Around the time of his stint on Daredevil, X-Men and just previous to his work on The Avengers, Barry (Windsor-) Smith went on to illustrate a very dynamic issue of Nick Fury, our esteemed director of S.H.I.E.L.D..
By this time, at least for me, the shock had somewhat worn off from Jim
Steranko's departure from the comic book. I did enjoy the admirable job
Frank Springer (love what he did on Secret Six) had done, following in Steranko's footsteps, no easy feat given his popularity.
| Barry Smith came out with some great work with panel layout. |
| Terrific graphics from Barry Smith! |
| Nice ending, but threw me off a bit with no "Next Issue." Even went back to my original comic book to check it out. |
Nick Fury #12 Hell Hath No Fury!
"Hell Hath No Fury"
Alone, Fury is pursued by armored men with
stun blasters; he uses a gun that fires Tony Stark's "repulsor ray" to
knock them out. In flashback, Fury is angered by "Intelligence" man Rickard, who feels Fury is too old for his job. Back to the present, we then discover it's S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who are after him.
Written by Steve (Western Gunfighters) Parkhouse with plot & art by Barry (Conan, Weapon X) Smith & Sid (Atom, Green Lantern) Greene.
| Note: 1st new appearance of HYDRA, in a S.H.I.E.L.D. story, since the death of Baron
Strucker and the destruction of Hydra Island from Jim Steranko's Nick Fury in Strange Tales #158. Striking Marie Severin cover. |
Original art of page 3 in Nick Fury #12. Fantastic graphics! |
Most of the figures on this page (page 3) were inked on vellum by Barry Smith and taped over the whited-out original figures with non-yellowing magic tape. This extensive reworking of the art was done by Smith, virtually overnight, when he found the inking by Sid Greene to be unacceptable.
| Above, Barry Smith's artwork on three pages of Nick Fury #10. |
| Barry Smith, at the least, redrew Fury's face for the cover of Nick Fury #11. |
Previous to issue #12, Barry (Windsor-) Smith illustrated page 2 except for panel 1, all of page 3 and the first two panels of page 4 in Nick Fury #10. With Nick Fury #11, Smith redrew Fury's face, although it is possible that he penciled the cover.
Years later, in Marvel Spotlight #31, the interesting matter of Nick Fury's apparently not aging significantly since his term of
service in World War II, was justified in "Assignment: The Infinity
Formula" Writer extraordinaire Jim (Captain Marvel) Starlin and legendary artist Howard (Cody Starbuck) Chaykin (with cool Klaus (Deathlok) Janson inks on the cover), revealed Fury's age-retarding medication treatment.
| Always like to throw in some original art when I can! |
Live Large My Friends!
Thank You!
| Some more original Barry Windsor-Smith art from Nick Fury #12. |
| Still have a copy of this little gem, mini-comic reprint of X-Men #53. Also has reprint of Steranko's cover of X-Men #49. A lot of punch for a freebie! |
| I always enjoyed Smith's rendition of the X-Men. He channeled some great Kirby! Credited as his first U.S. work. |
I always though Barry Smith's art of this period was abominably bad, yet he has many fans of this stuff.
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