S.H.I.E.L.D.

Aussiemandias wrote:I'm throwing this out there and people may think it's over the top but after reading this issue and the recent final issue of his mini series A Red Mass for Mars I think Hickman may be the next Alan Moore. The things that remind me of Alan Moore are Hickman's ability to construct and design a story, his complex, intelligent plots, his attention to detail and also his reverence for older comics which I think you see in his work on the Fantastic Four and Secret Warriors. I certainly see a lot of parallels in his work.

I think you're right on the money. Hickman has truly proven to be one of the best creative minds in comics to come along in years. He's shot up to being my favorite writer these past couple years, and that's really saying something cuz there are quite a few writers that I really like.

Uncensored Newton/Deviant sex scene!
http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/08/weaver-shares-extras-from-shield-including-uncensored-monster-sex/

Spoiler:

Jesus, that is a spoiler I wish I never looked at.

Old Isaac would stop at nothing.

#4 was gorgeous. Love this book.

4 was a good issue. I'm really wondering why "1+2=3" was important.

S.H.I.E.L.D. #4

Loved it as usual. More innovative ideas and crazy cool concepts. The Celestial female and her lil bundle of joy was insane, can't wait to see what that will bring. Da Vinci just continues to be a badass...him and Isaac speaking to each other in Ancient Egyptian was awesome. Things in this grand story are starting to take form...

rwe1138 wrote:#4 was gorgeous. Love this book.

Gorgeous indeed.

comicgeekelly wrote:4 was a good issue. I'm really wondering why "1+2=3" was important.

Yeah I feel like everything in this story has hidden meaning to it.

comicgeekelly wrote:4 was a good issue. I'm really wondering why "1+2=3" was important.

I don't think it was important at all. I think it just showed the "baby" has already grasped mathematics.

Bigtymin504 wrote:S.H.I.E.L.D. #4

Loved it as usual. More innovative ideas and crazy cool concepts. The Celestial female and her lil bundle of joy was insane, can't wait to see what that will bring. Da Vinci just continues to be a badass...him and Isaac speaking to each other in Ancient Egyptian was awesome. Things in this grand story are starting to take form...

I totally loved this issue, as always, but most of all I really liked the 4 prophecies of Nostradamus. Hey, I may not have a clue what they were but they certainly got me intrigued. Did it look like Ben Franklin and George Washington may have gone to the Savage Land at some point????

I have to say Dustin Weaver's art is just terrific also and a key element to how good this book is. There's a scene at the beginning where Da Vinci is talking to Newton with Leonid in the background and Leonid's eyes are shown to be looking at Newton to see his reaction to what Da Vinci is saying not on Da Vinci or just staring blankly as a lot of artists would do. This may seem like a little thing but I think it shows a good storyteller who thinks about how to depict scenes.

Aussiemandias wrote:I totally loved this issue, as always, but most of all I really liked the 4 prophecies of Nostradamus. Hey, I may not have a clue what they were but they certainly got me intrigued. Did it look like Ben Franklin and George Washington may have gone to the Savage Land at some point????

Yessir!

Aussiemandias wrote:I have to say Dustin Weaver's art is just terrific also and a key element to how good this book is. There's a scene at the beginning where Da Vinci is talking to Newton with Leonid in the background and Leonid's eyes are shown to be looking at Newton to see his reaction to what Da Vinci is saying not on Da Vinci or just staring blankly as a lot of artists would do. This may seem like a little thing but I think it shows a good storyteller who thinks about how to depict scenes.

I caught that too! I've found myself staring at each panel in this book longer than any other book. The art isn't just stunning, its about as important to the story as the script itself.

#5 was great, as usual. Loved the sequence of pages depicting the years passing. Weaver is so gorram talented.

Another captivating issue by Marvel's best artistic tandem. Love how each issue focuses on a different segment of the S.H.I.E.L.D. universe. Howard & Nate's journey is all intelligible and easily heartfelt. I agree with rwe, those time pages were astounding. But I don't understand the years, 1960? Do they mean B.C.?

#5 = 4/5

LOOSECANNON wrote:But I don't understand the years, 1960? Do they mean B.C.?

No, just A.D. The first issue started in 1953, and ended three years later in 1956. That went on for three more issues. Now we see 1957-1960 play out with a silent inter-group power struggle between da Vinci and Newton, the Star Child growing and the Century Machine being constructed. Meanwhile Stark, Richards and Tesla are in the future.

rwe1138 wrote:

LOOSECANNON wrote:But I don't understand the years, 1960? Do they mean B.C.?

No, just A.D. The first issue started in 1953, and ended three years later in 1956. That went on for three more issues. Now we see 1957-1960 play out with a silent inter-group power struggle between da Vinci and Newton, the Star Child growing and the Century Machine being constructed. Meanwhile Stark, Richards and Tesla are in the future.

Yep. And it was bloody excellent. I actually don't have too much to say about this issue except that it continued on the fantastic-ness (don't care if it's not a word) of this series. I could just about see Howard Stark and Nathaniel Richards holding down their own adventure series! Dustin Weaver continues to do excellent work and Hickman continues his intricately woven plot - I'm pretty sure there's even some links here to recent stories in Fantastic Four.

Aussiemandias wrote:

rwe1138 wrote:

LOOSECANNON wrote:But I don't understand the years, 1960? Do they mean B.C.?

No, just A.D. The first issue started in 1953, and ended three years later in 1956. That went on for three more issues. Now we see 1957-1960 play out with a silent inter-group power struggle between da Vinci and Newton, the Star Child growing and the Century Machine being constructed. Meanwhile Stark, Richards and Tesla are in the future.

Yep. And it was bloody excellent. I actually don't have too much to say about this issue except that it continued on the fantastic-ness (don't care if it's not a word) of this series. I could just about see Howard Stark and Nathaniel Richards holding down their own adventure series! Dustin Weaver continues to do excellent work and Hickman continues his intricately woven plot - I'm pretty sure there's even some links here to recent stories in Fantastic Four.

Yep, absolutely fantastic. Howard Stark and Nathaniel Richards together is just pure gold. I would love it if it's revealed they're still around secretly working for the Brotherhood of the Shield.

Volume One Finale preview!

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=7773&disp=table

I dug #6 a lot. I'm really looking forward to the ∞ issue as well.

S.H.I.E.L.D. #6

Fantastic finale but bittersweet cuz I don't wanna wait so long for Volume 2! There are so many great plot threads just hanging out there. The Da Vinci-Newton war, Richards/Stark/Tesla traveling through time, the Celestial baby, Nostradamus, etc. And of course the Forever Man reveal at the end! Can't wait to see what he'll bring to this story.

This is one of those rare books where even though I've bought all the single issues, I will most definitely be buying the hardcover as well. I'm sure it'll have some awesome little extras in it, not to mention that it'll probably be gorgeous.

Now the long wait till the ∞ issue.

Outstanding first volume. Sure, ish #6 merely sets up the next volume, but what other great comic DOESN'T?

4/5

Bigtymin504 wrote:S.H.I.E.L.D. #6

Fantastic finale but bittersweet cuz I don't wanna wait so long for Volume 2! There are so many great plot threads just hanging out there. The Da Vinci-Newton war, Richards/Stark/Tesla traveling through time, the Celestial baby, Nostradamus, etc. And of course the Forever Man reveal at the end! Can't wait to see what he'll bring to this story.

This is one of those rare books where even though I've bought all the single issues, I will most definitely be buying the hardcover as well. I'm sure it'll have some awesome little extras in it, not to mention that it'll probably be gorgeous.

Now the long wait till the ∞ issue.

Do we know how long the wait is until the second volume comes out?

I totally enjoyed this issue just as I have enjoyed the series so far and I certainly thing the whole thing is now worth another read from the beginning.

You can tell Hickman's only skimmed the surface with this book. I think it will be going for years and years when you consider the glimpses he gave a couple of issues ago about things that have happened in the past. So if he's only doing 6 issues a year, well this is a long, long term project I suspect.

A thought that struck me: this book is titled S.H.I.E.L.D. so what does that stand for? It's certainly not the same as the espionage agency so I've been wondering if it means something that we haven't seen yet.

Aussiemandias wrote:Do we know how long the wait is until the second volume comes out?

I don't think #7 has been solicited yet, so it's at least going to be three months.

Aussiemandias wrote:A thought that struck me: this book is titled S.H.I.E.L.D. so what does that stand for? It's certainly not the same as the espionage agency so I've been wondering if it means something that we haven't seen yet.

IIRC, it was originally going to be just call Shield (or The Shield) but was changed at the last minute for some reason. (Maybe a legal thing due to DC getting the rights to and publishing the Red Circle character.) So it might be nothing.

rwe1138 wrote:

Aussiemandias wrote:Do we know how long the wait is until the second volume comes out?

I don't think #7 has been solicited yet, so it's at least going to be three months.

Yeah unfortunately it's at least 3 months, and likely more. =/

Aussiemandias wrote:

rwe1138 wrote:A thought that struck me: this book is titled S.H.I.E.L.D. so what does that stand for? It's certainly not the same as the espionage agency so I've been wondering if it means something that we haven't seen yet.

IIRC, it was originally going to be just call Shield (or The Shield) but was changed at the last minute for some reason. (Maybe a legal thing due to DC getting the rights to and publishing the Red Circle character.) So it might be nothing.

Yeah I believe Hickman wanted to just call it Shield or The Shield, but Marvel insisted on calling it S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm not sure whether that's because of publishing rights like rwe pointed out, or if they thought S.H.I.E.L.D. would be more recognizable and thus lead to better sales. I think I read somewhere that it was the latter but I'm not 100% on that. So to answer your question Aussie, I don't think Hickman intended for the name to be an acronym for something in this story. I think the Brotherhood of the Shield sounds badass enough anyway.


You know, I'd be interested to hear what people's thoughts are on this book when they read it in collected form for the first time. I would imagine that would be a hell of an experience. If anyone does, please share your thoughts on it.