I don't know why I only reviewed 3 comics from this month, but so be it...
NICK FURY, AGENT OF SHIELD 15
cover by Herb Trimpe & Sam Grainger
Synopsis:
HYDRA Number 72 hires the services of Bulls-eye, a paid assassin, to kill Nick Fury. Fury is concerned that 3 CIA operatives have been killed, and feels SHIELD could handle the investigation better than they could. Fury picks up Laura for a date, and as they drive, they're followed all over town by Bulls-eye. Number 72 plans to turn NYC into a "bloody battleground" within the hour following Fury's death. Fury & Laura attend a concert by Country Joe & The Fish in Central Park, when Bulls-eye strikes! Abruptly, Number 72 decides this would be the moment SHIELD would expect HYDRA to strike-- and changes his plans! Instead, SHIELD converges on Central Park, and corner Bulls-eye, who decides to shoot it out with them. Dugan shoots Bulls-eye dead, then ponders if there's any pieces of SHIELD left to pick up...
Indexer notes:
Bulls-eye's only appearance; not related to the Marv Wolfman villain from DAREDEVIL #131 (March 1976). Following Number 72's instructions, Number 72 inexplicably wastes energy running all over NYC following Fury, even though he knew in advance where his target would be later in the day! Equally baffling is his wearing a brightly-colored costume while trying to escape from the scene of a murder. Last episode. Nick Fury turns up alive 2 months later in THE AVENGERS #72 (January 1970).
(9-15-2007)
Hydra hires the services of "Bulls-Eye" (no relation to the later DAREDEVIL villain) to bump off Fury. They plan to attack en masse as soon as he's dead, determined it'll be one organization or the other who's wiped out. However, they also have Bulls-Eye follow Fury all over town while he's on a date with Laura Brown, despite knowing where Fury will be when he plans to kill him. The reason for this is the planned major assault, and their intention that during the massive attack, their paid hit-man will also get bumped in the cross-fire. Poor egotistical FOOL that he is, he never latches onto this, and wastes his entire afternoon following Fury around from rooftops, as if he was Daredevil or somebody. Must have been awful worn out by the time they reached Central Park, the Country Joe & The Fish concert, and the assassination. Fury's shot in the back-- Laura's horrified-- the Hydra leader suddenly, abruptly decides NOT to stage the assault (what th'...???) and Dugan personally shoots Bulls-Eye, who hung around too long, and was stupid enough to get into a gunfight with a whole squad of SHIELD agents. Dugan wonders if there's any pieces to pick up, as Fury appears to be dead.
Gary Friedrich, Herb Trimpe & Sam Grainger were getting some rave reviews on the letters page. All 3 appeared set to do a nice, long, productive run. The inclusion of a full-page cutaway view of HYDRA HQ with all its weaponry & such (in the tradition of Jack Kirby's cutaway views of same, and the Baxter Building in FANTASTIC FOUR) reveal they put a lot of time and thought into this, and clearly had big plans. But it was NOT to be! Several pages before the end of the issue, Trimpe was suddenly replaced by Dick Ayers, whose pages just don't cut it. About the same point in the story was where the HYDRA leader changes his mind-- and after saying several pages earlier, "There's NO turning back now!" (Oh YEAH???) These 2 things taken together strongly suggest a sudden LAST-MINUTE change to the ending of the issue. For, while there is NO hint on the letters page, this turned out to be the LAST issue of the series. I don't know what was originally planned, but I doubt this issue was supposed to end the way it did. The fate of Fury was revealed in THE AVENGERS #72 (Jan'70), 2 months later.
(7-4-2008)
FANTASTIC FOUR 92
cover by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 78
cover by JOHN ROMITA
IRON MAN 19
cover by ??
CAPTAIN AMERICA 119
cover by ??
SILVER SURFER 10
cover by ??
SUB-MARINER 19
cover by ??
THE INCREDIBLE HULK 121
cover by ??
CAPTAIN MARVEL 18
cover by Gil Kane & Dan Adkins
Yon-Rogg returns to the underground cave Kree Outpost, and plots his revenge on CM, pondering how CM could be trapped in the Negative Zone if anything happened to Rick Jones. Out on the open highway, CM saves a driver who fell asleep at the wheel, and wonders if somehow Yon-Rogg was responsible, but this is never revealed. In a small town Rick sits in playing music at a coffee house, gets into a fight with a heckler, and meets Mordecai P. Boggs, a music promoter with a resemblance to W.C. Fields. Rick’s too busy being angry & sorry for himself to be interested. From his vantage point in the Negative Zone, CM discovers Yon-Rogg’s whereabouts, and hurries there to rescue the Carol Danvers, who’s been a prisoner since #16. Using a Kree device called the Psyche-Magnitron, Yon-Rogg creates out of thin air a Mandroid, which are used to execute Kree traitors. During the ensueing fight, Carol realizes that CM is fighting to save 2 worlds, as Yon-Rogg still plans to overthrow the Kree government. The Mandroid fails, and during a hand-to-hand struggle a stray shot hits Carol (NOT AGAIN!!!). Somehow the Magnitron overloads and CM barely manages to rescue Carol, seconds before an explosion destroys the outpost and buries Yon-Rogg for all time. After putting the unconscious Carol down, CM trades places with Rick, who quickly succumbs to exhaustion and collapses in the desert.
So-- at last-- Yon-Rogg is dead. Ho hum. But Carol & Rick’s fates are left up in the air. While far less convoluted than the previous one, this issue has nothing special about it, and the resolution of a 18-issue sub-plot feels more anticlimactic than anything else. While Goodwin gloried in bringing a multitude of sub-plots to a spectacular conclusion, this feels more like just trying to sweep something under the rug as quickly as possible so the book can move on. Reportedly, Gil Kane co-plotted this episode with Roy, although ironically, he only pencilled the first half. Longtime pro and Marvel regular John Buscema stepped in to draw the 2nd half of the issue. Had he been the regular artist since last issue (at least) perhaps more could be said, but while his half is “nicer” than Kane’s, nothing about it seems particularly inspired or impressive.
Oddly enough, in a completely convoluted sort of way, this issue had a direct connection with the much-later “spin-off” series, MS. MARVEL, which starred Carol Danvers. But nothing here would have given that indication.
Fred had this for $9.00-- probably because it was in better condition than some of the others.
(7-2-2004 / review originally published in KLORDNY #138)
THOR 170
cover by Jack Kirby & ?? (rejected)
You know, it's bad enough when "ye editor" makes John Romita do uncalled-for alterations on other people's art... but when yoiu have him getting Romita to do a 2nd-RATE cover to replace a much-better Jack Kirby cover, it realy brings into question whether or not he actually was the ALLEGEDLY "great" editor his fans insist he was.
(10-27-2018)
THE AVENGERS 70
cover by ??
DAREDEVIL 58
cover by ??
X-MEN 62
cover by ??
DR. STRANGE 183
cover by Gene Colan & Tom Palmer
Doc answers the telegram from an old colleague, Kenneth Ward. Although Clea asks him not to go, and wishes for a "normal" life (what IS it with "girlfriends" and certain writers who make them get so whiny like that all of a sudden?) he can't turn down a request for help. On arrival, and making sure he uses his new "Dr. Sanders" identity (which Eternity gave him, and which only he, Clea & Wong realize was not "always" his "real name"), Stephen finds his old colleague suffereing from amnesia, with no recollection of sending the telegram, and surrounded by a trio of somewhat-menacing-seeming attendants. Doc eventually finds his friend had discovered some ancient statues sculpted in bizarre, monstrous forms, and a miniature statue, which he brought back home to study. Now, it seems the 3 men watching over him are really disciples of "The Undying Ones", and want the statue back at all costs. Doc manages to defeat them, but finds Ward has died. He vows he'll get to the bottom of this mystery, whatever it takes.
This story, a tribute to H.P.Lovecraft and his "Cthulu" stories, is the first of 3 parts. However, while the last page promises "The Searchers" next time, just as with NICK FURY, this turned out to be DR. STRANGE's last issue, as the book was cancelled abruptly with no warning, no hint on the letters page! I can only figure Marvel's big expansion earlier in 1968 must have stretched its fans' buying powers to the limit, and eventually sales began dropping off. Reports have it that X-MEN was also slated for cancellation, but saved-- at least for awhile-- due to the arrival of Neal Adams. (I wonder if Adams had gotten on NICK FURY instead, if that book might have lasted longer, instead of X-MEN?) Gene Colan & Tom Palmer's art continues to be spectacular, although with the complex story and more panels this time, a bit less pin-up worthy. Even so, several pages, including the splash, would have made great posters. I have 2 printings of this story-- the original, and the reprint in ESSENTIAL DEFENDERS Vol.1 (2005). Both follow-up chapters would appear in that, as well as the DAY OF THE DEFENDERS one-shot (2001). The story continued in SUB-MARINER #22 (Feb'70) and concluded in THE INCREDIBLE HULK #126 (Apr'70). This 3-parter effectively "inspired" the later creation of THE DEFENDERS in 1971.
(7-4-2008)
(Continued in December 1969)
All Text (C) Henry R. Kujawa
Artwork (C) Marvel Comics
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa
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