Flipping through an old Quality reprint, Rogue Trooper #29, I saw this ad and was scratching my head as to what the hell that Fantastic Four thing was:

It took me a bit of searching, especially since I thought it might've been a Bill Sienkiewicz cover: he had done a few around that time for some Judge Dredd collections, and that Dazzler: the Movie cover as well. I was way off: it was Marvel Comics Index: Fantastic Four #4, by none other than Steranko!

Anyway, that's what I was thinking about while watching football the other day. Who says it's not a productive use of time?
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Today, two stories that may or may not feature Nick Fury...

Also, how is "Kill Spider-Man" not number one on Norman Osborn's list? I'm surprised it's not on there two or three times. From 2009, Dark Reign: the List: Secret Warriors #1, "Leviathan" Written by Jonathan Hickman, pencils by Ed McGuinness, inks by Tom Palmer. Fury breaks into the Sentry's tower for a little meet-up with Norman Osborn, in a case involving a deep-cover agent in the Treasury who has funneled billions to a secret organization...called Leviathan.

This issue also features John Garrett, the cyborg agent from Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz's Elektra: Assassin. Always surprised when he appears: I don't think he was intended to be part of the Marvel Universe proper, let alone a recurring character, and Marvel has gotten a surprising amount of mileage out of him.

This issue also features a reprint of the Lee/Steranko classic "Today Earth Died!, featuring an alien invasion which may or may not be a nightmare. Then again, both stories this issue may or may not have the real Nick Fury, since some writers have decided that Fury, not unlike Dr. Doom, was probably a robot every time you saw him for the last several decades. (A Life Model Decoy versus Doombot story just sprang to mind, although it could well go into Spy vs. Spy territory...) Sometimes that seems like a dick move for a writer: "Fury was a LMD every story not written by me..." Read more!