Issue(s): Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #32
Cover Date: Feb 92
Title: "Formal wear"
Credits:
Scott Lobdell - Writer
Dave Hoover - Penciler
Don Hudson - Inker
Barry Dutter - Assistant Editor
Mike Rockwitz - Editor

Review/plot:
Scott Lobdell becomes the full writer (after scripting the previous arc). This issue has a fill-in-ish feel to it, and there seems to be something odd about the timing (see Considerations), and i half wonder if it was a plot that Lobdell had in mind for Alpha Flight. The story has Fury teaming up with Weapon Omega, aka Wild Child, from Alpha Flight, which Lobdell is also writing. No other regular cast members from this book appear here.

Nick Fury is on an Italian cruise ship where the World Unity Council is meeting. The Council's goal is a one world government. They don't seem to be affiliated with the United Nations, and that's probably why they aren't using SHIELD for security, although Fury is upset about this (he's there as a guest). The ship is attacked by ULTIMATUM, who, as Nick Fury notes, has the same goals as the Council, although they are trying to achieve them by much more violent means.

Since Fury isn't on the ship in an official capacity, he is unarmed, but he does have the usual array of spy gadgets.

Meanwhile, Weapon Omega happens to be in the area thanks to Alpha Flight's world tour.

So Fury fights guerrilla style against ULTIMATUM for a bit but is happy for the reinforcement when Omega arrives.

Does Fury's "thanks" imply that Fury trained Weapon Omega?

There's a bomb on the cruise ship, but ULTIMATUM is escaping with the World Unity Council's gold and a kidnapped victim. So Fury and Omega split up.

The kidnapped woman turns out to be part of ULTIMATUM, but Fury is able to stop her and the entire ULTIMATUM sub thanks to his electrified tuxedo. We never do find out why ULTIMATUM would target the World Unity Council specifically, which seems like something that ought to be explained better, at least for those of us who actually want ULTIMATUM to be a credible group with a real motivation instead of Hydra-lite.

The art on this book has been atrocious, and Dave Hoover's work here is at least a relief from that. The story is very light, but that's also a kind of relief after Chichester's more complicated plotting. But this book is definitely floundering, and, as we'll see, it's not really going to get back on track.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This was published several months before the Alpha Flight World Tour, which was in Alpha Flight 107-109, but oddly the footnote points to "any recent issue of Alpha Flight". The phrasing, "Canada's world tour" is also a little weird. But it does make sense for this to take place while Alpha is on their tour. The MCP place this between Alpha Flight #108-109. I've pushed this forward in time a little, and Alpha Flight #107 back in time a little, to accommodate.

References:

• For Weapon Omega and "Canada's world tour", a footnote points us to "any recent issue of Alpha Flight". Wild Child was first seen as Weapon Omega in Alpha Flight #102-103, but the World Tour didn't start until Alpha Flight #107, which hadn't been published yet.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A