S.H.I.E.L.D. #3 (The Fall) and Why Saying Less In Comics Can Be More

Jonathan Hickman's S.H.I.E.L.D. series continues to be a prickly little burst of wonderful bi-monthly (although there was a wider gap between volumes one and two) comic book full of big ideas, a smattering of non-linear story telling, and wide screen cinema action movie sequencing that, combined, is an enjoyable read. For chapter three of volume two, titled "The Fall", Hickman and Artist Dustin Weaver let the imagery run wild and drive the show, saving a small bit of dialogue/exposition to segue to chapter four (hopefully coming in December).

Why Saying Less Can Be More
One of the best things Marvel does right now in their monthly series books (both long running and mini-formats) is the re-cap page at the beginning. While some may not care for this, I like to think of it as a good old fashioned (cuing the voice of an old television show omniscient announcer) " Last time, our heroes were..." segment to re-adjust the reader to the headspace of the narrative without having to go back and re-read past issues (which isn't a bad thing depending on the series I might add!). Why it is especially important for this issue (nee chapter) is it is the absolute necessary exposition needed to allow the all action issue to commence.

It is easy to assume that one could think of twenty odd pages of no dialogue and only sequential action as more of a silent movie, but, when you break these panels down , the sound is deafening: A gigantic star child, driven to a ten-foot tall destructive rage by a mathematical equation tears through an entombed city underground, blasting the city and its defenders as necessary; The sound of the star child's footsteps cracking through the foundations bringing centuries old buildings crashing down into piles of rubble; The constant cannon and percussive blasts of energy bouncing around; giant rallying calls and cries of dismay.... Even when it does break through, it comes in the form of a quasi-celestial interpreting an equation! The universal language of math, the "cold equation", breaks space time fabric  in a two page climax. Maybe I am alone in this, but stuff like this makes me create my own soundtrack.

Familiar Territory
This issue is indicative of what Hickman likes to do in his various series (FF, The Red Wing, Fantastic Four, The Ultimates)-- play with the possibilities of telling big ideas through sequential storytelling with the pictures, the backbone of the medium, doing the work. I do not know how detailed his scripts are persay, but I imagine that he lays them out nicely for his rotating cast of wonderful artists (Ribic's work on The Ultimates has been especially spot-on). While there is nothing particularly inventive about the way the sequences are done or the panel movement constructed in S.H.I.E.L.D. (J.H.Williams III it is not), Weaver draws beautiful detailed medium to large panels and striking full and double page spreads. I am willing to opine (and I could totally be wrong here), that Hickman chooses the bigger images for the size of the stories he is telling, which are always, realistically, epics for a large audience. This choice of the "epic" format" suits Hickman. Often complex, often discussed by reviewers as very complicated fractured narratives that require multiple readings, and often championed as a win if you wait for it in a collected trade format, I will say that reading S.H.I.E.L.D. as it comes out on a monthly or bi-monthly schedule has a great satisfaction, specifically as I believe that serialized narrative are exactly best enjoyed...serialized! (SIGH) Whatever happened to loving the mystery and reveling in the anticipation of heading to the LCS on any given Wednesday? But that is another post for another time.