Pinky Pinkerton as depicted in Black Panther/Captain America: Flags of Our Fathers #1 (April 2010). Art by Denys Cowan (penciler), Klaus Janson (inker), and Pete Pantazis (colorist).
Though never explained in the series, Pinkerton wore a CarlistRequetés type red beret with a yellow tassel with his battledress that may have involved service in the Spanish Civil War. Pinkerton also wore his battle dress with an open collar with scarf rather than having the buttoned collar of a British other rank.
In issue #23 ("The Man Who Failed") of Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, Percy's older brother, Lieutenant Colonel Pinkerton appeared. The story, set in Burma revealed that Pinkerton came from an English family with a long tradition of service as officers to the Crown. Why Pinkerton never accepted a commission was explained as his living a playboy womanizing life style during his initial military training that led him to be unable to catch up with his studies and resigning.[1]
In the first Sgt Fury Annual taking place with the Howlers (Howling Commandos) being recalled up to service in the Korean War, Pinkerton was a sergeant as were all the other former private soldiers of the unit.[volume & issue needed] At the time of their 1966 Vietnam War mission (Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandos Annual #3) Pinkerton was managing a Playboy Club in London.[volume & issue needed]
As with several other members of the Howling Commandos, Pinkerton joined S.H.I.E.L.D.[volume & issue needed] He later dies from cancer, with Dum Dum Dugan at his side.[3]
Pinkerton and the Essex Regiment
Pinkerton wore Essex Regiment shoulder flashes on his battledress. The battalion that Lt. Colonel Pinkerton led was referred to as the "Burma Dragons". During the Burma Campaign the Essex Regiment were part of the Chindits. A famous member of the regiment was Arthur Percival, who was commissioned into the regiment in 1916 and achieved fame as a Regimental Intelligence Officer. He later commanded the Imperial Garrison at Singapore, surrendering his command to the Japanese in 1942.
Ancestry
Three ancestors of Percy were mentioned in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos. These include:
A Pinkerton who survived the winter at Valley Forge in 1777-1778
Pinkerton who fought in the battle of Waterloo in 1815.
In a 2002 interview with the Traditional Values Coalition's executive director Andrea Sheldon Lafferty about the latest incarnation of the comic book character of the Rawhide Kid, who was now homosexual, Stan Lee said, "years ago [a comic book] that I did, Sgt Fury, ...had a gay character. One member of the platoon was called, I think, Percy Pinkerton. He was gay. We didn't make a big issue of it. In this comic book that I read, the word gay wasn't even used. He's just a colorful character who follows his own different drummer. He follows a different beat. But we're not proselytizing for gayness".[4] In a 2005 interview, however, Lee stated that Pinkerton came off as being gay, but that "it wasn't purposely done that way".[5]
In Sgt Fury #23 Pinkerton was portrayed as a playboy. Artist Dick Ayers said in an interview that Lee told him to base Pinkerton on actor David Niven.[6]
