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Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos

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Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
Sgt Fury Howling Commandos No. 1.jpg
Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1 (May 1963). Cover art by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
FormatOngoing
Publication dateMay 1963 – Dec. 1981
No. of issues167
Main character(s)Sgt. Fury
Izzy Cohen
Dum Dum Dugan
Gabe Jones
Junior Juniper
Eric Koenig
Dino Manelli
Pinky Pinkerton
Rebel Ralston
Creative team
Created byStan Lee
Jack Kirby
Written byStan Lee (1-28, Annual #1)
Roy Thomas (29-41, Annual #2)
Gary Friedrich (42–57, 59–73, 75–76, 83, 94, 96–98, 100, 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, 112, 115–116, Annual #3–4, 6)
Penciller(s)Jack Kirby
Dick Ayers
Inker(s)Dick Ayers
George Roussos
John Severin

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 (cover dated May 1963).

Discover more about Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos related topics

Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew up in New York City and learned to draw cartoon figures by tracing characters from comic strips and editorial cartoons. He entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s, drawing various comics features under different pen names, including Jack Curtiss, before ultimately settling on Jack Kirby. In 1940, he and writer-editor Joe Simon created the highly successful superhero character Captain America for Timely Comics, predecessor of Marvel Comics. During the 1940s, Kirby regularly teamed with Simon, creating numerous characters for that company and for National Comics Publications, later to become DC Comics.

Stan Lee

Stan Lee

Stan Lee was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics which would later become Marvel Comics. He was the primary creative leader for two decades, leading its expansion from a small division of a publishing house to a multimedia corporation that dominated the comics and film industries.

Nick Fury

Nick Fury

Colonel Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Fury Sr. is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/artist Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee, he first appeared in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1, a World War II combat series that portrayed the cigar-chomping man as leader of an elite U.S. Army Ranger unit.

S.H.I.E.L.D.

S.H.I.E.L.D.

S.H.I.E.L.D. is a fictional espionage, special law enforcement, and counter-terrorism agency appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the agency first appeared in Strange Tales #135. It often deals with paranormal and superhuman threats to international security.

Howling Commandos

Howling Commandos

The Howling Commandos is the name of several fictional groups appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Character (arts)

Character (arts)

In fiction, a character is a person or other being in a narrative. The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, in which case the distinction of a "fictional" versus "real" character may be made. Derived from the Ancient Greek word χαρακτήρ, the English word dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones by Henry Fielding in 1749. From this, the sense of "a part played by an actor" developed. Character, particularly when enacted by an actor in the theatre or cinema, involves "the illusion of being a human person". In literature, characters guide readers through their stories, helping them to understand plots and ponder themes. Since the end of the 18th century, the phrase "in character" has been used to describe an effective impersonation by an actor. Since the 19th century, the art of creating characters, as practiced by actors or writers, has been called characterisation.

World War II

World War II

World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a global conflict that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries, including all of the great powers, fought as part of two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. Many participants threw their economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind this total war, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and the delivery of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war.

First appearance

First appearance

In American comic books and other stories with a long history, first appearance refers to the first issue to feature a fictional character. These issues are often highly valued by collectors due to their rarity and iconic status.

Cover date

Cover date

The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication ; later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unusually, Le Monde is a daily newspaper published the afternoon before its cover date. For some publications, the cover date may not be found on the cover, but rather on an inside jacket or on an interior page.

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.[1] Lee elaborated on that claim in a 2007 interview, responding to the suggestion that the series title did not necessarily seem bad:

It did at the time. First of all, it was too long for a title — we didn't have any that were six words. And "Howling" was a long word, and "Commandos" was a long word. I got the name "Howling Commandos" because in the Army there was a group called the Screaming Eagles. And I loved the sound of that. So I figured we'd have the Howling Commandos.[2]

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",[3] 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 (racial integration was unusual for the then-segregated U.S. military, though possible in elite special forces units).[4] 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.[5]

The series ran 167 issues (May 1963 - Dec. 1981), though with reprints alternating with new stories from issue #80 (Sept. 1970), and only in reprints after issue #120 (July 1974); 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.[6][7] Following seven issues by creators Lee and Kirby (who returned to collaborate on #13 and on the opening and closing pages of #18),[6] penciller Dick Ayers began his long stint on what would be his signature series, penciling 95 issues, including two extra-length annuals.[8] 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 (which Ayers said was "done that time I asked for a furlough and reassignment")[9] and Herb Trimpe ("They shuffled Trimpe and me around, [him] to Fury and [me] and Severin to [The Incredible] Hulk" Ayers recalled.)[9]

Roy Thomas followed Lee as writer, himself followed by Gary Friedrich, for whom this also became a signature series.[10] 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!"[11]

Friedrich began as a co-scripter of issues #42-44 (May–July 1967). The Friedrich-Ayers-Severin team began in earnest, however, with #45 (Aug. 1967), 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,

...Sgt. Fury #45 took a firm moralistic stance for the rest of the series by premiering what would become one of the most acclaimed series of stories in comics: the Gary Friedich "The" series, beginning with "The War Lover". ... Future stories in that fashion — all but one written by Friedrich — would center on what war could do to "The Assassin" (#51), the tragedy of a man turned hired liquidator, his family held hostage by Hitler's Gestapo; "The Informer" (#57), an observation on loyalty and trust, staged in a German P.O.W. camp; "The Peacemonger" (#64) [about a World War II conscientious objector]; "The Deserter" (#75), an allusion to the real-life execution of Private Eddie Slovik; "The All-American" (#81), Al Kurzrok's tale of a man [caught] between the twin microcosms of sport and war; and ultimately, "The Reporter" (#110), an account of a journalist faced with the [question of] when might a human life be forfeit? Many feel, also, that #46's tale, "They Also Serve", should be included ... for that story might as easily have been called "The Medic"....[12]

Sgt. Fury #57 (Aug. 1968), featuring a Friedrich "The" story. Cover art by Dick Ayers & John Severin.
Sgt. Fury #57 (Aug. 1968), featuring a Friedrich "The" story. Cover art by Dick Ayers & 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.... [E]ven in a scene that would ordinarily be static you could feel his characters breathing."[13] Inker Severin "took the art even further, laying dark, scratchy inks" that gave grit to Ayers' pencils.[13] 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."[11]

Friedrich continued through #83 (Jan. 1971), with the late part of this run having reprint issues alternating with new stories. He returned for the even-numbered issues from #94-114 (Jan. 1972 - Nov. 1973).[6]

Sgt. Fury ran concurrently with two other, short-lived Marvel World War II series, Capt. Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders (later titled Captain Savage and his Battlefield 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!"[14] The final issue, #167 (Dec. 1981) reprinted the first issue.[7]

Seven annual publications appeared, the first titled Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Special King Size Annual #1 (1965), and the remainder titled Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos King-Size Special #2-7 (1966 - Nov. 1971), 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.[15]

One latter-day story was published in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1 (July 2009), 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.[16]

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101st Airborne Division

101st Airborne Division

The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple battalion-size air assault operations to seize terrain. These operations can be conducted by mobile teams covering large distances, fighting behind enemy lines, and working in austere environments with limited or degraded infrastructure. Its unique battlefield mobility and high level of training have kept it in the vanguard of U.S. land combat forces in recent conflicts: for example, foreign internal defense and counterterrorism operations in Iraq, in Afghanistan in 2015–2016, and in Syria, as part of Operation Inherent Resolve in 2018–2021.

Comic strip

Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st century, these have been published in newspapers and magazines, with daily horizontal strips printed in black-and-white in newspapers, while Sunday papers offered longer sequences in special color comics sections. With the advent of the internet, online comic strips began to appear as webcomics.

Boy Commandos

Boy Commandos

Boy Commandos is a fictional organization from DC Comics first appearing in Detective Comics #64 by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. They are a combination of "kid gang" characters, an international cast of young boys fighting Nazis — or in their own parlance, "the Ratzies".

DC Comics

DC Comics

DC Comics, Inc. is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.

England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea area of the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.

European theatre of World War II

European theatre of World War II

The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat during World War II. It saw heavy fighting across Europe for almost six years, starting with Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ending with the Western Allies conquering most of Western Europe, the Soviet Union conquering most of Eastern Europe and Germany's unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945 although fighting continued elsewhere in Europe until 25 May. On 5 June 1945, the Berlin Declaration proclaiming the unconditional surrender of Germany to the four victorious powers was signed. The Allied powers fought the Axis powers on two major fronts as well as in a strategic bombing offensive and in the adjoining Mediterranean and Middle East theatre.

Gabe Jones

Gabe Jones

Gabriel "Gabe" Jones is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Jack Kirby, he made his first appearance in World War II war comics series Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1.

Caucasian race

Caucasian race

The Caucasian race is an obsolete racial classification of human beings based on a now-disproven theory of biological race. The Caucasian race was historically regarded as a biological taxon which, depending on which of the historical race classifications was being used, usually included ancient and modern populations from all or parts of Europe, Western Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, North Africa, and the Horn of Africa.

Copyright

Copyright

A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is intended to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself. A copyright is subject to limitations based on public interest considerations, such as the fair use doctrine in the United States.

Indicia (publishing)

Indicia (publishing)

Indicia is the plural of the Latin word indicium, meaning distinguishing marks.

Dick Ayers

Dick Ayers

Richard Bache Ayers was an American comic book artist and cartoonist best known for his work as one of Jack Kirby's inkers during the late-1950s and 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comics, including on some of the earliest issues of Marvel Comics' The Fantastic Four. He is the signature penciler of Marvel's World War II comic Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, drawing it for a 10-year run, and he co-created Magazine Enterprises' 1950s Western-horror character the Ghost Rider, a version of which he would draw for Marvel in the 1960s.

Annual publication

Annual publication

Annual publications, more often simply called annuals, are periodical publications appearing regularly once per year. Although exact definitions may vary, types of annuals include: calendars and almanacs, directories, yearbooks, annual reports, proceedings and transactions and literary annuals. A weekly or monthly publication may produce an Annual featuring similar materials to the regular publication. Some encyclopedias have published annual supplements that essentially summarize the news of the past year, similar to some newspaper yearbooks.

Characters

In addition to Fury, the elite special unit of U.S. Army Rangers nicknamed the Howling Commandos consisted of the following:

  • Corporal Timothy Aloysius Cadwallader "Dum Dum" Dugan - A former circus strongman, Dum Dum is Fury's good right hand. He occasionally refers to his wife ("ugh!") in Boston and his mother-in-law ("double ugh!") as reasons that he enlisted, preferring fighting Nazis to dealing with them.
  • Private Isadore "Izzy" Cohen - The first demonstrably Jewish American comic book hero. Izzy is a master mechanic.[5]
  • Private Gabriel Jones - An African American serving in an integrated unit. (The regular U.S. armed forces were not in real-life integrated until after the war, in 1948. However, certain elite units were in other comic books.)[17]
  • Private Dino Manelli[18] - He is modeled after Dean Martin. A swashbuckling movie actor, born in Italy, Dino enlisted to give back to the country that gave him so much. He is fluent in both Italian and German.
  • Private Robert "Rebel" Ralston - An ex-jockey from Kentucky Bluegrass country.
  • Private Percival "Pinky" Pinkerton - Loosely modeled after real-life Commando and movie actor David Niven, this British soldier replaced Juniper in issue #8 (July 1964).
  • Private Jonathan "Junior" Juniper — In an unusual and daring move for comics at the time, Junior was killed in action after a few issues (issue #4 (Nov. 1963)). As one comics historian wrote in 1999, "Today that's no big deal but in 1963, comics heroes simply didn't die; not permanently, anyway. Suddenly, with the death of 'Junior' Juniper, the series acquired some real cachet. It now played like a true-life war drama where people got killed and never came back. You wondered who would be next."[5]
  • Private Eric Koenig - A defector from Nazi Germany who joined the squad in issue #27 (Feb. 1966).
  • Private Jim Morita - Was an American of Japanese descent who served in the U.S. Army as a Ranger during World War II. He joined a Nisei Squadron under the command of Capt. "Happy Sam" Sawyer and served with the Howling Commandos on several missions.
  • Private Jacques "Frenchie" Dernier - Was a member of the French Resistance against the Nazi occupation during WWII.

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Corporal

Corporal

Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by the armed forces of many countries. It is also in use by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase capo corporale. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer.

Dum Dum Dugan

Dum Dum Dugan

Timothy Aloysius Cadwallader "Dum Dum" Dugan is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is an officer of S.H.I.E.L.D. and is one of the most experienced members of Nick Fury's team, known for his marksmanship with rifles and trademark bowler hat.

Boston

Boston

Boston, officially the City of Boston, is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the Northeastern United States. The city boundaries encompass an area of about 48.4 sq mi (125 km2) and a population of 675,647 as of 2020. The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 4.8 million people in 2016 and ranking as the tenth-largest MSA in the country. A broader combined statistical area (CSA), generally corresponding to the commuting area and including Worcester, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island, is home to approximately 8.2 million people, making it the sixth most populous in the United States.

American Jews

American Jews

American Jews or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by culture, ethnicity, or religion. Today the Jewish community in the United States consists primarily of Ashkenazi Jews, who descend from diaspora Jewish populations of Central and Eastern Europe and comprise about 90–95% of the American Jewish population.

Gabe Jones

Gabe Jones

Gabriel "Gabe" Jones is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Jack Kirby, he made his first appearance in World War II war comics series Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1.

Executive Order 9981

Executive Order 9981

Executive Order 9981 was issued on July 26, 1948, by President Harry S. Truman. This executive order abolished discrimination "on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin" in the United States Armed Forces, and led to the re-integration of the services during the Korean War (1950–1953). It was a crucial event in the post-World War II civil rights movement and a major achievement of Truman's presidency.

Dean Martin

Dean Martin

Dean Martin was an American singer, actor, and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool." Martin gained his career breakthrough together with comedian Jerry Lewis, billed as Martin and Lewis, in 1946. They performed in nightclubs and later had numerous appearances on radio, television and in films.

Pinky Pinkerton

Pinky Pinkerton

Percival "Pinky" Pinkerton is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character's first appearance was in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #8, in which he replaced Jonathan Junior Juniper who was killed in issue #4. He was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby.

David Niven

David Niven

David Niven was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Major Pollock in Separate Tables (1958). Niven's other roles included Squadron Leader Peter Carter in A Matter of Life and Death (1946), Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days (1956), Sir Charles Lytton in The Pink Panther (1963), James Bond in Casino Royale (1967), and Colonel Race in Death on the Nile (1978).

Junior Juniper

Junior Juniper

Jonathan "Junior" Juniper is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, his first appearance was in Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos vol. 1 #1. He is known to be the first major character to find death in a Marvel comic and the only Howling Commando ever to die in battle.

Eric Koenig

Eric Koenig

Eric Koenig is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #27 and he was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Dick Ayers. He is most commonly in association with the Howling Commandos and S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a dictatorship. Under Hitler's rule, Germany quickly became a totalitarian state where nearly all aspects of life were controlled by the government. The Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", alluded to the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which Hitler and the Nazis referred to as the Thousand-Year Reich, ended in May 1945 after 12 years when the Allies defeated Germany, ending World War II in Europe.

Fictional team history

In issue #34 (Sept. 1966)[10] 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.[5] 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.[19]

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 (the "Maulers", led by Sgt. "Bull" McGiveney, with Cpl. "Ricketts" Johnson),[20] and, later, Jim Morita's Nisei squad[21] 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.[5][22]

The Howling Commandos' earliest (but not first-published) 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 (Adolf Hitler's protégé), and other Axis villains. The Howlers encountered Office of Strategic Services agent Reed Richards (later Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four) in issue #3 (Sept. 1963), and fought alongside Captain America and Bucky in #13 (Dec. 1964).

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 (July 1972).

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Lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.

Happy Sam Sawyer

Happy Sam Sawyer

General Samuel "Happy Sam" Sawyer is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. His first appearance was in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1.

Commando

Commando

A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines.

Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands, informally Holland, is a country located in northwestern Europe with overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands consists of twelve provinces; it borders Germany to the east, and Belgium to the south, with a North Sea coastline to the north and west. It shares maritime borders with the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium in the North Sea. The country's official language is Dutch, with West Frisian as a secondary official language in the province of Friesland. Dutch, English and Papiamento are official in the Caribbean territories.

Fort Dix

Fort Dix

Fort Dix, the common name for the Army Support Activity (ASA) located at Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst, is a United States Army post. It is located 16.1 miles (25.9 km) south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. Fort Dix is under the jurisdiction of the Air Force Air Mobility Command. As of the 2020 U.S. census, Fort Dix census-designated place (CDP) had a total population of 7,716, of which 5,951 were in New Hanover Township, 1,765 were in Pemberton Township, and none were in Springfield Township.

Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is a state in the Western United States, about 2,000 miles (3,200 km) from the U.S. mainland in the Pacific Ocean. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state in the tropics.

Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender in World War II. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) was formed between 1952–1954 after the dissolution of the IJN.

Attack on Pearl Harbor

Attack on Pearl Harbor

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, just before 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, 1941. The United States was a neutral country at the time; the attack led to its formal entry into World War II the next day. The Japanese military leadership referred to the attack as the Hawaii Operation and Operation AI, and as Operation Z during its planning.

England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea area of the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.

European theatre of World War II

European theatre of World War II

The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat during World War II. It saw heavy fighting across Europe for almost six years, starting with Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ending with the Western Allies conquering most of Western Europe, the Soviet Union conquering most of Eastern Europe and Germany's unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945 although fighting continued elsewhere in Europe until 25 May. On 5 June 1945, the Berlin Declaration proclaiming the unconditional surrender of Germany to the four victorious powers was signed. The Allied powers fought the Axis powers on two major fronts as well as in a strategic bombing offensive and in the adjoining Mediterranean and Middle East theatre.

Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both aspects. At about 30.3 million km2 including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surface area. With 1.4 billion people as of 2021, it accounts for about 18% of the world's human population. Africa's population is the youngest amongst all the continents; the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median age was 30.4. Despite a wide range of natural resources, Africa is the least wealthy continent per capita and second-least wealthy by total wealth, behind Oceania. Scholars have attributed this to different factors including geography, climate, tribalism, colonialism, the Cold War, neocolonialism, lack of democracy, and corruption. Despite this low concentration of wealth, recent economic expansion and the large and young population make Africa an important economic market in the broader global context.

Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia, Asia Minor, East Thrace, Egypt, Iran, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and the Socotra Archipelago. The term came into widespread usage as a replacement of the term Near East beginning in the early 20th century. The term "Middle East" has led to some confusion over its changing definitions, and has been viewed by some to be discriminatory or too Eurocentric. The region includes the vast majority of the territories included in the closely associated definition of Western Asia, but without the South Caucasus, and additionally includes all of Egypt and all of Turkey.

In other media

Television

Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Howling Commandos as depicted in the film Captain America: The First Avenger.
The Howling Commandos as depicted in the film Captain America: The First Avenger.
See also: Howling Commandos (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Though initially unnamed as a group, the Howling Commandos appear in media set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Video games

The Howling Commandos appear as NPCs in Captain America: Super Soldier, consisting of Bucky Barnes, Jim Morita, Dum Dum Dugan, and Montgomery Falsworth.

Discover more about In other media related topics

The Super Hero Squad Show

The Super Hero Squad Show

The Super Hero Squad Show is an American superhero animated series produced by Marvel Animation. It is based on the Marvel Super Hero Squad action figure line from Hasbro, which portray the Avengers, the X-Men, and various other characters of the Marvel Universe in a cartoonish super-deformed style.

Nick Fury

Nick Fury

Colonel Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Fury Sr. is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/artist Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee, he first appeared in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1, a World War II combat series that portrayed the cigar-chomping man as leader of an elite U.S. Army Ranger unit.

Dum Dum Dugan

Dum Dum Dugan

Timothy Aloysius Cadwallader "Dum Dum" Dugan is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is an officer of S.H.I.E.L.D. and is one of the most experienced members of Nick Fury's team, known for his marksmanship with rifles and trademark bowler hat.

Gabe Jones

Gabe Jones

Gabriel "Gabe" Jones is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Jack Kirby, he made his first appearance in World War II war comics series Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1.

The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is an American superhero animated television series by Marvel Animation in cooperation with Film Roman, based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers. The show debuted on Disney XD and online in the fall of 2010, starting with a 20-part micro-series that were later broadcast as five television episodes. In the second season, it was one of the inaugural shows of the Marvel Universe programming block alongside Ultimate Spider-Man.

Nick Fury (Ultimate Marvel character)

Nick Fury (Ultimate Marvel character)

General Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Fury is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics' Ultimate Marvel section as a different version of Nick Fury. He has a substantial presence in all the Ultimate Marvel comics, appearing first in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up and Ultimate X-Men and later reappearing regularly in Ultimate Spider-Man and finally securing a regular, recurring role as the general of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the leader of the Ultimates, a re-imagining of the Avengers. This character was designed to look like Samuel L. Jackson, who later went on to portray the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; the recognizability of the MCU version later led Marvel to retire the original Earth-616 character with his son.

Pinky Pinkerton

Pinky Pinkerton

Percival "Pinky" Pinkerton is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character's first appearance was in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #8, in which he replaced Jonathan Junior Juniper who was killed in issue #4. He was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America: The First Avenger is a 2011 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Captain America. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures, it is the fifth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Joe Johnston, written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and stars Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America alongside Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Toby Jones, Neal McDonough, Derek Luke, and Stanley Tucci. During World War II, Steve Rogers, a frail man, is transformed into the super-soldier Captain America and must stop the Red Skull (Weaving) from using the Tesseract as an energy source for world domination.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The franchise also includes television series, short films, digital series, and literature. The shared universe, much like the original Marvel Universe in comic books, was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters.

Bucky Barnes (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Bucky Barnes (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes, more commonly known as Bucky Barnes, is a fictional character portrayed by Sebastian Stan in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name and sometimes referred to by his alias, the Winter Soldier, and later as the White Wolf. Barnes is childhood best friends with Steve Rogers who serves alongside him during World War II. However, Barnes gets separated from Rogers and is captured by Hydra who transforms him into a super soldier and assassin known as the Winter Soldier. Years later, after reuniting with Rogers and getting assisted by him, along with Sam Wilson, Clint Barton, Wanda Maximoff, and Scott Lang, he is eventually cured of his programming by Shuri in Wakanda. He then aids Rogers and the other Avengers in the battle against Thanos. Shortly after getting restored to life, he witnesses Rogers' retirement and tries to make his own way in life with his amends. He later partners up with Wilson, supporting him as the new Captain America.

Sebastian Stan

Sebastian Stan

Sebastian Stan is a Romanian and American actor. He gained recognition for his role as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe media franchise beginning with the film Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), and most recently starring in the Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021).

Neal McDonough

Neal McDonough

Neal McDonough is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Lieutenant Lynn "Buck" Compton in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers (2001), Deputy District Attorney David McNorris on Boomtown (2002–2003), Tin Man in the Sci Fi Channel miniseries Tin Man, and a main cast role as Dave Williams in Season 5 of Desperate Housewives (2008–2009). He has also appeared in films such as Star Trek: First Contact, Minority Report, Walking Tall, and as Dum Dum Dugan in various Marvel Cinematic Universe films and TV series. In the DC Arrowverse, he has appeared as Damien Darhk in the TV series Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, and The Flash. He had a major role in Suits for several seasons (2014–2019) and played Malcolm Beck on Yellowstone (2019).

Collected editions

  • Marvel Masterworks: Sgt. Fury Vol. 1 (Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1-13) ISBN 978-0785120391
  • Marvel Masterworks: Sgt. Fury Vol. 2 (Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #14-23, Annual #1) ISBN 978-0785129288
  • Marvel Masterworks: Sgt. Fury Vol. 3 (Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #24-32, Annual #2) ISBN 978-0785142126
  • Marvel Masterworks: Sgt. Fury Vol. 4 (Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #33-43) ISBN 978-0785159599
  • Essential Sgt. Fury Vol. 1 (Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1-23, Annual #1) ISBN 978-0785163954
  • Marvel Epic Collection Vol. 1 (Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #1-19) ISBN 978-1302916572

Source: "Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, February 10th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sgt._Fury_and_his_Howling_Commandos.

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Further Reading

Nick Fury

John Severin

Dick Ayers

Gary Friedrich

Dum Dum Dugan

Nick Fury's Howling Commandos

Gabe Jones

Junior Juniper

Pinky Pinkerton

Jasper Sitwell

War Is Hell (comics)

Captain Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders

Sgt. Fury & his Howling Commandos: Shotgun Opera
References
  1. ^ Ro, Ronin. Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and the American Comic Book Revolution (Bloomsbury USA, 2005 reissue ISBN 1-58234-566-X), p. 78:

    To this day, Stan claims that [the replacement for the canceled title The Incredible Hulk] was the result of a bet between him and Goodman. As Stan tells, Goodman told him their books were selling because of buzzwords like Amazing, Fantastic, Mighty, and Incredible. Stan answered that the Lee-Kirby style was responsible ... and offered the following challenge: "I'll do a war book with the worst title I can come up with, but if it's done in the Marvel style, I bet it'll sell."
  2. ^ Archive of "Fast Chat: Stan Lee". Newsday, April 1, 2007. Online version March 31, 2007.
  3. ^ Ro, pp. 78-79
  4. ^ Lovece, Nimbus #3, p. 4: "[T]he book was unlike most group comics in that the cast were not all WASP, but instead, a superb melting pot of various religions, races, colors, and creeds, an incredible challenge to do naturalistically yet inoffensively."
  5. ^ a b c d e Alexander, Mark. "Wah-Hoo!! Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos", Jack Kirby Collector #24 (April 1999)
  6. ^ a b c Sgt. Fury (issues #1-120) at the Grand Comics Database
  7. ^ a b Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos (issues #121-167) at the Grand Comics Database
  8. ^ Lovece, Nimbus #3, p. 6
  9. ^ a b Ayers in Lovece, Nimbus #3, p. 9
  10. ^ a b Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos at the Grand Comics Database
  11. ^ a b Ayers in Lovece, Nimbus #3, p. 7
  12. ^ Lovece, Nimbus #3 p. 8
  13. ^ a b Lovece, Nimbus #3, p. 7
  14. ^ Thomas, Roy (August 2011). "Stan Lee's Amazing Marvel Interview!". Alter Ego. TwoMorrows Publishing (104): 3–45.
  15. ^ Sgt. Fury Annual at the Grand Comics Database
  16. ^ Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos One-Shot #1 at the Grand Comics Database.
  17. ^ In comic books, the DC Comics feature "Sgt. Rock", begun in the series Our Army at War in 1959, had earlier featured an African-American soldier, Jackie Johnson, in an integrated unit.
  18. ^ Lovece, Frank (September 1977). "Fury Got His Gun" (PDF). Nimbus (3): 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 27, 2012.
  19. ^ This paragraph per Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #62 (Jan. 1969)
  20. ^ The Maulers and McGiveney introduced in issues #7 (May 1964); Johnson introduced #33 (Aug. 1966)
  21. ^ The unnamed squadron was newly created in its first appearance, Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #38 (Jan. 1967). Per The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Jim Morita, "Able Company was shown to have four attack squads in Sgt. Fury #11. Perhaps Morita's squad was the Fifth Attack Squad?"
  22. ^ Introduced in #4 (Nov. 1963), died in #18 (May 1965)
  23. ^ a b Lovece, Frank (July 14, 2011). "Red, White and True Blue 'Captain America'". Newsday. Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2010-07-20.
  24. ^ Moore, Roger. "EXCLUSIVE: Joe Johnston makes 'Captain America' fit into the Marvel Universe, brings back Howling Commandos". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  25. ^ Faraci, Devin (2010-02-07). "Captain America's International Co-Stars: The Invaders". Chud.com. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2012-03-18.
  26. ^ Logan, Michael (September 10, 2014). "First Look: Haley Atwell's Agent Carter on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." TV Guide. Archived from the original on September 11, 2014. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  27. ^ "DEBRIEFING MARVEL'S AGENT CARTER: THE IRON CEILING". Marvel. January 16, 2015.
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