566 SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS
the comic book coincided with the height of the Civil Rights movement in the United
States as well.
Th e commandos were often used for behind the lines missions, similar to the true-
life exploits of British commandos during World War II. Th e unit would often end up
managing to get out of some close call that put them against the Germans in France.
Eventually the Germans countered with their own unit, Th e Blitzkrieg Squad, led by a
Colonel Baron von Strucker. Th e Germans were continually defeated, after which the
Howling Commandos would return to England to be re-assigned by Captain “Happy
Sam” Sawyer.
Even the death of “Junior” Juniper did not hamper the team. He was replaced with a
British soldier, Percival Pinkerton. While aff ecting typical British manners and provid-
ing comic relief, Pinkerton proved himself to be an outstanding soldier. As with many
of the comic books that centered on war themes, the Howling Commandos were always
in the thick of the fi ghting, or training for action.
Th e story lines, while discussing combat in World War II, also took on concepts
of bigotry, competition within services, vaudeville (through Dum-Dum’s continual
comments on his mother-in-law), and even some romance. Fury at one point was
involved with a British countess, whose brother was a Nazi sympathizer. It was on a
rescue mission to bring back the brother (Lord Haha) that Junior Juniper was killed. As
always, the war interfered with the sergeant’s love life. Th e countess Pamela Hawley was
killed later in the series, and this further doomed Fury to be alone.
In keeping with their general policy of allowing popular characters to cross over from
one comic to another, Marvel often had characters from other comics temporarily join
the Howling Commandos. For instance, Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic
Four) was an OSS offi cer in the famous Lord Haha episode, while Captain America
sometimes fought alongside the Howlers. Many of the characters introduced in the
Sgt. Fury series went on to be featured in the continuation series, Nick Fury: Agent of
S.H.I.E.L.D., in which Fury headed up an agency of super spies.
While Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos served as a counter to DC’s Sgt. Rock,
the two did have their diff erences. Th e Howlers were constantly involved with combat
as fi rst squad of Able Company, First Attack Division. DC’s war comics were more
serious in tone, as opposed to the Sgt. Fury comics, which used humor, romance, and
slapstick in telling their stories. Th at humor also included a number of inside jokes.
For example, Dick Ayers (artist) and Stan Lee (writer) made cameo appearances in
Sgt. Fury #22, and the creators of the comic often identifi ed themselves by their former
service branch.
Often Fury showed a disobedience that would only be set off by outstanding
results as a soldier. However, the Howlers were anything but realistic professional
commandos. Th ey fought with their fi sts rather than with weapons, and often
exposed themselves unnecessarily to enemy fi re or possible harm. While the con-
cepts of honor and redemption were clearly used in the comic book story lines, the
action was far diff erent than the cold reality of combat, where people die, suddenly
