Fear Itself: The Fearless #1

I know I should probably read all of my Fear Itself tie-ins before I read this comic, since it takes place AFTER the events of Fear Itself #7, but I can't resist the urge to dig into this book. I mean I've read Fear Itself #7, so I doubt this comic will spoil anything from the other Fear related titles... Or at least I hope not.

Fear Itself: The Fearless #1(of 12):

Summary: Back during World War II, Valkyrie swore that no thing of Asgard would rain destruction on the Earth after she defeated an Asgardian Snow Wyrm... In the present, Captain America is leading the rescue/clean-up operation in the devastated city of Washington DC when he is approached by Valkyrie. It seems that Cap has managed to collect most of the Serpent's hammers and had them locked away in various secure locations. Valkyrie doesn't like the idea of these Asgardian weapons of terror remaining on Earth, but Cap has zero faith that the Asgardians can watch over these weapons better than the Avengers can, and if I say so myself, Cap's lack of faith is completely understandable. Cap basically tells Valkyrie that this was a matter he wasn't willing to debate and that once the clean-up in DC was finished, he'd be asking all of the Avengers to join in the search to hunt Sin down. Speaking of Sin, Crossbones manages to acquire a flashdrive containing the location of all of the hammers the Avengers had managed to get their hands on. Crossbones hands the flashdrive over to Sin, who then sets out to reclaim the Serpent's hammers. Later on, aboard the Secret Avengers flying headquarters, Valkyrie is staring at one of the captured hammers. War Machine joins her and Valkyrie realizes that he was sent in there by Cap to keep an eye on her. It seems that Cap was right to be suspicious as Valkyrie suddenly attacks War Machine. The two battle briefly, but War Machine is unwilling to go all out in battle against an ally, which gives Valkyrie the chance to knock him out. When War Machine wakes up, all he finds is a destroyed containment unit and no sign of Valkyrie nor the Serpent's hammer.

Thoughts: You know, much like everything I've read thus far today, I really enjoyed this comic book... That doesn't happen very often! The story here is simple. On one side you have Valkyrie, who doesn't want to see Asgardian weapons lead to anymore widespread destruction on Earth. On the other side you have Cap, who is still hurting over the death of his best friend/protégé Bucky, unwilling to trust the “gods” to watch over these weapons. And then of course you have that damned Sin who is looking to regain her lost powers by gathering the Serpent's hammers. So you have an easy to follow story, good artwork and solid dialogue. There's not much more I could ask for here... The next issue comes out in two weeks and it should go without saying that I'm already looking forward to it.

Score: 9 out of 10.Damn those treacherous Asgardians!!!