Random Happenstance

I would've sworn I mentioned this one before, but I didn't buy it in singles, I got the trade later: it seems like it's going to mostly be a test of "how much of a hardass is Frank Castle?" but maybe goes more into "what kind of bastard is Nick Fury?" You may be surprised by both answers! From 2024, Get Fury #1, "1: Sweet Bird of Truth" Written by Garth Ennis, pencils by Jacen Burrows, inks by Guillermo Ortego.

The Dave Johnson cover is an homage to the Punisher's first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #129, but you know Ennis doesn't care about that; this is a Vietnam story. (I know Frank's history has ostensibly been altered in Marvel's sliding timeline, but we all agree, Frank fought in Vietnam, whatever we might call it to hide the fact he'd be older than dirt now.) Aged Vietnamese general Letrong Giap tells this story, as a bit of "mischief." Frank and Nick had tried to kill him, more than once, but never got him.

Back in '71, Frank was a captain in charge of recon, and turns away two M.P.'s who had orders to bring in whatever dogs were out there, for fear of rabies. One of Frank's guys has a very small-looking pup, that he was not about to give up; and Frank wasn't about to make him. He's then called away, for a meeting with General Mackie and what are obviously a couple of spooks: Nick Fury's plane had gone down near the Cambodian border, and since his body wasn't found he was feared captured. Frank immediately understands: they want him to kill Fury, since losing him would be unimaginably bad for military intelligence. Mackie at least makes a nod, to giving Fury a better end than the torture he would receive. They couldn't get a rescue team in, but could maybe get a single shooter in place, to take Fury out when he gets to his destination. (There's also zero paper trail on this one; so even if Frank followed his orders he wouldn't be able to prove it.)

There had been two other survivors with Fury, but one had been too wounded to continue marching, so the Viet Cong bury him alive, and kill the other when he objects: Fury hadn't liked it, but knew there was nothing he could do right then, as his march continues...You're fairly sure from the start, that Frank isn't just going to blindly put one in Nick's dome, but let's just say those two aren't best friends by the end of it. (Frank gets some help from a woman who had been Fury's mistress decades before, and a daughter Fury didn't know about; and you can probably guess that it doesn't end with Nick warmly embracing his new family...) Darn, I'm trying to finish a couple weeks worth of posts at once, but I'm still getting the trade off the shelf! There feels like a lot of sidebar in it, as the spooks wonder if they made a mistake sending Frank, or if Fury was really a threat to their own heroin-trafficking scheme at all. Still, Giap's conclusion, despite what both Fury and Castle became, is that if a man is judged by the enemies he made in life, his was then full of riches.