Obviously your module is ok, as it connects to your wifi and you see the debug output over serial.
The "gibberish" after reset comes @74880 baud, usually not a preset choice, so enter it manually.
The AT-FW is a piece of s**t, better be prepared to write your own.
It only accepts upper case, is very picky about cr/lf and only supports a few standard AT commands.
Isn't there a own section on improving AT-fw? This might be the better place to ask about how to handle that beasty.
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
Also, it wasn't a very successful: only one person (probably the owner himself) was backing it.
IndieGogo website wrote:Our plan:
2015-8-16(UTC) Begin Crowdfunding
2015-9-15 Crowdfunding finish
2015-9-19 Shield process begin
2015-10-2 ESP8266 Arduino Shield library available in Github
2015-9-25 Begin to ship the shield
Just my 2 cents.