Sunday 25 October 2015

The Shield #1 (Dark Circle)

TheShield#1RegCover-Williams

The Shield (Dark Circle)

Adam Christopher Chuck Wendig (w) Drew Johnson (a)

The reinvention of the old MLJ/Archie superheroes has arrived under the Dark Circle Imprint. The Shield, one of the earliest patriotic characters rebooted for the modern age.

Opening in 1776 during the War of Independence, this new version of the Shield has lived and died many times across American history and is a woman this time round.  A confused character at the beginning but one with plenty of potential for the future as Victoria Adams tries to find her place in the world and remember who she is.

The reason for her re-appearance is more than just fighting purse snatchers and house robbers as we glimpse the villain of the story who seems to revel in chaos.

With great art and a good pace Dark Circle certainly should have a hit on it's hands.

The Shield first appeared in Pep Comics way back in 1940 sporting a patriotic costume based on the American flag a whole year before Captain America came on scene.

 

The character reappeared in the late fifties in a new form but I didn't come across The Shield until the short-lived age of the Mighty Comics Group which Archie tried to compete with Marvel in the sixties. That revival didn't last long.

A further attempt was made with the Red Circle line of comics, a revamp that I enjoyed back in the eighties but didn't last long and didn't catch on. The last attempt was with the New Crusaders where the old heroes were killed off except for an ageing Shield and their kids became the new generation.

Archie did make an effort with this version which was too short-lived but this time I think they've got it right. The new versions of The Hood and The Fox  have been excellent updates though no collected editions have yet been released to enable the new reader to catch up.

 

So back to today's Shield. Here's some preview pages.

I highly recommend this one and it's on sale now. Don't miss out.

TheShield_01-18


TheShield_20-21

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