Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #10 (.12 cover)

Cover by Frank Springer and John Romita (alterations). "Twas the Night Before Christmas," script by Gary Friedrich (plot, dialogue) and Frank Springer (plot), pencils by Frank Springer and Barry Smith (page 2 except for panel 1, all of page 3, and the first two panels of page 4), inks by Johnny Craig; December 24, 1968: Fury heads home, thinking how for some, holidays "can only hold the empty void left by a tragic past"; After a mugging attempt in which he sent his attackers packing, Fury arrives at his apartment and is surprised by Laura Brown, who tells him since neither one of them have families she thought it would be a good idea to spend the holiday together; Their celebrations are interrupted by a "condition red" alert; Aboard the Heli-Carrier, Fury finds Sitwell, who was given two days off for the holidays by Tony Stark, and decided to drop by to see if he could be useful; They've intercepted a transmission from The Hate-Monger, who intends to drop a "Germ Bomb" to wipe out the entire population of NYC!; Fury takes the "Self-Orbiting Attack Craft" to a huge scientific complex orbiting the Earth; Fury tackles a large number of The Hate-Monger's men single-handed, but is eventually brought down by numbers; On awakening, he finds himself imprisoned inside the capsule containing the "Germ Bomb," as The Hate-Monger explains that once NYC has been wiped out, it will "set all the nations of the world against each other." 36 pgs., full color. $0.12. Cover price $0.12.