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1964 Australian reprint of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #6 "The Fangs of the Desert Fox".
1st app. of Sgt. Nick Fury, Corporal "Dum Dum" Dugan, the Howlers and Captain "Happy Sam" Sawyer; COMIC BOOK IMPACT rating of 9 (CBI)
Colonel Nick Fury is best known as the tough, cigar-chomping leader of S.H.I.E.L.D. but he got his start way back in World War II as the Sergeant that led the elite special unit, the First Attack Squad, a.k.a. the Howling Commandos. The Commandos were racially and ethnically diverse which made the team a bit unique in the early civil rights era. Jack Kirby created the team and initially pitched the idea to John Severin as a syndicated newspaper strip in the late 1950s, but failed to get any traction with publishers. Espousing the same ideals of diversity that would later make the X-Men a global phenomenon, Kirby first brought his sense of justice to a more-relatable group of characters fighting for American values in the European theatre of WWII, and thus, begat the Howling Commandos.


Artists Information

Jack Kirby is called 'The King of Comics' for a reason, during his career that spanned six decades he gave us many of the most iconic characters the medium would ever see. From his introduction of Captain America at the height of World War II it was clear he wasn't your ordinary comics artist. But it was his creative explosion at Marvel Comics in the 1960's that cemented his legacy, over a short period of time Kirby would give us The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, The Hulk, The X-Men, Thor, Ant-Man and Nick Fury just to name a few. Kirby would then go to DC and create his Fourth World, introducing Darkseid, Mister Miracle, The New Gods and a host of cosmic supporting players. Long live The King.

Richard "Dick" Ayers was an American comic book artist and cartoonist best known for his work as one of the main inkers during the late-1950's and 1960's Silver Age of Comics, including some of the earliest issues of Marvel Comics' including Jack Kirby's 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. His career would span 7 decades until his death in 2014.