Issue #1 – 50 Years of SHIELD: Fury
Title: Fury: SHIELD 50th Anniversary #1
Writer: David F Walker
Artist: Lee Ferguson
The Buzz: SHIELD is 50 years old! To celebrate, Marvel have put out a series of one-shot comics in honour of five iconic SHIELD agents, combining mythos from the Agents of SHIELD & Agent Carter TV shows, and from the comics themselves. The characters in question are Mockingbird, Melinda May, Quake, Peggy Carter and Nick Fury – though there are also cameos and guest appearances from many others.
David F Walker is an African American comics writer best known for his acclaimed run on Dynamite’s Shaft comics, and more recently on DC’s Cyborg. Walker has been interviewed here about his opinions on the blaxploitation genre, treating characters of colour with respect, and the way in which he likes to incorporate social issues and real history into his stories about superheroes.
All You Need To Know: Nick Fury Sr (a grizzled white man with an eyepatch) has been around Marvel comics forever, in all manner of military and spy comics along with the Howling Commandoes and SHIELD – he is best known as the angry, secretive Director of SHIELD. His character was then redesigned as a black man in Marvel’s Ultimate universe, based on Samuel L Jackson (anecdotally, Jackson gave his permission in exchange for being cast in the movies). Since then, Ultimate Nick Fury has become the iconic media default, the character appearing as a black man in nearly every Marvel cartoon, and played by Samuel L Jackson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a series of cameo appearances and supporting roles. Jackson is so strongly identified with the character that it’s weird to pick up a Marvel comic and remember that he used to be a white guy. In recent years, the main Marvel universe introduced the idea that Nick Fury Sr had a biracial son, marine Marcus Johnson, who took his father’s name and joined SHIELD as Nick Fury Jr after finding out his real identity. Fury Sr has vanished into to the narrative background of the Marvel Universe because sekrit spy bizness, so the two of them still barely know each other.
Well that sounds like some solid story material to work from right htere!
Story: The first few pages are set up to tell two stories in different eras, with half the layout following Fury Sr in 1965 with Gabe Jones and Dum-Dum Dugan as his offsiders, and Fury Jr in 2015 with Director Maria Hill. Both storylines address racial issues – Gabe Jones (the best known black Howling Commando – unlike real American units in WW2, the Howling Commandoes were not racially segregated) discusses his torn loyalties over the race riots in the streets of 1965, while in 2015 Fury Jr is pursuing a racist supervillain who calls himself Hate-Monger. As noted, his superpower is not subtlety.
Then bam! Fury Jr ends up back in time, facing down his surprisingly baby-faced Dad, 50 years ago. After that it’s a pretty straightforward caper with a solid serving of racial commentary. The emotional bonus here is that Fury & Fury have to communicate without spilling too many secrets (Fury Jr is firmly following established time travel protocols, while Fury Sr is only just starting to realise why SHIELD might need such protocols) and Dad is a lot less of a dick in the 60’s. I found the “twist” about the identity of the kid that Hate-Monger was trying to Terminator out of existence a bit cheesy, largely because I had to look up the name before I figured out who he was (hey, I’m Australian, okay). Still, this goes down as one of the least annoying military comics I’ve ever read, because the focus is always on character over action. Huzzah!
Too often, a time travel story is used to show how things were so much worse in the olden days, with oldey-timey racism or sexism being played as ‘they’d never do that now!’ jokes and we get to feel superior about our social progress. I appreciated that this never did that – we have jarring moments like Fury being called ‘boy’ in 1965, but the overall message is that America still has serious problems with race, authority and violence – that things may in fact be worse in many ways. It’s significant that the violence in the story is instigated by a villain from now, rather than then.
Art: I really liked the layout and use of colour to denote different time zones in the first few pages, which sold the comic’s concept in powerful scenes – it was almost disappointing that this wasn’t kept as the style for the whole issue. I also liked the character designs. On the whole, though this issue features a stark, simple art style that felt generic in places. For a time travel story there was very little 1960’s flavour in the costume or backgrounds, so it looked like that it could have been set anywhere at all – likewise, the use of Hawaii as a setting was underplayed visually.
But What Did I Miss?: The entire Nick & Nick relationship, I guess? But I think the comic conveys that without you needing prep. If, like me, you don’t know the current US President’s mother’s maiden name, there might be another aspect of the story that you totally missed. Or maybe that was just me. *Sidles away*
Would Read Issue 2?: Depends on the set up, but I did shell out for the comics that explained Nick Jr’s backstory and friendship with Coulson, so odds on I would be interested in a Fury ongoing title written by Walker. Actually, why isn’t that a thing? I’d be hoping for more dynamic art, though, and my disinterest in old Nick Fury is remains critically high – Fury Jr in a buddy comedy with Maria Hill and/or Black Widow is much more my sort of thing.
Read it if you Like: Battle Scars, Secret Avengers, Samuel L Jackson’s grumpydorable face
Previously reviewed this year:
Thor #1 (2014)
Spider-Woman #1 (2014)
All-New Captain America #1 (2014)
Captain America & the Mighty Avengers #1 (2014)
S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 (2014)
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1 (2015)
Bitch Planet #1 (2014)
Secret Six #1 (2014)
Operation: S.I.N. #1
Spider-Gwen #1
Curb Stomp #1
Jem & the Holograms #1
Silk #1
Issue #1 – Convergence Special – Oracle, JLI, Batgirl
Issue #1 – Battleworld Special: Lady Kate, Ms America & Inferno
X-Men ’92 #1
Giant-Sized Little Marvels: AvX #1 (2015)
Runaways #1 (2015)
Loki, Agent of Asgard #1 (2014)
Fresh Romance #1
All-New Hawkeye #1
Black Canary #1
The Wicked and the Divine #1 (2014)
Bombshells #1
Captain Marvel & the Carol Corps #1
50 Years of SHIELD: Mockingbird #1
50 Years of SHIELD: (Don’t Call Her…) The Cavalry #1
50 Years of SHIELD: Quake #1
