Issue #1 – 50 Years of SHIELD: (Don’t Call Her…) The Cavalry

Title: (Don’t Call Her…) The Cavalry: SHIELD 50th Anniversary #1

Writer: Jody Houser

Artist: Luke Ross (art), Rachelle Rosenberg (color)

The Buzz: SHIELD is 50 years old! To celebrate, Marvel have put out a series of lovely one-shot comics in honour of five iconic SHIELD agents, combining mythos from the Agents of SHIELD TV show and from the comics themselves. The characters in question are Mockingbird, Melinda May, Quake, Peggy Carter and Nick Fury – though there are also cameos and guest appearances from many others. The writer of this one, Jody Houser, is making her Marvel debut – after appearing in indie projects such as Womanthology, she has been writing the Orphan Black comic for IDW since early this year.

All You Need To Know: Melinda May is one of the best things about the Agents of SHIELD TV show – a sharp, competent pilot and kickass lethal weapon of an action hero, played by 50+ actor Ming-Na Wen. She has recently been included in the Marvel comics universe via the ongoing SHIELD anthology series.

Story: This one-shot is a wonderful introduction to May, with a focus on some of the most important aspects of her character in the TV show without spoiling the character development and reveals about her backstory. In particular, it looks at the legendary status she has among young SHIELD recruits, and the way that Agent Coulson (her oldest friend) encourages that reputation because she herself will never speak of her past accomplishments as an agent. Ming-Na’s voice comes across very clearly in this comics version, and seeing May traumatise a group of baby-faced recruits while teaching them (not to mention dealing with cyberwolves) makes for a great single issue.

Art: Luke Ross has done good job here of honouring the central character – his depictions of both May and Coulson are very TV-accurate without being distracting. I really liked Rosenberg’s use of colouring, particularly the emphasis on blues and oranges during the action scenes, and the wash-out effect during flashbacks. The women are drawn respectfully & fully dressed, which is more common these days in comics, but I feel is still worth noting. A nice visual aspect (not sure if this is a writing or art choice) is that the team of recruits are gender balanced and include two people of colour – which means, with the addition of Coulson and May, that the six members of the ensemble are 50-50 male/female and 50-50 white/not-white. This is a very rare thing in action comics!

But What Did I Miss?: You don’t need to have followed May in Agents of SHIELD to enjoy her character in this comic at all – it’s nicely self contained and works as a standalone companion to the TV series.

Would Read Issue 2?: Once again, if this was an ongoing series I would so read it!

Read it if you Like: Agents of SHIELD (TV), SHIELD (2014-), Secret Avengers.

Previously reviewed this year:

Thor #1 (2014)

Spider-Woman #1 (2014)

All-New Captain America #1 (2014)

Captain America & the Mighty Avengers #1 (2014)

S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 (2014)

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1 (2015)

Bitch Planet #1 (2014)

Secret Six #1 (2014)

Operation: S.I.N. #1

Spider-Gwen #1

Curb Stomp #1

Jem & the Holograms #1

Silk #1

Issue #1 – Convergence Special – Oracle, JLI, Batgirl

Issue #1 – Battleworld Special: Lady Kate, Ms America & Inferno

X-Men ’92 #1

Giant-Sized Little Marvels: AvX #1 (2015)

Runaways #1 (2015)

Loki, Agent of Asgard #1 (2014)

Fresh Romance #1

All-New Hawkeye #1

Black Canary #1

The Wicked and the Divine #1 (2014)

Bombshells #1

Captain Marvel & the Carol Corps #1

50 Years of SHIELD: Mockingbird #1