Cover Story - Top 15 Nick Fury Covers

Edited by Robert Beach 

Hello, and welcome to Cover Story: digging as little into comic books as we can. Cover Story isn’t exactly a new column around here as I’ve been doing “Top Cover” lists since August. now, I’m just giving it a name and making it an official weekly column alongside Comics Rainbow and Movie Monthly. With that said, let’s dive into this week’s cover subject: Nick Fury. 

I’ve already talked at length about Nick Fury earlier this week and how he served as Marvel’s super spy answer to James Bond, and how he’s been through numerous iterations in his 50-year history.  I’m mainly focusing on him because Spectre came out this week, and I’m a sucker for topicality. At the same time, Nick Fury’s various covers feature work by some of the greatest artists in comic book history, including Jim Steranko, a towering legend of the medium and concept artist for Indiana Jones. So let’s dive into the shallow end and get the cover story on the top 15 Nick Fury covers. 

15.

If you read this week’s Comics Rainbow about Nick Fury, you know I hold a major affection for the mini-series Fury: My War Gone By, by Garth Ennis. Published under Marvel’s adult-oriented MAX Comics imprint, the series blended stark violence and real-world conflicts with classic iconography of the Marvel universe. And this cover is a perfect example of that. If you can’t make it out, the background is meant to be the dense jungles of Vietnam with Fury lurking in the shadows and Frank Castle, the Punisher taking center stage.  

The main reason this cover is as high up as it is on the list is because Fury himself isn’t really the focus of his own cover. At the same time, it’s too excellent a visual design to leave off the list.  The silhouette of Punisher speaks volumes and blends well with the minimalistic and stripped-down storytelling that made My War Gone By such a great read. More than anything, I like how Punisher looms over the entire cover, like he’s a shadow cast over the entire proceedings; a man formed more by the absence of something than by actual presence. 

14.

Another great My War Gone By cover, this one blends the iconography expertly with a very blocky and cut-out style that looks absolutely amazing. I’m not exactly sure why the big guy behind Fury’s logo looks like Lex Luthor, but then again, I don’t really care. Even if that was Luthor, he’d fit perfectly for the embodiment of soured American exceptionalism and the corrupting influence of imperialism during the age of spies and the cold war. I absolutely love the subtlety of how the flag’s stripes extend into the various nations of the world that Fury wrecked havoc in at the behest of his government and the little visual tick of the looming figure wiping his mouth with the flag is a great addition to it all.  

Additionally, I’m glad to see Nick Fury himself take such a key place on the page, and it’s incredibly impressive that I know it’s him, even though he doesn’t have a face of any kind. It’s been said that a character’s visual design should be immediately distinguishable as them regardless of the situation. This kind of block, cut-out design proves just how evocative Fury’s visual appearance is, especially the eye patch. The cover actually reminds me a lot of Alex Ross’ Uncle Sam comic only with a greater sense of detachment and a lack of judgment that comic...lacked. This cover knows the motives of the people sending Fury around the world are corrupt and poisonous, but it doesn't let that seep into their depiction of Marvel’s super spy hero. He remains apart. 

13.

This mashed-up style of cover that blends blunt symbolism, looming figures, evocative iconography, and characters is probably the purest and most dominant visual aesthetic of Nick Fury’s entire comic career. In the case of this cover, the design is much more realistic and darker than usual, but that in no way takes away from its brilliance. I like the way the chessboard and its figures makes up the foreground, especially Red Skull just lurking in the background under the vast and watchful eye of Baron Strucker.  

The Hydra Operative in the Davinci pose is a pretty nice addition even if its placement and symbolism clash a bit with the chessboard visual set up in the foreground; however, the lady Hydra agent that dominates the left side of the cover is a pretty great addition. Most of all, I just absolutely love this visualization of Baron Strucker with his old wizened face, cracking skin, and single bloodshot eye looking piteously down upon the board in judgment as the world seems to burn around him. It’s a great visualization of the villain that lends him a menace and iconic visual he usually lacks. I’d also note that Nick Fury looks a lot more like David Hasslehoff than usual on this cover, which is probably because this comic is from around when Hasslehoff actually played Nick Fury in a TV movie about the character. 

12.

Here we go, classic Nick Fury from the Jim Steranko years with all the craziness that was always so endemic to the character. This set-up of an incredibly full, to the point of busy, cover design is also thoroughly endemic of Nick Fury’s historical style. Steranko was always a master of massive crowd shots like this one.  Of the many amazing elements on this page, I think my favorite is the weird and completely superfluous line of Hydra soldiers running across the street down below fighting what look to be average, inner-city police. I have no idea why or how city cops have become embroiled in the ongoing secret war between the indomitable forces of Hydra and the global operations of SHIELD. But it strikes me that they’re probably incredibly outmatched given they have pistols and Hydra has jetpacks.  

Speaking of, I absolutely love every bit of Hydra tech on this cover: from their giant blimp emblazoned with their own logo, to their weird exhaustless jetpacks, to a straight-up portal machine they only use to sneak into Nick Fury’s office, to that ridiculous full-body cast trap they snatched Fury in.  I especially wonder how they convinced Fury to get into that body cast or if they entombed him in it using some kind of science shenanigans.  I also like that even though you can barely see Nick Fury in this cover he looks absolutely furious. 

11.

This is another classic Nick Fury cover, which just goes to show how much the idea of visually iconic metaphor has been imprinted on the aesthetic DNA of the series since the very beginning. I don’t actually know anything about the new, new, new Super-Patriot the title seems to be raving about because no one has ever bothered to revisit this character. Based on this cover, he’s some kind of ideological threat from the top of our nation that…okay, I’m not at all sure what this cover is meant to convey, but it looks amazing.  

Best I can figure, the Super-Patriot is some kind of American robotic war machine that goes rogue, and the story is about the danger of trying to define yourself as “just” because you carry a gun and drape yourself in the flag; a lot of Marvel actually touched on that back in the day. Regardless of how much the symbolism of the cover impacts the actual story, or really adds up, I absolutely love this visual. It fits perfectly with the complicated role Nick Fury has always walked between: international super spy for American interests and righteous hero who rubs shoulders with Captain America and Thor.

10.

I admit, this is a bit of a downgrade artwork wise, especially with the really dopey faces the two women on Fury’s team seem to be sporting, but I really love this layout and how much it embraces the more insane elements of Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s mythology.  Something Marvel hit on from the very earliest days of its embracing the super spy espionage genre in the ‘60s was that the golden age of spy films had more in common with the free form sci-fi of the ‘60s than anything else so they were quick to let Nick Fury have plenty of space based adventures in between beating up communists and secret, zodiac based organizations.  Marvel has always maintained a weird relationship with the goofy aspects of their Silver Age so it’s nice to see a more modern incarnation of Nick Fury’s character bridging the gap and diving into the full starfields of outer space.  This is also one of the few covers I found to feature a cameo by a major, non-spy based Marvel team with the Fantastic Four.  What’s more I like the blend of eras featured here between Fury with heroes, Fury with his team, and even Fury in the army, it’s a great use of the classic Fury cross section visual format. 

9.

Another AMAZING Jim Steranko cover from the earliest days of Nick Fury featuring one of the most action-packed visuals I’ve ever seen. Not only do you get Nick Fury, he’s surrounded by a ton of fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that all seem to be dedicatedly blowing the hell out of everything around them. 

This cover is so chock full of manly action, I don’t even care it’s sporting a pure white background. The simple image of Nick Fury smoking, duel-wielding, and blowing the hell out of whatever’s around him all in front of the American flag might be the manliest image ever committed to a Marvel comic that doesn’t include Captain America. It’s also pretty dope to get Dum Dum Dugan and Gabriel Jones on the cover as well as they were always some of the most interesting supporting characters in Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D. stories.

8.

Behold, the first ever Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. issue published, featuring one of the most iconic covers of all time. Seriously, this cover design is right up there with the first appearances of Batman or Superman in terms of game-changing iconic that would echo through the halls of the comic book medium for decades to come. 

The design is officially in the same vein as the posters for the classic ‘60s James Bond films that were so incredibly popular at the time and whose success Marvel had hoped to replicate with Nick Fury. What I really love about this cover is the supremely striking use of black and white in order to create that freaky spiral effect all across the back of the cover. Couple that with the great use of color on Fury’s uniform and logo creating the effect of a red, white, and blue color scheme, you’ve got the recipe for one of the most influential and iconic comic covers of all time. 

7.

By now, you should be noticing a few commonalities in all these Nick Fury covers. Mainly because we’ve so far touched on most of the key iconography of the character’s history and are now just passing through perfections of that iconography. As far as perfection goes, this cover is absolutely amazing. Partially I love that we’re seeing Fury thrown up against a different enemy for a change: swapping out the Captain America cavalcade of bad guys for Iron Man’s ach-nemesis of The Mandarin.  

Even more than that, I love the visual symbolism of the Mandarin’s hand posed behind Fury, with the missing ring figure forming the vertical line of the trigger crosshairs as the hand shatters right where the bullet would impact it.  Fury himself looks incredibly stoic and steely in this cover as well, probably the least emotional we’ve ever seen him but not in a dead eyed way, more reserved and almost worried, like the situation is too high stakes for him to risk getting emotional.  I also like all the little bits of weirdness on the cover like the army of other hand silhouettes in the background, the fact the artist remembered the Mandarin’s rings are supposed to have different designs, and the little hero head circles on the right hand side of the cover. 

6.

This is one of those rare covers that’s objectively worse than a lot of others on this list, but is so visually striking and memorable I had to put up here almost on concept alone. If you look, Fury himself is actually really poorly rendered here. The heavy use of inks and shadows makes his design look muddled, and his hands are pulled so far inward that he comes off as oddly scrunched together in an unnatural pose.  

However, that’s my only real complaint because I love everything else here. I love the eerie red light that’s washing over Nick Fury, and I love how heavily outfitted with weapons he is. I love the visual symbolism of him being in a firing range. How well the evocative images of the targets drawn on all the figures ties into the subtitle “target of Hydra,” implying to me that these are all silhouettes of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Fury actually knows and cares about. I especially love the color balancing on hand between the warmer orange of the target boards and the very harsh red and white of both Fury and the over-hanging logo.

5.

I told you we’d get back to Fury’s space adventures later on in the list.  This is honestly one of the best Nick Fury covers ever made for just a ton of reasons, not the least of which being I’m pretty sure he’s actually smoking inside that space suit. Even despite that, I love even in space Fury is strapped head to toe in weapons, including several grenades and a knife to complement his gun and lord knows how much else.  I also like how incredibly wonky the proportions actually are on this cover with the moon looming questionably large in the foreground, and the Earth exploding at a distance that is far too close for comfort.  

Speaking of, it’s also pretty cool to see the Earth exploding while literally on Fury’s watch. I’m not sure the actual plot of this issue, though I’m certain that doesn’t actually happen. If it does, Fury glued the Earth back together by the end of the comic. What’s more interesting to me though is that this is unquestionably one of the best Nick Fury comic covers ever drawn, yet it so completely rejects all the standard Nick Fury tropes and clichés. There’s no overt symbolism, no over crowded shots, and no large and detailed spread of character. It's just one man in space as Earth explodes behind him. Good stuff. 

4.

Of the higher Nick Fury covers on this list this one probably makes the most sense.  Sure, it’s not very likely that this episode will actually feature Nick Fury and a bunch of fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agents being crushed in the fist of a giant Hydra operative. Given this is the Marvel universe, and size changing is an incredibly common occurrence here, it’s not completely outside the realm of possibilities.  

What’s more, even if this isn’t depicting the literal events of the comic, it certainly works for the symbolism of Nick and friends literally being held in the clenched fist of Hydra and their villainous schemes. Either way, the image is great and intensely striking as well as boasting a great balance of colors.  This harsh red, warm orange, and definitive black color scheme is a common occurrence in the Nick Fury covers, yet it works so damn well. It’s hard to fault the colorists for defaulting to it. My favorite part of this cover, however, is the little Marvel hero emblem in the top left corner is just Nick Fury’s eye patch and chomped cigar. That’s pretty great. 

3.

I have no idea what’s happening here.  Taken from the original Fury run and featuring the work of Jack Fury, this cover seems to feature Nick Fury facing a villain with the power to teleport people into artwork who has stranded him in the world of a Salvador Dali painting. That’s legitimately the only solution I can offer where this is taking place. (Given the desaturated landscape that appears to be collapsing out from under Fury’s feet while looming clocks and text incarnate into hideous shadow men for some reason in the foreground.)

I especially like the random skull that’s sitting in the bottom right of the page just staring at the reader. It's as if this is just another normal day for the skull, and we’re the weird ones for expecting sense or logic from this image. I think that by far the strangest thing in this image is that Nick Fury seems to be cosplaying as Dick Tracy in this horrifying alternate dimension of surrealist madness. 

2.

This may not be the best Nick Fury cover, but my God if it isn’t my favorite. I’m already a huge fan of holiday specials and dark Christmas stuff in general, and this one probably takes the cake as the darkest Christmas-related visual I think I’ve ever seen. For the uninitiated, the creepy gentleman staring at you out of the red Christmas tree bulb is Hate Monger. He's a classic S.H.I.E.L.D./Fantastic Four villain that dressed like a purple Klansman and was literally a clone of Hitler, making this probably the most serious and genuine piece of artwork that could be described as “Christmas Hitler” ever produced by human hands.  

Hate Monger was actually a pretty major villain during the ‘60s era of Marvel as, remember, these comics were made by the guys who had Captain America beating up Hitler even before the US got involved in World War 2. A lot of that comes from the fact that most of the men who founded Marvel comics and shaped the comic medium overall were Jews working in the medium who, for several decades, were forced to hide their identity to help sales. That’s actually the story behind Jack Kirby and Stan Lee as the two were originally born Jack Kurtzberg and Stan Lieber. 

1.

It’s odd to say that Nick Fury was at his very best with the first ever issue of his series, but now having gone through the entire collection of Nick Fury covers, this one image really is the character’s best iteration. The visual has everything that would come to define Fury: technicolor weirdness, massive visual metaphors, a number of characters sprawling all over the cover and battling each other, and the  high-concept, severe weirdness that you just don’t see often enough in comics anymore.  

My favorite part of this cover are those giant blocks everyone is climbing on top of and the beautifully simplistic symbolism of things like a skull with the Nick Fury patch, a question mark, the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo, and the actual lettering to say “Who is Scorpio.”  For the record, Scorpio was a deranged terrorist leader of the zodiac cult, powerful super villain organization that were obsessed with possessing the zodiac key, a weapon of cosmic power.  This cover has pretty much everything I demand of a great Nick Fury cover and more given how amazingly well blended the huge amount of color on display here is. 


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