When talking about comic books and nerd stuff, in general, one of the first things that comes up has to be Superman. Then, you'd probably talk about Batman, Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, the Wonder Twins, Ant Man, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Fritz the Cat, Mr. Natural, Howard the Duck and a couple hours later, you'd probably mention that shadowy organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D.

And, of course, your favorite iteration of S.H.I.E.L.D. would universally be agreed upon to be the 1998 classic TV movie, Nick Fury: Agent of Shield, starring David Hasselhoff and written, oddly enough, by David S. Goyer, of Dark City, Blade and Batman Begins. There's just no arguing with that kind of quality.

Mistaking the nation's sighs of resignation at Nick Fury and company's token cameos in the last several Marvel comic films and their involvement in the superhero jumble of The Avengers as enthusiastic seals of approval, Hollywood has taken the initiative to run this franchise even further into the ground by giving the agency of S.H.I.E.L.D. its own television show.

"Yes," a chorus of nerds will scream in unison, "but Joss Whedon is the creative force behind ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.! How can it be so bad?"

While it's true that Whedon, the godhead of all things trendy in the nerd world, is heading up the show, we must all cool our jets and reflect, once more, that this is S.H.I.E.L.D. we're talking about, here: a bunch of guys in suits and a flying fortress whose superpowers are mainly of a bureaucratic nature. I'm not saying a superhero team where one of their branches surely must just revolve around paperwork and red tape can't be interesting, but... well, yes, I guess that is what I'm saying.

But, if Joss Whedon is your kick, then there's nothing I can say to keep you from instantly embracing any of his new projects. For god's sake, he recently convinced scads of emotional nerds to go out and see their first Shakespeare adaptation, with his perfectly charming take on Much Ado About Nothing.

At best, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will be an engaging take on the spy world. At worst, it's a USA original series (where characters are welcome!) with a big Incredible Hulk-shaped hole. In any case, this will surely be something to help nourish the geeks in all of us who pine away for yet another tentpole comic book flick-which, I believe, should be coming any day now. Howard the Duck is due for another go around.

AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D., 8 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 24, ABC Network