Remember the scene in The Jerk where Steve Martin gets more excited than is warranted by the arrival of the new phone books? Yeah, that was basically me all day in anticipation of picking up The Shield #1. And now having read the issue (twice) has any of that excitement subsided? Read on, dear reader (both of you) to see what I think of the main story and the incendiary co-feature.
THE SHIELD
Writer Eric Trautmann has an uncanny ability to make you feel like you are right there in the midst of the action. This story doesn’t feel so much like a chronicled adventure, but rather a first-hand experience. He makes good use of the main character’s internal narration without it seeming like needless exposition. The pace is brisk without feeling rushed and you get all the details you need to give this comic book-y fictional world the appropriate amount of realism. Mix in a surprise, yet totally logical, appearance at the end and you have one terrific first issue.
Marco Rudy’s pencil art also deftly combines real-world imagery with an appropriate splash of super-heroics. He is great at conveying facial expressions, most especially the haunted eyes at the bottom of page twelve. Mick Gray’s inks and Art Lyon’s colors are sweet, sweet icing on the cake.
INFERNO
I’m not going to lie to you, as a character, Inferno just wasn’t all that interesting to me. Even what jms did with him left me kind of meh. However, in the hands of Brandon Jerwa this story just clicked for me. I think the ten pages allotted to it also gave it an old-school serial kind of vibe to me. It has mystery, great character interaction and a fair amount of action. Plus, there’s the added bonus of an appearance of a favorite character of mine plus being left craving more on the last page.
Greg Scott’s art is suitably dark and heavy as is very befitting the Jerwa’s almost-noirish story. Scott ably reflects Inferno’s state of mind with some smart visual cues (highlighting the cops’ guns and a security camera on the first page, for example). The colors by Tanya and Richard Horie accent the mood perfectly.
The Shield #1 is like the perfect Television pilot episode; it fantastically establishes both stories and makes you anticipate the next installment. This Trautmann, Rudy and Gray/Jerwa, Scott double-shot is a creatively fun shot to the brain.