Sgt, Fury Question.

[CAP Freak]

Who wrote the early (#s10-25) of Sgt. Fury?

 

The books I believe say Stan Lee. But I think that's just because people thought his name as the writer would sell books.

 

But, I talked to Gary Friedrich about it and he claims to have written them. This I am also unsure about because he claims he created Ghost Rider and that it was all his idea. Which is contrary to what Roy Thomas and Mike Ploog believe.

 

Wikipedia says Friedrich began on Sgt, Fury with issue 42. I am unsure maybe Friedrich forgot or he is getting old but he did seem to know what he was talking about. He even commented on one of the panels where they had trouble coming up with dialogue.

 

What are your thoughts?

[TheWatcher]

You may want to post this in the SA section. The SA War guys there may be able to help you out.

[JohnT]

Seems unlikely, unless he was very good at copying the Stan Lee style--which judging by his later work he wasn't. #13 is classic Lee, imo.

[jimm94]

He may very well have started ghosting on Sgt. Fury at some point before he was getting credit, but I'd say that at least the first 15-20 issues are Stan. It could go deeper, but those are the issues that are freshest in my mind.

 

Nice to see more Sgt. Fury fans here. There are a lot of great stories in that run! (thumbs u

[rodan57]

Sgt. Fury is a great book and well worth talking about in Comics General.

 

I pulled out my Fury (not complete, but representative: 2, 5-7, 9, 10-13, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23-25) and had some fun comparing issues.

 

I wouldn't have any problem identifying the first 16 issues as Lee: wordy, lots of one liners.

 

Interestingly, #20 doesn't read the same as the earlier works: less dialogue and hardly any one liners. Not that this proves anything as Lee might simply have done a rush job on this one.

 

It's too bad I am missing 17-19.

 

21, 23-25, also 'read' like Lee to me. Characterization of Fury and the Howlers rings true.

 

So if Friedrich is doing a Lee impression, he was really, really good. Likely? I'd probably come down on the 'No' side.

 

My 12¢

Dennis

[CAP Freak]

He did not say much about the first 19 I made a typo it should have been 20-25. We specifically chatted about 21, 22 because I had those with me.

[That Ron Dude]

This is the first I have heard a suggestion that any of the books credited to Lee were scripted by someone other than Lee. We have all heard, and Lee freely affirms, that issues were often plotted by the artist. It would be interesting to hear more about what Gary Friedrich says about his situation with Marvel at the time. Has he been interviewed in the past and discussed the subject? Is he going public with it now for the first time?

 

When Friedrich took over the scripting I thought he added a lot to the book. It wouldn't surprise me if he could imitate Lee's style. It would only surprise me if he did so uncredited.

 

If Friedrich insists that what he claims to be the case plainly is the case, it would be nice to know if any other books Lee did were ghosted. Somehow, I don't see him as this grand traffic manager, getting plots from the artists and passing them on to the ghost writers. Even Kirby, at his most agitated, says that it was Lee who was adding to his dialogue on the Fantastic Four and taking too much credit for it, not somebody else in Lee's stead.

 

Does Roy Thomas or Arnold Drake or any of the other early writers ever discuss ghosting Stan Lee? Was Friedrich unique? It would be interesting to ask him that.

 

I have never me Gary Friedrich and I can't judge his character but I have to be skeptical.

[mica]

Early on I would add a little sticker to the bag of select issues mentioning that a various book would be a reprint. Ah the days of hand scribbled notations.

I wonder if there had been more effort in delivering new stories each and every month would it have been more successful.