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: Book of the Skull (2nd Printing)
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Scot Eaton
Cover: Marky Djurdjevic
Several weeks ago I read a huge steaming pile titled Fear Itself: Sin’s Past #1 assuming it would follow in all of the good things I heard about this title when it first came out. Well after arriving late to the party and finally getting my hands on this issue, I really don’t see the need for that other book to exist. This prologue to Fear Itself is not only a great introduction to the series, but it’s worth the money and I see why it sold out so fast. Brubaker pairs the present day quest of Sin along with Baron Zemo, with a great flash back about the hammer’s origin dating back to the WWII era and the Red Skull’s search for a weapon to help the Nazis win the war. We also get Namor, Captain America, and Bucky doing what they do best after they find a lead as to where the Red Skull is.
Scot Eaton’s artwork makes it all look great from beginning to end as Brubaker makes this one of the top tie-in books to read so far. Dialog and character actions were just great to see along with the action sequences drawn by Eaton. So if you were like me and didn’t pick this up when it first came out, then you should definitely snatch up the 2nd printing. It might even answer some questions that were bouncing around in your head since the series started. 5/5 – IS
Iron Man 2.0 #5
Writer: Nick Spencer
Artist: Ariel Olivetti
Cover: Salvador Larroca
What does the legendary Sun Wukong, the fabled Monkey King, have to do with Fear Itself? Well, it looks like he’s stumbled upon the hammer that is meant for Absorbing Man that fell to Beijing, China in Fear Itself #2. During events in Secret Avengers #13, War Machine and the Prince of Orphans were transported from the attack on Washington, D.C. to deal with a problem bigger than their current situation, the mystical Eighth City. It’s a realm of demons and the Immortal Weapons barely made it out alive the last time they were there.
I’m not sure where this story is going, but since I’m a huge Iron Fist and Immortal Weapons fan I’ll be on board for a bit. Spencer’s introduction of the Monkey King was a big surprise, since I’m not sure if he’s been used before in the Marvel Universe. The rest of the issue effectively recaps the story arc that ran in Immortal Iron Fist courtesy of dialog from The Prince of Orphans. He’s also getting War Machine up to speed, because it looks like he’s being transported along with his Secret Avenger teammate with no idea why. Olivetti keeps things looking nice as usual, though the Monkey King’s fight scene was the most entertaining in both dialog and visuals. The only connection I’m seeing here is that everything seems to be magic based, but if it’s an opportunity to see Fat Cobra, Dog Brother #1, Bride of Nine Spiders, and Tiger’s Beautiful Daughter team up with Iron Fist again then it’s worth it. 3/5 – IS
Secret Avengers #13
Writer: Nick Spencer
Artist: Scot Eaton
Cover: Adi Granov
Iron Man 2.0, Beast, and Ant-Man arrive in Washington, D.C. to help fight off Sin’s forces. Beast gets summoned to a briefing with the Major, right in the middle of this chaotic war zone. There happened to be a congressman who did not evacuate the chamber with everyone else. He refused to leave and requested to see Henry McCoy. It turns out that the congressman was an old friend of Beast’s. He wasn’t going to leave because his bill finally made it to the podium and the meeting was never officially adjourned. He was going to be heard. He wanted Beast to use his pull as an Avenger to get the television cameras back on him. He had something to say.
There was a little break in the political drama of things when the giant Abe Lincoln got off his chair at the memorial and started kicking the ass of Sin’s forces. Then came dinosaurs, George Washington, and all kinds of various war aircraft for history joined the battle. It was a total “Night at the Museum” moment! As it would be, McCoy’s friend was actually a very powerful mutant that was successful in staying off the radar for many years. He was animating all the historical monuments and artifacts. Amazing!
This was a very good story that wound down to an ending that I thought was very predictable, yet very touching. Good one, Spencer. Also, good one Eaton for his clean art style that made this issue a nice little package. 4/5 -AW
Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net
Aron White
aron@comicattack.net
