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With the overflowing amount of cross over events from various comic companies flooding the shelves, the people have cried out for help in keeping up with the many-issued madness! Well, that call has been answered by two guys who have answered a call or two in their lives! Infinite Man and Aron Fist are here to save your sanity, and hopefully save you from picking up that really crappy tie-in book that has absolutely NO REASON to exist! So sit back and check us out as we give you SCARED S#!@LESS: THE FEAR ITSELF EDITION, on just about everything pertaining to this event, while we also try to figure out what the hell everyone is so afraid of!

Fear Itself #2
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Stuart Immonen
Cover: Steve McNiven

“The Worthy”: Among the buzz of Fear Itself over the past several months, there’s also been one question posed by Marvel: Who are the worthy? This issue answers that question as the seven objects that fell to Earth in the last issue are revealed to be various types of hammers. Much like the one that Sin was able to free in the first issue, these hammers are for specific individuals and call to them only. Each character that touches the hammer is possessed by its essence and is transformed. Also, Odin continues his tradition of being a complete jackass as he’s had Thor bound by mystical chains and plans on stopping the Serpent by destroying Earth.

This issue moves fast and is full of action as Fraction takes us around the globe. He wastes no time showing Asgard preparing for war, along with the Serpent’s worldwide attack while The Worthy are gathered. The only thing that stops this issue from being full of those moments is Marvel themselves. They’ve put so much of the reveals out there that most of the issue wasn’t a surprise at all. Even their “mysterious” seventh was leaked out in a solicit before this issue was released. At least it still looks great as Immonen maintains his quality level of artwork. 3.5/5 – IS

Odin: The war is coming and we will all be warriors!
Thor: Nuh uh! We’re running from the war!
Odin: Shut up and go to jail!

There wasn’t much development on the Asgardian side of things from last issue. Instead, we got to meet some of the “worthy.” Juggernaut got a hammer. Titania got a hammer. Apparently Absorbing Man gets a hammer, too, but he’s gotta go find it. Hulk got a hammer, too. So did some ocean dude, but we didn’t get to see who that was.

Who is the ocean dude? How are these people worthy? When is this “biggest event ever” gonna get big and exciting? Can Matt Fraction write anything besides a tyranotillion (which is the highest number in the universe) random news blurbs? That’s all that seemed to fill up this issue in the reading department. 2/5 – AW

Fear Itself: Home Front #2
Writer(s): Christos Gage, Jim McCann, Peter Milligan, and more
Artist(s): Howard Chaykin, Mike Mayhew, and more
Cover: Marko Djurdjevic

This title is quickly becoming one of my favorites out of all the tie-ins. However, I don’t know if that’s a compliment considering that most have been pretty corny so far. Gage and Mayhew’s Speedball story is picking up the pace and is a fun read. We have Speedball going up against some D-list villains as the wave of fear takes hold of the Stamford, Connecticut citizens, causing riots and violent mobs. He’s also given a helping hand from a very unexpected individual. Jimmy Woo and the Agents of Atlas fight Nazi robots, and Woo discovers that Atlanteans were skinned to make some evil mystical book commissioned by the Red Skull. We’ve got another one-page short from Howard Chaykin featuring the Purple Man’s escape from the Raft, along with a dangerous train ride featuring Spidey back up characters Liz Allen and little Normie.

The strongest parts of this issue are again the first two stories which actually are relevant to the core title Fear Itself. These side stories allow further detail into what else is happening during Fear Itself, and are actually a much better companion piece than its predecessor, the Frontline series. The artwork for the first two stories is just a great helping of comic goodness that reinforces the solid writing found in them. The one-page Chaykin story isn’t as good as the last one, but suits a purpose. I’m just not sure what that purpose is. Home Front is not a required read to enjoy the main title, but I will say that it’s definitely a quality series so far! 3.5/5 – IS

Fear Itself: Spider-Man #1
Writer: Chris Yost
Artist: Mike McKone
Cover: Marko Djurdjevic

“Day One”: The city is chaotic, and who is there to try and save the day? Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Duh! This issue was not really eventful or insightful into the main title. It is just a “meanwhile, on the other side of town” look.

I don’t know how much stock to put into this, continuity wise, because I thought Spider-Man was with the Future Foundation, fighting zombie pirates. That fact opens a whole other ball of yarn that shouldn’t be the focus here. The focus of this issue is one of my favorite Spidey villains of all-time: Vermin. I’m on board for the next issue, ONLY because Vermin is getting the spotlight shined on him. It’s sure not because of the art. Or rather, the colors. Spidey’s costume is portrayed in red and black. 3/5 – AW

Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net

Aron White
aron@comicattack.net