Issue One
Page 1: Enter Leonid. Described by Hickman as "The Eternal Dynamo... the great engine of the human machine. He represents progress, the advance of society and all that other cool stuff." He is cosmic in origin but human in form which gets explored more in issue #2.
Page 2: Panel 1 is Agents Richards and Stark, Fathers of Iron Man/Tony Stark and Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards.
Howard Stark: I don't believe his appearance here is considered a retcon given that most of the stories he appeared in were set in the World War 2 era. I'm also not certain how this time line is going to work here with Marvel's sliding time scale. Tony originally became Iron Man around the period of Vietnam, which has now been retconned to Afghanistan, given that S.H.I.E.L.D. begins in 1953, we may or may not see this touched on.
Nathaniel Richards: Already known in the 616 universe for being a time traveler, his appearance here working for Shield isn't surprising given the book and organization's population of ordinary men who have stepped outside of the world in order to better humanity.
Useless trivia: I'm about 60% certain their car is based on the 1955 Thunderbird, and would certainly make sense as the prototype for S.H.I.E.L.D. flying cars. Although suicide doors are making a comeback, they were last popularly used on the 1971 model.
Panel 4 is our first glimpse of the cosmic powers of young Leonid.
Page 3: "I was taken to Rome." This isn't the first Hickman comic involve the city of Rome, his comic Pax Romana featured a Catholic Church that utilized time travel to try and shape the future of the world.
Page 4: The Eternal Place probably refers to the longevity of Rome through time. The Immortal City may or may not relate to the book, "Rome, The Immortal City" as well as the film, "The Immortal City" which appropriately features the tagline: "Where The Destiny Of The World Was Decided!"
I wasn't able to track down an origin for the headpiece the various councilmen are wearing. They may be original design by Dustin Weaver, but they do look similar to the headpiece work by Noh-Varr in issue three of the Grant Morrison/JG Jones comic, Marvel Boy. They may simply be an evolution of the headpiece worn by Imhotep as we see later on.
Page 5: Panel 1 "Rome is built atop an older Rome and even more ancient layer lies beneath.." I don't know if there is a city that has been destroyed and rebuilt more times than Rome, from the fires started by Nero, to the sacking by the various barbarian tribes during the Dark Ages.
Panel 2 "The Immortals" or the High Council of The Shield clearly aren't immortal barring some sort of Secret Warriors/Fantastic Four reveal.
Panel 3 I'm not sure what the appropriate name for this machine is, it is either an early typewriter or something that is recording the conversation. This is Howard Stark speaking into the machine however, what the ultimate goal is remains uncertain. The quote "Everything begins with an idea." has probably been spoken a thousand times over across the history, but is officially attributed to motivational speaker Earl Nightingale.
Page 6: A flashback to 2620 B.C. What we're seeing is the arrival of The Brood, created by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum. Their first appearance was Uncanny X-Men #155 (March 1982). Brood implant eggs much like the Aliens we all know in love and when the egg hatches, it takes over the host's body.
Page 7: The introduction of the first of our Action Philosopher (copyright Fred van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey of course!) Imhotep. To his right is one of the early incarnations of the Moon Knight, avatar of the Egyptian God, Khonshu. To his left, a young En Sabah Nur.
"This is not how the world ends!" is truly the mantra or motto of this comic and may or may not be a play on the T.S. Eliot quote, "This is the way the world ends" from his poem The Hollow Men. The poem dwells on the troubles of holding onto hope and was written after World War 1 which at that time had been the worst conflict the world had ever seen. Given that S.H.I.E.L.D. is a sort of sermon on the power and the ability of the mortal man to overcome adversity in a world of creatures and Gods, the two phrases juxtapose well.
Pages 8-9: This is just awesome.
Pages 10-12: Transition from Imhotep's shield to 1953 Rome. The shield is placed at the center of a diorama of our solar system, no doubt reflecting the believed importance of the agency. The quoted subjects by the councilmen are probably considered important components of the human intellect, but admittedly I don't know what to make of this quite yet.
Page 13: Flashback to 114 A.D. Zhang Heng, while having a palace is a statesman, not the Emperor. The Shield and Spear refer to Imhotep's weapons when he defeated the Brood, and the division of East and West is not uncommon throughout history, and began with the splitting of the Roman Empire by Diocletian, if not even earlier. What is he facing is one of the Celestials, created by Jack Kirby in his comic, The Eternals. This particular Celestial might be, Ashema the Listener, created by Peter David and Salvador LaRocca. Note the bird symbol on his chest piece.
Pages 15-17: Florence, 1495. The readied device is a early telescope for looking at the sun. What Leonardo da Vinci and his assistants are seeing is the impending arrival of Galactus, Devourer of Worlds, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. In the workshop on the wall is Imhotep's shield again, and a clockwork dog. The skull on the desk makes me wonder if da Vinci's desk is supposed to be the scene of this promo image:
Pages 18-20: Forward 8 years, da Vinci and his team have finally perfected what I could only describe as a one man flying spacesuit or maybe even a chronosuit for time travel. A better look at the workshop shows us several things: Imhotep's helmet, the headpiece being worn by the councilmen, a prototype airplane, and plenty more. I had originally predicted that the golden orb was early vibranium but that is probably not the case. Again, "This is not how the world ends."
Pages 21-23: 79 years in the future and it falls now to Galileo to stop Galactus.What they've constructed is an early version of the Ultimate Nulifier, the only weapon capable of intimidating Galactus. The weapon was first utilized by the Fantastic Four during the "Galactus Trilogy." The herald in this spread could possibly be Gabriel, the Air Walker.
Page 26: 1956 in Rome. The first appearance of The Night Machine, Leonid's father. We previously saw doves on page 15 at da Vinci's workshop. Given the last page reveal, The Night Machine and da Vinci are working together, the dove has a greater significance. I read a theory somewhere, it might have been David Uzumeri's Twitter, that predicted The Night Machine is actually Nikola Tesla and looking at their mustaches, I might have to agree.
Page 30: Richards and Stark utilizing some self-assembling Stark/Shield Tech and gravity boots. This is the first time in the story they're identified by name. If The Night Machine is Tesla, the "Aren't you supposed to be dead?" would refer to Tesla's death in 1943.
Page 32: Panel 3, the E that is top middle of the page is the constellation Cassiopeia, to the right of it is the Big Dipper, and on the bottom left is Andromeda. I doubt there is a deeper meaning here, just a portion of the sanctuary.
Extra Material: I'm not certain what I can say about this stuff. Section Four: The Source, I believe is a reference to Leonid, the Human Engine. If his purpose is to "stand in the gap" as Page 12 tells us, then he is what will allow humanity to bridge "the gap" towards Section Seven, "The Death of Chaos / Tomorrow" or simply, the future.
The Vitruvian Man is supposed to encompass the perfect symmetry of man, and thus the universe. Leonid would be the connection between sections three and five. What that means, I have no clue.
