Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos was a series that ran for 163 issues and four annuals, created by the legendary duo of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, themselves WWII veterans, and featured the adventures of a hard-fighting band of Army Rangers in the European Theatre of Operations during World War II. The series was notable for featuring one of the first few openly Jewish characters, as well as a non-stereotypical Afro-American character. The series is also notable for not being afraid to kill off popular characters.
Late last month, it was revealed that the Howling Commandos have been nearly wiped out. In Secret Warriors #17-19, it was revealed that Dino Manelli and Pinky Pinkerton have passed away and Gabe Jones and Eric Koening were killed during a battle against HYDRA. Rebel Ralston remains alive, Izzy Cohen is in a wheelchair, while Dum-Dum Dugan is in prison and Nick Fury is still at large, bearing the burden of being Nick Fury.
It felt odd reading that story arc. I felt like an end of an era, almost alike reading in the paper about the death of a war hero or someone I’d admired. As a tribute, I decided to do this.
Of what we know, the Howlers will be present in some form in Captain America: The First Avenger, and Neal McDonough has been cast as Cpl. Dugan, though signs point to Fury and Dugan being part of an amalgamation of the Howlers and the Invaders, referred to as the latter.
If that is the case, it is possible to have a prequel centered on the Howlers either prior to meeting Cap and/or joining the Invaders, or – less likely - during a subsequent war. I’m not really going to get into it, as this is supposed to be a fun tribute and not a hopeless film treatment.
Aside from their upcoming appearance in Captain America, the Howlers have influences Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, so the presentation style is a bit of a homage, there.
While we're on the subject, SFAHHC #18 was referenced in the Tarantino penned True Romance. So maybe there’s a certain fan favorite director who would actually want to helm this puppy?
Cpl. Timothy 'Dum-Dum' Dugan
The squad’s second in command and the one usually putting them through the ringer during drills. Forgone conclusion here, folks.
Pvt. Isidore 'Izzy' Cohen
A Jewish-American soldier and a mechanic before the war, which the squad often found useful. His likeness was based on that for actor Charles Bronson.
Pvt. Gabriel Jones
An Afro-American soldier and a musician before the war, he sometimes played his trumpet while the squad was on the march or even during battle, to raise morale.
Pvt. Robert 'Rebel' Ralston
An ex-jockey from Kentucky before the war. He’s the smallest of the Howlers, which doesn’t stop him from being as deadly as any other.
Malek is perhaps best known for portraying creepy/deranged/badass Marine Snafu Shelton on HBO’s The Pacific. I didn’t like the series as a whole, but Rami Malek is pretty damn impressive in it and whether he ever plays Reb or not, he’s certainly someone to watch out for.
Pvt. Jonathan 'Junior' Juniper
An Ivy-leaguer who dropped out of college to join the Army. Juniper was killed early on, a most unusual plot development for its time.
Don’t look at me like that. I just want to see that guy get shot.
Pvt. Dino Manelli
An Italian-American soldier and actor before and after the war. Based in part on Dean Martin.
Pvt. Eric Koenig
A German defector who joined the Howlers when he became disillusioned with Nazism.
Pvt. Percival 'Pinky' Pinkerton
The black sheep of an upper class British family known for breeding officers with illustrious careers in the British armed forces.
Cpt. Samuel Sawyer
Ironically known as Happy Sam. Injury kept him from active duty and thus he commanded a Ranger Company – Able Company - that included the Howlers among its ranks.
Lady Pamela Hawley
A British Red Cross nurse who embarked on a budding romance with Sgt. Fury, despite the difference in social class and personality.
Sgt. Bull McGiveny
Squad leader to the 2nd Attack Squad of Able Company, also known as the Maulers. McGiveney was a bully and a sycophant, and he shared an intense rivalry with Fury, which extended to their respective squads as well.
The Villain
What’s a ragtag bunch of dogfaces without an absolutely venal fascist jackboot to go to war against?
The Howlers generally had the same villains as Captain America, and not just wanting to post pictures of Toby Jones and Hugo Weaving I thought of the following two candidates.
Baron Wolfgang von Strucker was the commander of Hydra in the comic books, a role that has been assumed by the Red Skull in the Marvel cinematic universe. With some updating he could be a fitting adversary.
My other candidate is General Von Krummpt, a one-off character that arguably had a profound effect on the good Sergeant. He was a General in the Luftwaffe, notorious for leading raids targeting hospitals, schools and places of worship, which made him responsible for the death of one of our good guys. In a memorable story, the Howlers went on an unsanctioned mission to get the General to answer to his crimes.
Mads Mikkelsen is my choice to play either, or perhaps a combination of both. He was one of the greatest Bond villains in my opinion, and it is a shame the onl high profile gig since then was in a disappointing remake of a B-movie.
The Squad Leader
I know its too late to talk about who plays Fury. Samuel L. Jackson is playing him and I wish him luck. However, a lot of us had wanted to see the classic version, partly due to the implausibility of a black special forces soldier in WWII being entrusted with carrying high priority missions, which is not to discount the contribution of Afro-Americans to the war effort.
And yes, this is a movie about a super-soldier fighting a skull faced Nazi with the help of a sea monarch and a combusting android, but there’s a point where you got to portray events realistically. Its lazy writing otherwise.
The way I see it, there are three ways to go about it:
a- Sam Jackson plays Sgt. Fury, the leader of an experimental racially integrated squad. He is subject to racial discrimination, especially from Sgt. Bull McGiveney, but his men are loyal to him and trust him.
b- Sam Jackson plays Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD. But Nick Fury is just a pseudonym, originally belonging to a soldier who fought and died during World War II. This is actually a realistic scenario as Intelligence agents often adopt new names for their clandestine profession.
c- Sam Jackson plays Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD. During WWII, there existed a squad of Army Rangers known as the Howlers and were lead by a tough-as-nails non-com called Sgt. Dick Currie. Dick Currie being a character surrogate for the classic Nick Fury, identical in every aspect of personality and background except for his name. The fans will recognize the character as a Fury-surrogate and the sensible ones won’t be bothered about the name change, the regular audience will just see an entertaining character.
Out of the three scenarios, A is probably the closest to what will happen. I’d personally prefer C or B, but they’re very unlikely to happen. But then again so is the rest of this fan cast or any of the ones I’d previously done. So here’s a little something else…
Thomas Jane is one of my favorite actors, he reminds me of old fashioned Hollywood leading men like Lee Marvin and Paul Newman. I’ve cast him as Milo Garret and Max Payne and now I’m casting him as Sgt. Fury or Sgt. Fury’s surrogate. I’m also have him penciled in for two more to be seen in the near future He’s just that versatile!
Thomas Jane previously played Col. Fury when he posed to Tim Bradstreet’s cover of The Punisher Max #13.