In January, Marvel relaunches its Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. comic with an all-new ongoing series by writer Marc Guggenheim and artist German Peralta.
This particular S.H.I.E.L.D. team made its debut in Marvel's All-New, All-Different Point One special, showing off a Phil Coulson that isn't just the team leader, but is also valuable in the field. The team also features Mockingbird, Quake and Deathlok, as well as Agents May, Fitz and Simmons.
"The way I've structured it is that there's the 'Brawn' team and the 'Brains' team; or the Operations team and the Intel team," said Guggenheim to Comic Book Resources. "I don't want to reduce May, Fitz and Simmons to support because, as you'll see, they'll be out in the field also and doing some cool things. This is just a helpful shorthand. Coulson is the head of both branches. He's out in the field when necessary and he's back at home base when necessary. For me, it's a cool way to service a large cast of characters. We've got a cast of seven and I always need to have cool things for everybody to be doing."
Also, adding to another way in which the Marvel cinematic universe has changed the comic books, Guggenheim teased the appearance of Grant Ward, who is now the new head of Hydra on the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. television series on ABC. When asked about Ward's appearance, Guggenheim confirmed it, but gave few details.
"Yes, but I want to do it in what will hopefully be a surprising way. I don't want to talk about them here, because I want people to read the book, but I've got really cool plans for introducing Grant to the Marvel Universe," he said.
Take a look at Marvel's synopsis for the comic, as well as some art from the first issue, below:
"Coulson and his team—May, Fitz, Simmons, Deathlok, Mockingbird and Quake—bring the brains and brawn to tackle any situation the Marvel Universe can throw at them," writes Marvel in an email press release. "But have they met their match when a dark secret from Coulson's past threatens to tear S.H.I.E.L.D. apart from the inside? What exactly are the 'Coulson Protocols'? And what is Iron Man doing there?"
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 lands in comic book stores on Jan. 13 while the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. television series returns March 8 to ABC.
