CBR Live! Archive
Top Five Comic Book Shields
- by Brian Cronin
- in Top Five
Top Five Week continues with the the top five shields in comics!
Enjoy!
5. Wonder Woman's shield
Doesn't she have a totally cool looking shield?
I always dug it when Wonder Woman would have to get into full battle gear.
Very cool stuff.
4. Guardian's Shield
I like the Guardian's shield, but really, it is only above Wonder Woman because of its prominence, not because it is rally all that cool of a shield.
Not one of Jack Kirby's better designs...
3. The Shield
The first prominent patriotic superhero!
The Shield was pretty cool, but extremely bland.
I liked the !mpact update on the character a lot, especially the ballsiness of allowing the original lead in the series to have his story actually RESOLVED at the end of his 12-issue run, letting a new (even BLANDER) character take over as the Shield.
2. S.H.I.E.L.D.
I was going to tell you what it stands for, but ya know what? Forget it. Who cares? Instead, I am going to give TWO whole cool points to the person who gives me the coolest sounding thing for the acronym to stand for (and I want answers that actually could work in the comic, not funny ones!)!
In any event, though, SHIELD has become such a mainstay in the Marvel Universe, it is now hard to imagine a Marvel Universe withOUT it!
But it will always be there - along with Dum Dum Dugan, although Daniel Way may try to stop that last part!
1. Captain America's shield
Really, who else could be #1?
Probably the most prominent superhero weapon out there - Cap's shield is just amazing. I was just thinking the other day about the time in the late 90s when Cap was without the shield - didn't that suck so bad? So we had all these really good Busiek and Perez Avengers issues, only they're with Cap having a freakin' PHOTON shield! I'd love it if they could just go back and re-do Ultron Unlimited, only with Cap having his actual shield.
It would be so much cooler.
Okay, that's the list! Agree? Disagree? Let me know!
- Posted on July 6, 2007 @ 09:28 PM
- Leave a Comment
- Share This!
26 Comments
D.B.
July 7, 2007 at 3:22 am
Super Hardcore Icicle Eaters Love Danger
Dan K
July 7, 2007 at 6:50 am
Silent Heroes: Intellegence Experts Living the Dream.
Niels van Eekelen
July 7, 2007 at 7:00 am
Well, since the Registration Act, S.H.I.E.L.D. stands for Super-Heroes In Every Little Domain.
Ion
July 7, 2007 at 7:56 am
Skrulls Hiding In Every Little Domicile.
fourth worlder
July 7, 2007 at 9:24 am
SHIELD Honcho Inevitably Enjoys Lovely Dames
Bret
July 7, 2007 at 9:43 am
Secret Highest Intelegence, Espionage, & Demolitions.
layne
July 7, 2007 at 10:08 am
That's a toughie, Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage and Logistics Directorate works pretty well, and is pretty cool to boot. So alas, I have no chance of accruing any Cool Points. Story of my life.
Suave Hunks In Eyepatches Live Dangerously
Subversive Hypocrites Infringe Everyone's Legal Deserts
Slap Happy Idiots, Economic Largess Diddlers
Securing Homeland Interests Eschewing Logical Discourse
Sheep Herders Inseminated Ewes, Lambs Disgusted
Shit Happens In Every Loser's Day
Mullon
July 7, 2007 at 10:27 am
Sexy Heroes In Eyepatches Living Dangerously.
Is there a reason this isn't under the cut?
carpboy
July 7, 2007 at 10:30 am
Super-Hero Instruction and Employment League for Defense?
Bill Reed
July 7, 2007 at 10:54 am
Super-Heroic Investigations and Extraterrestrial Life Defense.
Eh.
Bill Reed
July 7, 2007 at 10:56 am
Shit-Hot Intelligencers: Extra-Law Division.
DCD
July 7, 2007 at 11:25 am
Stalwart Harbingers of Intrigue Exercising Limited Discretion
Bill Reed
July 7, 2007 at 12:34 pm
And, for the record, I've always dug Guardian's shield.
J.C.
July 7, 2007 at 1:12 pm
You know I'm not as much of a Marvel fan as I am a DC guy so I after I finally read Civil War
"Why does Tony Stark accept the directorship of Shield?" and "What does SHIELD now stand for?"
Little did I know I could answer both at once.
"So Heroes Ironman Envies Lie Dead."
Apodaca
July 7, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Yeah, that Photon shield was, by far, the lamest part of that Avengers run. I kept waiting for Vance Astro to show up and ask for it back.
Matthew E
July 7, 2007 at 4:19 pm
What about Blue Shield? I always liked Blue Shield. Well, not really; I only ever read about him when he appeared in an issue of Dazzler I happened to have about 25 years ago, but I did like him.
Vincent P Bartilucci
July 7, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Oh, yes, the Guardian's shield is a very cool item indeed.
Y'see, Jim Harper, the original Guardian, was a beat cop. So, Simon and Kirby gave him a shield that was a giant badge.
Get it?
Michael Mayket
July 7, 2007 at 7:13 pm
I'm not sure I can wrap my head around, "Pretty cool, but extremely bland."
Lothor
July 7, 2007 at 10:08 pm
If you'll forgive the questionable grammar:
Super Heroing Is Everyone's Last Defense
So H.A.T.E. Is Ellis's Lame Denigration (of us)
[note that's written from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s POV]
T.
July 8, 2007 at 8:42 am
Yeah, I was going to mention the same thing as Vincent about Guardian's shield. It's meant to be a giant police badge, so there's only so much you can do with that design. I think the idea is more than clever enough to compensate for any blandness in the design.
Scott
July 8, 2007 at 11:41 am
Super Human Investigation and Enforcement Legal Division
T.
July 8, 2007 at 11:57 am
I also disagree about the Busiek/Perez issues being good. They were dreadfully written and the subplots often pointless with rushed unsatisfying resolutions. I think it benefited in having followed some incredibly bad runs. Runs so that bad that anything half decent would look great in comparison.
J To The AAP
July 9, 2007 at 1:08 am
Starks Hovering Industries Entering Lethal Duels.
SG
July 9, 2007 at 11:53 am
Shieldmaster's array of shields but probably none of you know the character. Same guy who designed Cap's original.
Chrism
July 9, 2007 at 3:02 pm
'Pep Comics'. Try to recreate the state of mind a person would have to have to want to buy a comic because they identify with the word 'Pep'. It is hard to conceive of such an innocent sense of excitement. Sigh.
Also, have you done a Top 5 Comics Butlers?
If yes, can someone please direct me to it.
If no, get onto it, man! Chop chop!
Pól Rua
July 10, 2007 at 1:04 am
Yeah, I'm with the Guardian's shield boosters.
Giant police badge.
Total coolness.