This issue is a great way to start off the series—and I’m not just saying that because I love monsters! Everything has been set up for us, and we’ve met all the significant characters we need to, in order to understand and enjoy the story line. I’m excited for this series, and I can’t wait to read more! Read Full Review

Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 is an interesting new take on the Howling Commandos. The team does have potential, the story is entertaining, and has a lot to offer when exploring this side of the Marvel Universe we don't see enough of. Read Full Review

We're seeing some really good new #1s from Marvel this month and HOWLING COMMANDOS is yet another one those. It's has a great vibe going which gives us something we haven't seen over and over again. If you're looking for something different, this definitely falls into that category in a good way. Read Full Review

The first issue is a solid start. It definitely had the comedic and fun moments I was hoping for, and you can see Barbiere working through how the team will gel together. It's a menagerie of characters that I wondered how they'd work together, and we're seeing the answer is quite well. An entertaining start that has me interested in seeing what comes next. Read Full Review

"Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D." #1 is a fun introduction to a new concept, but it needs to decide what direction it's going in: is it a creepy war comic, a horror comic with soldiers, a monster mash-up or something altogether different that defies labeling? I initially thought it might be closer in line with DC's "Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E.," which it certainly may wind up being, but -- for now -- it appears to be wrestling a little bit to find its identity. Read Full Review

Humorous and hits the ground running, Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D. has a lot of potential but needs to really sell the action! Read Full Review

The Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D. is starting off strong which is all you can ask from a book really. littered with odd characters and plenty of action this book will no doubt end up being a cult favourite but its whether it breaks through all the other big hitters in the roster that will no doubt determine it's fate. Hopefully though with a bit of chanting and a sacrificed goat or two this book will live on and become a bigger part of the Marvel supernatural universe. Read Full Review

There really doesn't seem to be any reason to pick this book up. If you're looking for a team book, find something that actually has characters that interact with one another, because this series has neither. The interactions that are here are inexplicable and over written, as if the book has absolutely no time to bother with subtlety. Plus, even if it had everything I've mentioned, it would still be hard to care about characters that don't seem to have logical, if any, motivation, to be doing what they're doing in this issue. In short: avoid this issue. Read Full Review

Its hard to say if Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D. is just a decent comic crushed on the weight of prior executions of this idea or if its a legitimately poorly done book, but regardless its not recommended. Even if this is a case of the idea having worn thin with use its not like Howling Commandos would magically get better if it had been released 40 years ago, thered just be fewer better things to compare it to. Maybe things will get better with subsequent issues, but for right now Howling Commandos just needs to buckle down and decide what it wants to be before they go barreling ahead into issue 2. Read Full Review

“Howling Commandos Of SHIELD” #1 is something of a story of wasted potential. This team and these characters definitely had the potential to become something unique and could have been the team book to explore the dark and twister history of this new Marvel Universe. Instead, the characters are flat and very little information is given about them to the reader, the plot is generic and is built around an excuse to have these characters go after a MacGuffin object with little reasoning as to why and there is very little in the way of actual horror despite the cast being made up of vampires, manphibians, zombies and a literal embodiment of fear. Oh yeah, by the way, Man-Thing is in this book and the only scene he's utilised in is essentially an extend joke about how he's the team's Hulk. That's about as deep as this issue gets about its characters. Read Full Review

So what is this book? Where's the hook to keep us coming back for more? So far, there isn't one. Read Full Review

Marvel has tried to revamp the Howling Commandos as its own personal in-house monster mash on several previous occasions, but these attempts have always been doomed to fail - and unfortunately, this iteration doesn't feel much different. While there's definitely a ton of potential for "Dum Dum" Dugan and Jasper Sitwell, the rest of this cast feels woefully underdeveloped, with this team just feeling like a threadbare retread of the wildly successful Avengers formula. Combine this with some very ill-fitting artwork, and you have a book that may be creaky and kooky, but not altogether spooky. Read Full Review

Buried in all of this is the ingot of a good idea. Much of the script reads like grindhouse cinema, spitting on subtlety and happily accepting the obvious explosion or laugh. Frank J. Barbiere is a writer capable of understanding the appeal of that concept, standing up a massive cast of monsters for big action and tongue-in-cheek melodramatics. There are at least two moments here that are capable of evoking an emotional reaction, the sort where you grin with the comic rather than glaring at it. Barbiere's script doesn't contain enough laughs or craziness to make Schoonover's art endurable, much less entertaining though. It's a tough read where the glimmers of interest and potential only make the final result all the more disappointing. Read Full Review

The premise for this title I think is a great idea. A team of monsters to fight monsters seems like a pretty solid series. The starting point for this series did not get me that excited however. I guess the idea that they are trying to sell you on is that this is a team of individuals that are horrible working together and need to be whipped into shape to become a functioning team with comedic results. Like the "Mighty Ducks" of super heroes. I think the more comedic instead of horror aspect of this book is what threw me off. I expected this series to explore characters like Morbius and Mr. Hyde. The horror side of Marvel. There are some serious moments in Dugans struggle to accept his life as a LMD (life model decoy), and his competition as leader with Warwolf that seemed promising. Each character does not yet have a place in the series. I suppose that is the point. I am hoping that knowing what this series is trying to present itself as might make me enjoy myself with the issues to come. That is why I gave it a more optimistic score. more

I think you have to really love these characters to get much out of this. I'm only familiar with Dum Dum (whom I've never liked), Hit-Monkey, and Man-Thing. Man-Thing was bad ass, but in a way that didn't make sense, why would mindless plant zombies fear him? Barbiere should have substituted a different threat that would fit this M.O. better. Basically, this isn't bad but, like several of the other team books out already, there are too many characters and the story just refuses to come to life. I won't be expecting too many more issues.