Nick Fury's Howling Commandos

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Promotional art for premiere-issue cover, by Eduardo Francisco

Nick Fury's Howling Commandos is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics in 2005-2006. The title is a play on that of Marvel's World War II based series Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos.

The series featured a fictional team set in the Marvel Universe, consisting of supernatural characters employed as a unit of the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D.. The group's official name was never established but was mentioned in its single other appearance, in Blade Vol. 3, #1 (Nov. 2006), as the S.H.I.E.L.D. Paranormal Containment Unit. The same issue established the name Howling Commandos are their nickname.

Although Marvel superspy hero Nick Fury is the title character, he only appeared in a cameo in the first issue.

1 Publication history
2 Setting
3 Characters
4 Plot
5 Writers and artists
6 References

[edit] Publication history

Nick Fury's Howling Commandos ran from #1-6 (Dec. 2005 - May 2006).

[edit] Setting

Nick Fury's Howling Commandos is set in Area 13, a classified base run by S.H.I.E.L.D. for its supernatural black op program. It also serves as a research and development facility, specializing in the supernatural.

[edit] Characters

Some of the characters, including Brother Voodoo, and Gorilla-Man were pre-existing human characters from Marvel's superhero and supernatural comics. Others, such as Goom, Grogg and Groot, were monsters from pre-superhero Marvel science-fiction/fantasy anthology comics of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Others were newly created, or new versions of existing characters.

The seven primary characters are:

Clay Quartermain, the commanding officer of Area 13. He takes over in the first issue from Dum Dum Dugan.
Warwolf (real name Vince Marcus), the field leader. He is a werewolf who can transform voluntarily whenever Mars is in the night sky.
Nina Price, a half-vampire and half-werewolf.
N'Kantu, the Living Mummy a previously existing character. N'Kantu is an undead prince of ancient Egypt.
Frankenstein, an intelligent clone of the original Frankenstein's Monster. How this process didn't produce different clones of the various individual body parts making up the original monster was briefly mentioned in issue #1. The response was, "Don't go there".
Gorilla-Man, a previously existing character. Kenneth Hale is a man trapped in a gorilla's body.
John Doe, a zombie. He is depicted as having a normal human-level intelligence, in contrast to other zombie characters in the Marvel universe.

The main villains are:

Merlin, a powerful magician claiming to be the true Merlin.
Tilesti of the Folk is a Faerie and Merlin's second-in-command

Supporting characters include:

Bradley Beemer, Area 13's Tech Chief. Beemer is in charge of research and development.
Glob
Brother Voodoo
Grogg, along with pilot Buzz McMahon
Groot
Hellstorm (Daimon Hellstrom)
Lilith (Lilith Dracul)

Other characters who appeared include:

Sasquatch, described in issue #2 as the actual folkloric Sasquatch, and not specifically connected to the superhero Sasquatch (Walter Langkowski) or to the race of Sasquatches revealed in the series Alpha Flight vol. 2.
Abominable Snowman, similarly described in that issue as as the actual folkloric Abominable Snowman, and not specifically connected to other Marvel characters named Abominable Snowman.
Goom, a pre-existing monster from "pre-superhero Marvel", seen briefly the beginning of issue #3.

[edit] Plot

A powerful magician claiming to be the one true Merlin (one of many characters in the Marvel Universe to make this claim) escapes from a S.H.I.E.L.D. containment facility dubbed the Warehouse. He journeys to the United Kingdom, where he transforms the entire country into a fantasy realm. The Howling Commandos are charged stopping him.

[edit] Writers and artists

Keith Giffen - Writer (Issues #1-6)
Eduardo Francisco - Penciller (Issues #1 and 2)
Kris Justice - Co-Inker (Issue #1)
Terry Pallot - Co-Inker (Issue #1), Inker (Issue #3)
Rob Campenella - Inker (Issue #2)
Dan Norton - Penciller (Issue #3 and 6)
Derec Aucoin/Derec Donovan - Penciller (Issue #4 and 5), Inker (Issue #4), Co-Inker (Issue #5)
Norman Lee - Co-Inker (Issue #6)