S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 (New Comics)

Marvel Comic Books S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 On Youtube

 

Marvel Comic Books S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 Recap

At age nine, Phil Coulson reads on about the golden age of super heroes during World War 2, and begins to eagerly take notes.  Nine years later, Phil has not given up on his fascination with heroes, and has continued to take detailed notes on all of them.  By age twenty five, Coulson is a Shield Data Analyst, and is still eagerly learning all he can about the super hero community.  Last year, Coulson as a SHIELD agent was captured and rescued by a team led by Agent May.  He survived the torture during his capture by repeating the same list of every single X-Men member in the exact order they joined the team.  Last night, Coulson cleans up at the annual Marvel poker game.  He knows the heroes too well and has done quite well for himself.  Luke Cage leaves, and congratulates Phil on his promotion.

The next day is Coulson’s first at his new job, and Earth is under attack.  Something is causing demons, dark elves, and a storm giant to spawn on Earth.  Coulson sees a broadcast of a rebel leader wielding a flaming sword and thinks it is all connected.

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30 minutes later, a SHIELD team is sent out on a mission to investigate.  The team is led by Coulson and Agent May, and also features Agents Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons, as well as an unknown man and woman.  Fitz asks the woman if she is the new Thor, which she icily responds is not the case.

They arrive at the rebel camp, only to find that what was thought to be a meteor was actually Heimdall, guardian of the Bifrost Bridge.  As they plan to rescue Heimdall, the rebel leader finds the Agents, and prepares to fight.  But Coulson was ready for a sword fight, and brought two of the best – Dane Whitman and his friend Val – also known as Black Knight and Valkyrie.

The agents manage to free Heimdall, while Valkyrie overpowers the leader and sends him to Valhalla.  The Black Knight returns Heimdall’s sword, only to realize too late that the god is possessed by a strange rock in grafted into his chest.  The entity controlling Heimdall teleports the battling heroes and monsters to the scene, causing a massive battle.  The heroes are unable to overpower Heimdall, but Coulson reveals they were just a distraction.  He gets in close to the possessed god and Vision, who was hiding within Coulson, is able to shatter the rock in Heimdall’s chest.  The entity dies, and Heimdall reveals the rock had appeared ealier on the Bifrost and exploded, possessing the god and shattering the Bifrost.  Heimdall thanks Coulson, and swears to work with Odin to repair the Bifrost and return everyone home.

Agent Maria Hill reviews the report in shock.  This was Phil Coulson’s first day in his new position.

In the epilogue, Coulson takes another token off a card from Leo in gratitude for arranging for the Vision’s appearance.  The rest of the team is busy examining the rock that appeared on the Bifrost bridge.  Coulson’s reply as to the rock’s origins is something Agent May has never heard him say before: “I have absolutely no idea.”

Marvel Comic Books S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 Review

Hello and welcome to Comic Island!  My name is Arden, and this is my recap, and review, of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1.

So, this is a new series.  I understand it’s supposed to be a series of one off missions and therefore will mostly consist of standalone issues.  The writer is Mark Waid, who is also currently writing the well regarded Daredevil series.

Personally, I wasn’t too sure what to expect out of this comic.  But I was impressed.  In a single comic we got a great premise for a story.  This felt like a level of intensity and buildup on the level of a big event like AXIS or Fear Itself.  And to achieve in one issue what took AXIS nine issues to get to is a very impressive feat.

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Mark Waid is a great writer, able to walk the line between darker themes and ideas while weaving in fun overtones to add a bit of levity.  It really shows in this comic.  And I really like a lot of the choices made here.  It’s kind of cool that the characters in the TV show are cropping up here.  I’m not the biggest fan of Agents of SHIELD as I got bored with that series a long time ago.  But here it feel fresh and free to work with the broader scale of the Marvel universe to deliver some really solid stuff.  You don’t have to worry about a budget with action scenes, so you can really go all out with a comic book, and the writer and artists do well with this and deliver a big, awesome comic book.  Plus this comic did a good job at showing why Coulson is valuable to the SHIELD as an avid follower of the superhero community.

I also really like the idea of this being a stand alone series.  I can pick up any issue and enjoy a comic all on it’s own.  That makes for an easy series to follow, so I’ll probably be checking this one out again in the future.  It would be cool learning more about this mysterious rock, as its origins and story seem pretty interesting to me, but I do like leaving it a weird mystery too.

And it was a great bonus to find the annual poker game in this issue.  I like that this has become a tradition.  It’s an endearing little side to the Marvel world and makes for a nice touch,

Overall, I like and recommend SHIELD #1.  Let me know what you think in the comments section.  Also, be sure to check out our website and Facebook page.  You can find those links in the video description below.  And finally, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and keep reading comics.

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