My War Gone By
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''Fury: My War Gone By'', also known as ''Fury MAX'' or ''Fury MAX: Cold Warrior'' is a 2012-2013 thirteen issue comic book limited series written by
Garth Ennis Garth Ennis (born 16 January 1970) is a Northern Irish-American comics writer, best known for the Vertigo series ''Preacher'' with artist Steve Dillon, his nine-year run on Marvel Comics' ''Punisher'' franchise, and '' The Boys'' with artist Dar ...
and published by Marvel Comics. The series follow the character of
Nick Fury Colonel (United States), Colonel Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Fury Sr. is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/artist Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee, he first appeared in ''Sgt. Fury and ...
during his military career under the course of the 20th century after the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, when Fury participated in most of the United States'
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
initiatives around the globe. Like most of Ennis's previous works on characters that are mainly figures in the world of superheroes so does the series do away with those elements, it instead fixate on the real life dealings of soldiers and spies in historical situations. It is a sequel to the 2001 series '' Fury'' and the 2006 series '' Fury: Peacemaker'', both also written by Garth Ennis. The comic was drawn by
Goran Parlov Goran Parlov (born March 24, 1967) is a Croatian comic book artist. Early life Goran Parlov graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb, Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1991 and soon moved to Italy. Career Parlov began drawi ...
who had previously worked with Ennis on his Punisher series. The series garnered decent sales and critical acclaim.


Development

Ennis has been a proponent of war comics since his youth, as he felt they had more meaning over the general superhero publications that Marvel Comics published most of the time. He felt that the character of Nick Fury reminded him of the series he read as a child and that was of greater interest for him to write. Before ''My War Gone By'' Ennis wrote two other Fury series ('' Fury'' in 2001 and '' Fury: Peacemaker'' in 2006) as well as including his incarnation of the character in his ''Punisher'' run. In Ennis opinion so is his interpretation of Fury in the series intended to be the original character which debuted in '' Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos'' from 1963. Ennis has expressed that his original 2001 Fury series is one of his personal favorites and that he had had the idea for ''My War Gone By'' for a long time, at least since the end of his last Punisher series. When some of Ennis close friends rose within the Marvel hierarchy he took the opportunity to express his interest in doing another Fury comic. The series was meant to be the origin of his version of Nick Fury, to show how he became a bitter and angry old man that showed up in Ennis Punisher comics.


Publication history

The series was published under Marvel's
Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...
imprint. In North America the first and second issues were both released in May 2012, issue three to six were released monthly. No issue was released in October or November 2012. From issue seven on in December 2012 the series was again published monthly. At some point during the publication of the series Marvel used the title ''Fury Max: Cold Warrior'' to refer to the series, which was used at Marvel.com. Since then three collected editions have been published in English; two trade paperback, the first one which collects issues 1 to 6 and the second one which collects issues 7 to 13, known as ''My War Gone By'' Vol. 1 and 2, released in 2012 and 2013 respectively. The third collection is a hardcover and includes all thirteen issues and was named ''Fury: My War Gone By'' and released in 2014. A French language version was released by
Panini Comics Panini Comics is an Italian comic book publisher. A division of Panini Group, which also produces collectible stickers, it is headquartered in Modena, Italy. The company publishes comic books in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, Hungary ...
in 2013 named ''Fury: D'une Guerre à L'autre'', (translation: ''From War to War'' or ''From One War to Another''). A second one also released by Panini in 2013 was named ''A la Guerre Comme à la Guerre'' (translation: ''In War As In War'').


Plot

The story is split up in four different three issue arcs with a final separate issue at the end, the first arc concerns Fury's time working for the military in
French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, was a group of French dependent territories in Southeast Asia from 1887 to 1954. It was initial ...
(modern day
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
) by a politician named McCuskey. Fury is to assess the situation and get an understanding of the lay of the land and how America could potentially influence the situation on behalf of the French and their own best interests. Fury is given some help from a C.I.A. agent named Hatherly and begins a relationship with McCuskey's assistant, Shirley. The second arc takes place in
Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
in 1961 when Fury attempted to help assassinate
Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...
. The third arc takes place in the 1970s as Fury is dragged back into
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
at the height of the US involvement. The arc features more assassination attempts and Fury enlists the help from a
Marine Corps Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included raiding ashore (often in supp ...
sniper named
Frank Castle The Punisher (Francis "Frank" Castle, born Castiglione) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru. The Punisher mad ...
. The final three-issue arc is set in
Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...
in 1984, where he encounters a soldier who goes by the name of
Barracuda A barracuda is a large, predatory, ray-finned, saltwater fish of the genus ''Sphyraena'', the only genus in the family Sphyraenidae, which was named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815. It is found in tropical and subtropical oceans worldw ...
. The final issue features Fury contemplating his life and his choice to dedicate his entire adulthood to going to war. Ennis' version of the character has no connections to the superhero shared universe Fury usually occupies together with characters as The Avengers and
X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the team first appeared in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 (September 1963). Although initial ...
but instead focuses on him in a real world environment and features no appearances from other Marvel characters, outside of Frank Castle, that Ennis did not create himself in his other MAX series. There are no supernatural elements in ''My War Gone By'' and costumed vigilantes do not appear to be a feature of the world at all. The spy organization
S.H.I.E.L.D. S.H.I.E.L.D. is a fictional espionage, special law enforcement, and counter-terrorism government agency appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, this agency first appeared in ''Strange Tal ...
is also largely omitted from the work, as Fury is portrayed as a soldier and CIA agent during his whole life in the book. However, the events of the miniseries are alluded in ''
Original Sin Original sin () in Christian theology refers to the condition of sinfulness that all humans share, which is inherited from Adam and Eve due to the Fall of man, Fall, involving the loss of original righteousness and the distortion of the Image ...
'' #5.


Reception


Sales

All thirteen issues were priced at 3.99 dollars their first month, and all sold between 20,620 and 12,426 copies. The first collected edition was priced at 19.99 dollars and sold an estimated 2477 copies during its first month and was ranked 20th on the trade paperback listing by ''
The Comics Chronicles John Jackson Miller (born January 12, 1968) is an American science-fiction author, comic book writer, and commentator, known for his work on the ''Star Wars'' franchise and his research into comic book circulation history, as presented in the St ...
'', on its second month it sold 391 and was ranked 271 on the list. The second collected edition was also priced at 19.99 and sold an estimated 1,888 copies in August 2013 and was ranked 37. The hardcover full collection was priced at 34.99 dollars and sold an estimated 1,304 copies while being ranked at 70 during August 2014.


Critical response

The series holds an average rating of 8.2 by 16 critics on the
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website
Comic Book Roundup a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...
. Fellow writer Brian K Vaughan, called it the best thing Marvel has done in the last fifty years John Parker of the ''
ComicsAlliance ComicsAlliance is an American website dedicated to covering the comic book industry as well as comic-related media, and is owned by Townsquare Media. The site has been nominated for multiple awards including a 2015 Eisner Award win in the categ ...
'' praised the series, stating "Ennis, renowned for his knowledge of military history, fills “My War Gone By” with real-world facts that will chill your flowery golden heart, and at the very least you will walk away from this book with a near-encyclopedic understanding of covert American screw-ups, and perhaps a healthy amount of hate for the Iron Fist of Democracy." Andrew Young of ''Geek Hard'' said the series was one of the best Nick Fury stories ever. Zak Wojnar of ''
Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and comic books. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publications including Comic Book Resources, Collider, MovieWeb and XDA Developers. ...
'' said the villain
Barracuda A barracuda is a large, predatory, ray-finned, saltwater fish of the genus ''Sphyraena'', the only genus in the family Sphyraenidae, which was named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815. It is found in tropical and subtropical oceans worldw ...
's actions were too vile and horrific to recount when describing the character, but that Barracuda is a character who needs to be portrayed on screen. Mark Peters of ''
Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...
'' said that unlike Ennis's other series, which are puffy and ridiculous in a good way, ''My War Gone By'' is realistic and somber. He also expressed that the series was one of the best Nick Fury stories written and one of the best pieces of cold war fiction of any medium. He stated that it as a very clever usage of the character that takes him away from the world of mainstream Marvel superheroes. Peters described the Fury in the series as an old, grizzled soldier who, much like America is addicted to war.


Prints


Issues


Collected editions


See also

*
2013 in comics Notable events of 2013 in comics. It includes any relevant comics-related events, deaths of notable comics-related people, conventions and first issues by title. For an overview of the year in Japanese comics, see 2013 in manga. Events Janua ...
*
2014 in comics Notable events of 2014 in comics. It includes any relevant comics-related events, deaths of notable comics-related people, by conventions and first issues by title. Events January * January 16: Joann Sfar, Jean-Yves Ferri, Jean-Pierre Gibra ...
*
Historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the Setting (narrative), setting of particular real past events, historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literatur ...
*
War comics War comics is a genre of comic books that gained popularity in English-speaking countries following World War II. History American war comics Shortly after the birth of the modern comic book in the mid- to late 1930s, comics publishers began inc ...


Notes


References


External links

* * {{Garth Ennis 2012 comics debuts Comics by Garth Ennis Marvel Comics limited series Nick Fury titles Marvel Comics set during the Vietnam War Comics set during the Cold War Prequel comics Sequel comics Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War Criticism of United States foreign policy