series, and #4 of the latter.
Lee explained the series's transition to reprints: "... so much fan mail came in from readers who wanted more of Sgt. Fury, but we didn't have time, I didn't have the men to draw it, I didn't have the time to write it, and we were busy with other things, so we just started re-printing the books, and strangely enough, the reprint versions of Sgt. Fury sold as well as the original ones had!" The final issue, #167 reprinted the first issue.
Seven annual publications appeared, the first titled Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Special King Size Annual #1, and the remainder titled Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos King-Size Special #2-7, with hyphen and sans "Annual". The final three contain reprints only, save for a 10-page framing sequence in #6. In annuals #1 and #3, the Howlers reunited for a special mission each in the Korean War and the Vietnam War, respectively; annual #2 found them storming the beaches at Normandy on D-Day in 1944, and annual #4 was a flashback to the Battle of the Bulge.
One latter-day story was published in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1, as the cover logo read; its copyright indicia read Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos One-Shot #1. The 32-page story, "Shotgun Opera", was by writer Jesse Alexander and artist John Paul Leon.

Characters

In addition to Fury, the elite special unit of US Army Rangers nicknamed the Howling Commandos consisted of
Isadore "Izzy" Cohen is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. His first appearance was in Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos vol. 1 #1.

Fictional character biography

Cohen is one of the many allies of Nick Fury who work together in battling the Nazi menace throughout World War 2. Cohen has had dozens of adventures with the team, such as in Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos #32, where he comes under the influence of Nazi brainwashing. He manages to resist the commands to kill his friends and is able to help turn the tables on his brainwasher and complete the interrupted mission to destroy a weapons plant. During his adventures, his sister, unnamed, is briefly seen.
After the war, Cohen goes back to Brooklyn, settles down with his wife and runs his father's mechanic shop. He has two sons and one daughter. He turns the family business into a string of car dealerships, which he eventually passes down to his sons.
Cohen signs up for a tour of duty in the Korean War, where he makes the rank of sergeant.
Cohen's military career continues to the Vietnam war, where he reunites with the Commandos for a special mission. Outside of the war, Cohen still ends up in trouble. In a 1972 reunion he ends up shot and a decade later, he confronts a Life Model Decoy of the Nazi war criminal Baron von Strucker.
When Nick Fury's espionage organization S.H.I.E.L.D. is corrupted by a sentient Life Model Decoy and nearly destroyed from within, Cohen serves with the group until it can get back on its feet.
Over the years Cohen and his friends have dealt with Nick Fury's deaths, mostly correctly guessing it was some sort of ruse or LMD. They were fooled in one instance where the vigilante Punisher, not in his right mind, had slain a Fury LMD.

Powers and abilities

Cohen is considered a mechanical genius. Though he specializes in automobiles, he has a talent for rigging and fixing all sorts of mechanical devices. As a ranger, he is also trained in explosives. His weaponry tends to consist of grenades and machine guns.

In other media

In issue #34 it is shown that a young Nick Fury with his friend Red Hargrove, left their childhood neighborhood to pursue their dreams of adventure, eventually settling on a daring wing-walking aviation act. Their death-defying stunts caught the attention of Lieutenant Samuel "Happy Sam" Sawyer when Fury and Hargrove were training British Commandos in low-level parachuting. Sawyer was serving with the British Commandos in 1940 and underwent training by Fury. Sawyer enlisted them for a special mission in the Netherlands. Nick and Red later joined the U.S. Army, with Fury undergoing basic training under a Sergeant Bass at Fort Dix in New Jersey. Both Fury and Red were stationed at Schofield Barracks, Oahu, Hawaii when the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the base on December 7, 1941, and Red was among the many killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Sawyer recruited select U.S. Army Rangers to his "Able" Company. Sawyer assigned Fury the command of the First Attack Squad, nicknamed the "Howling Commandos". They and the Second Attack Squad, and, later, Jim Morita's Nisei squad were stationed in a military base in England to fight specialized missions, primarily, but not exclusively, in the European theatre of World War II, eventually going as far afield as the Pacific theatre, Africa, and, once each, in the Middle East and on the Russian front. Fury fell in love with an English nurse, Pamela Hawley, who died in a bombing raid of London before he could propose to her.
The Howling Commandos' earliest assignment occurred in the autumn of 1942. They were to recover British rocket scientist Dr. MacMillan from a German military base in occupied Norway. Their success brought the attention of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who incorporated the unit into the British Army, and given the title of "Commandos".
The Howlers fought against the likes of German General Erwin Rommel and inter-squad bigotry, often in the same story. Antagonists included Baron Strucker, Captain America's nemeses Baron Zemo and the Red Skull, and other Axis villains. The Howlers encountered Office of Strategic Services agent Reed Richards in issue #3, and fought alongside Captain America and Bucky in #13.
They reunited for missions in the Korean War, where Fury received a field promotion to lieutenant, and the Vietnam War, each in a summer-annual special, as well as at a present-day, fictional reunion gala in issue #100.

In other media

Television

Animation