Since the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War, the United States has maintained its power through force and subterfuge – plotting the deaths of political leaders in countries whose breakaway from American influence would inconvenience our economy. Few writers in all of fiction, let alone comics, understand this truth better than Preacher and Hellblazer writer Garth Ennis. One of the most controversial authors in the industry, Ennis is probably best known for his shocking use of violence or juvenile brand of shock-comedy. However, one of his greatest strengths as a writer lies in his thoroughly researched and insightful views of history – particularly war history. That’s exactly what makes Fury MAX: My War Gone By such a remarkable and devastating comic. Published under Marvel’s MAX imprint, Ennis and artist Goran Parlov craft a version of Nick Fury totally divorced from the main line Marvel Comics universe and instead make him a special ops soldier of numerous clandestine American operations.
Ennis’s intelligent, poignant script and Parlov’s gritty, unrelenting visuals make for one of the greatest works in each creator’s career, and one of the greatest war stories ever told in any medium.
Fury MAX: My War Gone By is a 13-issue story told as a time-jumping frame narrative. Nick Fury sits alone in a hotel room, nothing but a bottle of bourbon, a Colt 1911, and a tape recorder at his side. He tells the tale of the things he has done for his country – all of them top-secret black ops, the sort of things he would be executed on sight for telling. The story takes us to each of these places he describes, from French Indochina/Vietnam, to the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba, and to the jungles of South America during the Reagan Contra era. All of these stories and events are obviously based on real history, and they’re all painted red with the blood of needless death. Outside of the battlefields themselves, Ennis also explores the corruption of the politicians who instigate and plot these affairs, and how little accountability they take on when everything fails. This story isn’t just about Colonel Fury, but a group of people around him who are involved with or strictly benefit from the operations Fury fights in. His close associate and fellow soldier George Hatherly is a well-intentioned, eager, yet somewhat naive sharpshooter who accompanies Fury on his operations. Senator “Pug” McCuskey is a rising American politician who has his hands in every battle Fury is involved in, and who seems to have the ear of many like-minded individuals in and out of Washington. Finally, there’s Shirley DeFabio, a fierce woman who shares a lot of characteristics with Nick – including a bed on more than one occasion. The way these characters interact with war and how their lives are shaped by it is one of the central themes Ennis constructs for this series. Ennis has never shied away from his disdain for the people in power who send poor men to war, and that aspect of his philosophy shines through in his script for My War Gone By. The immediate dangers of enemy gunfire and potential torture always fall away to reveal the corruption underneath from those who sit in mansions drinking top-shelf bourbon.
So how does a comic like this, or any of Ennis’s MAX comics, come to be? Especially from Marvel, who are always in such tight control over how their characters are interpreted? Back in the early 2000’s, then Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada made Garth Ennis an offer to have complete creative freedom over The Punisher as a part of Marvel’s new MAX initiative. A step above Marvel Knights in terms of mature content, MAX was a no-holds-barred, nothing off limits line that offered more creative freedom with the company’s characters than had ever been given before. Ennis decided to take Frank Castle and Nick Fury and put them in, well, *our* world. This decision guides Ennis to create stories that are grounded in very real historic and current events, all while still offering fictionalized sagas that drive home the thematic points the Irish writer is trying to make. My War Gone By is made so special not only because of this incisive, brutal look at very real American operations through the eye of a classic Marvel character, by how it examines war’s effect on those who make a life of it. Nick’s partner George is a classical American idealist with a rifle in his hands. Eager to fight for the American way, we get to see his ideas surrounding why he joined and why he fights crumble with each botched mission. Senator McCuskey seems like a well-meaning happy-go-lucky politician at the start during the French Indochina conflict, but as time goes on and he accrues money and power his true face and his ultimate motivations make themselves known. Shirley DeFabio is the most tragic character of all, stuck riding the coattails of men who live their lives entirely around war – either profiting from it, or interminably in the field with a a gun in their hands. Each character’s ending fits the way they’ve lived their lives, the decades of living off of warfare culminating into one of the most memorable ending to a Garth Ennis story.
In the new omnibus collection that includes My War Gone By, Garth Ennis cites Goran Parlov as one of the best artists he’s ever worked with. Looking at the pages of this 13-issue series, it’s easy to understand why. Parlov has an unmistakable visual style that works as a perfect visual fit for the grim reality that is being set up in the pages of this MAX story. His distinctive linework and heavy inks create a story that has a sort of pulp comic feel, but bathed in an extra layer of grim darkness brought on by the comic’s constant feeling of deception and oncoming bloodshed. Parlov’s depictions of combat are heinously brutal, pulling no punches on what sights the horrors of war bring. Just as important though are the smaller moments; tense character conversations and set dressing that builds the tone for a specific sequence. One of the most impressive aspects of Parlov’s art here is his character design. Each character in the comic is immediately recognizable just from their facial design, build, and body language. This is especially impressive in a comic where much of the cast is wearing the same uniforms. While Parlov’s inks do set up a lot of the comic’s atmosphere, Lee Loughridge’s color art is in some ways the star of the visual experience. Much of this has to do with how he crafts lighting and how it bathes each sequence. Chapters in the hot jungles of Vietnam and South America are painted in the unrelenting sun and oppressive humidity of the regions, heightening the tension and discomfort of the scenarios that Fury and his allies find themselves in. There is a classically cinematic aspect to Parlov’s sequential direction as well. Character conversations all shot/reverse shot and focus in to give them ample time and weight, and combat slams into the story with huge splash pages showing the scope of chaos that can unfold. It’s the amount of detail that Parlov catches with both his pencils and how he constructs pages that really sells this series, and his work is some of the best ever done in a Garth Ennis book.
Fury: My War Gone By is a harrowing, intelligent, and brilliant series that shows the best creative elements of each of its creators. Garth Ennis’s historical knowledge, thematic insight, and unshakeable eye for believable violence all come together to form some of the greatest scripts of his career. The visuals from Goran Parlov and Lee Loughridge use character animation, action, and cinematic sequencing to put together a comic that has vingular moments that will stay with you long after you’ve finished the final issue. There’s a strong argument to be made for My War Gone By being the greatest war comic of all time.
Where to read: The whole series can obviously be read online via Kindle ebook. Physically, however, the only currently in print way to read the series is through the Punisher & Fury MAX omnibus, which collects this and other Garth Ennis Marvel MAX stories outside of the original Punisher MAX run. You can still grab the original trades and hardcover on the secondhand market, but they may be a bit pricey.
