365 Days of KirbyTech, Day 29: Hydra's Spy Camera

As one of the great thinkers of our age once orated

I always feel like somebody's watching me
And I have no privacy
Whoa, I always feel like somebody's watching me
Tell me is it just a dream?

Words so true they cut deep to the heart of our paranoia about the NSA watching us argue on comic book board discussion groups about whether the Powerpuff Girls should grow up or not. But even smack dab in the rich nougaty center of the Cold War, some guys were watching other guys. In this case, an agent of HYDRA* is peeping in on Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.**!


Panel from "Find Fury or Die!" in Strange Tales #136 (September 1965), co-plot and script by Stan Lee, co-plot and layouts by Jack Kirby, finishes by John Severin, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Artie Simek
Geez, Hydra-Guy. Could that super-secret spy camera be more conspicuouslistenstar (he said, in his Chandler Bing voice)? For Pete's sake, dude, use a Polaroid One Step! It's less suspicious! And if it was good enough for Jim Rockford and Zarabeth, it oughta be good enough for HYDRA!



Wow, that was so close to being the world's first selfie, wasn't it?

Here's a longer view of the Hydra Spy Camera in action, and whoa mama! i hope that guy doesn't have acrophobia! That's a bee-yootiful panel, isn't it, by the way? Great all around: Jack's layouts, Sevrein's very sharp inks, and a wonderful color palette from Stan Goldberg. And since that HYDRA spy is sixty-seven stories up on the facade of the Chrysler Building, it made have one humdinger of a zoom lens.


My conclusion from all this: 10,000 Maniacs were HYDRA agents. Aw, no, Natalie, say it ain't so!



*Hanging Yonder, Dangling Really Acrobatically
**See How I Espy Little Dudes