Broken Frontier

In the second volume of SHIELD, the lines of battle have been drawn and war between the followers of Leonardo Da Vinci and Sir Isaac Newton consume the streets of the Immortal City. Leonid, son of the Night Machine, is caught in the middle and must decide who among them shall lead the organization of SHIELD. A ton of fun, with mind-blowing concepts, and exposing the secret history of the Marvel Universe, Hickman and Weaver’s SHIELD delivers on every level.

There is something intrinsically silly and daring in not only integrating historical events and people into your comic, but giving them the task of defending the world from Celestials, Galactus, and the Brood as well as inventing super science centuries before its time. That’s just unprecedented fun. SHIELD is one of those ideas that you can only do in the comics medium, able to give the reader plenty of big action, as well as the smaller character-driven moments. In this issue, we begin to learn what actually motivates Leonardo Da Vinci and Isaac Newton, as each struggles for leadership of SHIELD. Hickman does a great job of showing what makes each of these men tick, and the results shouldn’t surprise anyone. Still, it’s a fun ride to the end of the issue with a monster of a cliffhanger.

Dustin Weaver and Sonia Oback are a beautiful team, producing artwork that is at times comic book drama, at other times ancient tapestries. They also manage a few moments where the two blend, making SHIELD a comic in a class of its own. Weaver’s pencils and artwork are so distinct due to the amount of detail he puts into each panel. Individual pieces of a clock or a mechanism are highlighted, no device going unnoticed. Oback’s colors are deep and moody, and at other times bright and fervent with the light of a Celestial burning behind them.

SHIELD is one of those books where you need to put aside what you know from history, and instead enjoy the immense story it has to tell. At times, that story is emotional, action-packed, or heady with science fiction concepts, but it is always fun, and always engaging.