"Doom Must Fall!"

 

At long last, it's a pleasure for me to revisit an issue of Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. that had first caught my eye in an old house ad (most likely a reprint issue from the early 1970s) but had regrettably been long gone from the stands well after its 1968 release. (Those of you in the UK perhaps found it reprinted in the 1977 Captain Britain publication, issues 38-39.) What helped to embed the issue in my mind was of course its stunning cover by Jim Steranko.

I was reminded of this issue thanks to an upcoming PPC post regarding the final issue of Ka-Zar The Savage--specifically, its homage cover by artist Paul Neary, where our Lord of the Savage Land is doing his best to fill the boots of Nick Fury:

"Collectors' Item Last Issue!" The 34th issue of a cancelled title isn't likely to be something a reader would covet, gentlemen.

Steranko's cover is for the most part symbolic of the crisis in the issue's story, with the exception that within the pages Fury doesn't suit up for a mission in outer space (though not for lack of trying, as we'll see); and yet, taking into account the fact that Steranko had just departed the book as its writer/artist with the prior issue, he might well have had the entire cover scenario in mind for this issue had he continued. It's an eye-catching image that I would have liked to have seen to completion.

Yet the plot we have is from Roy Thomas, with the story scripted by Archie Goodwin. And the essential gist of Steranko's cover layout would appear to be intact when the crisis presents itself:

Accompanying Fury on his mission is his old friend and ace pilot Cliff Randall, who has been troubled recently by nightmares, as well as hallucinations where he sees another's face in the mirror. The reason becomes clear to both himself and Fury when their jet is pulled into a base in the Andes mountains and they're met be a contingent of extra-terrestrials who admit responsibility for the approaching planetoid.

Fury learns that these beings are on Earth as a result of their escape from a doomsday scenario in their own dimension put in motion by a tyrannical faction. Those who sought to flee the coming cataclysm harnessed their collective mental will to take their ship through a dimensional barrier and found themselves on Earth, where they established a colony in the Andes (a mountain range which certainly seems to be popular with visiting aliens) for the next twenty years when it would then be safe to return to their home dimension. Since their initial contact attempts with Earthlings always resulted in unprovoked hostility, they chose to style themselves "the Others" and live apart from those they considered to be barbarians who exhibited the latent evil of the tyrants from their own dimension; but to stay informed of the humans' activities, "prodigals" with artificial memories were sent into their midst, passing for human and functioning as "receiving sets" for those in the Andes who to their dismay saw no letup in our warlike nature.

Fury and Randall arrive when the twenty years have elapsed and the Others are recalling their prodigals in preparation for their departure--and the approaching planetoid, along with the Earth's destruction, is key to their successful return. Regrettably, we learn how easily the Others have rationalized their course of action in regard to the fate of Earth: "We studied the matter amply... the traits we found in humans leave little cause to regret what we do!" What hypocrisy--as if their own dimension was free from war, to say nothing of tyrants.

But how does the planetoid they're drawing toward Earth figure into their plans? Artist Frank Springer provides an impressive backdrop for the forthcoming explanation.

Whoa--watch your step there, Nick!

Fury, naturally, isn't the type to just stand still while the entire world is threatened, so he inevitably makes a break for it--his only hope being to use the rocket itself to make sure the planetoid never reaches Earth. Unfortunately, however, things don't go according to what admittedly amounts to a hasty, last-ditch plan.

Fury's state of mind on his return to home base is suitably disconsolate, given that he must now take on the role of being the bearer of bad news--steeling himself to deliver the most apocalyptic announcement the human race could ever receive. But he finds to his surprise that, though he had given up on the conscience of the man he knew as Cliff Randall, his friend must have finally come through in the end.

It's a fine enough story by Thomas, Goodwin and Springer, though Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. would ultimately experience a bleak future in terms of meeting its deadlines as well as producing new material.

BONUS!
Similarities in design between Springer's vessel of The Others, and Drydock (created by Al Milgrom).

NEXT:
Now, about that Ka-Zar issue...