Big John Meets S.H.I.E.L.D.!

 

While artist John Buscema had done work for Atlas Comics in the late 1950s, it was only after the pivot to super-hero books by its successor, Marvel Comics, that we were treated to his initial work for the company in that genre in November of 1966.  Published that month was his first Incredible Hulk work with inkers John Tartaglione and Mickey Demeo in Tales To Astonish--while over in Strange Tales, he turned in pencils over Jack Kirby's layouts for a Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.! tale which sees signs of the return of Hydra just ten issues after SHIELD supposedly put an end to the organization for good.

With all respect to SHIELD and Mr. Kirby, this test amounts to (as Fury would say) some of the most lamebrained science this side of a Grade B sci-fi flick, with half the budget. Why risk the head of SHIELD--or the life of anyone--on this stunt? Unless this "Overkill horn" actually needs a human being to emit the sound it needs to unleash its sonic beam, why wouldn't something as simple as an air horn from any football game (or its SHIELD equivalent) fit the bill? And if a human was needed, couldn't a recording by Fury (or anyone), triggered from a control booth, suffice?

Nevertheless, the test is successful--though the fact that the Overkill horn works as designed is disturbing in itself, since its success all but confirms the existence of the device in someone else's hands.

Meanwhile, not one to be laid up in a hospital bay, the cantankerous Fury addresses the troops on the importance of staying on alert for the device's tell-tale sound signature which would indicate its use by a foreign power or organization.

Worse, the SHIELD officials who have monitored Fury's test mention rumors of a super-Overkill horn that can trigger every atomic stockpile on the planet with a single blast. Naturally, that would mean that the originating nation would also have its hands tied, since the blast would detonate their own atomic bombs along with all others--which has Fury instead trying to obtain proof of an agenda-driven organization possessing such a device.

That brings us to a South American jet-setter/socialite, who invites Fury to attend an upcoming event as his guest--something which Fury is unexpectedly open to, albeit with ulterior motives.

Yet Don Caballero can say the same regarding his own motives, following the discovery and capture of a SHIELD agent in his midst--and we finally learn just which organization is playing a major part in this drama.

But it seems Don Caballero's festivities aren't limited to entertaining his fellow jet-setters, when Fury and the rest of SHIELD receive the confirmation they were after, and far too close for comfort.

Artistically, Buscema does a fine job on this story, though it's fair to note that in light of Kirby's layouts it was the latter's storytelling we were seeing and not the credited penciller's. Buscema's presence, nevertheless, is discernible and strong; in fact, I'm hard-pressed to spot any scenes that would indicate the contribution of another artist's hand aside from the inker's. In the follow-up issue, however, it would be Jim Steranko who pencils (and inks) Kirby's layouts this time around, as Hydra's plan with the Overkill horn heats up.

BY THE WAY....
Come to think of it, I can't recall a single instance where Buscema, no stranger to drawing hordes of bad guys, drew figures of Hydra outside of the sparse offerings of their appearance in this opening segment of the Overkill story. What say any of you on the matter?