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 #3
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Stuart Immonen
Cover: Steve McNiven
“Chapter 3: The Hammer that Fell on Yancy Street”
There are a lot of quick hits to the various points of interest. Thing gets a meat tenderizer. With the title of this chapter being what it is, you would think the action on Yancy Street would get more than a few pages. But it didn’t. Thor gets his wish. And his hammer back. Bucky-Cap gets his ass handed to him. But he might be dead. Just like this main title is. Almost. The intriguing defeat of Bucky-Cap keeps the pulse beating on this one. For now. 3.5/5 – AW
“Nooooooo!” Was my first reaction after I finished reading this issue, since Fraction decided to end it with the death (at least for now) of a damn good character. We go back to Brazil where the Hulk is testing out the effectiveness of his new hammer by beating the hell out of Red She Hulk, also known as his ex, Betty. The surprise of the newest hammer wielder was ruined months ago, so that part didn’t quite excite me. However, Immonen shows us Ben Grimm kicking Yancy Street’s ASS in great fashion which helped put a little excitement back into the sequence. Loki leads Thor’s escape so he can go and save the Earth, but the Asgardian tattle tale known as Heimdall alerts Odin. We find out that Odin did what he did to Thor for his own good, and maybe deep, deep, deep down he’s not such an overbearing ass of a father. This felt more like a set up issue and while I did enjoy it, I’m really hoping the story gets cranked up in the next four issues. Immonen keeps the book looking fantastic as I had to go back and look at Sin’s fight sequence several times! 3/5 – IS
Fear Itself: The Deep #1
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Lee Garbett
Cover: Lee Garbett, David Meikis, & Frank Martin
I’m gonna give y’all the “Aron Fist” version of the story, because it’s so excellent, you’ve gotta run your own eyes over the real thing! Ready? Hold your breath! We’re going into…
“The Deep”
Attuma, sorry, Nerkkod (Breaker of the Oceans. He’s got a hammer, now.), has just kicked Namor’s ASS and has taken over New Atlantis. Namor and Loa (She’s Atlantian. I think.) go to the surface and hit up a bar. They’re all, “This sucks.” Doctor Strange comes by. He’s all, “Hocus Pocus. Send us folks to help us.” Lyra shows up. Strange is like, “I meant to call the Defenders. Why are you here?” Lyra is all, “Hulk’s my dad.” Strange gets all, “Okay, I guess you’ll do.” Loa interrupts with, “Yo! We gots to do some fighting!” Demons cross-bred with sea creatures! Some of them have Cthulhu faces! And they share a link to the Undying Ones! Strange is calling this rag-tag crew of his, the Defenders! Take some Undying Ones, add some Defenders and you’ve got…wait! This recipe isn’t complete without…Silver Surfer (and Kirby Dots!)!
We’ve got a mini-series Fear Itself tie-in that truly excites me! The Defenders for 2011! I couldn’t be happier. Cullen Bunn is driving this car. Garbett is showing us what it looks like. Outstanding! If you’re a Strange head, a Defenders junkie, a Namor nut, or just an admirer of awesome, you need to be grabbing this mini. It. Is. Fun! 4.5/5 – AW
Herc #4
Writer(s): Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente
Artist: Neil Edwards
Cover: Michael Kaluta & Jim Charalampidis
A now mortal Hercules is still trying not to get himself killed while helping out the residents of Brooklyn that he’s sworn to protect. The problem is, the same people he’s trying to protect seem to be siding with the Warhawks and their leader Kyknos, who is the son of Ares. So what do you do when a god has the borough of Brooklyn on his side ready to beat the hell out of you? You hop on former Raft prisoner Griffen and get the hell off the street!
This issue is by no means an essential tie-in to Fear Itself. It is, however, a great combination of fun and wit from Pak and Van Lente that makes it one of the stronger of the side issues. These guys put Herc in a situation that he’d easily be able to handle years ago, but now that he’s just a regular guy with a few enchanted weapons, things aren’t as easy. He’s actually stabbed and almost killed by a little kid with scissors in this issue. The artwork from Neil puts this issue over the top and gives you your money’s worth from page to page. I’m not sure how Herc is going to fair against Kyknos and the witch Hecate, who has plans for unleashing all types of chaos on Herc, but it’s gonna be fun finding out! 3/5 – IS
Thunderbolts #158
Writer: Jeff Parker
Artist: Kev Walker
Cover: Kev Walker
This issue bounces back between the two Thunderbolt teams fighting off the zombies in Iraq and the moments that lead up to and after Juggernaut recieves his hammer in Fear Itself #2. Unlike several of the other tie-in stories in an ongoing title, this one doesn’t feel rushed and incomplete. Since it directly involves one of the T-Bolts members, it may be why it reads a lot better, or it could just be that Jeff Parker has been kicking ass with this series for a while now and doesn’t feel like slowing down. Either way, it just reinforces why I think this is one of THE BEST titles that Marvel is putting out right now!
Kev Walker makes the T-Bolts’ dirty work look good as the zombie fight was filled with decapitations and body parts flying around with style. If you’re already a T-Bolts fan, then this issue continues to deliver what’s expected and actually has a reason to tie into Fear Itself. It’s going to be quite interesting to see how the A and B teams deal with taking back The Raft from the escaped prisoners, but at least for now they don’t have to worry about Juggernaut. 3.5/5 – IS
Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net
Aron White
aron@comicattack.net
I liked Fear Itself #3 better than part 2 and I figured that you know who would die somewhere in this series. I also picked up The Deep, one of the few tie-ins that i’ve read and I thought it was great!
Looks like I have to pick up a copy of The Deep because the tie ins I’ve liked the most are Journey Into Mystery and Home Front.
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