Have you ever read 100 Years of Solitude or Finnegan’s Wake? Did you like it? Then maybe you’ll dig this.
Okay, I’m exaggerating. My point is that this series is extremely complex, breaks through time and other conventional comic book narrative styles, and presents a challenging read. That said, I did enjoy it. I just don’t enjoy the idea of trying to sum it up here–because doing so will be necessarily reductive.
In New York City 1953, a High Schooler named Leonid is picked up by two men who “know what he is.” We will later see these two agents identified as Agents Stark and Richards, i.e., Howard Stark and Nathaniel Richards. Nathaniel Richards is such a troubling person in continuity. Sometimes he’s Kang. Sometimes he’s not. Very hard to know which version(s) are which. Pretty sure this one is the one who was first identified as Reed Richards’ father–but Hickman builds stuff in across this series to suggest he’s also Kang.
The Agents take Leonid to the “High Council of the Shield,” in Rome.
They are a group of immortal protectors who have done things like fight off brood invasions throughout history.
The art in this book is amazing.
The history of SHIELD is wound through the very real history of the world, beginning with ancient Egypt, centuries before the birth of Christ, moving through Han Dynasty China, Galileo’s time in Rome (where he stopped Galactus from eating Earth), etc. The stories introduce characters like Apocalypse and Gods like Khonshu, include the role of the Celestials…They’ve even got Nostradamus as a prisoner, using his future-telling abilities to help them shape the outcomes they want. Each issue of this book is packed full of world-building mythology.
Leonid joins the SHIELD organization, and works with his father, who calls himself “Night Machine.”
He’s going to end up being Nikola Tesla. Stark and Richards are trying to kill him.
It’s not clear why, and Leonid doesn’t stick around for the fight. He heads to the roof of the building where he meets…
Yes, in addition to reimagining Galileo as the first man to foil Galactus, Leonardo DaVinci is re-cast as an early version of Iron Man (or maybe a late version of Icarus?) with the goal of saving the world. Da Vinci tells Leonid that he is the “Eternal Dynamo,” and restores early childhood memories (which aren’t all that helpful to us as readers, because they’re vague and unformed).
Back to the battle between Night Machine and the Agents. Night Machine it seems is a suicide bomber who wants to destroy SHIELD’s headquarters (which da Vinci tells Leonid is a place outside of time and space). When he explodes, something weird happens but it’s abstract (like so much else in this comic). It seems four versions of Nathaniel Richards appear and then disappear, which just confirms what I already said: He’s an impossible character to tag.
da Vinci explains to Leonid that the explosion caused the men to be displaced in time. While they find their way back, da Vince explains that he and Leonid must figure out a way to prevent the end of humanity.
As detailed as this was, it all took place in two issues and I left out tons of details. This is a comic that will reward those studious enough to work hard to understand it. I’m not one of those people, but I still really enjoyed watching it all unfold. Final note: Due to the massive span of this story, it introduces a whole bunch of characters that are only seen one or two more times. For example, there’s the “Celestial Madonna” who is the Celestial parent of “Star Child.” I just tagged Celestials as a collective, but since Star Child will later appear outside of the S.H.I.E.L.D. volumes, I did tag her. She’s much more important in volume 2. I follow that same general rule throughout regarding tagging characters.