Honestly, I'd forgotten how good this was. When you read them back-to-back, you can see the whole story come together in a way that was impossible with the delays over the last two issues. The scale, the ambition, the grand execution of it all, really shines through in these hard covers.

This brings to a close the story from the first volume with us being thrust in the middle of the war between Da Vinci and Newton and how the forever man is involved in it and then we have Leonid being the center figure in it and finally the big trial happens, Newton escapes in the future and we have war happening across 3 realities - the modernity of the world, the rebirth of man and the end of all things. Various futures and battle across 3 and the art here is fantastic, the way each page has t...

Hickman's second volume of SHIELD is as visually spectacular and imaginative as the first, and it does a good job of completing the story of the conflict that was the main plot of the first volume (and which was left unfinished for years).If it has a flaw, it's that it's not as amazing in its history as the first: Hickman's already played that trick, and so we don't really get intriguing new looks at the past of the Marvel universe until the final, infinity issue.Overall, it's great to have this...

Better and more coherent than the previous volume, but still a bit tough to follow.The visuals were outstanding. The climaxes seemed epic, but I still felt like I was missing something and unable to truly grasp the meaning. It definitely made me think, and it adds some cool lore. I like it. I don’t love it, but I may just be too stupid for Hickman.

"This is not how the world ends." But apparently it is how this series ends - an event which for a time seemed far less likely. It took them eight years to get these seven issues out, so reading them now feels almost as crazy as knowing The Man Who Killed Don Quixote has screened (even if it still seems nowhere near any kind of general release). What next - the remaining issues of War Heroes? newuniversal? Gutsville? Daredevil/Bullseye: The Target? Big Numbers?In case you've forgotten in that ne...

Okay. Yep. Hell yeah. Even more excited to see where Hickman's X-Men titles go now. This was incredible. Glad I could just jump in and read it all and not have to wait years and years for those final two issues.

Well this was good, but that's one hell of a cliffhanger it ended on. There's also only 4 issues to this (not counting Infinity), not 6, which makes me think it got suddenly cancelled. I know Hickman revisited some of this for Secret Wars, but since he's now done with Marvel, I'm assuming we'll never get answers.

A nice ending to this long-burning series. It has a touch of Morrisonia; but basically three potential timelines for humanity are played out across. It's a nice sense of legacy and makes SHIELD grander than it was previously.This is ends with the echoing of the the start-off of Hickman's Avenger series--which is essentially the end of his 7-year story (that capped off with Secret Wars).

Even more of a mess than the first book. The whole reason behind this book is lost to me. This makes me nervous because the final volume of Hickman’s Secret Warriors, Shield vol 1 and now this we’re not good at all and I have Hickman’s Fantastic Four and his Avengers, New Avengers and Infinity lined up to read next. After 3 terrible disappointments in a row, I’m losing excitement for those books. I hope I’m wrong and they end up being better than these recent reads. 🤞🏾

The battle started in the last volume is raging between da Vinci and Newton. Suddenly, the two Shield agents, Richards and Stark, teleport with Nikola Tesla's help right in the middle of the battle. The battle is stopped in favor of a trial where Leonid is supposed to choose the path of the brotherhood. (view spoiler)[He chooses in favor of da Vinci, so Newton escapes by travelling into the future.Meanwhile, Nostradamus and the Star Child search Newton's office and find an equation he intended t...

FULL REVIEW *Spoiler Free*- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0wSZ...A Somewhat Historical Philosophical Take of S.H.I.E.L.D.s GenesisOVERALL RATING: 4.5 starsArt: 3.5 starsProse: 4.5 starsPlot: 4.25 starsPacing: 4.5 starsCharacter Development: 4.25 starsWorld Building: 4.75 stars

I want to preface that I had not read the series that apparently preceded this one, but I think every comic might be someone's first comic, and that books should give you enough to go on to understand what's happening without having read previous issues. Of course, this is a complete mess. There is no exposition whatsoever, and even though I recognized a couple of the characters, and could kind of figure out what was going on based on celestial iconography, and the names of some real world peopl...

The rare case of ideas too big for a single book. Fails only because its a D cup trying to squeeze into a B cup. Could easily be a 100 issue series or a 5 novel book deal. Dustin Weaver never disappoints, probably one of the next truly great generation.

Wanted to like this book more than I did; after years of waiting to read the second half of the Hickman SHIELD story, this was disappointing to me. Can't really put my finger on why, other than the high expectations set by the preceding "Architects of Forever" story. It's an interesting tale/arc but it's nowhere as groundbreaking as the start of the story.

The second half of Hickman's history of SHIELD, though how it went from what it is to an international spy agency isn't quite clear, shows the final war going down between Da Vinci, who believes in free will, and Issac Newton, who believes in fate, leading to a confrontation with Newton and a baby Celestial on one side and Tesla, Howard Stark, Nathaniel Richards, Tesla's son Leonid, and Michelangelo the famous artist who is apparently also Dr. Manhattan just to see whose idea of the universe is

This series shows, and I'll bet I am in the minority here, what happens when a writer has way too many ideas to fit into a story. Or, possibly not enough of a contracted for page count. Regardless this is an example of a writer whom I like, Hickman, trying to fit too much into what amounted to 13 floppie issues (yes I know this was collected as two TPB).Another lingering thought that I cannot dispel is that Hickman might have been better off doing this through an independent publisher and not be...

I read this book before reading S.H.I.E.L.D.: Architects of Forever, and it made the story arc obviously confusing. I went back and re-read The Human Machine once I finished Hickman's other S.H.I.E.L.D. story and it made this book very satisfying, and I was much more invested in the characters. If you have the 2019 edition of this book make sure to check out the character desciption pages in the back of the book near the variant covers.

This volume brings everything to a close, although I'm not really sure how Newton's position is defensible and realistic over time. While for the most part the book ends with decent closure, there's a sense this was meant to last longer, which would have allowed the story to breathe a little more, digging deeper into some of the ideas presented. It leaves you satisfied but also a little disappointed at not being more. Weaver's art continues to astound, drawing diverse panel layouts that keep up

Collects S.H.I.E.L.D. issues #1-6, and S.H.I.E.L.D. issue ∞Even though this technically collects issues #1-6, those issues should really be issues #7-12. I'm not sure why this isn't a Volume 2 because it directly continues on from Jonathan Hickman's "S.H.I.E.L.D.: Architects of Forever." The story of getting this final volume is almost as interesting as the story inside the pages. I first read (what I will call) Volume 1 back in 2011. Around that time, the next set of Issues #1-4 and Issue ∞ wer...

With the backstory and lore already established in the first volume, this second volume can get down to the business of actual storytelling. Unfortunately, the story left to tell isn’t much of one. It’s all climax with no buildup and no follow up. What’s at stake in this conflict? Why should I care? Neither of these central questions is answered.Again, Weaver’s art is incredible, as are his page layouts, but Hickman is writing in the equivalent of shorthand. Like the prior volume, this second ar...