(I originally read these comics in mid/late March 2016)
Spent the last week reading Lee and Kirby's 'Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.' strips from the pages of Strange Tales. The creator billing is not entirely accurate as Kirby only provides layouts for most instalments, with artists including John Severin and Don Heck penciling. John Buscema returns to Marvel with ST # 150, for his first job since the '50s.
The 12-page strips are densely written and provide almost as much reading as a standard '60s Marvel comic, so I've been reading them at a rate of 2-3 per day. They're fun if second rate stuff, though they get progressively better. Nick is a great character, a blue collar James Bond, and Stan clearly enjoys writing his funny, sarcastic and rough-edged dialogue. His personality is contrasted well against that of new boy and eager beaver Jasper Sitwell in later stories.
Many long-standing Marvel concepts are introduced here: HYDRA, AIM, Life Model Decoys, etc, and # 145 is an early crossover with Tales of Suspense # 78.
Jim Steranko takes over for his legendary run with issue # 151. I'll come back to those soon enough, especially since they continue a plot already set in motion.
Strange Tales (1951) # 135-150 and Tales of Suspense (1959) # 78 are collected in:
Hardcover:
Softcover:
Strange Tales (1951) # 135 is collected in:
Hardcover:
Softcover:
Strange Tales (1951) # 141-143 are collected in:
Softcover:
Tales of Suspense (1959) # 78 is collected in:
Hardcover:
Softcover:
Strange Tales (1951) # 150 is collected in:
Hardcover:
Softcover:
