Get Declassified Once Again with Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season Three Declassified!

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Now available at online booksellers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, local comic shops, or wherever fine publications are sold - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season Three Declassified by Troy Benjamin! This 248 page hardcover continues the tradition of providing an excellent resource to fans of the series and the Marvel Cinematic Universe by giving you a full and detailed episode guide along with analysis from the writers, producers, and cast of the show, as well as looks behind the scenes on the stunts, visual effects, costumes, props, even the sounds required on a weekly basis for ABC's hit series!

Among the features of this season's book:

- A foreword penned by Daisy Johnson herself, Chloe Bennet talking about her experiences on the show.

- "The Sound of S.H.I.E.L.D." a top to bottom look behind how sound factors into each and every episode of the series, from what is recorded during production (and what is not) to what is added later in post-production. What does Daisy's "Quake" ability sound like? Do they smash a lot of car windows to get that sound? Find out in the book!

- A changed Director Coulson, Clark Gregg on love found and love lost - and what the tragedy he experiences in Season Three does to forever change his character.

- A look back on the evolution of Grant Ward into Hive, including conceptual artwork and commentary from the show runners and Brett Dalton himself!

- L.O.V.E. on S.H.I.E.L.D. - just why are relationships so difficult in the modern spy workplace? And how and why was this the right time for two "cursed" lovers to come together in the series? Elizabeth Henstridge and Iain De Caestecker give you their thoughts in this year's book!

As always, these behind the scenes tomes are such a joy to write - hopefully you'll enjoy reading this season's book as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Get Caught Up with the Guidebook to the Marvel Cinematic Universe!

I've been hard at work on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season Three Declassified and have been so buried that I completely missed that not one, not two, not three, but FOUR issues of the Guidebook to the Marvel Cinematic Universe are out now! Check your local comic book shop or online retailer to pickup, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers now with a whole lot more to be coming around the corner.

Apologies for the updates here on the site. As you can imagine, with the book deadline, with a new Ghostbusters film right around the corner, and trying to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table, haven't had much time for writing anything else. But rest assured that this summer more updates will be a'coming!

Jane Jacobs, Robert Moses, and RoboCop

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In a city, plagued with poverty, crime, and blight, a corporate entity looks to cut away the cancerous tissue and rebuild a newer, more modern city on top of it. The old city is viewed as broken. The new sleek and sculptural city will provide public housing for those displaced while also building towering skyscrapers that will print money for the top 1%. One hero will emerge to fight for the people, to stand up against the corporate greed, and rally the people to stand up for the city that they live in...

RoboCop.

It's funny, it occurred to me in the shower this morning that a project that I'm working on about the legendary New York City Power Broker Robert Moses and his grassroots activist rival Jane Jacobs, is the exact same plot to the 1987 sci-fi Paul Verhoeven classic RoboCop.

In Post-World War II New York City, the wealthy looked to destroy the slums of New York City, its inhabitants be damned, and replace it with new top-down planned infrastructure with super-highways running throughout. Everyone is in their pocket down to the cement mixers that are pouring the foundations.

In RoboCop, evil corporation OCP looks to replace the entire city of Detroit with its vision of a streamlined and clean future that they call Delta City. They put everyone in their pockets, right down to the police force that's charged with keeping the city safe and crime free.

Jane Jacobs looked around her and saw what was happening. She rallied the people to save public spaces like Washington Square Park and stop the building of a Lower Manhattan Expressway from completely eviscerating part of Manhattan. One woman, who was dismissed as a mere "housewife" went toe-to-toe with the powerful figure head and won.

RoboCop, though he was part man and part machine and under the operating protocols of OCP, saw what was happening, fought his programming, and stopped the construction of Delta City. One officer, dismissed as a mere beat cop inside a heavily armored suit, went toe-to-toe with his own creators. He fought the stop-motion ED-209 to battle his way to the top of OCP headquarters and stopped the head of the corporation.

Take a look at OCP's vision for Detroit, MI replacement Delta City...

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And look at these real life people at the 1939 World's Fair looking down on Corbusier and Robert Moses' vision of the future city.

Oh my god, now that I'm thinking about it... Robert Moses actually even kind of LOOKS like OCP Chief Operating Officer, Dick Jones! Dude, now I would totally pay to see a strange alternate reality sci-fi version of New York City's history where this all went down.

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What's the point of this? Well, point of fact it's mainly to make two people laugh. Yes, this article was written for an extremely targeted audience. But I guess you could say it's also a strange correlation of art imitating life. Topics that were relevant in terms of city planning and the people who inhabit the dense city were at the forefront in the 1930s, they were in our minds in the late-1980s, and it's still relevant today.

That actually sounded intellectual, boy I really pulled that off. Especially considering that most of this was just an excuse to Photoshop this image.

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Guidebook to the Marvel Cinematic Universe #2 Out Tomorrow!

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Man, time has been flying... I blinked and suddenly it's release day for the second issue of the official Guidebook to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which covers Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk. I once again had the pleasure of tagging along with the OHOTMU writers for this go-round and enjoyed getting to revisit both films.

Essential character biographies, details behind some of the top secret organizations, and easter eggs that you might not have noticed on your first couple dozen viewings of the films, they're all represented here. 

Check these out, they're definitely a great resource for fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and a good crash course for people still trying to figure out with Kevin Feige and Jeph Loeb keep telling us that It's All Connected! The second installment will be on the shelves of your local comic shop tomorrow!