{"id":31130,"date":"2024-12-18T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=31130"},"modified":"2024-12-17T18:40:54","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T18:40:54","slug":"sgt-fury-and-his-howling-commandos-epic-collection-volume-2-berlin-breakout-1965-1966","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/12\/18\/sgt-fury-and-his-howling-commandos-epic-collection-volume-2-berlin-breakout-1965-1966\/","title":{"rendered":"Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Epic Collection volume 2: Berlin Breakout (1965-1966)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Stan Lee<\/strong>, Roy Thomas<\/strong>, Dick Ayers<\/strong>, Frank Giacoia<\/strong>, John Tartaglione<\/strong>, Carl Hubbell<\/strong>, Jack Kirby<\/strong>, Art Simek<\/strong>, Sam Rosen<\/strong> & various (Marvel)
\nISBN: 978-1-3029-5254-9 (TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Nostalgic Traditional Blockbuster Fare… 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos<\/strong> began as an improbable, decidedly over-the-top, rowdily raucous WWII combat comics series similar in tone to later ensemble action movies such as The Magnificent Seven<\/strong>, Wild Bunch<\/strong> and Dirty Dozen<\/strong>. The surly squad of sorry social misfits and roguish reprobates premiered in May 1963, one of three action teams concocted by creative men-on-fire Jack Kirby & Stan Lee to secure fledgling Marvel\u2019s growing position as the comics publisher to watch. Two years later Fury\u2019s post-war self was retooled as star of a second series (beginning with Strange Tales <\/strong>#135, August 1965) as TV espionage shows like The Man from U.N.C.L.E.<\/strong> or Mission: Impossible<\/strong> and the James Bond <\/strong>film franchise and its many imitators such as Matt Helm<\/strong> and Our Man Flint<\/strong> became global sensations.<\/p>\n

Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.<\/strong> combined Cold War tensions with sinister schemes of World Domination by subversive all-encompassing hidden enemy organisations: with captivating super-science gadgetry and iconic imagineering from Jack Kirby and Jim Steranko. For all that time, however, the original wartime version soldiered on (sorry: puns are my weapon of choice), blending Marvel\u2019s uniquely flamboyant house-bravado style and often ludicrous, implausible, historically inaccurate, all-action bombast with moments of genuine heartbreak, unbridled passion and seething emotion.<\/p>\n

Sgt. Fury<\/strong> started out as a pure Kirby creation. As with all his various combat comics, The King made everything look harsh and real and appalling: the people and places all grimy, tired, battered yet indomitable. Here, he is only represented by stunning covers; and only until his pal and successor Dick Ayers was trusted to handle those too…<\/p>\n

Both artists had served – Kirby in some of the worst battles of the war – and never forgot the horrific and heroic things he saw. However, even at kid-friendly, Comics Code-sanitised Marvel, those experiences perpetually leaked through onto powerfully gripping pages. Kirby was – unfortunately – far too valuable a resource to squander on a simple genre war comic (or indeed the X-Men<\/strong> and Avengers<\/strong>: the other series launched in that tripartite blitz on kids\u2019 spending money). He was quickly moved on, leaving redoubtable fellow veteran Ayers to illuminate later stories, which he did for almost the entire run of the series (95 issues plus Annuals) until its transition to a reprint title with #121 (July 1974). The title then carried on until its ultimate demise, with #167, in December 1981.<\/p>\n

Former serviceman Lee remained as scripter until he too was pulled away by the rapidly developing – not to say exploding – Marvel phenomenon. From there a succession of youthful, next-generation non-serving writers took over, beginning with Roy Thomas. This epic compendium re-presents the contents of Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos<\/strong> #20-36 and Annual<\/strong> #1 & 2 (cover dated July 1965 to November 1966). These stripped down compilations don\u2019t carry fripperies, so just pick it up as we go along or consult the previous edition for introductions to the First Attack Squad; Able Company<\/em>. They were Fury, former circus strongman\/Corporal \u201cDum-Dum\u201d Dugan <\/em>and privates Robert \u201cRebel\u201d Ralston<\/em> (a Kentucky jockey), jazz trumpeter Gabriel Jones<\/em>, mechanic Izzy Cohen<\/em> and glamorous movie heartthrob Dino Manelli<\/em>. The squad was still reeling from the death of comrade Jonathan \u201cJunior\u201d Juniper<\/em> and were adjusting to his replacement by a British soldier named Percival Pinkerton<\/em>. Controversially – even in the 1960s – this battle Rat Pack was an integrated unit with Jewish and black members as well as Catholics, Southern Baptists and New York white guys all merrily serving together. The Howlers pushed envelopes and busted taboos from the very start…
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\nAs this volume opens the unit are coping with another loss: the death of Fury\u2019s fianc\u00e9e English aristocrat Lady Pamela Hawley<\/em> and the purely personal mission of vengeance that followed. Lee scripted, Ayers pencilled and Frank Giacoia (as Frankie Ray) inked a far grimmer Fury who was still in the mood for cathartic carnage in #20. When \u2018The Blitz Squad Strikes!\u2019<\/em> features Baron Strucker<\/em>\u2019s handpicked squad of German Kommandos invading a Scottish castle filled with imprisoned Nazi airmen, Nick and the boys are more than delighted to lead a sortie to retake it. In the next issue the long-running rivalry with First Attack Squad; Baker Company<\/em> again results in frantic fisticuffs before being interrupted by another last-ditch rescue mission in Czechoslovakia \u2018To Free a Hostage!\u2019<\/em> – inked by Golden Age legend Carl Hubbell, as was the next issue after that.<\/p>\n

Sadly, even after Allied scientist and captive daughter are reunited, the bubbling beef with B Company doesn\u2019t diminish and when both units are subsequently sent to sabotage the oil refinery at Ploesti, the defending forces capture everybody. However, after the gloating Nazis try making Fury and his opposite number kill each they quickly learn \u2018Don\u2019t Turn Your Back on Bull McGiveney!\u2019<\/em> and even Strucker\u2019s Blitz Squad can\u2019t contain the devastating debacle of destruction that follows…<\/p>\n

Giacoia inks \u2018The Man Who Failed!\u2019<\/em>, wherein a rescue jaunt to Burma to save nuns and orphans results in shameful revelations from English Howler Percy Pinkerton\u2019s past, supplying close insight into why our True Brit upper lips are so stiff…<\/p>\n

In close pursuit is the 15-page lead story from Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos King Size Annual<\/strong> #1 (1965) as post-war Howlers are called up and mustered to the 38th<\/sup> Parallel to defend democracy from Communist aggression. This particular escapade sees them rescuing former Commanding Officer Colonel Sam Sawyer<\/em> and results in Fury winning a battlefield \u2018Commission in Korea!\u2019<\/em> to at last become a Lieutenant in a rousing romp by Lee, Ayers & Giacoia. Also extracted from that special are pictorial features \u2018A Re-introduction to the Howlers\u2019<\/em>; \u2018A Birds Eye View of HQ, Able Company – Fury\u2019s Base in Britain\u2019<\/em>; \u2018Plane\u2019s-Eye View of Base Tactical Area, Sub-Pen, Dock and Air-Strip!\u2019<\/em> and \u2018Combat Arm and Hand Signals\u2019<\/em>, before a 2-page house ad plugs the hero\u2019s super-spy iteration as \u2018Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.\u2019<\/em> to wrap everything up in Marvel\u2019s military fashion.<\/p>\n

After that milestone it\u2019s back to WWII for Lee, Ayers & Giacoia as the war-weary combatants head back to America in \u2018When the Howlers Hit the Home Front!\u2019 <\/em>Of course, they find plenty of trouble when comrade\/Kentucky gentleman Rebel and his family are captured by Nazi Bundists and the First Attack Squad forgoes fun to rush to the rescue. At adventure\u2019s end, however, the victorious team are forced to leave grievously wounded corporal Dum Dum Dugan behind to recuperate…
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\nJohn Tartaglione signed on as regular inker for \u2018Every Man My Enemy!\u2019<\/em> as the unit return to Britain to commence a secret mission and expose a spy who has infiltrated their Army camp. The hunt eventually uncovers one of history\u2019s greatest super-villains and leads to the first of many deadly clashes between Fury and the most dangerous man alive…<\/p>\n

Golden Age veteran Carl Hubbell deployed his pens and brushes on \u2018Dum Dum Does It the Hard Way!\u2019<\/em>, as the doughty corporal is shot down in the Atlantic whilst attempting to rejoin the Howlers, precipitating a stirring saga of privation and courage as the flight crew\u2019s life raft is picked up by merciless U-Boat commander Vice Admiral Ribbondorf<\/em> – the Sea Shark! That move was only the Nazi\u2019s first mistake…<\/p>\n

In #27 Lee, Ayers & Tartaglione reveals the origin of our sturdy sergeant\u2019s optical injury (which would, in later life, lead to his adopting that stylish eyepatch) when the squad are despatched to Germany to destroy a new Nazi beam weapon. A now-obligatory SNAFU separates the squad and \u2018Fury Fights Alone!\u2019 <\/em>before finally escaping \u201cFestung Europa\u201d and battling his way back to Blighty.<\/p>\n

Previously, readers saw how Hitler demanded his elite field commander should form a specialist unit to surpass Fury\u2019s Commandos. The result was The Blitzkrieg Squad of Baron Strucker<\/em>… and they repeatedly proved utterly ineffectual. Now the Fuhrer gives his once-favoured Prussian aristocrat one last chance to prove himself by obliterating French town (and Resistance stronghold) Cherbeaux: a task even the disaffected Junker feels is a step too far. With the town mined and the population imprisoned within, Fury\u2019s Commandos are sent to stop the threatened atrocity in \u2018Not a Man Shall Remain Alive!\u2019 <\/em>with the battle in the streets ending in another spectacular face-off between the icons of two warring ideologies and \u2018Armageddon!\u2019<\/em> for the hostage city…<\/p>\n

With Strucker\u2019s threat seemingly ended, Roy Thomas begins his run with \u2018Incident in Italy!\u2019<\/em> as the First Attack Squad parachute into a trap and are locked up in a POW camp. With the spotlight on former movie idol Dino, the Howlers link up with partisans, bust open the camp, free the captives and blaze their way back to liberty, before \u2018Into the Jaws of… Death!\u2019<\/em> sees the heroes retraining for underwater demolitions before being distracted by the abduction of their commander, Happy Sam Sawyer. It\u2019s the biggest – and last – mistake this bunch of Gestapo goons ever make, and is followed by another episode of infernal intrigue as one of the Howlers is insidiously indoctrinated, turning against his comrades as they battle for their lives in Norway while dealing with \u2018A Traitor in Our Midst!\u2019<\/em>…<\/p>\n

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Annual<\/strong> #2 was released in August 1966, offering a brace of reprints (not included here) plus an all-new but out-of-continuity tale by Thomas, Ayers & Tartaglione. \u2018A Day of Thunder!\u2019<\/em> is set on June 5th<\/sup> 1944, rousingly revealing the pivotal role the Howling Commandos play in paving the way for D-Day…<\/p>\n

Crafted by regulars Thomas, Ayers and inker John Tartaglione, the monthly action resumes with \u2018The Grandeur that was Greece…\u2019 <\/em>as the Howlers are despatched to aid partisans and freedom fighters keeping Greek treasures and historical artefacts out of Nazi hands. Sadly, it\u2019s all an elaborate trap that leaves many good men dead and the unit captured with only Fury free to save them. Bloodied but unbowed, Fury then reviews his barnstorming early life and \u2018The Origin of the Howlers!\u2019<\/em> before #35 sees him infiltrate the heart of Nazi darkness to stage a \u2018Berlin Breakout!\u2019<\/em> of the captive Commandos, with the assistance arch rival Sgt. Bull McGiveney and old comrade Eric Koenig<\/em> – an anti-fascist German with plenty of reasons to fight the Reich…
\n\"\"
\nWith the mission deemed a qualified success, \u2018My Brother, My Enemy!\u2019<\/em> closes proceedings as Koenig join the squad, replacing a Howler who didn\u2019t return intact. His first official outing takes the team to neutral Switzerland to intercept a Nazi strategist en route<\/em> to Italy, burdened with the secret that their fanatical target was once his dearest childhood friend…<\/p>\n

To be Continued…<\/p>\n

Gilding this gladiatorial lily, the book signs off with a wealth of stunning original art covers and pages from Ayers (including unused cover art). Whereas close competitor DC increasingly abandoned the Death or Glory bombast at this time in favour of humanistic, almost anti-war explorations of war and soldiering, Marvel\u2019s take always favoured action-entertainment and fantasy over soul-searching for ultimate truths. On that level at least, these early epics are stunningly effective and galvanically powerful exhibitions of the genre.<\/p>\n

Just don\u2019t use them for history homework or to win a pub quiz.
\n\u00a9 2023 MARVEL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Dick Ayers, Frank Giacoia, John Tartaglione, Carl Hubbell, Jack Kirby, Art Simek, Sam Rosen & various (Marvel) ISBN: 978-1-3029-5254-9 (TPB\/Digital edition) Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Nostalgic Traditional Blockbuster Fare… 8\/10 This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos began as an improbable, … <\/p>\n

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