Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 (1st ANAD review and Halloween Part 4)

Yep, its time for the promised and much belated fourth Halloween installment. A very special installment as its my very first review of Marvel's All-New, All-Different (ANAD) line. Which title am I reviewing? Why, Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D. issue one! Read it on Halloween while watching a couple episodes of iZombie. Before we begin I will refer to S.H.I.E.L.D. as simply SHIELD as typing the acronym is simply tedious.


Art: Brent Schoonover and Nick Filardi comprise the art team on this inaugural issue. They do a bang-up job. Storytelling is top-notch as one can easily follow the story without resorting to reading the dialogue (although the dialogue does help...). The colorist, Nick Filardi, colors enhance the pencil and ink art of Schoonover without drowning it out with murky backgrounds. I was rarely confused by an of the art. While the art wasn't superbly detailed, it wasn't simplistic. Just enough detail that does not overwhelm. But wait, its a monster book, correct? While the art is not horrific in tone, it does an adequate job of portraying 70's era Code-approved monsters.


Story: The inaugural issue of Howling Commandos of Shield is exactly that. We meet the cast and learn what their mission is. The Howling Commandos then undertake their mission and... don't achieve the mission that SHIELD gave them. So a rag-tag team of monsters being whipped into shape by the legendary (and former Howler) Dum Dum Dugan will be a focus of the series as Dugan and Marie Hill discuss later in the book. Absolutely loved how Man-Thing was as the heavy artillery. Was a bit disappointed that the werewolf character isn't Werewolf by Night but a character named Warwolf. Overall, I felt it was a fun romp that combined classic Howling Commandos action with 70's Marvel monsters. In fact, its a rather neat touch that there's analogs for the classic Universal Horror Monsters (Frakenstein, Werewolf, Creature from the Lagoon, Dracula, and Zombies). Not to mention the historical touch of classic 50's and 70's monsters in Man-Thing and Orrgo.


The Verdict: As a run-of-the-mill first issue I give it a 2.5 out of 5 stars. That said, I consider Howling Commandos of SHIELD a guilty pleasure. If you want to read about classic movie monsters done in the Mighty Marvel Manner along with Man-Thing, Hit Monkey, Orrgo engaging supernatural threats in military fashion this is your book. By the way, yes, I am referring to Dum Dum Dugan as one of those classic movie monster analogs.