Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Who is Scorpio? by Jim Steranko

Overrated art, idiotic stories

In the classic days of Marvel Comics, Nick Fury was a character who did double duty. He started out as Sgt. Fury, a soldier in World War II and leader of the Howling Commandos. A few years later, Marvel’s Stan Lee and Jack Kirby decided to cash in on the spy-movie craze by writing contemporary adventures for Nick Fury, now an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury’s first espionage missions graced the pages of Strange Tales, one of Marvel’s anthology series. In 1968, Strange Tales was cancelled, and Nick Fury’s ‘60s incarnation was granted his own comic book series (World War II’s Sgt. Fury had had his own book since 1963). Up-and-coming creative talent Jim Steranko was selected to write and draw the new series. The Marvel trade paperback Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Who is Scorpio?, published in 2001, reprints issues 1, 2, 3, and 5 of Steranko’s S.H.I.E.L.D. series.

As an artist, Steranko was noted for his innovative page layouts and experimental use of mixed media, such as photo collages and psychedelic op art. Kirby had previously experimented with such techniques in titles like Fantastic Four, but Steranko took it to a whole new level. Much of Steranko’s visual experimentation is obviously inspired by Will Eisner’s The Spirit, particularly his opening splash pages, in which the title of each story is worked into the art, for example as a piece of architecture or a newspaper headline. Like Eisner, Steranko rarely settled for a grid of rectangular panels but conceived of the entire page as a dynamic whole. Unlike Eisner, however, Steranko really didn’t have the skill for human figure drawing to back up his innovative layouts. Instead of an exemplary anatomist like Neal Adams or John Byrne, Steranko drew figures that were often goofily distorted for dramatic effect. Like a late ‘60s Rob Liefeld, his art was more flash than substance, and his stories often feel like an afterthought, the only purpose of which is to generate splashy pages. Steranko is at his best when drawing futuristic technology, though his style in such matters is clearly derivative of Kirby’s. The artwork in this book is printed in full color on a bright white, semi-gloss coated paper. The reproduction quality is adequate but not exceptional.

While Eisner was able to insert The Spirit successfully into stories of almost every genre and style, Steranko takes his superspy in far-flung directions that just feel goofy from the get-go. Before the first three issues are done, Steranko has already had Fury fighting dinosaurs and leading an uninspired pastiche of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles—not exactly what James Bond fans would have hoped for from Marvel’s chief spy. The more standard spy-genre S.H.I.E.L.D. tales, however, are just as bad. The titular villain in this collection, Scorpio, shows up twice in these four issues, sporting one of the silliest costumes in the Marvel rogues’ gallery, complete with fire-engine red skin, a cowl, and what looks like an armor-studded adult diaper. Scorpio, whose powers are undefined and vaguely magical, doesn’t seem to have any goal other than to kill Fury, which makes for rather lazy and uninteresting plots.

At the end of issue 5, the answer to the question “Who is Scorpio?” remains a mystery, leaving the reader to wonder what’s the purpose of this trade paperback. There’s no arc to the stories included. They might as well be four random issues, and why only four? The volume seems intended merely to be a showcase for Steranko’s art, but it leaves the reader with the impression that the artist’s talents have been overrated.
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