Um, who is "Nick Fury"???

[CatWoman]

:shrug:

[ThomCat]

1. The baddest bad ass around

Um, except when he's played by Hasselhoff. :cry:

[NewJeffCT]

5. you mean that wasn't typecasting?

:sarcasm:

[CatWoman]

6. is he a super hero?

[Benfea]

10. No superhero, no superpowers.

Nick Fury was a sergeant or something from a World War II comic book from back in the day when not all comic books were about superpowered men in brightly colored underwear spouting musclebound platitudes while attempting to dismember each other.

Then the comic book industry got subjected to a Joe McCarthy-style attack by some crazy psychologist who was convinced that comic books would turn impressionable young boys into gay communist criminals. The three ring circus ended with bizarre and stupid testimony before congress, and the industry was forced to implement the Comics Code Authority, which laid down rules so restricting that all comic book genres other than superheroes died out.

When Marvel decided to dust off the Nick Fury character and bring him into the era of comic books (they did this in the 60s?), they made him a little older and made him the leader of a supersecret organization of international law enforcement organization called SHEILD.

More recently, Marvel launched the "Ultimates" line of comics, in which every major character and every major comic book got "rebooted" and reinterpreted to the modern era. The "Utlimates" version of Nick Fury was no longer a cigar-chomping white guy with greying hair, but a black man based on Samuel L. Jackson (which certainly made casting for the "Iron Man" post-credits denouement easy).

[mitchum]

24. Actually, "crazy psychologist" is a gross mis-characterization of Frederic Wertham...

just a few weeks ago, The New Yorker had a very fascinating article about the controversy.
Wertham:
never stated that comic books "would turn impressionable young boys into gay communist criminals"
never advocated banning or censoring comic books
had heavy duty credentials as a life long progressive.

For years and years,I also had cast Wertham in the villain role, but the article was very illuminating. Granted, others who did have political hay to make used Wertham as a starting point.
Hell, I'm glad that the ensuing pressure made William Gaines get out of he comic book game...otherwise, we would have never had Mad Magazine :)

[Benfea]

31. He started a witch hunt against COMIC BOOKS.

I'm sorry, but regardless of whatever was in that article, the man was clearly a lunatic.

The Comics Code Authority devastated the creative output of the comic book industry such that superheroes were the only genre that survived. The CCA was so restrictive that Stan Lee had to violate the code just to make an anti-drug Spider-Man issue in the 70s. Apparently, you weren't allowed to mention drugs, not even to denounce them. (Marvel published the book anyway, but published it without the CCA seal.)

The bottom line is that this guy started a crusade that ended up with congress discussing comic books and grilling comic book writers. The results of that man's efforts were insane and probably didn't accomplish whatever it was he intended to accomplish (juvenile delinquency certainly continued to climb even after his little crusade).

[mitchum]

33. The CCA was created by the comic indu$try in order that they could...

continue to rake in million$ and million$ of dollar$. I know that The New Yorker doesn't have all of its text in little word balloons, but I would still advise you to read the article. Although the comic indu$try would have you believe otherwise, Wertham was not a one dimensional villain.

[Benfea]

39. Nice try

But the creation of the CCA would never have been necessary in the first place if not for the lunatic's witch hunt against comic books in the first place. Your attempt at shifting the blame to the victim has failed.

[mitchum]

41. Frankly, in the grand scheme of things...

his progressive accomplishments far outweigh his "offenses" against fan boys.
Interesting that you see businessmen as victims. That's the same defense that the oil industry uses against those who dare to critique them.

[Benfea]

42. It was hardly just an "offense" against fanboys.

This was an all out assault on our constitutional free speech rights.

Interesting that you see businessmen as victims. That's the same defense that the oil industry uses against those who dare to critique them.

Now you're just wandering into pure strawman territory, but if that's what you have to do to support your position, then more power to you, I guess.

As an art form, American comic books are generations behind Japanese manga, and this man's witch hunt is a big part of that. We are all diminished when art is attacked just to score political points getting parents riled up over nothing.

[mitchum]

44. No,you are the one with the Strawman (does he wear a cape and tights?)...

all I did was address your second-hand (hell, tenth-hand by this point in time) characterization of Wertham as a "crazy psychologist"
He in no way attempted to curtail our constitutional free speech rights; he did not advocate censoring or banning your precious little funny books. Kefauver and other politicians are the ones who turned it into a "witch hunt"

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

51. Riiiight.

As if Wertham himself wasn't selling sleaze with his book "The Seduction of the Innocent."

[mitchum]

53. Of course, he was selling sleaze

Why do you think I own a copy?

But that wasn't my point.

[Benfea]

59. I have to disagree

You can dress it up in whatever clothes you want, but his little crusade was as stupid and crazy as the televangelist crusade against the Teletubbies, FOX News' crusade against Spongebob Squarepants, or Hillary's (thankfully short-lived) crusade against video games, or Tipper Gore's crusade against rock music.

Wertham was hardly the first one to manufacture one of these "culture warrior" controversies, and he wasn't the last. Every single time it happens it's stupid, pointless, and thoroughly un-American.

Now you're technically correct. Wertham himself did not draft the Comics Code Authority, nor did he implement it, but that whole circus existed at all because of his regular tirades against a harmless art form, and you seem to think that just because he wasn't holding the gavel during the congressional hearings that his hands are completely clean of the entire affair.

[AllegroRondo]

43. Mad switched from comic to magazine size just to avoid the CCA

[mitchum]

46. Indeed they did...

and very quickly transformed into a far more clever and sly publication than comic books had ever been.
When I was 7 and became bored with comic books, Mad wonderfully filled that void.
In light of that, I am very grateful for the dastardly deeds of the evil Dr Wertham.

[Frank Cannon]

50. I second that, enthusiastically

"MAD" was forced to transform into "Mad", which was a magazine far more sophisticated and successful in skewering the mass media, Madison Avenue, and American society in general than its '50s comic book incarnation ever could be.

Sadly, there is no such voice of rebellion today, as Mad is owned by one of our remaining media giants (Time/Warner), and it's subsequentally had its zygotes cut out.

[mitchum]

52. You are absolutely right about that

For all of us who began reading it at a young age, it was definitely our first exposure to a critique of modern commercial culture.
And it was funny as hell.
I even remember the first issue that I bought...with the Balmy and Clod cover.
You are also right about the sad state of its current incarnation. Even a long ago knockoff like Sick outshines it.

[Frank Cannon]

32. I saw another article on Wertham that showed him to be quite liberal

He was even, if I'm not mistaken, an important supporter of the early civil rights movement!

I know it may strike some people as absurd for someone to crusade against comics, but the comics at the time really were off-the-hook with their violence and adult themes. I challenge someone to pick up a copy of "Seduction of the Innocent" (if you can find one) and not be creeped out and disturbed by some of the images Wertham presents as examples.

Did Wertham go too far in his criticism? Certainly. He (and others who, as you mentioned, used him to make political hay) threw the baby out with the bath water. But in the context of his own time, he wasn't a bad guy.

[mitchum]

34. You are correct; Wertham was incredibly liberal.

He was far more altruistic than Saint Stan Lee and his fellow businessmen.

[Benfea]

38. Why is his being liberal relevant?

That doesn't make him any less wrong about what he did regarding comic books, and the same goes for his support of civil rights.

[Frank Cannon]

45. Because he was not the fascist monster you would like to imagine him as

Do your research and find out more about him, for crying out loud.

[mitchum]

48. Frank, I fear that research won't happen until someone turns Wertham's bio...

into a graphic novel. And even when that comes to pass, he will more than likely be depicted cackling maniacally in his lair deep in a dormant volcano. Or some place like that.
Many people have a lot invested in the fixed idea of their being oppressed by the evil Doctor Wertham.

[Benfea]

58. Left-right never entered into this.

It sounds to me like you're trying to interject some sort of "he was liberal and therefore good," which is the kind of argument that makes the right so nauseating to me. Just because he was a liberal, that doesn't mean he wasn't wrong about his anti-comic book crusade.

[NewJeffCT]

2. He's an agent of SHIELD

Supreme Headquarters International Espionage - Law enforcement Division.

I think he started off as a WW2 soldier, though.

[CatWoman]

4. the web was all abuzz about him today

:shrug:

[DS1]

3. More fanboy monkeyspank

[Benfea]

12. Oooh oooh eeeh eeeh! *spank* *spank* -NT

[crimsonblue]

7. here he is...

[CatWoman]

8. so he's a superhero, huh?

what's he got to do with Iron Man?

He's supposed to be in the sequel.

Is he IM's sidekick or something?

[crimsonblue]

9. Nah, Marvel just announced they are making a movie about him

Marvel announced like 4 or 5 comic book movies today.

[Benfea]

17. Did you see the live action Death Note trailer?

I'm not sure how that will translate to live action, since most of that story revolves around a creepy Sherlock Holmes-style genius talking to himself and eating bon-bons.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

28. WHOA! Which 4 or 5? Where? Linkee? -nt

[Benfea]

11. He's not a superhero.

By definition, superheros have superpowers, and Nick Fury is just an aging soldier with guns who now runs a giant supersecret law enforcement agency.

He was in the "Iron Man" movie to drop hints that both Nick Fury and Iron Man would be in an upcoming Avengers movie.

[CatWoman]

13. oh goody!!!!!

thanks -- I loved the Iron Man movie. :hi:

[Benfea]

15. Glad you liked it. I did too.

I'm a comic book dork from way back, but I'd given up on Marvel comic book movies since the very forgettable X-Men 3. Marvel movies have been so consistently crappy that I didn't see the point in watching any more of them. In fact, I was getting sick and tired of the whole comic book movie phase Hollywood seems to be going through.

In fact I wasn't planning on watching Iron Man until the movie critics and word of mouth changed my mind.

[NewJeffCT]

19. and Tony Stark

makes a cameo in the upcoming Hulk movie.

[crimsonblue]

26. yeah...

although he does exist in the Marvel superhero universe... so they could give him super powers at any time...

[deucemagnet]

29. I hope they stick with HYDRA as the bad guys.

That's some stylish evil right there.

[hedgehog]

40. I think that Nick Fury for some reason or another DOESN'T age.

In the current Marvel universe, he went underground a few years back I think because he suspected that the Skrulls (shape shifting aliens) were infiltrating everywhere. He also apparently anticipated the move to register all super heroes with the Federal government and I think assisted Captain America during the Civil War. Captain America led the anti-registration heroes in an open revolt.



And now my deepest, darkest secret is out - my children have turned me into a comic book buying nerd (or is it geek? I never can remember.....)

[Redneck Socialist]

20. You may want to throw a spoiler tag in your OP

The Nick Fury bit is a pretty big reveal at the end of the movie. I saw it tonight and the geek joy was palpable at the end of the film. If you know about it going in it loses some of the thrill. :bounce:

[CatWoman]

21. it's too late to edit it

besides - my question comes from other things I came across on the web today -- not necessarily from the IM movie.

[Redneck Socialist]

22. Ahhh...ok. n/t

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

55. I don't know.....

....you have to wait until the end of the credits, and I think the only way you'd stick around was if you read about it. Which I did before I went. I always feel stupid sitting for seven minutes waiting for all those credits.

[Benfea]

60. Sorry, you're right. I should have. -NT

[seemunkee]

18. Good lord, who drew that?

The Steranko version

[Benfea]

30. Steranko blew people's minds

Too bad that was before my time.

[Blue-Jay]

14. Nick Furry!

[CatWoman]

16. will the real Blue Jay

please "stand" up

:rofl:

[asthmaticeog]

27. You posted in the wrong thread.

I think this is what you were looking for: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=7711661&mesg_id=7711661

[underpants]

37. That is the second funniest photo I have ever seen on DU

the other involved a tailpipe.... if you need to ask ....

[MrScorpio]

23. Nick Fury is this guy I drew once

[CatWoman]

25. he looks like Phil Ken Sebben

from Birdman :hi:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

54. HA HA!

[CatWoman]

56. dangly parts!!!!!

:hi:

:rofl:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

57. You been watching the re-runs too?

Me, I've been staying up to watch Home Movies.

[Steerpike]

35. Nick Fury

[underpants]

36. I would swear that there was a DU'er with that screenname a few years ago

actually there was a Freeper with that name too

[blindpig]

47. fuckin' revisionists....

Had no idea, last time I looked at a comic book was 1966.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

49. You can read all about him here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Fury

And you can read about that crazy liberal psychologist who was the figurehead of a censorship movement.

If you wanted too.