Devil Comics Review | SHIELD: The Human Machine Premiere HC [2011] by Jonathan Hickman

S.H.I.E.L.D.: HUMAN MACHINE PREMIERE HARDCOVER

Both Sir Isaac Newton and Leonardo da Vinci battle in the Immortal City beneath Rome for the Brotherhood of the Shield in 1960. As Leonid decides between two opposing philosophies, he is met by Michelangelo AKA the Forever Man who informs him there is a third option. During the battle Howard Stark, Nathaniel Richards, and the Night Machine arrive to reveal the truth. Michaelangelo reveals the well for elixir of life has run dry and Sir Isaac Newton cannot promise immortality. Newton tells them the world ends however Night Machine, Stark, and Richards have returned from the future.

Both Newton and Leonardo are forced to reveal their thoughts to the Brotherhood. Lenonid chooses to side with Leonardo while Newton escapes the Immortal City to the future. Meanwhile both Nostradamus and the Star Child search for the elixir of life but the Star Child discovered Quiet Math. Reed Richards attempted to solve everything which drove the Star Child mad. The Star Child destroys the Immortal City until he is stopped by Michelangelo. The Star Child follows Newton into the future.

1502: Rome Michelangelo tells Leonardo da Vinci about a door leading to the Seeing Place and only one key can open the door. He informs Leonardo there is a God growing in the sun called the Human Machine.

1630: Michelangelo saves a baby in the Deviant Capitol Ashomia from death and gives it to Mina the mother of Leonid in the Sinkhole during Bendy Time. He gives her the key to unlock the door that cannot be opened. 

1642: Michelangelo witnesses Sir Isaac Newton killing Galileo.

SERIES HIGHLIGHTS

- The group pursues both Newton and the Star Child into three possible futures

- The Forever Man prepares the Human Machine for the final task

S.H.I.E.L.D. Infinity collects a series of short stories revealing the Archimedes, Michelangelo creating the Night Machine as well as the murders of Sir Isaac Newton.

This hardcover collects

S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 – 6

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

RECOMMENDED – 4 OUT OF 5

    

Devil Comics Review | Agents of Shield [2018] Season 5

Following last season when the agents were in an artificial framework and encountered the Ghost Rider, they escaped and taken to a Kree station called the Lighthouse where they encounter an alien species called the Vrellnexians as well as the Kree race. The agents discover they have traveled through time when Earth is destroyed. After the destruction of Earth, the Kree stepped in and removed humanity's history so they can focus on the future. The Vrellnexians now inhabit Earth hunting down the last of the humans. We discover the destruction of Earth was caused by Quake. 

Sanara a Kree guard works for Kasius who runs the Lighthouse. Fitz arrives in the future to help his teammates. He discovers they were taken into the future by a prophecy to the year 2091. Fitz sleeps and awakens in the future where he rescues Simmons and Quake. They rescue the rest of the team and head to Earth. 

Mack and Elena leads the human rebellion against Kasius while Coulson and the team return to the Lighthouse. The Agents return back to their own time only to be hunted down led by General Hale and her daughter who has cut off the arms of Yo-Yo. Now General Hale is building a team which includes the Absorbing Man to capture the Coulson and his team. Quake's powers are restored to deal with the Gravitonium to seal the rift as General Hale secretly works with Hydra. 

General Hale takes Coulson and convinces him she needs Quake which Coulson refuses. The Absorbing Man rescues Coulson and Talbot from Hale and escape while the Absorbing Man is stopped. However Hale still has mental controls over Talbot who is later freed by Coulson. Hale's daughter is killed by Yo Yo after she absorbs part of the Gravitonium. Now Hale wants revenge and sends Hydra after Shield. 

The Qovos launches an attack on the Lighthouse to acquire the Gravitonium as Glenn Talbot submits himself to the it so he can stop them. Talbot has become Graviton the Destroyer of Worlds. Now Quake uses her powers to send Graviton into space. Fitz dies however his younger self was sent into the future so its up to the agents to find him. Agent Coulson is left on an island to pass away peacefully with May joining him. 

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT – 3 OUT OF 5
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Devil Comics Review | Marvel Legacy #1 [2017]

The Avengers of One Million BC unite to fend Earth against a Celestial which later rises in the present with Loki. Robbie Reyes has visions of the past and ends up in Cape Town, South Africa until he faces Starbrand who wants something ancient to stay buried and will kill anyone to tries to unearth it. In Jotunheim Loki gathers the Frost Giants to steal something from a Shield storage facility on Midgard. The Avengers stop them however one of the Frost Giants steals the crate and ends up facing a resurrected Wolverine. 

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT – 3 OUT OF 5

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Devil Comics Review | Agents of Shield Season 4 [2017] Ghost Rider

The new Ghost Rider is introduced as Robbie Reyes who believes his origin is tied into a lab in Pasadena and a mysterious book called the Darkhold. The spectral creatures are also looking for the book so they can become human again. Agent Melinda May was effected by the spectral creatures which has driven her mad so they shut down her heart and bring her back again. The new director of Shield Jeffery Mace is an Inhuman who reveals Shield is back to the general public after extremists group the Watchdogs cause blackouts around cities to target Inhumans. Agent Coulson teams up with Ghost Rider to stop the Watchdogs and runs into Quake. Together they try to find the Book of the Darkhold.

Shield Director Jeffery Mace admits to the public he is Inhuman. The spectral creatures kidnaps Robbie Reyes' uncle Eli Morrow to use the Darkhold to return them to normal. Mace discovers Coulson is harboring both Ghost Rider and Quake. The origin of how Robbie Reyes became the Ghost Rider reveals another Ghost Rider. After Eli Marrow gains powers using the Darkhold, Robbie Reyes and Shield stop him from blowing up half of Los Angeles.

Act 2 of Agents of Shield begins as Aida attempts to steal the Darkhold for Doctor Holden Radcliffe who created her. While his attempt fails, Radcliffe still has the life decoy model of Agent Melinda May in his corner. The LMD Agent May discovers who she is but is programmed not to tell anyone. Daniel Radcliffe is caught for programming Aida to steal the Darkhold however Agent Fitz discovers he is an LMD and the real Radcliffe is working with Senator Ellen Nader who plans on taking him to her superior. Radcliffe uses the LMD Agent May to retrieve the Darkhold. 

Senator Nadeer is killed when one of her former Henchmen undergoes Terrigenesis and becomes the Inhuman Nitro. Quake takes on Nitro while Jeffery Mace is captured and tortured. Shield heads towards Russia to rescue both Mace and May however Coulson and Mace return as LMDs. Jemma discovers Fitz is an LMD and Daisy helps defeat them with the help of the Agent May LMD who turns on the other LMDs including Coulson. Now Daisy and Jemma go into the framework to save their friends as Act 3 begins with Agents of Hydra.  

Daisy and Jemma discovers the framework consists of a world ruled by Hydra where Inhumans are rounded up and executed. Madame Hydra is Aida who has Fitz as her companion while Jeffery Mace leads a Shield. Daisy and Jemma round up the rest of the Shield Agents under Mace however Daisy gets captured by Fitz and Melinda May.  Jeffery Mace sacrifices himself for the team and Melinda May finally reunites under Coulson. The Agents leave the framework however Mac stays behind for his daughter while Aida created a human body and kidnaps Fitz. 

The Ghost Rider returns seeking to destroy Aida who is made of the Dark Matter energy from the Darkhold. Aida is destroyed by the Ghost Rider while the Shield Agents are captured and imprisoned for crimes they did not commit.

RECOMMENDED – 4 OUT OF 5

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Devil Comics Review | Karnak [2016] The Flaw In All Things

Karnak resides in the Tower of Wisdom where he teaches his disciplines. SHIELD asks him to meet with parents whose son underwent the Terrigen transformation and has gone missing. Karnak agrees to bring the boy to the Tower of Wisdom and release him when he is fit. Agent Phil Coulson tells Karnak who has the Inhuman boy and to retrieve him because it would be illegal for SHIELD to do anything. Karnak heads to the International Data Integration and Control cell which is a dark science organization in Berlin. Karnak discovers the Inhuman boy is worshipped as a messiah and he heads towards the Chapel of the Single Shadow. Karnak finally meets Adam Roderick and orders SHIELD to tear the Chapel of the Single Shadow apart. Karnak decides after interrogating a prisoner from the Chapel that the Inhuman boy must die. He finally faces him and takes away his mental abilities and returns him to his parents. Later Karnak thinks about his actions. He has won and lost at the same time. 

RECOMMENDED – 4 OUT OF 5

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Devil Comics Review | Mockingbird [2016] I Can Explain

Hype In 2015 Marvel celebrated the 50th anniversary of Shield by releasing several one shots last September. One of these one shots included the Mockingbird by Chelsea Cain who is currently writing the new series. The one shot was a beautiful book and the upcoming series has potential to be something new and fresh. The new series begins with the Mockingbird investigating a mystery with Shield’s own medical and recovery network.

Rehash Barbara Morse undergoes medical tests due her exposure to both the Super-Soldier Serum and the Infinity Formula. One of her tests shows she can move a ping pong ball with her mind. Five days later she made the ping pong ball disappear. One week later she does the same but this time she discovers she doesn’t have powers but symptoms.

One month ago Bobbi rescues Lance Hunter from the Hellfire Club who were attempting to assassinate the Queen of England. Two weeks ago she saves a group of girls from a 12 year-old who has onset powers. One week ago in Kazakhstan finds a pathogen that is killing animals which is also in her system. She travels to an underwater base to find Clint Burton who is held captive by Total Idea Mechanics. Bobbi rescues him and head towards the doctor’s appointment in the first issue.

Mockingbird is battle zombies which were infected with a virus from Bobbi’s the Super-Soldier Serum and the Infinity Formula blood. Now she can somehow manipulate them and needs to get to the R&D lab to get the anti-virus with the help of Miles Morales Spider-Man and Howard the Duck. They find the anti-virus and Bobbi destroys it.

Feedback The issue ends rather abruptly and writer Chelsea Cain explains the first issue is not supposed to make any sense until the reader continues finishing the five issue story arc. This was a smart move on the writer to reveal she understands how the reader thinks. She respects her audience and realizes we are smart enough to be engaged with. Other writers would have left the issue without any engagement. The first issue was a risk worth taking however the overall arc didn't amount to much in explanation. The last issues didn’t really add up to anything and there is no explanation. I really thought this would be a great series but it is a let down. 

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT – 3 OUT OF 5

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Devil Comics Review | Black Widow [2016] SHIELD's Most Wanted

The Black Widow has stolen top-secret data from SHIELD and left their agents baffled and battered. One week prior Widow saves Agent Maria Hill from an ambush at a funeral. However the ambush was for the Widow and she is taken to the Weeping Lion. He hands her files to blackmail her into obtaining something from a SHIELD Helicarrier. Afterwards Widow gets a message from the Lion to head to Russia where she is stabbed by a child assassin.

Widow tracks down the Dark Room where she confronts her former teacher and classmate Anya who is a new Black Widow. She recovers the files from the Dark Room and contacts the Lion for the transfer as SHIELD agents closes in. Widow and the SHIELD Agent team up to get away from the Lion's men however they fail and are cornered. She surrenders the files to Lion's men as the SHIELD Agent makes the ultimate sacrifice and destroys the files. Now the Weeping Lion plans on making the Widow's secret public. 

RECOMMENDED – 4 OUT OF 5

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Marvel Action Figure Covers [2015-2016] John Tyler Christopher

Devil Comics Review | Agents of Shield Season 3 [2016] Secret Warriors

Shield Director Agent Coulson works with Advanced Threat Containment Unit Rosalind Price who is later shot by Grant Ward. Werner Von Strucker is recruited by Ward to rebuild Hydra. Strucker is tasked to kill Dr. Andrew Garner who is later revealed to be the Inhuman Lash. Fitz searches for Jemma Simmons who is lost on alien planet due to the Kree Monolith and manages to bring her back to Earth. Simmons needs to return back to the planet to save a friend however he is killed by the alien on the planet. The alien is an Inhuman that was banished and Hydra was created to bring it back. Ward travels to the planet and Coulson tracks him there to kill him. In the mid-season finale, Grant Ward returns to Earth inhibited by the Inhuman who was banished there years ago. He is Hive who was the first Inhuman who rebelled against the Kree.

Now General Talbot replaces Rosalind Price as the head of the ATCU however he works under Shield Director Agent Coulson. Meanwhile Agent Daisy Johnson continues to build here Secret Warriors team. Coulson and his team are kidnapped and the Secret Warriors rescues them however Daisy has been turned by the Hive. Now Hive is planning to turn ordinary humans to his Inhuman army. Shield sends Lash to kill Hive and frees Daisy from Hive's control. The agents discover Hive is planning on using a warhead to disperse an Inhuman pathogen to infect the human race. 

Shield stops Hive and captures him however the warhead goes missing. At the Shield base an explosion turns agents into Inhumans and frees the Hive who steals a jet to take disperse the warhead above Europe. An agent of Shield sacrifices himself along with the Hive to save Europe. We flash forward six months later where we see Daisy Johnson helping people by robbing banks and using her powers to do it. It was heavily marketed that one of the main cast will die during the season finale however it was a supporting character the audience did not real care about.

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT - 3 OUT OF 5

Devil Comics Review | Avengers Standoff: Assault on Pleasant Hill Alpha #1 [2016]

Hype

What we know so far is that both Sam Wilson and Steve Rogers will team up to save Bucky however it will not be enough and it will be time for the Avengers to assemble. The finale will see Steve Rogers back as Captain America with a new shield for his Free Comic Day debut as well as a new first issue in May. We will also see the former Captain America Bucky Barnes leading the new Thunderbolts.

Rehash

We discover the Winter Soldier has been attacking SHIELD outposts and has stolen files and wiped the servers. Steve tracks down Bucky who reveals Maria Hill has been keeping secrets. Meanwhile Sam Wilson finally meets the Whisperer who is really Rick Jones. They both reveal Maria Hill has been using the Cosmic Cube for an unknown purpose. Rogers is taken to Pleasant Hill where he discovers Maria used the Cosmic Cube fragments to change criminals into law abiding citizens. Rogers wants to destroy the fragments however he discovers the fragments merged into a child Kobik. The child transforms terrorists for Hill’s Guantanamo Bay. However everything goes to hell as the criminals transform themselves back and attack Pleasant Hill from within.

Feedback

The story grew organically and sets up the rest of the tie-in books. The only complaint is the pricing. Overall there are 16 books total costing $69 over a two month period. A steep price for those who can afford the monthly books. The upcoming hardcover edition will run you $35 which is half the cost of the monthly books. Regardless Marvel stories are getting better now they need to work on the pricing.

RECOMMENDED – 4 OUT OF 5

Devil Comics Review | Agent Carter [2016] Season 2

The second season begins with Agent Carter captures and interrogates Dottie Underwood AKA the Black Widow on the East Coast. Later Carter is sent to Hollywood to investigate a woman who was frozen in ice. She discovers through Jason Wilkes that she was killed by Zero Matter. Later while attempting to steal the Zero Matter from Wilkes, both Wilkes and Whitney Frost aka Madame Masque is exposed to the Zero Matter.

Carter investigates Frost who sends an assassin after her while Wilkes is visible but not tangible. Howard Stark helps Wilkes return to reality while Frost is transforming. Frost wants to set up an atomic bomb to have an access to Zero Matter so she and her husband will have the power to rule the world.

Agent Carter teams up with Dottie and uses her to get a sample from Frost so Wilkes can stabilize himself. Dottie discovers why Carter wanted a sample from Frost who has taken over the secret world council. Dottie is captured by Frost who discovers Wilkes is alive after the incident with the Zero Matter. Frost teams up Wilkes to set off an atomic bomb to absorb the Zero Matter.

Wilkes manages to absorb the Zero Matter until a few episodes later it is absorbed by Whitney Frost. Now Carter and Howard Stark plans on separating Whitney Frost from the Zero Matter and send it back where it came from. They succeed and Carter gets romance after Steve Rogers. 

The season goes back and forth from the past and present to build on the characters however it becomes a distraction rather than supporting story. We discover Carter bailed on her wedding day to join the frontlines after the death of her brother. If the series didn’t have a Marvel banner we would not have had a second season. The drama and humor are very dry in the series as the writers force the characters into unnecessary situations instead of moving the series forward.

WASTED TALENTS – 2 OUT OF 5

Devil Comics Review | Avengers Standoff: Welcome to Pleasant Hill #1

Hype

Little is known about Avengers Standoff before the first issue hits the stands however we know more about the aftermath. Steve Rogers will return as Captain America while the Winter Solider leads the Thunderbolts. Each will star in their respective series beginning in May. In the recent first issue of Captain America: Sam Wilson, Maria Hill publically denied using fragments of the Cosmic Cube to remake reality without the public knowledge.

Rehash

The issue begins when a boy named Jim who wakes up with amnesia and is taken to Pleasant Hill. We are introduced to Doctor Erik Selvig who is a supporting character in the Thor and Avengers films. Jim saves a baby from a burning building and is warned that Pleasant Hill is not what it seems. Mayor Maria Hill meets with Jim pushing him to escape and find out that Pleasant Hill is a place for super villain incarcerations. SHIELD is using technology to change people into productive members of society. We discover Jim is really Baron Zemo and he is reunited with the Fixer.

Feedback

Mark Bagley was chosen to be the artist of this book for one particular reason. It was to capture the ending of the first Thunderbolts book with Kurt Busiek where the heroes turned out to be the villains.  The Fixer looks like Tony Stark and Jim looks like a young Steve Rogers which would reflect the mirror opposites of their counterparts. The Fixer is the villain version of Iron Man and Baron Zero is the villain version of Captain America.  The book is written by Nick Spencer and it becomes very clear early on how this book is connected to the new Thunderbolts. Overall this was a great issue which should have received a zero issue as it is the kick off for the rest of the Avengers Standoff event.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED – 5 OUT OF 5

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD [2015] Season 3 Episode 5: 4,722 hours

SHIELD deals with the Inhumans outbreak as Fitz searches for Simmons who may be on another planet. They open a portal through space and time to get Simmons back while Grant Ward rebuilds Hydra including recruiting Werner Von Strucker.

Lance Hunter targets Grant Ward with May however her husband Andrew is caught in the crossfire and dies at the hands of Strucker. Simmons wants to return to the planet she escaped from as Lash from the Inhumans targets other Inhumans. 

4,722 begins at the final moments of season two where Jemma is taken by the monolith to another planet. She marks her location incase people attempt to find her and survives a sandstorm which erases her markings. Jemma finds water to drink and swims until she is attacked by an alien creature. She later eats the creature and is captured by a NASA astronaut Will who arrived on the planet in fourteen years ago with three other scientists.

The three scientists died as the planet was affecting their mental states however Jemma discovers something is hunting and killing them. She also discovers the portals which brought her there is fixed however rotates on the planet’s axis. Jemma finds out when the next one will open and attempts to send a message to Fitz but the portal closes before the bottle gets through. However Fitz manages to get through and pulls Jemma to the other side while leaving Will behind. The episode brings us back to the present as Jemma explains why she needs to return to the planet and rescue Will while also revealing she fell in love with him.

The episode began like the movie Castaway but doesn’t answer any other questions regarding the planet or why the monolith brought her there. It only answers why Jemma needs to go back and we are left hanging with more questions than answers. This episode had an opportunity to expand the Marvel Universe however falls short of becoming above average. 

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT – 3 OUT OF 5