Issue(s): Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #25, Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #26
Cover Date: Jul-Aug 91
Title: "Commencement ceremonies" / "The soldiers of anarchy"
Credits:
D.G. Chichester - Writer
Butch Guice - Penciler
Doug Hazlewood - Inker
Barry Dutter - Assistant Editor
Mike Rockwitz - Editor

Review/plot:
SHIELD has recently opened a new central building in New York, and they are about to graduate 1500 new recruits. But Hydra agents Romulus and Garotte manage to kill a SHIELD agent and take his uniform...

...allowing Garotte to enter the building, steal the Satan's Claw...

...and blow up the building.

Fury isn't aware that Baron Strucker is back, so even though he sees Hydra planes in the aftermath of the explosion, shooting down rescue personnel and people trying to escape the building, he can't believe that they are "together enough" to pull off an attack like this.

The Hydra planes deploy "paraguns" to add to the attack.

Fury and his core SHIELD agents get some help from New York's super-heroes.

Strucker sends out a message and an accompanying hologram, claiming Hydra's responsibility for the attack, but he still doesn't reveal that he's involved.

Later, the Red Skull meets with Baron Strucker. An offer to have Arnim Zola fix up Strucker's appearance is declined.

Strucker also takes credit for the Deltite attack that destroyed SHIELD, basically retconning the whole point of Bob Harras' mini-series. The Skull also gives Strucker the information he got from the Soviets in the previous arc.

In return, Strucker puts the resources of Hydra at the Skull's disposal.

Meanwhile, in Madripoor, Wolverine is attacked by Hydra agents.

Wolverine decides he needs to contact Nick Fury.

Butch Guice's art is a major detriment to this book. When he's not drawing beautiful women, the art often looks terrible. His Red Skull is an atrocity. And his inability (or refusal; he used to be able to do it!) to depict action scenes makes sequences like the exploding SHIELD building and subsequent battle a bore. Overall the art makes it feel like there's nothing going on here, even while some 1500 SHIELD agents are being killed and potentially awesome paraguns are being used and Strucker and the Red Skull are scheming together.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Thor is beardless, placing this before Thor #431. The Von Strucker Gambit annual event takes place between this arc and Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #27, and considering that Wolverine (who doesn't appear in the annuals) is looking for Nick, the annuals should probably take place soon after this and with Wolverine not appearing elsewhere in the meantime.

References:

• The Deltite situation happened in Nick Fury vs. SHIELD #1-6.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

"allowing Garotte to enter the building"- I don't think Garotte is entering the building personally- the dialogue makes it sound like he's sending an LMD into the building.
We'll see more of Strucker's involvement with the Deltite in the 1994 Fury oneshot.

The art is not up to Guice's usual standard, but comparison to earlier issues and future ones don't have the problems his art here has. I always assumed it was because of the inker, not Guice. Of course, that's just draftsmanship. Any issues with layout/storytelling would all be Guice.