Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #13
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeNick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #13 marks the first appearance of the original Super-Patriot (alias Patric List), a xenophobic, anti-immigration terrorist whose extremist-patriotism narrative gave Marvel an early vehicle to critique exclusionary nationalism—scholarly commentary has noted the character's deliberate irony: he dies by tripping over the very American flag he wielded as a shield. The issue also delivers one of the series' more audacious cliffhangers, as Fury unmasks his quarry only to see his own face staring back—a mystery resolved the following issue as an illusion, but one that encapsulates the paranoid, identity-bending spy-fiction tone Gary Friedrich was cultivating. Coming at the tail end of a short-lived series already damaged by Jim Steranko's departure, it represents the post-Steranko creative team finding its footing through politically charged storytelling that anticipated Marvel's more socially engaged Bronze Age work.
In "The Super-Patriot!", Nick Fury, on the run from SHIELD, stumbles upon a radical rally led by a masked extremist preaching vengeance against government "traitors." As SHIELD closes in and aerial combat erupts over Manhattan, Fury races to stop the Super-Patriot from attacking the United Nations—only to discover the shocking truth when the villain is unmasked. Written by Gary Friedrich and Herb Trimpe, with art by Trimpe and inks by Sam Grainger, this 1969 issue features cover art by Herb Trimpe and Frank Giacoia.
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With this issue, Herb Trimpe formally replaced Barry Windsor-Smith as interior artist, and the series simultaneously shifted to a bi-monthly schedule—two production changes that signaled the title's declining commercial health after Steranko left following issue #5. Gary Friedrich, who had come aboard as the series' regular writer with issue #9, returned here after a single-issue gap filled by Steve Parkhouse; Friedrich and Trimpe shared plotting credit, with Friedrich handling dialogue. Stan Lee remained editor-in-chief, and the series would fold just two issues later.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First and only appearance of the original Super-Patriot (Patric List), a xenophobic domestic terrorist who plots to destroy the United Nations; he dies in this issue, tripping over an American flag while attempting to flee.
- Written by Gary Friedrich (dialogue/plot) and Herb Trimpe (plot); pencilled and covered by Herb Trimpe; inked by Sam Grainger; lettered by Artie Simek; edited by Stan Lee.
- Released April 8, 1969 with a July 1969 cover date.
- Herb Trimpe takes over interior art from Barry Windsor-Smith starting with this issue; the series also shifts to a bi-monthly publication schedule with this issue.
- The story's central cliffhanger—Fury unmasking the Super-Patriot to find his own face—is revealed in issue #14 to be an illusion caused by a truth serum administered to Fury.
- The Super-Patriot name was later reused twice: most notably for John Walker (Captain America #323, 1986), who became a rival to Steve Rogers and eventually U.S. Agent; that second incarnation bears no visual resemblance to the 1969 original.
- The letters page ('Don't Yield, Write S.H.I.E.L.D.!') includes a published letter from Donald F. McGregor—at the time a reader, later a celebrated Marvel writer (Panther's Rage, Killraven).
- Reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Vol. 3 and in the S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Complete Collection Omnibus (Marvel, 2015).
Cast · 16 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in L'Inattendu #23 (1980), Marvel Masterworks: Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #3 (2011), S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Complete Collection Omnibus #[nn] (2015), Agente Internacional #47, Amazing Stories of Suspense #104
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