Garth Ennis, Nick Fury, and Frank Castle. What could go wrong?
Garth Ennis is back at the helm of another one of Marvel’s Max comics. This time the veteran writer heads back to the Vietnam War as Frank Castle and Nick Fury work behind enemy lines for ‘Uncle Sam’. Its brutal and strictly adult tone already sets it apart from the usual Marvel fanfare, but most importantly, is it a good read?
Opening up to a monologue by long-time Nick Fury adversary, Letrong Giap Get Fury sets its atmosphere well. As the aged Giap recounts his own past experiences of war and conflict we’re reminded of his history with both Fury and Castle. Exhibiting no animosity toward his long-time foes, Giap illustrates his analysis of the various wars that saw Fury and Castle joining together.
After this opening, we're flung straight into the boots of Frank Castle. Largely like his own future as The Punisher, the younger Cpt. Castle takes a no-nonsense technique to war and conflicts. Ennis subverts our image of Castle here as we go from talk of napalm strikes and taking skulls as trophies (they’re good for morale), to then sticking up for a fellow soldier who has smuggled a dog into the base. As Castle and the two MPs jostle over who’s really in charge, Ennis gives us the meat to this narrative as Frank and his recon team get orders to head into Saigon. It’s strictly an off-the-book Black Ops mission and it could endanger Nick Fury.
From here onwards Ennis adds Fury into the narrative with some great scene switches that show his predicament as Castle receives his orders. Ennis taps into his more gritty storytelling as we see a captured Nick Fury and his team at the mercy of the Viet Cong. It’s quite brutal as Ennis doesn’t shy away from showing how harrowing the VC’s methods were. We’re also given small details as to the wider implications of Fury’s imprisonment as he realises that the enemy knows exactly who he is.
In terms of overall writing, Garth Ennis plays this opening issue pretty slowly. The pacing here is quite a slow burner as Ennis takes his time with Frank Castle to quickly juxtapose this relatively controlled environment with the wild fury that Nick Fury has been thrown into. This whole opening reminded me in some ways of the opening of Apocalypse Now where Willard is getting his briefing about Kurtz and his one-man war. Even if it is a bit slow, come to the issue's conclusion and we know what’s coming next as both grizzled veterans head deeper into the Vietnamese jungle. It’s going to be bloody and dam right brutal, and Ennis is certainly one for the challenge in delivering this story.
Artwork for Get Fury comes from Jacen Burrows and Guillermo Ortego with colour work from Nolan Woodard. The art works well in capturing the essence of Ennis’ script while throwing a few surprises along the way. The scenes with Fury are a far cry from those with Castle as we swap the bustling streets and clean offices of occupied Siagon with the dark unforgiving jungle. It does well in setting the two contrasting viewpoints with some visceral violence thrown in for good measure. It’s also this that makes these violent scenes already very memorable. Both Burrows and Ortego capture the pure horror of the emotions of each character while Woodard brings it all to life with some very vivid colours. The whole scene is a pure “Holy Shit!” moment that shows that Get Fury isn’t going to hold anything back.
Overall Get Fury is already shaping up to be an instant classic. After one issue, Garth Ennis shows the violent nature of his narrative that’s certainly going to drive this Marvel Max story going forward. Ennis isn’t a stranger to crafting a visceral war story and here it’s no different. While we’re going to have to wait a little longer for the inevitable Frank Castle/Nick Fury feud it’s going to be one heck of a fight when it happens!
Rating: 9/10
Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow us on X/Facebook @GeekCultureRev, TikTok/YouTube @Geekculturereviews, and BlueSky @geekculturereviews.bsky.social
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