Everyone knows Nick Fury today from the movies. These days he’s played by American actor Samuel L. Jackson and has appeared in multiple Marvel films. But there’s another Nick Fury. Before he joined S.H.I.E.L.D. and became head of a spy organization, before he became black: Fury was originally a Caucasian soldier with the rank of ‘sergeant’. Yup, I’m talking about Sgt. Nick Fury the leader of the 'Howling Commandos'.

Many collectors have heard of the first issue of the Sgt. Fury comic, which is considered a prestigious Marvel Silver Age Key (and usually priced accordingly!). However the first and original Sgt. Fury comic actually lasted many years, published between 1963 and 1981. Even if the latter half of the run, after about issue #80, was mostly reprints, it was still popular enough to have over 160 issues published.

There are some great keys scattered throughout the Sgt. Fury run and some great comics beyond the Lee-Kirby initial issues, however, in this post I want to focus on the keys from the early Lee-Kirby run featuring the original appearances of Nick Fury.

The origins of the Nick Fury title, according to a possibly apocryphal story, is as follows: Stan Lee was talking to his publisher who was arguing that the only reason for the success of Marvel comics was the spiffy names the books had. Lee protested that it was his scripts and Kirby’s art that were the key to Marvel’s success and, on a dare, boasted that he would publish a title with a completely ridiculous name. Thus Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos was born.

Sgt. Fury #1 (May 1963) - First issue in series; First appearance of Sargent Nick Fury; Kirby & Ayers Cover art; First appearance of Dum Dum Dugan and the Howlers

This issue, published in 1963, is the holy grail of the Sgt. Fury run. It is a mega-key since it is one of the original Lee/Kirby Marvel Silver Age comics. As such, many Marvel completists seek it out only to boast about having a copy of every Marvel Silver Age #1 issue. But if you regard it only as a token you’re missing the significance of this comic. Sgt. Fury as a character is central to the entire Marvel universe but the first comic he launched was significant in relation to war comics. It added a new style and, later, much greater depth to what was, at the time, a popular but highly formulaic genre. Even at the time of its release, the Sgt. Fury comic challenged prevailing ideas about war comics with its diverse and integrated combat unit: the Howlers.

Made up of Sergeant Nick Fury, their fearless leader and including Corporal Dum-Dum Dugan (who enlisted to get away from his wife and mother in law!), Gabriel Jones, an African-American to whom early printings gave white skin thinking his ethnicity was a mistake, Robert "Rebel" Ralston, Izzy Cohen (the Howler’s genius for all things mechanical), European born Dino Manelli (who spoke Italian and German) and Jonathan "Junior" Juniper. Early on in the run (issue #4) Juniper is actually killed off. This was something that never happened in war comics at the time. Most shocking of all he doesn’t come back! Moreover, especially with Lee’s departure after issue #13, when script duties fell primarily to Roy Thomas and Gary Friedich the tales grew even more morally complex. Some of Friedrich’s stories, at a time when the Vietnam War was just beginning to polarize American opinions about militarism, are especially notable.

That said, how does the first issue of Sgt. Fury stack up value wise as a Marvel Silver Age key? Quite well thank you very much. The fair market value of a high grade copy of Sgt. Fury #1 [as this comic is listed in the indicia of the first issues, the ‘Howling Commandos’ tag line was only added subsequently] is worth between $10, 000.00 to over $100,000.00. All depending on if you can find it in anything above 9.0 condition: which is not easy to do. Of the 754 certified copies on the CGC census, a mere 19 are graded 9.0-9.4. 9.4 is the highest grade this comic has been sold. In 9.4 grade, the last sale in February of 2018 was for $52,000.00; before that a 9.4 sold in 2011 for $28,680.00.

 

 

Regarding the rest of the Lee-Kirby run, some minor villains and major heroes are introduced: Sgt. Fury #3 features the first meeting between Nick Fury and Reed Richards aka 'Mister Fantastic' of the Fantastic Four. Sgt. Fury #8 features the first appearance of Baron Heinrich Zemo (who some readers may remember was, in modified form, the villain in the excellent ‘Captain American Civil War’ movie) and, finally, Sgt. Fury #13 is an important key since it features the second major appearance of Captain America in the Silver Age and the very first appearance of Bucky in the Silver Age. With its majestic Jack Kirby cover, this comic was released with a cover date of December 1964. Sgt. Fury #13 therefore appeared just after the publication of Avengers #4 (March 1964) which is, of course, Caps first Silver Age appearance.