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In the movie, ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', these characters (minus Nick Fury) are merged in concept with Cap's World War II superhero group, ComicBook/{{The Invaders|MarvelComics}}. Essentially it's the Howlers but includes Captain America, Bucky and James Montgomery Falsworth (who is the British superhero, Union Jack, in the comics and father of two Invaders, Spitfire and Union Jack II).
to:
In the movie, ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', these characters (minus Nick Fury) Fury, who was already established as a [[Characters/MCUNickFury present-day character]] in the MCU) are merged in concept with Cap's World War II superhero group, ComicBook/{{The Invaders|MarvelComics}}. Essentially it's the Howlers but includes Captain America, Bucky and James Montgomery Falsworth (who is the British superhero, Union Jack, in the comics and father of two Invaders, Spitfire and Union Jack II).
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trope about IU colorism
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* ButNotTooBlack: Gabe Jones suffered this early on.
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* MildlyMilitary: Justified. The Commandos get away with their definitely non-regulation uniforms and generally eccentric behaviour because they're good enough to earn some leeway, and stubborn enough that getting them to fall in line would be a fool's errand anyway.
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* AwfulWeddedLife: Dum Dum sometimes mentions enlisting mostly to get away from his wife, lamenting that he's ended up with Fury, who's ''almost'' as much of a hardass as she was.
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* RatedMForManly: It's about a bunch of rugged alpha males yelling loudly and blowing things up, often while bare-chested.
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Nice Hat is now a disambig. Please move examples to other tropes if they apply.
Deleted line(s) 46,49 (click to see context) :
* NiceHat: A great many:
** Dum Dum Dugan is very attached to his [[DashinglyDapperDerby Bowler hat]] emblazoned with his Corporal's insignia. A major subplot in one of the issues involves the hat getting destroyed and Dugan's attempts to replace it. (His [[TheSquad squad-mates]] get together to buy him a new one. D'awwwww.)
** Pinkerton wore the tam-o-shanter of his original British Army regiment.
** Rebel wore a hat that shouldn't exist for another twenty years.
** Dum Dum Dugan is very attached to his [[DashinglyDapperDerby Bowler hat]] emblazoned with his Corporal's insignia. A major subplot in one of the issues involves the hat getting destroyed and Dugan's attempts to replace it. (His [[TheSquad squad-mates]] get together to buy him a new one. D'awwwww.)
** Pinkerton wore the tam-o-shanter of his original British Army regiment.
** Rebel wore a hat that shouldn't exist for another twenty years.
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The Howlers eventually met up with many "modern" Marvel characters who were active in WWII, including ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, a young [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]] and Baron von Strucker, who was one of Fury's chief enemies both as a Wehrmacht officer and decades later as head of HYDRA. ComicBook/NickFury and many of the Howlers survived the war and became active in "modern" Marvel stories as well. Indeed, Dum-Dum Dugan even wound up leading S.H.I.E.L.D.'s anti-Franchise/{{Godzilla}} forces!
to:
The Howlers eventually met up with many "modern" Marvel characters who were active in WWII, including ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, a young [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]] and Baron von Strucker, who was one of Fury's chief enemies both as a Wehrmacht officer and decades later as head of HYDRA. ComicBook/NickFury and many of the Howlers survived the war and became active in "modern" Marvel stories as well. Indeed, Dum-Dum Dugan even wound up leading S.H.I.E.L.D.'s anti-Franchise/{{Godzilla}} anti-ComicBook/{{Godzilla|KingOfTheMonsters1977}} forces!
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-->-- Stan Lee, Nick Fury and his Howling Commandos #1.
From legendary ComicBook duo Creator/StanLee and Creator/JackKirby, one of the most iconic American war comics. ''[[ComicBook/NickFury Sgt. Fury]] and his Howling Commandos'' followed a racially-integrated special operations squad of the US Army during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, as they fought ThoseWackyNazis.
From legendary ComicBook duo Creator/StanLee and Creator/JackKirby, one of the most iconic American war comics. ''[[ComicBook/NickFury Sgt. Fury]] and his Howling Commandos'' followed a racially-integrated special operations squad of the US Army during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, as they fought ThoseWackyNazis.
to:
-->-- Stan Lee, Nick ''Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Commandos'' #1.
From legendary ComicBook duo Creator/StanLee and Creator/JackKirby, one of the most iconic American war comics.''[[ComicBook/NickFury Sgt. Fury]] ''Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos'' followed a racially-integrated special operations squad of the US Army during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, as they fought ThoseWackyNazis.
From legendary ComicBook duo Creator/StanLee and Creator/JackKirby, one of the most iconic American war comics.
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Updating Formatting, Removing Self-Directing Links
Changed line(s) 23 (click to see context) from:
* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Averted and justified: while military units were not fully racially integrated until 1948, the ComicBook/HowlingCommandos are shown to be a special case, since Steve has more than enough authority to demand these specific men be on his team, regardless of race.
to:
* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Averted and justified: while military units were not fully racially integrated until 1948, the ComicBook/HowlingCommandos Howling Commandos are shown to be a special case, since Steve has more than enough authority to demand these specific men be on his team, regardless of race.
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* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle: Creator/StanLee once had an argument with his publisher about why his comics were doing well. Martin Goodman, the publisher in question, argued that it was all due to the strength and simplicity of the titles. So Stan challenged him by saying he would make a comic with the worst title he could imagine. The result was ''[[ComicBook/NickFury Sgt. Fury and his]] ComicBook/HowlingCommandos''.
to:
* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle: Creator/StanLee once had an argument with his publisher about why his comics were doing well. Martin Goodman, the publisher in question, argued that it was all due to the strength and simplicity of the titles. So Stan challenged him by saying he would make a comic with the worst title he could imagine. The result was ''[[ComicBook/NickFury Sgt. ''Nick Fury and his]] ComicBook/HowlingCommandos''.his Howling Commandos''.
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* TyrantTakesTheHelm: ''ComicBook/'': In a {{Crossover}} with ''Combat Kelly and his Deadly Dozen'', Captain Conner, the martinet son of a general, is given command of both the Deadly Dozen and the Howling Commandos. He proves to TheNeidermeyer who cracks under the strain of facing real combat for the first, and his indecision nearly gets both the Dozen and the Howlers killed, forcing Fury to relieve him of command. Succumbing to paranoia, Conner attempts to execute Fury and Kelly for mutiny before being shot by 'Bullseye' Miller.
to:
* TyrantTakesTheHelm: ''ComicBook/'': In a {{Crossover}} with ''Combat Kelly and his Deadly Dozen'', Captain Conner, the martinet son of a general, is given command of both the Deadly Dozen and the Howling Commandos. He proves to TheNeidermeyer who cracks under the strain of facing real combat for the first, and his indecision nearly gets both the Dozen and the Howlers killed, forcing Fury to relieve him of command. Succumbing to paranoia, Conner attempts to execute Fury and Kelly for mutiny before being shot by 'Bullseye' Miller.
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Migrating from ComicBook.Howling Commandos
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/040ba1da_762e_4bec_98cb_910d8722637b.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: And the award for [[ClicheStorm most clichés in a single speech balloon]] goes to...]]
->''"Spawned in battle and tempered by danger, afraid of nothing that lives or breathes, hurling their thunderous war cry into the teeth of tyrants, here come '''Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos!'''"''
-->-- Stan Lee, Nick Fury and his Howling Commandos #1.
From legendary ComicBook duo Creator/StanLee and Creator/JackKirby, one of the most iconic American war comics. ''[[ComicBook/NickFury Sgt. Fury]] and his Howling Commandos'' followed a racially-integrated special operations squad of the US Army during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, as they fought ThoseWackyNazis.
A war comic "in the Mighty [[Creator/MarvelComics Marvel]] Manner", the Howlers' missions were usually larger-than-life adventure stories, less realistic than, for instance, DC's ''ComicBook/SgtRock'' feature. The series run for 120 issues (May, 1963-July, 1974)
The Howlers eventually met up with many "modern" Marvel characters who were active in WWII, including ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, a young [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]] and Baron von Strucker, who was one of Fury's chief enemies both as a Wehrmacht officer and decades later as head of HYDRA. ComicBook/NickFury and many of the Howlers survived the war and became active in "modern" Marvel stories as well. Indeed, Dum-Dum Dugan even wound up leading S.H.I.E.L.D.'s anti-Franchise/{{Godzilla}} forces!
In the movie, ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', these characters (minus Nick Fury) are merged in concept with Cap's World War II superhero group, ComicBook/{{The Invaders|MarvelComics}}. Essentially it's the Howlers but includes Captain America, Bucky and James Montgomery Falsworth (who is the British superhero, Union Jack, in the comics and father of two Invaders, Spitfire and Union Jack II).
The "Howling Commandos" name has also been occasionally used by Marvel for an entirely different team, a strike force of [[MonsterMash supernatural creatures]] working for S.H.I.E.L.D. This version originally ran for six months back in 2006, and was revived for 2015's ComicBook/AllNewAllDifferentMarvel relaunch. It also appeared in two animated series, ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'' and ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSMASH''.
----
!!''Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos'' provides examples of:
* AlliterativeName: A few members of the Howling Commandos, Robert "Rebel" Ralston, Percival "Percy" Pinkerton, Jonathan "Junior" Juniper and, probably most famously, "Dum Dum" Dugan.
* AllGermansAreNazis: Eric Koenig subverts this, being a very anti-Nazi German, because the Nazis killed his sister.
* AnyoneCanDie: The series notably killed off a [[spoiler:Junior Juniper]] early on, as well as [[spoiler:Pamela Hawley, Fury]]'s LoveInterest. Quite unheard of for its day.
* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Averted and justified: while military units were not fully racially integrated until 1948, the ComicBook/HowlingCommandos are shown to be a special case, since Steve has more than enough authority to demand these specific men be on his team, regardless of race.
%%* BadassCrew
* BattleCry: "WA-HOO!"
* BlackViking: On at least one occasion, the African-American soldier Gabe Jones, along with the other Howlers, impersonated German soldiers. He appeared to have no greater or lesser difficulty pulling this off than any of the white Howlers, which is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_black_people_in_Nazi_Germany#In_the_armed_forces actually]] a case of RealityIsUnrealistic. Gabe's presence in the Howling Commandos is itself an example, though, as the US Army was segregated during World War II.
* ButNotTooBlack: Gabe Jones suffered this early on.
* CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase: Sergeant Fury and the Howling Commandos.
* ClothingDamage: Fury almost never completes a mission with his jacket intact.
* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Izzy was Charles Bronson.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Pinkerton.
* CunningLinguist: Dino spoke Italian and German. Quite handy in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) of WWII.
* DashinglyDapperDerby: Timothy Aloysius Cadwallader "Dum Dum" Dugan wears his corporal's stripes on the front of his signature bowler hat.
* DeadpanSnarker: Every member of the squad in way or another.
* EvilCounterpart: During the war, Baron Von Strucker tried countering the Howlers by assembling his own commando unit with Germans who each shared a quirk of their enemies.
* FiveTokenBand: One of the trend setters, actually. You had Jewish Izzy Cohen, Black Gabe Jones, German Eric Koenig, British Pinky Pinkerton, Italian-American Dino Manelli and Irish-American Dum-Dum Dugan. There was also Nisei Jim Morita.
* FunetikAksent: Many characters get dialogue in this style, especially the Germans.
-->'''Nazi soldier:''' Ve haff been ''tricked''!! Vhile der commandos led us avay from der docks, der allied navy blew up our U-boats!
* GeniusLoci: A ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMystery'' {{horror|ComicBooks}} one-shot released in 2018 sees the Howlers witness the bombing and awakening of [[Characters/XMenKrakoans Krakoa]].
* GentlemenRankers: Pinky Pinkerton is from an upper-class military family. After getting kicked out of a military academy, he fell out of touch with his family, and when WWII began, he enlisted in the commandos as a private, hoping to avoid his high-achieving older brother.
* ImpostorExposingTest: Fury is suspicious that one of the "prisoners" in a camp escape is a German spy. After a long hike, he has Howler Gabe take a long sip from a thermos of water and then offer it to the rest. Sure enough, the Nazi is the one who, despite obvious thirst, refuses to drink from the same thermos a black man just used.
* InsertGrenadeHere
* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle: Creator/StanLee once had an argument with his publisher about why his comics were doing well. Martin Goodman, the publisher in question, argued that it was all due to the strength and simplicity of the titles. So Stan challenged him by saying he would make a comic with the worst title he could imagine. The result was ''[[ComicBook/NickFury Sgt. Fury and his]] ComicBook/HowlingCommandos''.
* ItsRainingMen: The Howlers made a combat jump once every other issue.
* NaziNobleman: Baron von Strucker, a Prussian nobleman who was the arch-nemesis of the Howling Commandos.
* NiceHat: A great many:
** Dum Dum Dugan is very attached to his [[DashinglyDapperDerby Bowler hat]] emblazoned with his Corporal's insignia. A major subplot in one of the issues involves the hat getting destroyed and Dugan's attempts to replace it. (His [[TheSquad squad-mates]] get together to buy him a new one. D'awwwww.)
** Pinkerton wore the tam-o-shanter of his original British Army regiment.
** Rebel wore a hat that shouldn't exist for another twenty years.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Dino Manelli bears a marked resemblance to Dean Martin.
* OddlySmallOrganization: The Howling Commandos were a squad and perfectly the proper size. The Ranger Company they belonged to, however, was actually platoon sized.
* ParasolOfPain: Percival Pinkerton is fond of carrying an umbrella to the field.
* ParasolParachute: Improbably used by British WWII soldier Percy Pinkerton.
* PinPullingTeeth: Nick Fury used to do this. The page illo on the Howling Commandos page even shows Dino Manelli doing it.
* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: The Howling Commandos included [[TokenMinority one]] African-American soldier. In RealLife the US armed forces weren't racially integrated until 1948. Eventually justified, they're a special unit hand-picked by Fury himself. If he thinks an African-American soldier is a good addition to his line-up, the military isn't going to tell him no. Partly an example of RealityIsUnrealistic. Black soldiers actually served in integrated rifle companies as early as 1945. Still the entire US military was not integrated until 1948. Heck, Gen. UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower selectively integrated some black soldiers into his forces in 1944 in real life (he was running low on men, but even then, his aides advised strongly against it), so a small force with a leader as respected as Fury should have been able to do the same.
** One issue had a bigoted replacement commando join their ranks temporarily, at which time he antagonized Dino, Izzy and Gabe, an Italian, Jewish and African American. Everyone acted like it was a very rare and backward view. Of course, since the comics were written at a time when this was true (the racism), YMMV on whether this is PoliticallyCorrectHistory on the part of the comic and/or the authors, or whether they were seriously trying to show that racism was stupid.
*** Point is the Howlers acted like they'd never met a racist person before.
*** Subverted with an issue flashing back to the Howlers' first mission. It's clearly shown how Southern-bred Reb is not happy having to be with Gabe. At one point, he snaps "be happy we let a guy like you talk to us" and Izzie fires back on how "that kind of talk is reserved for Nazis!" A later issue shows Reb gaining respect when Gabe risks his life saving Reb's behind enemy lines.
* PornStache: Dum Dum-Dugan's defining trait is his porn-stache.
* PsychoRangers: Baron Strucker and his Blitzkreig squad!
* QuintessentialBritishGentleman: Again, Pinkerton.
* {{Ranger}} The Howlers were American Rangers who were given honorary Status as British Commandos by Winston Churchill.
* RetiredBadass / HandicappedBadass: The Howlers' CO, Cpt. Happy Sam Sawyer.
* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: In one issue, the Howlers help out a Greek resistance cell but one Greek betrays them all to the Germans. He steps forward to accept his reward but the German commander says anyone who'd sell out his own countrymen will turn on anybody. He thus hands the guy back to his own former comrades who make it clear they'll dispense their own "justice." on him.
* SacrificialLamb: The squad's youngest member, Junior Juniper, is killed off early on to show how dangerous the war is. He had no character to speak of besides general naivety.
* SergeantRock: Who else but ComicBook/NickFury?
* SouthernFriedPrivate: Private Robert 'Rebel' Ralston. After the war, he became a senator for Texas.
%%* StupidJetpackHitler
* ThematicSeries: the series had the 'The' stories, a series of moralistic stories focusing on a specific OneShotCharacter to elucidate the various facets of war, starting with '[[BloodKnight The War Lover]]' and concluding with 'The Reporter'.
%%* TheRival: Bull [=McGivenney=] and his Maulers.
%%* TheSquad
%%* ThoseWackyNazis
* TokenEnemyMinority:
** Pvt. Eric Koenig in was a defector from the Nazi military.
** Jim Morita as well.
** Dino Manelli.
** Although ''Sgt. Fury'' was not created until the 1960s, when West Germany, Japan and Italy were safely allies of the United States.
* TokyoRose: The fourth issue featured, Lord Ha-Ha, a NoCelebritiesWereHarmed version of Lord Haw-Haw, who was in fact an English nobleman named Percival '''Haw'''ley.
* TyrantTakesTheHelm: ''ComicBook/'': In a {{Crossover}} with ''Combat Kelly and his Deadly Dozen'', Captain Conner, the martinet son of a general, is given command of both the Deadly Dozen and the Howling Commandos. He proves to TheNeidermeyer who cracks under the strain of facing real combat for the first, and his indecision nearly gets both the Dozen and the Howlers killed, forcing Fury to relieve him of command. Succumbing to paranoia, Conner attempts to execute Fury and Kelly for mutiny before being shot by 'Bullseye' Miller.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: Do not fuck with the effeminate Englishman with the Bumbershoot.
%%* WarIsGlorious
----
[[caption-width-right:350: And the award for [[ClicheStorm most clichés in a single speech balloon]] goes to...]]
->''"Spawned in battle and tempered by danger, afraid of nothing that lives or breathes, hurling their thunderous war cry into the teeth of tyrants, here come '''Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos!'''"''
-->-- Stan Lee, Nick Fury and his Howling Commandos #1.
From legendary ComicBook duo Creator/StanLee and Creator/JackKirby, one of the most iconic American war comics. ''[[ComicBook/NickFury Sgt. Fury]] and his Howling Commandos'' followed a racially-integrated special operations squad of the US Army during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, as they fought ThoseWackyNazis.
A war comic "in the Mighty [[Creator/MarvelComics Marvel]] Manner", the Howlers' missions were usually larger-than-life adventure stories, less realistic than, for instance, DC's ''ComicBook/SgtRock'' feature. The series run for 120 issues (May, 1963-July, 1974)
The Howlers eventually met up with many "modern" Marvel characters who were active in WWII, including ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, a young [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]] and Baron von Strucker, who was one of Fury's chief enemies both as a Wehrmacht officer and decades later as head of HYDRA. ComicBook/NickFury and many of the Howlers survived the war and became active in "modern" Marvel stories as well. Indeed, Dum-Dum Dugan even wound up leading S.H.I.E.L.D.'s anti-Franchise/{{Godzilla}} forces!
In the movie, ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', these characters (minus Nick Fury) are merged in concept with Cap's World War II superhero group, ComicBook/{{The Invaders|MarvelComics}}. Essentially it's the Howlers but includes Captain America, Bucky and James Montgomery Falsworth (who is the British superhero, Union Jack, in the comics and father of two Invaders, Spitfire and Union Jack II).
The "Howling Commandos" name has also been occasionally used by Marvel for an entirely different team, a strike force of [[MonsterMash supernatural creatures]] working for S.H.I.E.L.D. This version originally ran for six months back in 2006, and was revived for 2015's ComicBook/AllNewAllDifferentMarvel relaunch. It also appeared in two animated series, ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'' and ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSMASH''.
----
!!''Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos'' provides examples of:
* AlliterativeName: A few members of the Howling Commandos, Robert "Rebel" Ralston, Percival "Percy" Pinkerton, Jonathan "Junior" Juniper and, probably most famously, "Dum Dum" Dugan.
* AllGermansAreNazis: Eric Koenig subverts this, being a very anti-Nazi German, because the Nazis killed his sister.
* AnyoneCanDie: The series notably killed off a [[spoiler:Junior Juniper]] early on, as well as [[spoiler:Pamela Hawley, Fury]]'s LoveInterest. Quite unheard of for its day.
* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Averted and justified: while military units were not fully racially integrated until 1948, the ComicBook/HowlingCommandos are shown to be a special case, since Steve has more than enough authority to demand these specific men be on his team, regardless of race.
%%* BadassCrew
* BattleCry: "WA-HOO!"
* BlackViking: On at least one occasion, the African-American soldier Gabe Jones, along with the other Howlers, impersonated German soldiers. He appeared to have no greater or lesser difficulty pulling this off than any of the white Howlers, which is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_black_people_in_Nazi_Germany#In_the_armed_forces actually]] a case of RealityIsUnrealistic. Gabe's presence in the Howling Commandos is itself an example, though, as the US Army was segregated during World War II.
* ButNotTooBlack: Gabe Jones suffered this early on.
* CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase: Sergeant Fury and the Howling Commandos.
* ClothingDamage: Fury almost never completes a mission with his jacket intact.
* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Izzy was Charles Bronson.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Pinkerton.
* CunningLinguist: Dino spoke Italian and German. Quite handy in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) of WWII.
* DashinglyDapperDerby: Timothy Aloysius Cadwallader "Dum Dum" Dugan wears his corporal's stripes on the front of his signature bowler hat.
* DeadpanSnarker: Every member of the squad in way or another.
* EvilCounterpart: During the war, Baron Von Strucker tried countering the Howlers by assembling his own commando unit with Germans who each shared a quirk of their enemies.
* FiveTokenBand: One of the trend setters, actually. You had Jewish Izzy Cohen, Black Gabe Jones, German Eric Koenig, British Pinky Pinkerton, Italian-American Dino Manelli and Irish-American Dum-Dum Dugan. There was also Nisei Jim Morita.
* FunetikAksent: Many characters get dialogue in this style, especially the Germans.
-->'''Nazi soldier:''' Ve haff been ''tricked''!! Vhile der commandos led us avay from der docks, der allied navy blew up our U-boats!
* GeniusLoci: A ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMystery'' {{horror|ComicBooks}} one-shot released in 2018 sees the Howlers witness the bombing and awakening of [[Characters/XMenKrakoans Krakoa]].
* GentlemenRankers: Pinky Pinkerton is from an upper-class military family. After getting kicked out of a military academy, he fell out of touch with his family, and when WWII began, he enlisted in the commandos as a private, hoping to avoid his high-achieving older brother.
* ImpostorExposingTest: Fury is suspicious that one of the "prisoners" in a camp escape is a German spy. After a long hike, he has Howler Gabe take a long sip from a thermos of water and then offer it to the rest. Sure enough, the Nazi is the one who, despite obvious thirst, refuses to drink from the same thermos a black man just used.
* InsertGrenadeHere
* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle: Creator/StanLee once had an argument with his publisher about why his comics were doing well. Martin Goodman, the publisher in question, argued that it was all due to the strength and simplicity of the titles. So Stan challenged him by saying he would make a comic with the worst title he could imagine. The result was ''[[ComicBook/NickFury Sgt. Fury and his]] ComicBook/HowlingCommandos''.
* ItsRainingMen: The Howlers made a combat jump once every other issue.
* NaziNobleman: Baron von Strucker, a Prussian nobleman who was the arch-nemesis of the Howling Commandos.
* NiceHat: A great many:
** Dum Dum Dugan is very attached to his [[DashinglyDapperDerby Bowler hat]] emblazoned with his Corporal's insignia. A major subplot in one of the issues involves the hat getting destroyed and Dugan's attempts to replace it. (His [[TheSquad squad-mates]] get together to buy him a new one. D'awwwww.)
** Pinkerton wore the tam-o-shanter of his original British Army regiment.
** Rebel wore a hat that shouldn't exist for another twenty years.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Dino Manelli bears a marked resemblance to Dean Martin.
* OddlySmallOrganization: The Howling Commandos were a squad and perfectly the proper size. The Ranger Company they belonged to, however, was actually platoon sized.
* ParasolOfPain: Percival Pinkerton is fond of carrying an umbrella to the field.
* ParasolParachute: Improbably used by British WWII soldier Percy Pinkerton.
* PinPullingTeeth: Nick Fury used to do this. The page illo on the Howling Commandos page even shows Dino Manelli doing it.
* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: The Howling Commandos included [[TokenMinority one]] African-American soldier. In RealLife the US armed forces weren't racially integrated until 1948. Eventually justified, they're a special unit hand-picked by Fury himself. If he thinks an African-American soldier is a good addition to his line-up, the military isn't going to tell him no. Partly an example of RealityIsUnrealistic. Black soldiers actually served in integrated rifle companies as early as 1945. Still the entire US military was not integrated until 1948. Heck, Gen. UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower selectively integrated some black soldiers into his forces in 1944 in real life (he was running low on men, but even then, his aides advised strongly against it), so a small force with a leader as respected as Fury should have been able to do the same.
** One issue had a bigoted replacement commando join their ranks temporarily, at which time he antagonized Dino, Izzy and Gabe, an Italian, Jewish and African American. Everyone acted like it was a very rare and backward view. Of course, since the comics were written at a time when this was true (the racism), YMMV on whether this is PoliticallyCorrectHistory on the part of the comic and/or the authors, or whether they were seriously trying to show that racism was stupid.
*** Point is the Howlers acted like they'd never met a racist person before.
*** Subverted with an issue flashing back to the Howlers' first mission. It's clearly shown how Southern-bred Reb is not happy having to be with Gabe. At one point, he snaps "be happy we let a guy like you talk to us" and Izzie fires back on how "that kind of talk is reserved for Nazis!" A later issue shows Reb gaining respect when Gabe risks his life saving Reb's behind enemy lines.
* PornStache: Dum Dum-Dugan's defining trait is his porn-stache.
* PsychoRangers: Baron Strucker and his Blitzkreig squad!
* QuintessentialBritishGentleman: Again, Pinkerton.
* {{Ranger}} The Howlers were American Rangers who were given honorary Status as British Commandos by Winston Churchill.
* RetiredBadass / HandicappedBadass: The Howlers' CO, Cpt. Happy Sam Sawyer.
* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: In one issue, the Howlers help out a Greek resistance cell but one Greek betrays them all to the Germans. He steps forward to accept his reward but the German commander says anyone who'd sell out his own countrymen will turn on anybody. He thus hands the guy back to his own former comrades who make it clear they'll dispense their own "justice." on him.
* SacrificialLamb: The squad's youngest member, Junior Juniper, is killed off early on to show how dangerous the war is. He had no character to speak of besides general naivety.
* SergeantRock: Who else but ComicBook/NickFury?
* SouthernFriedPrivate: Private Robert 'Rebel' Ralston. After the war, he became a senator for Texas.
%%* StupidJetpackHitler
* ThematicSeries: the series had the 'The' stories, a series of moralistic stories focusing on a specific OneShotCharacter to elucidate the various facets of war, starting with '[[BloodKnight The War Lover]]' and concluding with 'The Reporter'.
%%* TheRival: Bull [=McGivenney=] and his Maulers.
%%* TheSquad
%%* ThoseWackyNazis
* TokenEnemyMinority:
** Pvt. Eric Koenig in was a defector from the Nazi military.
** Jim Morita as well.
** Dino Manelli.
** Although ''Sgt. Fury'' was not created until the 1960s, when West Germany, Japan and Italy were safely allies of the United States.
* TokyoRose: The fourth issue featured, Lord Ha-Ha, a NoCelebritiesWereHarmed version of Lord Haw-Haw, who was in fact an English nobleman named Percival '''Haw'''ley.
* TyrantTakesTheHelm: ''ComicBook/'': In a {{Crossover}} with ''Combat Kelly and his Deadly Dozen'', Captain Conner, the martinet son of a general, is given command of both the Deadly Dozen and the Howling Commandos. He proves to TheNeidermeyer who cracks under the strain of facing real combat for the first, and his indecision nearly gets both the Dozen and the Howlers killed, forcing Fury to relieve him of command. Succumbing to paranoia, Conner attempts to execute Fury and Kelly for mutiny before being shot by 'Bullseye' Miller.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: Do not fuck with the effeminate Englishman with the Bumbershoot.
%%* WarIsGlorious
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