Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #12, November 1964 [published 8 Sept 64] I missed this one when it was new.

This cover is just so classic! It is a great piece of Kirby work; it’s almost archetypal.

“When a Howler Turns Traitor!” - 20pp - Script: Stan Lee; Art: Dick Ayers; Inking: George Roussos; Lettering: Sam Rosen

This is a rather nice splash page.

Overall I’m not impressed with this story. I think the plot was good, but the execution was poor. Dick Ayers had not risen to the level to do anything substantial with this series. As I said, it should have been a workable plot. The inclusion of the V1s was a good idea. Apparently someone’s been doing their research, but the story just doesn’t click. It plods along as Ayers shows all his deficiencies. The conclusion of course is clichéd. *SIGH!*

One thing few people mention about the Marvel Method is the pacing of the story. This is almost more important than the plot. Not having a finished script in front of him, the pacing of the story becomes the responsibility of the artist. Ditko, Kirby, even Heck, got this right. They are masters of pacing the story just right so that it does not move too slow. The last story I reviewed, the Iron Man story for this month, is a perfect example. The plot moved along just right, slow points were avoided, and the tale moved along with a good even pacing. Sgt. Fury #7 was another good example. I am still impressed with this tale. It is a court-room drama, not an action story, and Stan and Jack moved this along so masterfully that I am just in awe. It is just perfect ... in contrast, the pacing of an Ayers story is lacking a lot; he still had a lot to learn at this point.

A letter calls Stan and the letterers out for spelling Fuehrer wrong. This reminds me of the summer of ’63 when the same thing happened with the spelling of Pharaoh.

Anarchy and Chaos are the natural state of the human race. Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And Chaos must always ultimately triumph.
Last Edited By: Joseph William Marek Aug 18 12 8:13 AM. Edited 4 times.