Marvel is celebrating S.H.I.E.L.D.’s 50th birthday with five one-shot comics about fan-favorite S.H.I.E.L.D. characters: Nick Fury, Melinda May, Peggy Carter, Bobbi “Mockingbird” Morse, and Daisy “Quake” Johnson (known as Skye in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
All five characters are well known to fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, although their comic book counterparts are slightly different. Nick Fury, for example, has gone through some significant changes over the years.
Fury started off as a white guy with an eye patch in the 1960s, but was rewritten to look like Samuel L. Jackson in the early 2000s—well before Jackson was cast in Iron Man. Since then, this transition has been explained within the comics universe by rewriting the Samuel L. Jackson version as the original Nick Fury’s secret son. The S.H.I.E.L.D. anniversary comic will explore this relationship, plus some time travel to make things even more complicated.
👏👏👏👏 #AgentCarter pic.twitter.com/5X6FKTMkJJ
— Agent Carter (@AgentCarterTV) February 25, 2015
Peggy Carter’s new comic explores her relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D., although Agent Carter fans should note that it may differ from the TV series. It was written by Kathryn Immonen, who previously worked on the Peggy Carter comic “Operation S.I.N.” with artist Rich Ellis.
The Daisy Johnson comic could be a good way for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fans to explore Skye’s comic book background, while Mockingbird is getting what Marvel describes as a “badass” one-shot story from bestselling novelist Chelsea Cain. Although for fans of Marvel TV, the biggest highlight will probably be Melinda May’s solo debut, written by Jody Houser of the Orphan Black comics.
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A Melinda May one-shot comic is coming. This is the rest of my day now. #AgentsofSHIELD pic.twitter.com/hd5lMPangW
— Level 7 Access Podcast (@Level7AccessPod) April 25, 2015
The five one-shots will be joined by a bunch of other S.H.I.E.L.D.-related content including vintage reissues. Longtime fans may be the most excited over S.H.I.E.L.D. #9, which includes excerpts from a previously unseen story by industry legends Jack Kirby and Jim Steranko. Kirby and Steranko’s “The Man Called D.E.A.T.H.” was a two-page pilot story for Nick Fury, and has now been incorporated into a modern S.H.I.E.L.D. comic from writer Mark Waid.
Photo via Marvel
