Fear Itself: Deadpool #1 & Journey Into Mystery #624

I picked up 3 Fear Itself tie-in issues earlier today, and figured I'd take two of them and do some reviews for them posthaste. After looking at the covers of the comics, it became VERY obvious that I didn't want to read Fear Itself: Fearsome Four #1 due to the fact that Howard the Duck was on the cover, so that helped me decide on which two comics to review...

Fear Itself: Deadpool #1(of 3):

Summary: Wanting to profit from the whole “Fear Itself” thing going on throughout the Marvel Universe, Deadpool winds up getting hit on the head by a sledgehammer that flew out of an exploding van. Pool takes the hammer home with him, puts all kinds of jewels on it and decides to find the most inept super-villain he could find to wield the hammer. Why an inept villain? So Deadpool could then defeat the villain, save some small New Mexican town, and then bask in the rewards that would follow. To this end, Pool finds the Walrus and drops the hammer in front of the idiotic villain from a hang glider. The Walrus figures it was one of the hammers from the Serpent, but is confused by the fact that he doesn't feel any stronger, and that the hammer didn't actually DO anything. Not wanting his plan to fail, Pool puts a lame Halloween costume on over his Deadpool attire and tells the Walrus that he was the Spectre of the Hammers, and that he'd help the Walrus unlock the hammer's true powers, all while directing the Walrus to attack the small New Mexican town Pool had set his sights on. This issue ends with the owners of the van that exploded earlier on wondering what happened to their magic hammer.

Thoughts: So wait, the hammer Deadpool gave to the Walrus really WAS magic?! Huh... This was what you'd call a perfectly acceptable comic. It wasn't great, it wasn't horrible, it just was. It had a few funny moments, but it wasn't as funny as the main Deadpool comic, so for a score, I'll go with a nice, average number...

Score: 6 out of 10.This scene had nothing to do with this comic, but it made me laugh, so here it is.


Journey Into Mystery #624:

Summary: This issue picks up from the events of Fear Itself #3 where Loki, Sif and the Warriors Three helped break Thor out of prison and ultimately led to Odin sending Thor to Earth to fight against the Serpent. With Thor gone, Odin turns his attention to Loki, who he figures was behind the plan to spring Thor from prison. Before Odin can send his wrath Loki's way, Volstagg steps forward and claims that the plan to free Thor was his, and manages to convince Odin to spare Loki. Odin leaves, and Loki is surprised by Volstagg's defense of him. Volstagg explains to Loki that he himself had children, and although he didn't fully trust Loki, he wouldn't want to see any harm befall a child. After Loki has been left alone, he heads to the Hel-Wolf he freed last issue and has it take him to Hel, which was currently residing within Mephisto's Hell. Before Loki arrives, a dignitary of the Serpent is speaking with Hela, the ruler of Hel, asking for her to ally with the Serpent against Asgard. Hela has no allegiance to Asgard, but isn't exactly keen on joining in the battle against Odin. The Serpent's dignitary pretty much warns Hela that if she doesn't side with the Serpent, the Serpent would think Hela didn't fear him, and as a Lord of Fear, the Serpent would feel obligated to make Hela feel that fear, one way or another. With those threats ringing in her ears, Hela tells the Serpent's dignitary that she'd consider the Serpent's offer, telling him to head to his chambers while she thought about it. Hela is torn as to what to do, with her two lieutenants, Tyr and Leah both giving her conflicting advice. Tyr, being from Asgard, wants Hela to stand with the Asgardians, while Leah warns against such actions. Anyway, when Tyr is alone, Loki approaches him and tells him that he wanted to try to help defend Asgard against the Serpent, and that he didn't want to see Hela pledge her allegiance to the Serpent... To that end, Loki manages to secure Tyr's trust before heading from Hel to Hell, to meet with Mephisto. Loki makes his way through Hell and meets up with Mephisto, and the two talk, with Loki doing a pretty good job of convincing Mephisto that he was the same Loki from before, just in a younger body. Loki tells Mephisto that Hela was planning on allying herself with the Serpent, and that a god like the Serpent would surely be looking for other lands to conquer once he was done with Asgard and Earth, namely Mephisto's domain... Needless to say, Mephisto doesn't like the sound of that, and Loki leaves Mephisto to his thoughts. From there Loki heads to Hela and warns her that Mephisto was planning on invading Hel, which angers Hela enough to get her to head off to confront Mephisto. With Hela now temporarily out of the way, Loki tells Tyr that they needed to do something that would ally Mephisto and Hela against a common enemy... The Serpent's visiting dignitary...

Thoughts: I enjoyed this one. I've actually enjoyed all of the Journey Into Mystery comics I've been reading lately. I just can't help but like young Loki... I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's just something about him I really like. Anyway, this issue left me a bit more confused than the last few issues, with Loki weaving his lies and attempting to manipulate Hela and Mephisto into standing against the Serpent. There were certain aspects of this story I didn't get(the women Loki and Mephisto were talking about, Tyr being in Hel, whoever that Leah girl was, etc), but the stuff I did understand, I did like. So as usual, I'll be looking forward to the next issue of this one.

Score: 8 out of 10.Check out Mephisto's sweet tux!