Rating: Summary: Old Soldiers Never Die Review: A short and sweet look, by Garth Ennis, of an agin Nick Fury in the modern world. Surrounded by an abundance of yuppies and beuracrats, and a lack of conflict, the aging warhorse finds himself stuck in a world that has no use for him. Of course Nick Fury ends up with one last thing to do; stopping a previous enemy who waxed nostalgic for the glory days and thus creates a massive mess in the Pacific Ocean on a non-descript, but strategically important, island.
Garth Ennis has a great talent for hacking into the heart of a character and bringing what lies within to the surface. Ennis brings up the classic question, "What happens to old soldiers?" The end scene alone is worth picking it up for...
Rating: Summary: Meet Nick Fury Review: After his long run on the classic and critically acclaimed Preacher series and his re-invention of The Punisher, Garth Ennis was given the task of giving the same treatment to Nick Fury. And what a job he did. Collecting the six issue mini-series; Fury tells the story of a modern day Nick Fury: a profanity laden, whorring, cold war dinosaur who longs for the days when he could shoot first and ask questions later. Tired of his day in, day out life, his hopeless and annoying "nephew" Wendel, and disgusted by what S.H.I.E.L.D. (the organization he used to run) has become; he is soon made an offer by an old enemy to go off to some little third world country and start a war of their own to re-live their glory days. Nick doesn't take him seriously, but soon enough he learns it was no joke, and once again Nick Fury is being counted upon. Ennis has really gone all out here: full of his penchant ultra graphic violence, a severe lack of being politically correct, and being insanely darkly humerous; Fury is one of the best pieces of comic art to come out of Marvel in quite some time. The art by Darick Robertson and Jimmy Palmiotti is as equally fantastic and shows all the graphic, gritty detail. Also, look for various in-jokes and references to Ennis' Preacher saga; including a man whose disfigured face is a clear homage/re-interpretation of Arseface from the Preacher comics. All in all, if you like comics in the least bit and can handle everything contained in these pages (it well deserves it's Parental Advisory label) then you will definitely love Fury. Also highly recommended is any of Ennis' work on The Punisher.
Rating: Summary: Meet Nick Fury Review: After his long run on the classic and critically acclaimed Preacher series and his re-invention of The Punisher, Garth Ennis was given the task of giving the same treatment to Nick Fury. And what a job he did. Collecting the six issue mini-series; Fury tells the story of a modern day Nick Fury: a profanity laden, whorring, cold war dinosaur who longs for the days when he could shoot first and ask questions later. Tired of his day in, day out life, his hopeless and annoying "nephew" Wendel, and disgusted by what S.H.I.E.L.D. (the organization he used to run) has become; he is soon made an offer by an old enemy to go off to some little third world country and start a war of their own to re-live their glory days. Nick doesn't take him seriously, but soon enough he learns it was no joke, and once again Nick Fury is being counted upon. Ennis has really gone all out here: full of his penchant ultra graphic violence, a severe lack of being politically correct, and being insanely darkly humerous; Fury is one of the best pieces of comic art to come out of Marvel in quite some time. The art by Darick Robertson and Jimmy Palmiotti is as equally fantastic and shows all the graphic, gritty detail. Also, look for various in-jokes and references to Ennis' Preacher saga; including a man whose disfigured face is a clear homage/re-interpretation of Arseface from the Preacher comics. All in all, if you like comics in the least bit and can handle everything contained in these pages (it well deserves it's Parental Advisory label) then you will definitely love Fury. Also highly recommended is any of Ennis' work on The Punisher.
Rating: Summary: FURY-ious Review: Ever since he blew us all away with his ground breaking work on Preacher, Garth Ennis has taken to the words British humor to an all new level. His wor on the Punisher comes to no difference, though you could feel that he was not letting loose, his great imagination constrained. Along comes FURY and things just go over the top.Ennis has long been associated with his partner in crime Steve Dilon. The two take dark humor to different levels. Without his partner on this book, Ennis tries his best to tone the gruesomeness so that Darrick Robertson can catch up. And he does so fabulously. The story is simple. The world has changed and everything has become more beaurocratic and down-toned. Unlinke the old days where everything just went bump in the night and the shadows were alive with Commies out hunting for blood. Fury is the hero of yesteryear which time has finally caught up with. He inadvertently creates a war in a small island country that soon takes him into the middle of the action, just where he likes it. The ending, however is not something he was expecting for. Ennis manages to create and eclectic supporting cast. From the madly distorted F#$k Face to a bickering crazy nephew of Fury's that no other author has brought notice to. The story is a wild fire and moves like one. Robertson answers Ennis's calling and brings out an amazing different visage to the world of Gart Ennis. These two can work togetherwithout any problems, though you do miss Dillon at times. Ennis is gearing to write a MAX Punisher title now and you know how that's going to work. Robertson is off doing Wolverine. Fury brings those two powerhorse creative together for a wonderful read all the way.
Rating: Summary: The most politically incorrect Marvel comic book ever! Review: Fury is definitely the most politically incorrect comic book that was ever published by Marvel. And you will love it! The Cold War is over and Nick Fury has been promoted to a position away from all the action he enjoyed in his early career as the head of the S.H.I.E.L.D. He hates his life, misses the action, hates his adopted nephew, and to be quite honest - you will truly feel sorry for the situation he is in. Then an ex-Soviet enemy shows up for a talk and tips Nick that he also misses all the action and that he is about to start a conflict to bring the old days back. Indeed, that's what he does, and Nick is put back into action. The wording is unbelievable, and everything is so wrong that there is even a dude with a code name "..."... ha-ha... that was an hilarious touch. Anyway, buy it, enjoy it, and keep it away from under aged fans.
Rating: Summary: The most politically incorrect Marvel comic book ever! Review: Fury is definitely the most politically incorrect comic book that was ever published by Marvel. And you will love it! The Cold War is over and Nick Fury has been promoted to a position away from all the action he enjoyed in his early career as the head of the S.H.I.E.L.D. He hates his life, misses the action, hates his adopted nephew, and to be quite honest - you will truly feel sorry for the situation he is in. Then an ex-Soviet enemy shows up for a talk and tips Nick that he also misses all the action and that he is about to start a conflict to bring the old days back. Indeed, that's what he does, and Nick is put back into action. The wording is unbelievable, and everything is so wrong that there is even a dude with a code name "..."... ha-ha... that was an hilarious touch. Anyway, buy it, enjoy it, and keep it away from under aged fans.
Rating: Summary: Killer! Review: Garth Ennis is perhaps the most brilliant comic book writer out there. Sure in terms of literary value, Alan Moore crushes Ennis but Ennis writes fun, exciting dialogue like no other. Nick Fury is proof positive of that. Its worth the read even for people who hate Nick Fury.
Rating: Summary: enjoyable tale of Fury as old adrenaline junkie Review: In many ways, this is simply a Garth Ennis Punisher story starring Nick Fury. But it is the story's beginning and ending in which this volume really shines.
The first chapter of this collection of six issues is probably worth the price of the book by itself. It depicts Nick Fury -- the old man of S.H.I.E.L.D., Marvel's gadgety spy agency -- as an aging whoremonger who longs, despite all of his success, to get back into combat. The portrayal, while humorous, is also touchingly humanistic.
Fury gets his wish, and the bulk of the story reads like Fury going on an adventure almost interchangable with those of the Punisher, at least when Garth Ennis scripts the Punisher (during the Marvel Knight days, that is; Ennis's Punisher through MAX is a bit more serious). In other words, carnage combines with humor, including absurd characters: one villain here is almost identical to the Russian, a fat killer from Ennis's original twelve-issue Punisher run (who even made it into the subsequent Punisher film). Fury, like Frank Castle, is every bit the professional killer.
Any comparison to Ennis's Punisher, however, is hardly an insult: those were themselves enjoyable stories. But there can be a sense here that FURY is sort of "more of the same" -- however much fun that particular "same" may be.
It is when Fury returns from his mission that the story becomes unique again. Having wished for conflict, he now both mourns his dead camerades and has to reconcile this with his need for the action that killed them. While the ending is not as satisfactory as the beginning, it again grounds the tale in Fury as his own character -- and it is there that FURY most excells.
Incidentally, rumor has it that a Nick Fury movie deal was scuttled after its star found out this book existed and depicted the character in a less than puritan light.
-- Julian Darius, Sequart.com (for the sophisticated study of comic books and graphic novels)
Rating: Summary: Marvel Gets "Mature"..... Review: Let's get this said right off the bat: When I finished the first chapter of Fury, I was ready to throw the book down in disgust. I was not impressed with Garth Ennis' foul-mouthed, whoring interpretation of Marvel icon Nick Fury. I kept going, though, and I'm glad I did. Nick Fury is a man left behind by the agency, S.H.I.E.L.D., that he helped build. He's a cold-war dinosaur who is finding that, without a war to fight, his life just isn't worth living. He's reduced to a drinking, whoring old crank....until a chance encounter with an old enemy changes everything. While rembering old times over a drink, Yuri Gagarin waxes poetic about how he and Nick could go somewhere and start their own war, and bring the glory days back. Fury laughs it off, but soon enough, Gagarin has started a coup on a small but strategically placed island near Hawaii, and is about to trigger World War III. Suddenly Fury is important again... After the first chapter, and the pointless focus given to Fury's nephew Wendell, the book takes off. Artists Darick Robertson & Jimmy Palmiotti have clearly based their Fury on Clint Eastwood, and I could easily imagine Clint playing out this story on the big-screen. The final chapters play out like the best summer action movie you've never seen, and Ennis' pacing is flawless. Be warned, though- This is a "Max" book, Marvel's "Mature Readers" imprint, and BOY, does it earn that title: Death, destruction, dismemberment, used condoms, disfigured soldiers with obscene names, a man being strangled with his own Intestines....The list goes on and on. The action finale is mind-boggling, and the final sequence is staggeringly memorable. I'd love to see Ennis, Robertson, and Palmiotti do a return engagement with Nick Fury.
Rating: Summary: Old Curmudgeon Maims And Kills Many Review: Pretty good Garth Ennis tale of an aging, embittered Nick Fury. It's something of a flip-side to the NICK FURY: AGENT OF SHIELD books by Jim Steranko from the late 60's. Ennis manages to convincingly portray Fury's character while asserting his own (Ennis's) trademark brutality, coarseness, repulsiveness, and humor. Like other books by the same author, I cannot recommend this one to readers who are offended by unremitting harsh language, graphic violence, brutal sexual situations, dismemberment, prostitution, and making ruthless fun of people with disabilities.
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