Sgt. Fury #1

History

Stan Lee has described the series as the product of a bet with Marvel publisher Martin Goodman — that the Lee-Kirby creative engine could sell a book even saddled with what Lee considered the worst title he could devise, a six-word mouthful at a moment when no Marvel title ran that long. Separately, artist John Severin recalled that in the late 1950s Jack Kirby had already approached him about a syndicated newspaper strip built around a cigar-chomping sergeant and a squad of misfit GIs — described as an adult version of the wartime 'Boy Commandos' Kirby had co-created for DC — suggesting Kirby brought a long-gestating concept to the table when the bet was made. The issue hit newsstands March 5, 1963, with a cover date of May 1963; the creative credits were writer Stan Lee, penciler Jack Kirby, inker Dick Ayers, letterer Artie Simek, and colorist Stan Goldberg — though Kirby scholars argue his plot contributions under the Marvel Method were substantial beyond a simple penciler role. Kirby drew only the first seven issues before Dick Ayers took over what would become Ayers's signature series, penciling 95 issues in total.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Sergeant Nick Fury (Earth-616), who later becomes director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and one of Marvel's central connective characters across decades of storytelling.
• First appearance of the full founding roster of the Howling Commandos: Corporal Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones, Izzy Cohen, Dino Manelli, Rebel Ralston, Jonathan 'Junior' Juniper, and Captain 'Happy Sam' Sawyer.
• Written by Stan Lee, penciled by Jack Kirby, inked by Dick Ayers, lettered by Artie Simek; on sale March 5, 1963, with a May 1963 cover date.
• Gabe Jones — one of the earliest recurring African-American characters in mainstream American comics — was mistakenly colored with Caucasian skin tones in this issue due to a printer error; Stan Lee sent a corrective memo to the color separator to fix the problem going forward.
• Private Izzy Cohen is characterized as one of the first demonstrably Jewish-American characters in mainstream comics, and Dino Manelli is written as a recognizable stand-in for entertainer Dean Martin.
• The issue's story, 'Seven Against the Nazis!', sends the Commandos into Nazi-occupied France to rescue a French Resistance leader before he can be tortured into revealing the date of the D-Day landings; it ends with a flash-forward to the D-Day beaches at Omaha.
• The series ran 167 issues (May 1963 – December 1981); the final issue reprinted the first. New stories ran through #120 (July 1974), with reprints alternating from #80 onward. The issue has been reprinted in Marvel Masterworks, Essential Sgt. Fury, and Epic Collection volumes, as well as in international editions including a Mexican Spanish-language series.
• Dum Dum Dugan and Gabe Jones — both debuting here — appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), with Gabe Jones portrayed by Derek Luke, cementing the Howling Commandos' cultural reach beyond comics.

Full credits

Key issues in Sgt. Fury

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#5 1st appearance — Baron von Strucker

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#9 1st appearance — Eric Koenig

Variants (1)