I'm pretty sure this was the first issue of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos I read when I was a kid - I got it in a trade with a friend in the neighborhood, probably a few months after it was printed (the cover date is July 1964).My copy of the comic is not in great shape - someone had marked some ink lines on the cover before I bought it - and I read it to pieces in the years after.
I was never a big fan of war comics, but I was interested in this issue because it featured Dr. Zemo, who was also appearing in that month's issue of The Avengers (#6), having surfaced in the modern era as an enemy of Captain America. The same character in two adventures across a 20-year span - how's that for cross-promotion?
This issue convinced me I was wrong about those war comics - at least the ones featuring the Howlers. The issue, written by Stan Lee and drawn by Dick Ayers, featured the Howlers doing all kinds of amazing things, like destroying an enemy submarine, blasting a tank, invading a castle, escaping death traps, and facing off against Zemo's deadly death ray. Oh, and they introduced a new Howler in their spare moments, as Percy Pinkerton joined the team, becoming the comic's token British Commando.
The comic was improbable, over-the-top, loaded with humor and a complete blast from start to finish. I started picking up the team's adventures more often after that, and I've been a fan ever since.
Grade: A-
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