S.H.I.E.L.D. 1

I take it much of this stuff was set up in a previous S.H.I.E.L.D. series – we’re thrown right in the middle here – but the first thing to do is to dismiss all thoughts that it has any discernible connection to S.H.I.E.L.D.. No Nick Fury or helicarriers or secret agents or anything like that. We have instead the Brotherhood of the Shield, a secret mystic/scientific organisation that has existed for thousands of years. We get 20 pages of story, one intro page, and at the back ten pages of mostly Marvel Handbook style background material (useful when I looked back at the otherwise information-free final splash, since the backup material tells me who these people are). I still don’t have much idea of what is going on.

Okay, there is some schism in the organisation, between Isaac Newton and da Vinci – both seem to be immortal. More importantly, Michelangelo has vast superpowers and his own agenda. Newton seems to be the bad guy. There is some involvement of Galileo, Nostradamus, Tesla and, in a welcome link to the Marvel universe, Reed Richards’ and Tony Stark’s fathers. There are Celestials and Deviants and the Brood. There is time travel and alternate dimensions. There’s plenty going on here, lots of ideas and big action, but I defy any new reader to make very much sense of it all. I very much get the impression that this is not a genuine first issue, but another issue in the middle of a big continuing story, and I have no idea why it is published as a #1. I know Hickman’s recent FF1 followed on straight from the previous FF series, but that provided a superb intro for new readers, a perfect jumping-on point; this doesn’t.

The scripting within the confusion isn’t bad, but it is a bit heavy on portentous stuff, which again hits the problem of not really knowing what is going on or where we’re heading, so the weight seems unsupported. Since everyone we get any time with are geniuses who were born centuries ago, there is also a saminess to the dialogue.

The art is modern-generic, with hints of wanting to draw people like Barry Smith. It’s okay for the most part, but Weaver can only do a few expressions, and his battle scenes are just an incomprehensible muddle. These limitations seem unlikely to help when there are multiple agendas for the main movers in this, and every sign of big battles ahead.

There are interesting ideas in this, a whole new secret history behind the Marvel universe, but I am irritated by it being sold as a S.H.I.E.L.D. comic when any connection is unclear (presumably this secret organisation evolved into the S.H.I.E.L.D. we know, but it would be a radical reduction in scope and power), and as a #1 when it doesn’t read like one, and I am confused by its storyline. I really like Hickman’s FF so far, but I don’t plan to return for more of this one.