Fury/Agent 13 #1-2 (1998)
Writer: Terry Kavanagh

Penciler: Ramon Bernardo
Inkers: Ian Aiken
Colorist: Kevin Tinsley
Letterer: Comiccraft

Sharon Carter, otherwise known as Agent 13, embarked on a personal quest to seek out Nick Fury in revenge for abandoning her behind enemy lines only to learn of his death at the hands of the Punisher. Upon closer inspection, Carter learned that Fury was not buried at Arlington Cemetery and the body was put on ice by S.H.I.E.L.D., but the body turns out to be a fake as well; a highly advanced  LMD. Carter traces the faux-Fury to Tony Stark who confesses having built it for Fury in case of a special mission. The mission in question was tied in with the project code named Back Slide which was green lighted by the original S.H.I.E.L.D. director (Rick Stoner??) who is classified as Fallen Angel. Fury is now stranded in a pocket dimension within Back Slide underneath S.H.I.E.L.D. Central. Carter breaks in to the remnants of the old HQ and journeys into the pocket dimension. She finds Fury alive and battling in a world of his own creation based on his experiences during W.W.II Carter and Fury manage to break free into the real world; Nick Fury is alive & well again.

  • Continuity Notes
  • Cover Appearances: #1-2
  • Fury's body is discovered to be missing in Punisher (1) #7
  • The second helicarrier, which went down under Sentinel attack in Punisher (1) #11, lies underneath the water, preserved for UDT maneuvers.
  • The underground complex of the former S.H.I.E.L.D. Central remain intact, last seen in S.H.I.E.L.D. (2).
  • Appearances by Tony Stark, the Howling Commandos and the Contessa

Review
The inevitable "resurrection" half which plagues all deaths in mainstream comics is finally put into play with this miniseries, which in retrospect could have been a lot worse. Some sense was preserved in allowing for Fury not to have been dead at all; however the circumstances of having him stuck in a pocket dimension for all this time is laughable at best. The story greatly benefits from the use of Sharon Carter, herself someone long thought dead, and her driven pursuit of Fury in the first issue is more interesting then the resolution. Some shaky continuity is established with the Fury one shot published in 1994; Stark's mention of Fury coming to him to build an LMD could easily have taken place during that story. Also the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. is mentioned in this mini, however here he is identified only as Fallen Angel and he makes no actual appearance. Its hard to imagine Stoner constructing such a scheme but the Fury one shot did establish the man's dislike of Nick so its within the realm of (comic book) plausibility I suppose. The only real downside to all this is that this story has to exist at all. 

Dramatically it shortchanges the character and lends an air of superhero invincibility to him which Fury could do without. Worse all those great character moments that made the previous storyline worth reading are made bullshit by this. A total disregard for Nick Fury by Marvel.

Rating