Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD (1968 1st Series) comic books 1968

Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD (1968 1st Series) 1 CGC 6.5

Paper: Off white to white

Label #4423958025

Cover by Jim Steranko. First appearance of Scorpio in "Who Is Scorpio?", script by Jim Steranko, pencils by Jim Steranko, inks by Joe Sinnott; Fury sneaks into an island fortress, only to get shot in the back. Surprise!; It's an L.M.D., and the shooter is the real Fury!; But on examination, Dugan informs Fury the L.M.D.'s been shot 4 times, not 3 - which means, someone tried to assassinate him!; The only clue is a tiny badge with a "Scorpio" symbol on it; In San Francisco, comic Flip Mason's on the run from gambling debts; In Kansas City, racketeer Mitch Hackett looks forward to joining the mob. In NYC, Fury & Val walk in the rain; At the Monza Autodrome, Count Julio Scarlotti wins a race - and we see he has a Scorpio tattoo on his wrist; Days later in Nevada, Fury helps test an "EPB G-System" (Entrope Phase Barrier Guard System), a force field which is hoped may one day protect entire armies. As SHIELD prepares one final test (with an H-Bomb!) we see the tech firing the missile has a Scorpio tattoo on his wrist; Fury suddenly realizes the EPB's down, and nobody answers his comm; He races across the desert to a rocket sled used by NASA to escape as the missile descends on the spot he was relaxing; At the U.S. Government Research Center in Las Vegas, everyone's been put to sleep with gas by Scorpio - when Fury arrives via motorcycle. Letter to the editor from comics writer Don McGregor. Cover price $0.12.

Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD (1968 1st Series) 2 CGC 7.0

Paper: Off white to white

Label #4423959001

Cover by Jim Steranko. "So Shall Ye Reap... Death!", script and pencils by Jim Steranko, inks by Frank Giacoia and Joe Giella (assist); (Page 5, panels 9 and 11 redrawn by John Romita Sr. to allow the issue to pass the Comics Code Authority); Jimmy Woo goes through a death-trap laden "fun house" as his initiation as a SHIELD agent; Later, in his apartment, Fury & Val get romantic; The next day, off the Pacific Coast, en route to the Heli-Carrier in a bizarre twin-bodied jet, Fury & Jimmy are knocked out of the sky and wind up on a volcanic island transformed into a "Garden of Eden" and biological laboratory by "Centurius" - formerly Dr. Noah Black, a scientist who disappeared in the 1930s when his theories were scoffed at; After creating both new & extinct forms of life and sending them into space, he plans to rain down fire on the entire Earth, for forty days and forty nights, cleansing it so his creations can start anew on a world "without the threat of mass murder, intimidation, fear"; With the help of a visiting movie company and their robot gorilla prop, Fury & Woo put the kibosh on his plans. 36 pgs., full color. $0.12. Cover price $0.12.

Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD (1968 1st Series) 3 CGC 4.5

Paper: Off white to white

Label #4423959002

Cover pencils by Jim Steranko and John Romita (alterations), inks by Jim Steranko. "Dark Moon Rise, Hell Hound Kill!", script by Jim Steranko, pencils by Jim Steranko, inks by Dan Adkins; Murder on the moors brings Nick to investigate the death of an old army friend; He finds mystery, a trio of psychic detectives, a huge dog, and more than meets the eyes. Tribute to Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Hound Of The Baskervilles", mixed with a bit of the John Lucarotti AVENGERS episode, "Castle De'ath". Parodied in NOT BRAND ECHH #11 (December 1968). Also pays tribute to Simon & Kirby's "The Phantom Hound Of Cardiff Moor" from CAPTAIN AMERICA #10 (January 1942), including the 2-page title spread. Mycroft based on Peter Cushing; Rampson based on Robert Urquhart; Angus based on Boris Karloff. 36 pgs., full color. $0.12. Cover price $0.12.

Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD (1968 1st Series) 4 CGC 8.0

Paper: White

Label #4423959003

Cover by Jim Steranko. SHIELD origin retold in "And Now It Begins...', script by Roy Thomas (plot, dialogue) and Frank Springer (plot), art by Frank Springer; HYDRA repeatedly tries to murder Nick Fury before he can recruited to head SHIELD; The agent in charge of the operation, Agent L, is executed for his failure by Agent H; After reminiscing about his days in WW2, Fury meets Tony Stark, who introduces him to the SHIELD board of directors, then shows him a film detailing HYDRA's operations; After Fury uncovers a bomb in the room and dispatches it, along with the spy who planted it, he realizes the danger facing the free world and takes the job. Frank Springer's 1st Marvel work. 36 pgs., full color. $0.12. Cover price $0.12.

Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD (1968 1st Series) 5 CGC 5.0

Paper: Off white to white

Label #4423959004

Cover by Jim Steranko. "What Ever Happened To Scorpio?", script by Jim Steranko, pencils by Jim Steranko, inks by John Tartaglione; Val reads Nick's horoscope in the morning paper, which says "Someone in your past will return today"; Nick pays a visit on Pickman, who's helping him locate someone, and he doesn't want SHIELD involved; The ESP Division picks up "possible danger", sending Nick to a seemingly-deserted warehouse - and straight into a trap set by Scorpio!; Nick's Farrari is destroyed, and Nick is captured; While unconscious, Scorpio creates a face-mask to allow him to impersonate Nick, then goes in disguise to view the test of the latest model of LMD; But as it begins, no one else realizes the robot has been replaced with Nick, drugged so he can't speak!; Miraculously, Fury manages to dodge one death trap after another, then faces his would-be killer; Val, trying to save Nick's life, shoots at the "LMD" - but hits Pickman instead, who found his way in via a secret passage. Letters to the editor from comics writer Don McGregor and fanzine publisher Ronn Foss. 36 pgs., full color. $0.12. Cover price $0.12.

Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD (1968 1st Series) 6 CGC 5.0

Paper: Off white to white

Label #4423959005

Cover by Jim Steranko. "Doom Must Fall!", script by Roy Thomas (plot), Frank Springer (plot), and Archie Goodwin (dialogue), art by Frank Springer; Fury is summoned by a condition red priority alert to the "Observatron" chamber; An asteroid is being drawn off-course directly toward Earth, impact only hours away! Fury & Cliff Randall (SHIELD's top ace pilot) race to the projected impact point, the Central Andes, hoping to find whatever is pulling the asteroid from its normal orbit; There, they find a hidden base built inside a mountain, run by a group of other-dimensional beings called "The Others"; Twenty years earlier, the tyrant of their dimension, facing revolt, set off an "Impact Inducer", which would destroy everything; Survivors escaped in a ship when the force of the destruction opened a dimensional doorway to Earth; Knowing it would take twenty years for the "reverberations" to still, they built a base and sent out "prodigals" to gather intelligence about Earth, whose memories were blanked - and it turns out Randall was one of these all along! 36 pgs., full color. $0.12. Cover price $0.12.

Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD (1968 1st Series) 7 CGC 9.2

Paper: Off white

Label #3705603021

Cover by Jim Steranko (his final for the series). "Hours of Madness, Day of Death," script by Archie Goodwin (plot, dialogue) and Frank Springer (plot), art by Frank Springer; Nick gets into a fight at an unnamed foreign embassy, and winds up being injected with a drug that will cause hallucinations, "hyper-intense paranoia", and death after 6 hours; He wanders the streets of NYC, hoping to reach a set rendezvous point for a scheduled pick-up via the Heli-Carrier's vortex beam. However, he's mistaken by a cop as a drunk, and when his felow agents show up, the drug causes him to see them as 3 of his worst enemies!; Jimmy Woo comments that other agents have been going berzerk, which was what Nick was investigating in the first place; Nick is found by Sister Angela, who offers to help get him to the pick-up point; However, they're intercepted by 2 of the spies, who tie them up and send their car racing downhill on a dangerous mouontain road!; Dum Dum, Jimmy & Gabe, who've been following in their van, almost crash head-on, when suddenly the vortex beam picks up both vehicles! 36 pgs., full color. $0.12. Cover price $0.12.

Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD (1968 1st Series) 7 CGC 6.5

Paper: Off white to white

Label #4423959006

Cover by Jim Steranko (his final for the series). "Hours of Madness, Day of Death," script by Archie Goodwin (plot, dialogue) and Frank Springer (plot), art by Frank Springer; Nick gets into a fight at an unnamed foreign embassy, and winds up being injected with a drug that will cause hallucinations, "hyper-intense paranoia", and death after 6 hours; He wanders the streets of NYC, hoping to reach a set rendezvous point for a scheduled pick-up via the Heli-Carrier's vortex beam. However, he's mistaken by a cop as a drunk, and when his felow agents show up, the drug causes him to see them as 3 of his worst enemies!; Jimmy Woo comments that other agents have been going berzerk, which was what Nick was investigating in the first place; Nick is found by Sister Angela, who offers to help get him to the pick-up point; However, they're intercepted by 2 of the spies, who tie them up and send their car racing downhill on a dangerous mouontain road!; Dum Dum, Jimmy & Gabe, who've been following in their van, almost crash head-on, when suddenly the vortex beam picks up both vehicles! 36 pgs., full color. $0.12. Cover price $0.12.