Data courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under Creative Commons license.

Issue Details

Issue #8
Published January 1969
Frequency monthly
Cover Price 0.12 USD
Pages 36
Editing Stan Lee

Cover Details - "Thus Speaks Supremus!"

Characters Supremus; Nick Fury
Genre Spy
Pencils Frank Springer
Inks Frank Springer
Notes SHIELD logo altered only for this issue.

20 page Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. story "Thus Speaks Supremus!"

Characters Supremus [Ulysses Abboud]; Nick Fury; Tony Stark; Cedric Twigg-Smythe (Britain's most inhuman killer, cameo); Pierre St. Cyr (Criminal Czar of all France, cameo); Tumumba (African political assassin, cameo); Pepe Soulange (underworld king of the Casbah, cameo); Dum Dum Dugan; Guiseppi Valenti (Sicilian assassin); Half-Man (android); Fatima Abboud (Supremus's half-sister); Jimmy Woo; Gabe Jones
Synopsis Riots break out around the world immediately following an assassination attempt on Fury. Tony Stark explains how only an "image projected onto a force field" was "killed", and the 4 assassins left alone so they could report back to whoever hired them. Other agents are being killed around the world, and the leaders of the riots exhibit no emotions, as if they were zombies. Aboard the Heli-Carrier, a meeting of the board of directors is interrupted by a transmission from "Supremus", who orders SHIELD to be disbanded in the wake of Fury's death. Fury, still alive, comments "he's not so ultimate". Supremus plans to turn the world into a "laboratory" where he'll use "genetic manipulation" to turn the entire human race into slaves to do his bidding. But Nick recognizes the caves Supremus is transmitting from as "The Caves Of Hercules" on Cape Spartel, from a Howlers mission during WW2. Dugan flies Fury there, and single-handedly Fury takes on Half-Man, an android, and a group of genetic mutates. With the help of Fatima, a woman seen at the riot in London, Nick manages to stop Supremus from setting off hidden caches of "zombie gas" in the US by remote control. Back at SHIELD HQ, she fills in the rest of the details, including that "Supremus" was really her half-brother.
Genre Spy
Script Ernie Hart (plot, dialogue); Frank Springer (plot); Herb Trimpe (plot)
Pencils Frank Springer [pages 1-8]; Herb Trimpe [pages 9-20]
Inks John Tartaglione
Letters Herb Cooper
Notes Tony Stark last seen in a SHIELD episode in STRANGE TALES #152 (January 1967). Fury gets a new Ferrari (between episodes) to replace the one destroyed by Scorpio in NICK FURY, AGENT OF SHIELD #5 (October 1968). Plot structure more confusing & awkward than usual.