I was somewhat nostalgic to see, at the bottom of the Captain America poster the words “And Featuring The Howling Commandos”, and there was the silhouette of Timothy “Dum Dum” Dugan, recognizable from his non-regulation derby hat.

Also in the back was beret-wearing British member, Percy Pinkerton–the Howling Commandos were a collection of ethnic stereotypes in a comic I read 40-odd years ago.

They included Sergeant Nick Fury, a regular American from New York, “Rebel” Ralston, a white Southerner, Dino Manelli, Israel Cohen, and Gabe Jones, a black trumpet player, (the 60’s editors explained in the letter column that while the Regular Army was segregated, this unit was small enough that they could ignore that) plus the Irish strongman Dugan, and the English Paratrooper Pinkerton.

They all got along (fictionally) very well, and sometimes that works out in the real Army.

However, I see that Samuel L. Jackson is back playing Sgt. Fury. This is not only ahistorical for racial reasons, but Jackson is far too old to be a Sergeant–he was born in 1948. It makes much more sense for him to be the latter-day Nick Fury, who he also plays. I wrote in 2010

I just saw Iron Man 2, and I didn’t realize, when Samuel Jackson showed up with an eyepatch, that he was supposed to be Nick Fury of S. H. I. E. L. D. (I remember when Fury was a sergeant –a white sergeant, from Hell’s Kitchen in New York.)