The Shield #2 Review

The mysteries deepen.

Creative Staff:
Story: Adam Christopher, Chuck Wendig
Art: Drew Johnson, Ray Snyder, Al Barrionuevo
Colors: Kelly Fitzpatrick

What They Say:
“Daughter of the Revolution, Part 2” Running out of places to hide, the Shield discovers she is not without allies. Detective Nicole Simmons seems to know exactly who — and what — the Shield is, but with the enigmatic government agent Walter Chase closing the noose, the pair faces two difficult questions: why is the Shield back now… and whose side is she really on?

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Going into the second issue of The Shield proved to be a difficult thing. I really enjoyed the first issue and the momentum that it put into action, but damn if the book didn’t come out back in October. Here we are, four months later, and I’ll be damned if I remember all that much of it. Some of it does come back as I got into this issue and I could enjoy it on a basic kind of level, but a delay/gap between installments like that is just killer in this market – and if you’re like me, reading a whole lot of different series. There’s a lot of good stuff here but it suffers in that it expects you to remember everything that happened in that first issue as there’s minimal callbacks or recaps here to get it underway.

This issue does do some fun stuff in the past for the prologue, showing the Burning Hand and how they came to take possession of the Shield of that time, but also making clear just what kind of stark methods they play with when it comes to those that cross lines. It provides a bit more weight to what was going on back then, though without the quick context from the previous issue it takes a bit to get into the groove of it. It’s well illustrated with the team on hand there, which shifts when we get to the more modern material, but it’s done similar enough yet stylized enough that the past stands out well here.

The present day material is definitely engaging enough, but I’m feeling so disconnected from it that I’m finding it hard to really be enthused about it. With The Shield and the detective on the run, we get some good action pieces here as the escape the military teams sent to capture them, which costs quite a bit of money to fund, and it shifts well to the two of them doing their best to escape. The detective is part of the Burning Hand group that we saw in the past who has been waiting for her return and it runs hard and fast into bringing The Shield back into the fold to do what must be done. There’s a good sense of history put into this with what they’ve been waiting for and I like the enthusiasm that’s coupled with the hard work of actually travelling from DC to Philly through a secret route. But it just has an odd feeling about it, particularly the lack of rela communication between the two women amid all this travel that could provide some actual useful exposition for the reader.

In Summary:
The Shield is a book that I’m not all that enthused for with this installment yet I know when I get the chance later to burn through several issues in a row that I’ll come away enjoying it. The four month gap really hurts this book in a big way and the wind is knocked out of its sails in terms of readability. I love the concept and what they’re throwing at us as it’s got a lot it can do but it’s just not sure how to do it and the publishing schedule is absolutely hurting it in a big way. I’m definitely sticking with the book because I can see the potential and I loved the first installment but it really needs to be able to do a hell of a lot better.

Grade: B-

Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Circle Comics
Release Date: February 17th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99

Chris Beveridge

http://www.fandompost.com

Chris has been writing about anime, manga, movies and comics for well on twenty years now. He began AnimeOnDVD.com back in 1998 and has covered nearly every anime release that’s come out in the US ever since.

He likes to write a lot, as you can see.

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