[3] Kirby and Lee created the Helicarrier and the Life Model Decoys, which became trademark gadgets and recurring plot devices for almost all future Nick Fury stories.

was taken over by Jim Steranko in issue #155 (April 1967), who had previously done penciling and coloring for the feature beginning in Strange Tales #151 (Dec.

[4] Steranko was an innovative new talent that emerged at Marvel during the late 1960s, as he helped revolutionize the look of the comic book page with his "pop" artwork.

Steranko's plotlines involved adult intrigue, sexuality that was barely hidden away from the page, and hip sci-fi that was in vogue at the time of psychedelics in the 1960s.

[9] Steranko won Alley Awards in 1968 in the categories of "Best Pencil Artist" and "Best Feature Story" for "Today Earth Died" in Strange Tales #168.

[10] Writer Steven Ringgenberg assessed that "Steranko's Marvel work became a benchmark of '60s pop culture, combining the traditional comic book art styles of Wally Wood and Jack Kirby with the surrealism of Richard Powers and Salvador Dalí.

"[11] Entertainment Weekly observed that Steranko "elevated 12-cent rags into modern art, with mature themes and storytelling innovations that attacked the page and stripped it of its strictly formatted structure.

"[12] In 2017, The Slings & Arrows Graphic Novel Guide praised Steranko's art, stating "He was the first Marvel era artist to step definitively away from Kirby’s shorthand dynamics, introducing greater delicacy, and a view of the comic page as a single entity as well as a progression of panels."

The same review continued that "The writing is never as imaginative, Fury all too often relying on some amazing device to extricate himself from his James Bond influenced predicaments.