1. S.H.I.E.L.D.

S.H.I.E.L.D.’s introduction in the Strange Tales featuring ”Nick Fury, Agent

of S.H.I.E.L.D..occurred during a trend for action series about secret interna-
tional intelligence agencies with catchy acronyms, such as television’s The Man
from U.N.C.L.E., which Stan Lee stated in a 2014 interview, was the basis for
him to create the organization.[2] Colonel Fury (initially the lead character of
Marvel Comics’ World War II series Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos) was
reimagined as a slightly older character with an eyepatch (which he lacked in his
wartime adventures) and appointed head of the organization. Some characters
from the Sgt. Fury series reappeared as agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., most notably
Timothy ”Dum-Dum”Dugan, Fury’s bowler hat–wearing aide-de-camp.[2][3]
Its most persistent enemy is Hydra, a criminal organization founded (after
some retcon) by Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. Strange Tales 135 (Aug. 1965),
the debut of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Cover art by Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia.
S.H.I.E.L.D. was presented as an extant, full-blown entity in its first appea-
rance, with Tony Stark in charge of the Special Weaponry section and Fury
seeing ”some of the most famous joes from every nation”(then ”half the lea-
ders of the free world.a page later) at a meeting of the Supreme International
Council.[4] Much was revealed over the years to fill in its labyrinthine organiza-
tional history. Stan Lee wrote each story, abetted by artist Kirby’s co-plotting or
full plotting, through Strange Tales 152 (Jan. 1967), except for two issues, one
scripted by Kirby himself (148) and one by Dennis O’Neil (149). Following an
issue scripted by Roy Thomas (153), and one co-written by Thomas and new se-
ries artist Jim Steranko, came the sole-writer debut of soon-to-become industry
legend Steranko—who had begun on the feature as a penciller-inker of Kirby
layouts in 151 (Dec. 1966), taken over the every-other-issue ”Nick Furyçover art
with 153 two months later, and full writing with 155 (April 1967).
Steranko quickly established the feature as one of comics history’s most
groundbreaking, innovative and acclaimed. Ron Goulart wrote,
[E]ven the dullest of readers could sense that something new was happe-
ning. . . . Which each passing issue Steranko’s efforts became more and more
innovative. Entire pages would be devoted to photocollages of drawings [that]
ignored panel boundaries and instead worked together on planes of depth. The
first pages . . . became incredible production numbers similar in design to the
San Francisco rock concert poster of the period.[5]
Larry Hama said Steranko çombined the figurative dynamism of Jack Kirby
with modern design concepts. The graphic influences of Peter Max, Op Art and
Andy Warhol were embedded into the design of the pages — and the pages were
designed as a whole, not just as a series of panels. All this, executed in a crisp,
hard-edged style, seething with drama and anatomical tension”.[6]
The series won 1967 and 1968 Alley Awards, and was inducted in the latter
year to the awards’ Hall of Fame. Steranko himself was inducted into the Comic
Book Hall of Fame in 2006. The 12-page feature ran through Strange Tales 168
(sharing that ”split book”with the occult feature ”Doctor Strange.each issue),
after which it was spun off onto its own series of the same title, running 15

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issues (June 1968–Nov. 1969), followed by three all-reprint issues beginning a
year later (Nov. 1970–March 1971). Steranko wrote and drew issues 1–3 and 5,
and drew the covers of 1–7.
New S.H.I.E.L.D. stories would not appear for nearly two decades after the
first solo title. A six-issue miniseries, Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. (June–Nov.
1988) was followed by Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (vol. 2). This second
series lasted 47 issues (Sept. 1989–May 1993); its pivotal story arc was ”the Del-
tite Affair”, in which many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were replaced with Life Model
Decoy androids in a takeover attempt.
A year after that series ended, the one-shot Fury (May 1994) retconned the
events of those previous two series, recasting them as a series of staged events de-
signed to distract Fury from the resurrection plans of Hydra head von Strucker.
The following year, writer Howard Chaykin and penciler Corky Lehmkuhl pro-
duced the four-issue miniseries Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. (April–July 1995). Various
publications have additionally focused on Nick Fury’s solo adventures, such as
the graphic novels and one-shots Wolverine/Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection
(1989), Wolverine/Nick Fury: Scorpio Rising (Oct. 1994), Fury/Black Widow:
Death Duty and Captain America and Nick Fury: Blood Truce (both Feb. 1995),
and Captain America and Nick Fury: The Otherworld War (Oct. 2001).