Comic Review: SHIELD #7

The last issue of this series was fun, but the real excitement came from what was promised for this issue. This brings Quake and Mr. Hyde into this version of the story, both characters very important to the TV series this is based on, but drastically different in the comics. Be warned that I will spoil the TV series, mostly for things through the middle of Season 2, but some bits afterwards, and there will be constant comparisons to the show. 
Daisy Johnson, aka Quake, is actually a central character in the TV series, being the real identity of Skye, one of the early members of the team. In the comics, she's an established SHIELD agent by this point. Those differences were what really got me intrigued for this issue, but surprisingly, they have a lot more in common. Quake is an Inhuman in both, her mother being Inhuman while Mr. Hyde, her father, is super powered as a result of earthly science. What translates perfectly is the center of their conflict: he is basically a supervillain, but also an absent and neglectful father, and that's what she hates him for. The parallels between the two allow them to keep the main characterizations intact and have the same conflict, though they can't resist also giving her the nickname "Skye" thanks to taking many missions in space, which is a bit of a stretch but I'll let them have it. 




I don't know him from the comics to know how it fits, but Mr. Hyde's disarming, affable demeanor feels like Kyle MacLachlan walked right into the comic. Very similar to the show, he's trated like a well-meaning person who made bad decisions because of terrible circumstances, but it doesn't land as well given that we have very limited time to explore that in this issue. It feels especially out of place due to his involvement in the final conflict, but that ends up being so much fun that I almost forgot I had that problem until looking back at it. 

Really, this issue was a lot of fun, seeing a different side of the same conflict from the TV series. It's not perfect, and the show probably had a better handling of similar material, but this issue was definitely worth reading. The best part to recommend it? It's mostly a standalone issue, so you can jump right in without having to worry about continuity from the rest of the series, which is refreshing in a world full of very long, serialized series.