and lets not forget the 1940s style tights… Why on Earth would anyone ever dress like that?

Especially someone who spends their time dancing and waving flags on top of exploding tanks in a [presumed] war zone.

Really? I think it looks cool. How is the situation any different than that of classic captain america?

“Well then I guess it’s a good thing that you are entitled to an opinion and that the rest of us are entitled to ignore it.

Heroes dress like heroes especially comic book heroes. If you’re looking for heroes who dress in real clothes and don’t wear spandex then you’re interested in the wrong medium.”

Sorry, the dude was right.

Times change and looking like a cornball in 2009 isn’t what’s up. Heroes dress like heroes? Since when does being a hero include looking like a jackass? Step it up and get with the times.

I’ll give it a shot, since JMS has been rockin’ Thor so hard, but WOW, is that ever a violation of the flag code. Dude can’t be *that* patriotic…

I will definitely take a look. And I hope it IS in the vein of classic Captain America. I do wish DC had included the Fly in this first rollout of the Archie heroes, though; he was always my favorite of the group.

Didn’t DC do this like 15 years ago with the Impact line? Comet, Web, THe Human Fly?

No Fly (or Fly Man)? Or are they keeping that, er, open?

“Really? I think it looks cool. How is the situation any different than that of classic captain america?”

******************************

It isn’t. But hey. This is the internet. What do you expect aside from endless whining and/or negativity?

I find the look interesting, though I wonder if this guy will be like Captain America is, or the way people THINK Captain America is. (IE, super-conservative, “America is always right” kinda guy.)

Manolis Says:

April 21st, 2009 at 6:35 am
vugly costume… do something with all that red, its not appealing

Tell that to Captain Marvel or Iron Man. I dare you.

There is absolutely nothing about that costume or pose that sets him apart from any other hero. People saying he looks out of place in 2009 or that his costume is lame don’t read superhero comics and therefore should be ignored in discussions about them

PS: JMS’ The Twelve was kind of disappointing too.

Wow put an American flag out there and watch the vitriol fly. Its a comic book, a fantasy story about a fantastic character. The worst things with comic previews are the predisposed conclusions by someone that had no interest in the subject before they decided to comment.

No guys, he’s fight vampires!!! Can’t you see what’s right in front of you?! He’s running off panel to stake a Nazi Vamp with that wooded flag stake!

JBS

P.S. I could be wrong, I’ve been writing a vampire book called DEAD ROMEO for DC for months now, so I have vamps on the brain, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Shield’s real name were Van Helsing!

P.P.S. Shouldn’t a guy named Shield…have a…shield?

Why would anyone want to read anything JMS writes? There is a very good chance that he will just give up on the book. See Squadron Supreme and The Twelve. You can also bet that the book will be late as hell. Thanks, but I will pass.

Love the design. It draws attention to the character on the battlefield and in a firefight. I just hope he can meet (and surpass) expectations of what a US patriot-themed hero is–despite being the first US patriot-themed hero.

“Didn’t DC do this like 15 years ago with the Impact line? Comet, Web, THe Human Fly?”

Kinda, but those were re-imagined characters using the same names. From my understanding, these are supposed to be the original characters, more or less.

Plus the Impact! line was it’s own universe; this stuff is supposed to be either in the main DCU, or at least interacting with DCU characters in a “close but not actually the main world” DCU, kinda like the original B&B series.

I’m a huge fan of the Golden Age. That doesn’t mean I don’t recognize the problems with the classic stories. There are bad costume designs, huge plot holes, nonsensical plot points, massive continuity problems, fetishism, sexism, racism and few other isms that no one bothered to classify. Mind you, that can all be said of modern comics as well. It’s not a competition! I love the Archie heroes & villains (PLEASE tell me Madame Satan makes an appearance in The Shield) and hope this project is a great one.

If you think it looks hokey or pointless, then spend your money on whatever the hell it is you do like and talk about how great that thing is.

There’s constructive criticism and then there’s just bashing on something for the sake of being heard. If you’re the latter, odds are no one wants to hear it.

I’ve added this to my pull list!!!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m NOT some bloviating, venon-spitting anti-American.
But I’ve really really grown to HATE these images of propaganda-soaked flag-bearing-swinging-blowing-flapping… etc etc. Give it a F%#@ing rest already! There’s waaaaay more to this great country, that can be represented graphically, than a flag.

Anyway, moving on in life…

I love that there are people who come on a comic book message board to complain about what a superhero is wearing. If it riles you up that much to look at a picture of a character that was created in the 1940s, you really need to move on and do something else, because you don’t have the capacity to accept one of the very basic conventions of the superhero genre. Just because you think comics should bend to your taste doesn’t mean they’re going to. Move on and let people have fun while you go wallow in your 20 something angst and pessimism.

Actually, I know some pretty cool teenagers too, so I’ll withdraw that last statement. Stay in school, eat your greens, be good to your mamma.

IT WILL BE INTERSTED TO SEE IF THE RED CIRCLE LINES WILL BE AROUND IN 2015. I HOPE THAT THERE WILL BE INTERESTED VILLAIN THAT WILL GIVE THE HEROES A RUN FOR THEIR MONEY. MAYBE THE RED CIRCLES WILL ESCAPE THE THE IMPACT FATES. GOOD LUCK TO THE FUTURE. YOUR TRULY CHARLES DAVID HASKELL

The costume is okay, I guess, if a bit generic. It looks quite a lot like Super-Soldier, the Amalgam version of Cap and Superman (I wonder if, when DC/Marvel designed Super-Soldier, they used Shield as their template?).

Anyway, the shield on the chest is quite striking, but I can’t shake this nagging feeling… the white gloves & boots are about the stupidest design choice I can think of. Dirty, dirty hands and feet all day long. His tailor should have warned him of that (or had been fired for suggesting white boots/gloves in the first place)

As for the generic “patriotic war-torn” image: YAWN. That could be practically any Captain America cover from the past 60 years. Regardless of the history of this character, this book is coming out in a market where Captain America is THE patriotic hero. So if this book hopes to carve out its own path, it needs to do better than this.

(5th attempt at posting — damn you crappy blogging software!)

Hmm. Well, unlike others here that seem to think that a “patriotic” flag waving is the ultimate in gouche, I quite like it. “Uhhh, its nothing that hasn’t been done in Captain America in the last forty years.” So. Maybe some folks don’t like and don’t read Captain America, but might like this.

I did a humor piece for a blog as a sample of writing for just a thrice weekly 500 word piece. The first thing they said was to be outrageous and controversial. And since it is much easier to be outrageous and controversial when you go negative, I can’t help but think that a lot of the snotty attitudes about anything new that someone thinks they have read before stems from that teen snot ADD attitude that so many places seem to have. Its supposed to be hip and cool, kinda like every role Ryan Renolds plays. But like in the movie Waiting, at some point, people everywhere just want to shout “We know, you are hip, cool, edgy…now shut the hell up.” to paraphrase. “Oohhh, look at me, I’m Hip, Snide, and disinterested. I’m bored.”

And I seem to recall a saying “Bored people are boring.”.

Here’s an idea, dare to be different. Dont’ be disaffected. Try to spread a little joy and enthusiasm. Dare to actually BE different than the umteen thousands of other bored, disaffected snotty commentators out there.

Now, I liked the Impact comics, and I thought Shield was done very well. It was the first new line of comics other than the big two that I genuinely tried to follow into a new universe. And it had some good stuff in it until the creators that started it all left for greener pastures.

The Shield wasn’t the “uberpatriot” character, but a military grunt that actually defied his superiors and went on the run with the suit. He was trained, did what was right, and thought for himself. That would most definately get him courtmartialed when he defied orders in the real military, but it worked well as a comic story.

I hope we get a level of storytelling out of the new shield book that does as well if not surpasses the Impact book. DC could use a good patriotic character. I would love to see him run into Skyrocket from Busiek’s Power Company run. Heck, for that matter, I think she would make a good JLA character.

The Shield was first patriotic hero and while I prefer his second uniform I think this is a nice updating of his uniform a’la the recent Hal Jordan update.

In fact I think Alex Ross borrowed from the MLJ Shield who predates Cap by a year for his most recent design. And what’s wrong with red, it appears to be the same proportion as the blue on Cap’s uniform?

What I did find interesting is the choice of Inferno as the fourth character. I thought for sure it would be the Black Hood.

Anyone know who represents Saiz? I may want to buy a page or two of this book.

CRIS, I agree with almost all of your above post. I think that extreme arguments on either side about how these characters should look are pretty pointless. I think that to take the phrase you quote above and make a positive statement out of it, I would take out the ‘just’ and say ‘It’s a comic book, get over it!’ To me there’s no ‘just’ about it. I embrace this stuff for what it is, I’m not ashamed of it. I don’t apologize a bit for my love of superhero comics, and I think that the over the top look of the characters is part of what can make superhero books so much fun. To me this is modern mythology, these are stories that can or should stand up with stories of Greek Heroes and adventures out of Norse mythology. Of course I am looking at this through the eyes of my kids, who are very young and looking at comics and heroes through innocent and non-jaded eyes, and to them, people running around in capes and tights and knocking bad guys’ heads together is about the coolest thing there is. Wow, I had a point there somewhere, I’ll stop now, sorry.

JMS and the artwork definitely has me interested in picking up the four part series. I just hope these characters, and eventually the Milestones too, end up on a seperate Earth.

Might have looked forward to this, but the hold-up with The Twelve mini-series has made me skeptical that this will come out like they say it will. The Twelve should finish before this should have even been announced.

This Shield design looks more like pajamas than a real serious battle suit; certainly there is a need for some separation of colors between the red strips and the pant, possibly with some gold angled belt not to take away the point shield aspect, and not to look so much like sleepwear. Maybe some knees protection would improve the look as well

I loved these characters when they re spawned under the Impact Comics imprint years back, especially the Fly and the Black Hood. Hopefully this incarnation will get more support that that line did way back when.

The MLJ’s original boots and gloves in the 1940′s, were powder blue, so white is close. But me, I prefer powder blue. I never liked the ear coverings on The Shield’s uniform, so taking them off, as on this new illustration, is fine.
On the original 1940′s outfit, the red and white vertical strips went all the way to the bottom of the groin, which, I think looks better. Doing it this way looks kind of like what they did when they modernized the Hal Jordan Green Lantern outfit.

But all in all, I like this design, except for the gloves being white.

I hope DC doesn’t tinker too much with the other Mighty Crusaders’ costumes, otherwise, MOST all Mighty Crusaders fans (who HATED the DC/-Impact version of the Mighty Crusaders, decades ago), will detest this new version, too. Are you listening, Dan Didio? I hope so, because Mighty Crusaders fans are going to WANT to like this new version.
DC, please don’t blow it!
Thanks!

Phil Latter
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada

Actually, I know some pretty cool teenagers too, so I’ll withdraw that last statement. Stay in school, eat your greens, be good to your mamma.

It does seem that everybody is into this kind of stuff lately. Don’t really understand it though, but thanks for trying to explain it. Appreciate you shedding light into this matter. Keep it up