The last time we looked in on the Shield, his first mission ended with hostages rescued, but his friend Devon murdered before he could tell Joe the court-martial was a plot by Joe's dad to make sure he had the son he thought he could control wearing the Shield armor. Well, Joe's wearing the Shield armor, but he's also on the run until he can bring down his dad, so, 1 out of 2?
Joe's in Summit City, saying his farewells to Dusty, the sidekick of the original Shield, who was beaten into a coma by members of the gang the Jewels in the previous issue. A guy watches from the shadows, lamenting how he let Dusty down. Elsewhere, the mysterious "Hauser" who runs Summit City, is dealing with the leader of the Jewels, who looks like he was part of Run DMC. He doesn't appreciate being told to report back on sightings of the Shield, to the point he throws a knife into Hauser's chest.
Which does nothing except make Hauser threaten to cut off the meds the leader's mom needs. Does that mean he controls the pharmaceutical companies or drug stores in town, the doctors who prescribe the drugs? Don't tell me he's, gasp, interfering with the mail. That fiend!
Joe drops a letter in the mail to Devon's parents, explaining what really happened, then steps into a "Techno-Nook" for a new watch battery. Only to find the story being robbed at Uzi-point by more Jewels, who are also on the lookout for him. Joe wonders about their mysterious "boss", but wins the fight easily.
The store's owners, the Carvers, explain they saved enough to move to a 'slightly less bad part of town,' and get this store. It makes them an easy target, but they stay because you have to take a stand somewhere. The Carvers' son Theo arrives and pulls a switchblade on the Shield, thinking he attacked the store. A little talking clears things up, and Theo agrees to help Joe find a news photographer he befriended. They run into more Jewels on the way, irate that Theo refuses to join, but Bert the photog comes out with a gun, giving them a chance to scramble inside his apartment.
Oddly, the Jewels make no attempt to besiege the place with their M-16s. Even stranger these guys don't recognize Joe as the guy they're supposed to be looking for, even though his armor is plainly visible beneath his open trenchcoat. Joe wants to know where the Jewels are based, because this latest bunch were carrying military hardware.
As it turns out, the one supplying the Jewels is McGill, the Green Beret that got Devon killed. Joe's dad is getting McGill the guns to supply to gangs to draw out Joe, and McGill is taking money from Hauser for the guns, with neither of those two the wiser. Presumably he'll use the money to fix the damage Joe did to his face when he went rogue.
So Joe's got a lot to deal with, and that's without him knowing The Web are trying to track him down, or that The Fly is in town and had his own run-in with the Jewels that's got him looking to get involved.
{6th longbox, 90th comic. Legend of the Shield #6, by Grant Miehm (writer/artist), Mark Waid (writer), Matt Hollingsworth (colorist), Albert DeGuzman (letterer)}
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