Every few years, Archie Publications remembers that they own some superhero characters (The Mighty Crusaders), and they try to capitalize on them. They publish a few issues, grow alarmed when sales aren't immediately promising, then they cancel the line. This has been going on for decades.
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They tried again with the Shield, one of their Mighty Crusaders. The new writers updated the character, found a solid and talented artist, and the first two and settled in for a long run. The first two and two-thirds issues are five star material. This stuff is superheroes done right. Then the Archie group grew alarmed that sales weren't promising, and told the creators to shut it down after the third issue had been completed--and a fifth issue already commissioned. The cover for #5 was used as a header for the contents page of this trade paperback. There was some hasty rewriting, a new and less talented artist brought in for issue #4 (and, I suspect, for the last of #3) and the end result was awkward and unsatisfying. Two star worthy.
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This could'a been a contender. Thanks to the faint-hearted corporate execs at Archie, it will end up in the remainder bins. The Shield deserved better.
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