Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Volume 1: The Coulson Protocols

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1-6

by Marc Guggenheim, German Peralta (Artist)

It's high-stakes espionage in the Marvel Universe in this brand-new series inspired by the hit television show Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. The good news for Phil Coulson is that he's been reunited with his former love: Lola, who, it turns out, is not a flying car. The bad news is that she turned his mind into a weapon that could destroy the Marvel Universe! Tony Stark guest-stars!

Collecting: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 1-6 & material from All-Different.Point One

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Science Fiction, Fantasy

144 pages, Paperback

First published August 9, 2016

About the author

Marc Guggenheim grew up on Long Island, New York, and earned his law degree from Boston University. After over four years in practice, he left law to pursue a career in television.

Today, Guggenheim is an Emmy Award–winning writer who writes for multiple mediums including television, film, video games, comic books, and new media. His work includes projects for such popular franchises as Percy Jackson, Star Wars, Call of Duty, Star Trek, and Planet of the Apes.

His next book, In Any Lifetime, coming from Lake Union Publishing on August 1st.

Guggenheim currently lives in Encino, California, with his wife, two daughters, and a handful of pets.

Keep up to date on his latest projects with LegalDispatch, a weekly newsletter where he shares news and notes about writing, comics, and the entertainment industry.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to follow.

[Grace Arango · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's so surprising that this has mixed reviews. I quite enjoyed this even if it did change some things from the TV series and I don't know where exactly this falls in the continuity.

I loved how the crossovers worked as well. I'm just happy to have read a comic book about the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. because I adore them.

I'm looking forward to continuing on with this series eventually :)

[Rashi · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 25%
It was so boring. Watching ants take crumbs of biscuits is more interesting.
I'm serious!
I was reading this book and saw some ants and started watching them and then I realised I was supposed to be reading this but I didn't have it in me to continue reading this.

[Emmett Spain · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know what? I liked this. It wasn’t the best comic ever, but it was breezy and fun, and I heard the character voices in my head from the TV show, and that was cool. Cool art captured the likenesses well, which is very hard to do. 3.5 stars.

[Mónica Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

ISTO FOI TÃO GIRO E ENGRAÇADO E PLOT TWISTY E PERFEITO, MAS AGORA EU TENHO DE IR REVER UM EPISÓDIO DE AGENTS OF SHIELD PELA MILÉSIMA VEZ

bye

[Cale · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the story has a MacGuffin that is reminiscent of DC's Batman - Tower of Babel storyline, the actual plot focuses on teamwork and some of the ancillary characters the series has had (it was good to see Mockingbird and Deathlok regularly). It's pretty clear this comes from some of the early seasons, so some of the character actions are a bit odd (Fitz in particular seems very off, but I kind of think that's intentional), but it's nice to see them also dealing with the larger Marvel universe, with the presence of Spider-Man, Iron Man, and the New Avengers all appearing. Two issues are part of a crossover, but surprisingly are well integrated into the major plot as well. The villain behind everything is surprising but makes sense, and the the entire book wraps up with some level of closure while also setting up the second volume.
All told, this volume does a good job straddling the TV series and the Marvel Comic Canon, and manages to work for both audiences. The art is a little disappointing - characters like Simmons and Quake aren't easily distinguishable, but the action moments work pretty well.

[Otherwyrld · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, this is a comic book series based on a TV series that was a spin-off of a movies series that was based on various comics books series.

Except it's not that simple.

S.H.I.E.L.D. has been around a long time in Marvel comics (since 1965 to be precise), and has played a major part in the history of many Marvel story lines. Along came the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008 which also introduced us to Phil Coulson, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. After his death in The Avengers in 2012, he was chosen to be the lead of a new series with mostly original characters (he died? He got better. At least for a while).

So this comic books series features the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. from the TV series, but here's the problem. They are interacting with numerous other Marvel characters such as Hawkeye, Wolverine and Iron Man, but these aren't film versions. Nope they are the comic book versions and that is a huge issue because they don't look or act in the same way as their movie counterparts. So, we have a version of Hawkeye that looks and acts like in his recent (very good) comic series, not like Jeremy Renner. We even have a version of Mockingbird who is the former wife of Hawkeye (which she was in the comics), but she is not the Mockingbird that actually appeared in the TV series.

Let us remind ourselves here - this is the MCU version of S.H.I.E.L.D. not the comics version of S.H.I.E.L.D., and trying the smush the two together to try and make a coherent whole is never going to work. Especially as most people looking for a comic book version of S.H.I.E.L.D. with the TV characters would be looking for a version with the film characters, not their very different (original) comic book versions.

In other words, it's a mess.

I gave it 2 stars for the mostly pretty artwork, despite the fact it went a bit haywire in the final pages. If you can ignore the massive mental disconnect you need to make when reading this story then you might enjoy it. I couldn't and I didn't.

One final gripe, do you really have to remind readers who someone is every single time they appear? The artwork isn't so bad that I couldn't tell it wasn't Jemma Simmons, PhD. or Daisy Johnson AKA Quake (yes that's what it says every time), and if I can't recognise Wolverine then I need to hand in my nerd badge.

[Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was nice to revisit these characters. I'm not sure if it would have made such an impact if I hadn't watched the Agents of SHIELD TV show. This book feels like more of an overarching story than S.H.I.E.L.D., Volume 1: Perfect Bullets. The Pentagon has files on how to defeat any super hero that they stole from Coulson's brain without his knowledge (he was dating a psychic at the time). Agent Ward steals the files in a stolen Iron Man suit. He was working undercover with Hydra and then joined them. Coulson and the agents travel across the world tracking the files until they eventually defeat the Hydra guys (with the help of some heroes). In the meantime, Simmons has contracted a disease that she doesn't know how to cure and Fitz keeps surreptitiously communicating with someone outside the team. There's definitely a lot of action in here. There are enough intriguing bits to encourage me to read the sequel.
The artwork was fine.

[Britt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was rad! Since my mom and i have been obsessed with the tv show, i was super excited to check out the comic book. I was surprised to find it pretty different from the show, but the wit and sass of the characters was still there. The story was fast paced and the designs were gorgeous. I was also so glad the Avengers got involved, as that is my #1 pet peeve with the show, even though I understand getting movie stars involved in a tv show is pretty difficult ha.

Excited to read the next one, and want to read more Marvel comics in general!

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A grande maioria das histórias em quadrinhos escritas por Marc Guggenhein que li vão de medianas para ruins. Contudo, as séries de televisão escritas e comandadas por ele que vi, eu acabei gostando. Então ficou a pergunta: como ele se sairia redigindo roteiros para uma publicação que é inspirada em um série de televisão? A resposta é que ele se saiu bem. Conseguiu imprimir à HQ um ritmo de série de televisão e ainda incorporar elementos do Universo Marvel 616 nela. Ele brinca com a origem do nome do carro Lola do Agente Coulson, que é muito popular na TV trazendo uma agente do Pentágono que pode ler as mentes dos indivíduos. Isso leva os Agentes da SHIELD em uma corrida atrás de um artefato que possui instruções de como exterminar cada superser do planeta Terra. A arte de Gérman Peralta, por sua vez, é bastante irregular, ora reproduzindo bem os rostos dos atores da série, ora derrapando feio nesse quesito. De qualquer forma, eu tinha um sentimentinho de que essa série ia ser bomba, mas na verdade foi um grato momento estar entre suas páginas. Agora é ler o segundo e encadernado final da série também pela mesma equipe criativa.

[Steph_d · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did NOT really enjoy the mix of events from the comics and the tv show... some of the characters weren't drawn clearly. but the attitudes were about right for each character so that was a good thing.

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

キャラ名が同じというだけでドラマとは違うキャラであり位置関係なんだということをのみこむまではいささか抵抗感というか違和感があってなかなか読み進められなかったけれども、これはこれという感じで区分けができてからは楽しく読み進められたと思う。

こっちのコールソンもそれなりにお茶目さんなので続きがあるなら読んでみたい。

あとドラマでもよくあったけどコールソンが強いのをついつい忘れがちになってしまってコールソンが戦闘能力の高さを見せると「おおー！そういえば強いんだった！」と驚くのをここでもやってしまった。

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 2 out of 5]

[Read as single issues]

I'll start with the positives; Marc Guggenheim has learned from Mark Waid's mistakes, and ensures that this Agents of SHIELD series is much closer to the TV show. The book stars Phil Coulson, Melinda May, Fitz and Simmons, Mockingbird, Quake, and Deathlok as they battle evil Hydra agent Grant Ward in a Tower of Babel-esque storyline that sees Coulson's psychic ex-girlfriend Lola (like the car) stealing all of his superhero counter-measures and selling them to Hydra.

It sounds like a good idea on paper, and it'd probably work really well in-universe as part of the TV show (if they could get the Avengers involved, I guess), but as a storyline here, it all falls flat, which seems to be the theme of the volume. The characters are the ones from the show, and yet feel oddly out of character; I know they're different incarnations, but Fitz hitting on May is just peculiar, and May is weirdly passive. Ward and Coulson are probably the closest to their on-screen counterparts.

The storyline gets derailed for 2 issues midway through as the series gets sucked into the Standoff crossover, and then the momentum gets massively derailed with a flashback issue near the end of the story to show how Ward became the evil sod he is. Add in German Peralta's strange artwork which manages to be dull and lifeless (a complete turnabout from his Axis: Carnage series which was much better rendered), and this is disappointing. Hopefully Civil War II can treat this series a little better, but I doubt it.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of interesting to see Agents of Shield in comic book form. Kind of a swing and a miss, but a good try nonetheless. There are just so many characters and it's hard to give them enough time to make it have any depth. But no one is exactly done wrong, Coulson himself is actually pretty good. The other normal characters are the one's that are a bit of a struggle - May and Fitz and Simmons. The basic idea that the plans in Coulson's head are worth billions seem unlikely. It seems like lots of people would have discussed on Reddit how to take a superhero down. But good enough 3.5 of 5.

[Gavin Wask · Rating 3 out of 5]

Am a huge fan of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D TV series as well as all things Marvel Comics, so I thought why not give it a go.
By itself it is an enjoyable story with great cameos and nice humour, however, I think I am so used to the actors and actresses that paly the roles and some lines I couldn't see them saying and some actions - yes I'm looking at you Fitz and May, I couldn't get my head around.
I'm going to read the next one as only two collected editions were produced in this particular series but will be looking forward to the next TV episode even more.

[tony dillard jr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Art imitates art in this series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., based on the ABC television show of the same name. In this volume, a villain bearing stolen Stark Iron Man tech has broken into the Pentagon. Making off with a set of contingency plans to take out superheroes that go rogue, the good guy community is on high alert! For this mystery baddie looks to auction the so-called Coulson Protocols off to the highest bidder!

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has some great elements as well as a few that put me off. All of your favorite characters from the show are here- Coulson, May, Daisy, Fitz and Simmons. Only there's no Fitzsimmons here. The two characters aren't a couple. Heck, they're so far apart from each other, I highly doubt these two even went to the Academy together.

One thing I love in the comic that I wish they did in the TV series was to include the Henry Hayes Deathlok as a permanent member of the cast after the completion of season 1. They missed a great chance to do that on the show. But here in the comic, I could not be more happier that he's used in great length and not just as filler.

Bobbi Morse, Mockingbird, is also a part of this S.H.I.E.L.D. team. But she wears a costume instead of looking like Adrianne Palicki's version on the show.

It's at this juncture, I must point out that this 2015-2016 series is not a continuation of the live action show.Though masterfully written by S.H.I.E.L.D. screenwriter Marc Guggenheim, you can't expect this book to cover the gaps in-between the show's summer hiatuses. Instead, this book is Marvel's way of integrating the Cinematic Universe with the comics. I don't mind that. But I am so behind on Marvel's new stuff from the past 3 years that there were some plot points involving the Fear Itself and Civil War II story lines that kinda flew over my head.

For one reason or another this series only lasted about a dozen issues. I don't know if that was Marvel's plan or if sales were just that bad. (Marvel has this new habit of running titles for only 12-issues, so that could be the case.) But this was one of Marvel's better current titles. I'm sad to see it didn't succeed. But thankfully, there's one more volume full of story left out there for me to read and consume!

[Nicholas (was Allison) · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.34 Stars
Notes: I rather enjoyed previously watching more than five seasons of the tv series of Agents of Shield, and since it is one of those series that I really prefer to re-watch, I read this comic in a few hours. That was because I really wanted to understand fully what occurred mostly until the end, and even though I’m not going to get to read volume 2 for a long time, this was really, really worth it. Several Agents of shield main characters from the tv series show up (too many to name, it’s most of the important ones) in many different various different scenes. I will add in a word of caution, that while this might look like light reading, it absolutely is not. There is a reason why I am waiting to add in too many more descriptions of what really takes place, since, there is a lot of graphic violence and fast-paced fight scenes that I’ll be adding in trigger warnings for, as they could cause emotional stress in others.

However, I’m more accustomed to reading through that in many different comics, so none of that type of content really bothered me. The main reason why that is is from cameos by several other known super heroes also showing up at what at first may seem like random times, though when I went back and reread some chapters, it relaxed me a lot since the art style was just being interwoven so extraordinarily well in the plot, and that was how I could tell this is an actual really good comic to have recently. The art is very new and modern, so this took minimal concentration for me to look through, for something that was published many years ago. I typically have high standards for comics I haven’t read with so many different characters added in that are involved from being a character driven reader, and this definitely was so very distracting, that I actually lost track of what time it was when reading. I will not forget reading this for a while, as it was very detailed and fast-paced. If you can’t tell by how much I already liked this comic, I would recommend it to anyone essentially that would want to read it, since it is worth while to look through, as a several years long-time Agents of Shield fan.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Agent Phil Coulson and his SHIELD team (Quake, Mockingbird, Deathlok, Melinda May, Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons) have to track down a Department of Defence quantum drive which has fallen into criminal hands. They soon learn, however, that not only does the drive contain detailed files on how to kill superheroes, but it's also the product of Coulson's own imagination.

I love the AoS TV series. Sure it's not all great and disappeared up its own lore a couple of times before it ended, but it was fun and introduced a genuinely engaging cast of characters, all held together by Clark Gregg's perfect Phil Coulson.
I was therefore a little nervous of this book going in. If you don't know, Phil Coulson was invented for the MCU and was later retconned into the comics continuity due to his popularity, but having the entire team from the TV series ported over to Earth-616 felt like a risky proposition. The main danger is that if you change too much you could lose the very thing that made the characters popular in the first place but if you don't change anything then you don't have room to tell new stories.

For me this book walked the line between familiar and new with the AoS character just about perfectly. I was genuinely prepared to hate this book but all of the characters felt as charismatic and engaging as they were on the TV show whilst also very clearly being different versions of those characters. (Although, like me, fans of the TV series might find it pretty disturbing to see Fitz flirting with May).
Much like the smallscreen version of this team, this book is just a nice bit of espionage adventure, with just the lightest touch of melodrama.

I will acknowledge that the whole 'Coulson Protocols' thing is a rehash of Batman's files in 'JLA: Tower of Babel', which were themselves pre-empted by Xavier's dossiers on the X-Men from the Onslaught crossover. Basically, very much not a new idea.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com *

[Bekka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started reading this because the S.H.I.E.L.D. tv show comes back on English TV tonight, and to say the least, this was a bit of a weird one for me. I've only ever watched the show, and only know the MCU timeline, so to see Tony Stark requesting to see Coulson, Coulson himself pretending to be Wolverine (who is actually dead) and Fitz flirting with May, it was a bit weird.
But, once I got past that, I really enjoyed this comic. Full of plot twists and Avenger cameos, an explanation as to where Lola the car got her name from, and appearances from old characters (Bobbi Morse, be still my poor beating heart) it was a great ride. I look forward to reading the next one and seeing how this pans out!

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not really sure how to take this one. Overall I did enjoy it and I enjoyed reading how the TV characters interacted with the Marvel Universe characters, especially since their contact with the other heroes has been limited on TV. However, the series almost put the TV characters TOO firmly into the Marvel Universe. I think the series would be better as a stand alone even if other Marvel characters do show up. Putting the characters in the center of the Marvel Universe seemed to confuse things. So are we in the TV continuity at all or is this all new? Will any of the material here be addressed in the TV show, or vice versa?

While I enjoyed the series overall, I'm not sure if these characters work when placed directly into Marvel Universe comic book continuity.

[Johnny Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Proving some times even without a lick of any powers and just the right attitude can win the fans over. Plus being in the small percentage where the character starts from the visual media and then makes the transition into the pages of Marvel comics.
Phil Coulson is now the head of a Shield department and with some superhero allies to help along the way, these issues showcase the man with a plan as someone or some thing is taken down all the people with magic.
Soon no one is left to fight magic with magic and Phil has to use all his wits and resources as the world is about to be doomed again.

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of the show, so I don't really know these characters. I know they've been around the Marvel Comics Universe for a bit at this point, but I don't feel like they have a personality except for Coulson and they don't have a distinct look except for Deathlok. So I kind of recognize their names but I don't really care. Somebody needs to explain to modern Marvel what a character silhouette is.

A telepath stole the ideas on how to defeat all of the superheroes right out of Coulson's head and wrote it down. So now Coulson and his team are playing clean up. With espionage-y disguises and double-crosses. Not as fun as Mark Waid's SHIELD run.

[Anchorpete · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is such a strange little fusion of the Agents of Shield TV show and that state of Shield in the current Marvel universe. Guggenheim is able to make it work, for the most part. There is one moment that bothers me, a bit. mockingbird finds US Agent, who is undercover, and doesn't recognize him, at all. I am pretty sure that is an editorial mistake. Mockingbird should know who US agent is, from their time on Avengers West Coast. I know that is a little nerdy nitpicky thing, but that is the kind of shit that keeps me up at night. ha ha

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not a huge consumer of graphic novels, though I do enjoy the MCU and Agents of Shield show, and in particular find Colson particularly entertaining on many levels. This was a fun way to spend some time with characters I enjoy. I do admit that the “based on a TV show” angle does bias me toward valuing it less. But it ended up being a fun read.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure why editors think its a good idea to have an unconnected crossover in the middle of a collection but that's what happens here. Standoff touches the Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. and it isn't good. The story before and after is decent but possibly too epic to only involve them. The art was decent but unspectacular. Overall, a muddy beginning to a series with a lot of promise.

[Phillip Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fan of the show here.

More Phil Coulson is always good but I don’t like the representation of Fitz compared to the TV series. I like May’s character and feel it’s close to the show and I do miss the presence of Mac. Good storyline that would have been interest to see work on the TV show.

[Adan · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoy watching most of the Agents of SHIELD cast properly operate in a world with superheroes, this story was somewhat bland. I did like the central conceit, though, and I hope the next collection really runs with it.

[Ricky Kimsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Whole Story

This volume is a whole story that stretches over six issues rather than episodic stand alone stories the previous volumes have done. I much like this approach much better.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

So there were two series? SHIELD and Agents of SHIELD?

Both were about Coulson's attempts to get along with his team of (TV-show inspired?) Regular humans? Is that right?

I think I liked this one better than the other, but I'm not sure which was which.

[Jessi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really cute. It’s like a hybrid between the tv show I love and the comics I care a lot about. It seems like it’s leading into Secret Empire but maybe Maria Hill is just always plotting behind peoples back.