Agents of SHIELD: Afterlife

There’s a tradition of good SHIELD agents being on the run from bad elements in the organization. It’s happened in the comics a lot, especially with Fury. This was also a good bit of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. That tradition continues here, as Coulson and Hunter are being pursued by Gonzales and his version of SHIELD in “Afterlife,” this week’s episode of Agents of SHIELD. Coulson and Hunter have a very entertaining scene with a used car salesman to open the episode.

Daredevil: Into The Ring

Marvel has been doing a fantastic job of expanding their Cinematic Universe. I was really impressed with the concept of Agents of SHIELD (a bit less so with the execution at times), tying together a tv show with a series of hit movies. So when I heard about the Netflix series coming up, my two reactions were, “Those could be really amazing,” and “Damn, I guess I finally need to get Netflix.” Yeah, I’m the one guy who didn’t have it before.

Star Wars: Kanan #1

A while ago, Cartoon Network started showing a new cartoon called Star Wars: Rebels, set sometime between the Clone Wars series and the original Star Wars: A New Hope movie. I ended up really liking it. Now, they’re giving Kanan, the Jedi from that show, a miniseries about his past.

Agents of SHIELD: One Door Closes

Apparently continuing the theme of all the hero shows this week, Agents of SHIELD has a lot of flashbacks in “One Door Closes.” They jump back and forth between the present and the day SHIELD fell, as seen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I admire how Marvel is keeping their shows and movies so tightly woven together, even as I puzzle over DC’s choice to do the opposite.

Princess Leia #2

Having gone AWOL from the Rebel Alliance, Leia is trying to gather up as many Alderaanian refugees as she can. The Empire is rumored to be hunting down as many of the survivors as they can, in retaliation for the destruction of the Death Star. Should someone tell them Luke’s from Tatooine? Then again, this isn’t his limited series.

Nightcrawler #12

The first thing I thought when I saw this cover was that it looked like a finale. The heroes and supporting characters all running forward, no villains, no reference to the current story– it all screamed last issue. I’m a lot more into the story side of things than the business/editorial side, so I’m guessing a lot of other people knew, but it was a surprise to me.

Moon Knight #13

Single issue stories are a sad rarity these days. It’s hard to find them. I presume that’s because the writers are so often pressed to pad their stories and write for the inevitable trade collection. So it’s a good surprise to find a nicely executed one. Then again, Cullen Bunn has impressed me every time…

Agents of SHIELD: One of Us

There are secrets and plots all over the place in “One of Us,” which is appropriate enough for a show about super-spies. The Agents of SHIELD have more enemies than they know about, and are kept pretty damn busy chasing around this week. And they even work in a jaw-dropping surprise about Agent May’s background.

Agents of SHIELD: Who You Really Are

Agents of SHIELD is back from its winter break, and charging ahead with “Who You Really Are.” The episode does a few things. It ties in several things from the wider Marvel Universe, like the Kree and the Inhumans. It also fractures the team in some ugly ways.