NoKo Crushers SGT FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS "Commission in Korea!" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

...the Howling Commandos under Colonel "Happy Sam" Sawyer, are sent into North Korea to blow up a secret air base!

With a slightly shaken-up "Happy Sam" stationed outside the base as backup, Sgt Fury and the Howlers attack in their own inimitable style...

Why all the set-up for Nick Fury?

He had recently-appeared in Fantastic Four (V1N21 [1963]) as an eyepatch-wearing CIA colonel (though he's named "Sgt Fury" and wearing ripped Army fatigues on the cover) to help them stop the Hate Monger and reminisce with Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic, whom he'd met during WWII when Reed was an OSS agent.

So we knew the crusty noncom-turned-officer had survived to the (then) present day.

But bigger plans were in store for Nick...

Fury had just replaced The Human Torch and The Thing as Dr Strange's co-feature in Strange Tales as of #135 (1965), making him the first comic character to have two simultaneous strips set in two different time periods!
(Howling Commandos in the 1940s, S.H.I.E.L.D. in the "present day" 1960s!)
Several of the Howlers joined Nick at S.H.I.E.L.D., including Dum-Dum, Gabe, and eventually, Eric Koenig.

Fanboy Trivia:

Eric isn't in this Annual set in the period between World War II and the 1960s because he wasn't even introduced into the WWII-era Howling Commandos comic until six months after the Annual was published (#27 in late 1965)!
And, we finally got to see the only exclusive Sgt Fury-themed Marvel merchandise of the 1960s...a Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos t-shirt (which, unlike most of the other Marvel shirts of the 1960s, had never been reissued by Graphitti!)

Would I love to have a Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos shirt (in XXL, sadly)...

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Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos

#2 Berlin Breakout

(Which includes this story!)

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NoKo Crushers SGT FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS "Commission in Korea!" Part 1

Though Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos were best-known for their World War II exploits...

...many of the current comic readers don't know how they battled Commies in the 1950s!

And, no, this ain't rebooting Marvel history with retroactive continuity like the recent Ben Grimm and Logan mini-series presentation!
This was written and illustrated during the Silver Age of Comics by the original Marvel Bullpen crew and has been officially part of Marvel continuity since!

This tale from Marvel's Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos Annual #1 (1965), gives the details...

We'll observe, Commie...NEXT MONDAY!

In the 1960s, Marvel's Annuals were a mixed bag.

Unlike DC's 80-Page Giants which were all-reprint, Marvel's combined a new lead story with new behind-the-scenes featurettes and pin-ups along with a couple of reprinted stories into a 72-page package for the same 25₵ price as the aforementioned Giants.

This Stan Lee-scripted, Dick Ayers-penciled, Frank Giacoia-inked tale ("Frankie Ray" was Giacoia's pseudonym because he was doing a lot of freelance work for DC at the time.) covered a major, but untold, event in the group's history...their only battle during the Korean War!

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Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos

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Russkie Smashers BEN GRIMM AND LOGAN "Connecting Flight" Part 1

When Last We Left Ben Grimm, Logan, Carol Danvers, and Natasha Romanoff...

...well, that's really all you need to know at this second.

So buckle up, kiddies and enjoy the ride...

To Be Concluded TUESDAY at...

HEROINES!

Next Month...

More Halloween Madness in Rutland, Vermont as Heroes and Heroines from All Over the Multiverse Battle Mystical Menaces During October!

(After Which, Our Regularly-Scheduled Russkie-Smashing Will Resume!)

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Russkie Smashers BEN GRIMM AND LOGAN "Midnight Train to Moscow" Part 1

We Have Already Seen...

Logan and Ben Grimm are aboard an experimental flying wing piloted by Carol Danvers which is currently in Soviet airspace and being pursued by Russian aircraft lead by Natasha Romanoff (who is not currently using that name)...

To Be Continued TUESDAY at...

HEROINES!

Written by Larry Hama, penciled by Kaare Andrews, and inked by Walden Wong, this never-reprinted tale from Marvel's Before the Fantastic Four: Ben Grimm & Logan #2 (2000) is set in the early Silver Age Marvel Universe timeline, at a point when Nick Fury still had both eyes and worked for the CIA, Tony Stark was just a weapons manufacturer, Logan was an agent for the Canadian Defense Ministry who had not yet been forced into the Weapon X program, Ben Grimm was a military test pilot, Carol Danvers was a Department of Defense employee, and Natasha Romanoff was...well, we're not sure what she's doing here!
In case you haven't guessed, this is a "retcon", filling-in previously-untold history about the characters.
Whether current Marvel continuity considers it "canon" or not, I can't say...and don't care!

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Russkie Smashers BEN GRIMM AND LOGAN "Mission to Nowhere" Part 1

Before the Fantastic Four, X-Men, Avengers, or S.H.I.E.L.D. existed...

Marvel's heroic characters battled Russkies...retroactively!

To Be Continued TUESDAY at...

HEROINES!

And wait 'til you see why it's being run there!

(Hint: there are TWO Reasons!)

Yes, this is a crossover that'll run in both blogs for three weeks until the entire mini-series is re-presented.

Written by Larry Hama, penciled by Kaare Andrews, and inked by Walden Wong, this never-reprinted tale from Marvel's Before the Fantastic Four: Ben Grimm & Logan #1 (2000) is set in the early Silver Age Marvel Universe timeline, at a point when Nick Fury still had both eyes and worked for the CIA, Tony Stark was just a weapons manufacturer, Logan was an agent for the Canadian Defense Ministry who had not yet been forced into the Weapon X program, and Ben Grimm was a military test pilot.
It's a retcon, filling in previously-untold history about the characters.

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History of the Marvel Universe