Fear Itself #7.3: Iron Man:
Summary: This issue takes place both in the present and the very near past. For once it actually makes sense to start in the present, so I will. Tony Stark enters the prison holding the Grey Gargoyle and pretty much talks to him about all of the terrible evil he did while he was one of the Worthy. Tony brings up the utter destruction of Paris, and tells the Gargoyle that he had seriously considered killing the Gargoyle, even though the Gargoyle, you know, wasn't actually in control of his actions. From there we get some flashbacks of Tony and Odin having a conversation right before the funeral pyre of Thor. Tony tries to attack Odin for allowing the destruction of Paris(amongst other places) occur, and continues to try to strike at Odin until Odin has enough of Tony's little tantrum and puts him down. From there Odin tells Tony that in the grand scheme of things he is meaningless, and allows Tony a moment of cosmic awareness, letting him see everything in the universe to prove how little Tony really meant. Tony is naturally struck dumb for a moment after seeing that, and Odin prepares to leave, but not before undoing all of the death and destruction done to Paris. From there we head back to the Gargoyle and Tony, and Tony decides to leave the Gargoyle alone in prayer.
Thoughts: I was REALLY enjoying this issue until just about the end. Tony's conversation with the Gargoyle, and his wanting to kill the Gargoyle for his actions was very well done. As was Tony's outburst at Odin, seeing as that it was Asgardians who wreaked so much carnage across the Earth. And then we find out that Odin had fixed everything in Paris, thus making Tony's speech to the Gargoyle meaningless... Really, since the Gargoyle WASN'T in control of his actions, and was possessed by the Serpent's Worthy, PLUS the fact that Odin fixed the damage done to Paris, why the hell did Tony go to see the Gargoyle and tell him he wanted to kill him!? Why not go to the Thing and decide to kill HIM for his role in the Fear Itself events? See, if this issue would have ended with Odin not fixing Paris, and Tony leaving the Gargoyle(or killing him) I'd have enjoyed this one WAY more. I mean when I was halfway through this issue I was thinking the score would be around a 9, maybe even a 9 1/2 depending on Tony's actions towards the Gargoyle at the end. But Odin undoing everything made Tony's conversation meaningless, and actually kind of bizarre... It was like Tony didn't know Paris had been fixed, even though he saw it happen BEFORE he went to see the Gargoyle... Really, was he drunk again or something? Bottom line, this was a great comic that fell apart towards the end and turned into a really good comic instead.
Score: 8 out of 10.
I must admit, Odin simply sighing when Tony blasts him in the face was pretty awesome.
here is the thing
ReplyDeletein this case its not a matter of wether or not grey was in control
but grey is a theif and exrtremly greedy
and i think tony knew that when the hammer passed grey and the hammer called to him. greys greedyness got the best of him and he choose to seek out the hammer reguardless of the possible consoqinces. the hammer landed no where near him he had to go find it
it wasnt like grimm who was wright there at the cash site with the ff4 stuying it and reed acualy told grimm to go and try to move it.
also we dont know how many people odin actualy fixed it could have been just thoose whoose statues whernt shatterd.
but anyways good review i really liked this issue and the whole grey gargoyle part of the fear itself storyline and i felt this was a really strong wrap up. and i liked that grey by praying at the end showed that he regrets this and i hope this is his last appreance for a long time if ever! cus this felt like a good final story for him
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=10510
ReplyDeleteif they make tanarus and sif lovers......... ERRRRAAAHAHHAHAHA NOOOOOOO
THAT ASS IS THORS...... (and beta ray bills..... past tense)
lol i dont know about this man i mean no other book cept thor is acknoleging the whole memory altering thing this weeks avengers book witch definatly takes place after thors funeral has rogers mentioning how they have lost bucky and Thor and in new avengers ranknorock is a dark avenger and if tanarus had taken his place in existance wouldnt wouldnt tony/reed have cloned tanarus not thor?
ugh just changing reality brings up so many problems
Those are some great points, Movieartman... Especially the Ragnarok one. He WOULD look like Tanarus, wouldn't he? That's a dumb slip-up... If there was no Thor, how did they clone Thor? Ugh, you're right, screwing with reality sucks! :P
ReplyDeleteone thought it is the possiblity that prehpes the proxemity you are to asgard/tanarus/the fallen world tree
ReplyDeletemeasures how much reality history or possibly just peoples memorys is altered. and mabye when all the rest of the avengers when they left asgard they now just remember thor having his funeral and thats it
Any one of those things could be possible. I think I'm just not gonna think too much about it! That seems to be the best way to settle it. :D
ReplyDeleteThis issue, while competently written and illustrated, just didn't make any damn sense. Aside from making Tony's talk with the Gargoyle just seem absurd, and removing any real consequences from Gargoyle's actions, Odin's "reset" did more to prove Tony's point than anything. If he could just undo everything in an instant, why allow it to happen in the first place? Really... Fear Itself has been rendered completely irrelevant by this one act.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that is really starting to get to me is the constant "humbling" of Tony. It's not enough that it happens in every issue he guest-stars in, but now it's happening in his own title. Every single encounter seems to end with him being shown his place, in one way or another. I'm getting pretty sick of it.
Fraction needs to give Odin a nice, long break. The more he writes the character, the less I ever want to see him again. And for once, let Tony actually be the hero of his own damn book.
“If he could just undo everything in an instant, why allow it to happen in the first place” That is a great point. Odin's whole fear was the Serpent would take over the Earth and use the power he gained to invade Asgard/the World Tree, right? If Odin could bring the entire city of Paris back from the dead, why not hide all of the citizens of Earth in a pocket dimension(or any of a million other ideas), thus depriving the Serpent of the energy he needed, at which time Odin could bring the full might of Asgard down on the Serpent(who wouldn't be fully powered) and his Worthy?
ReplyDeleteTony getting humbled constantly is something I really didn't put much thought into before now, RM, but it does happen often, doesn't it? My guess is that Tony is still being "punished"(for lack of a better word) for his actions during Civil War... He basically came out of Civil War as a pseudo-villain, maybe Marvel's writers are still giving him hell due to that.
OK, so I've been on vacation for three weeks and found myself in a comic book shop that still had this issue and #7.2 on the stands. I figured that my anger at Fraction might have faded and I might as well see how he wrapped up the Iron Man and Thor storylines. I can't believe, but I think I'm even more angry. He retconned Paris and, possibly, Thor's death! I mean, WTF? Couldn't we at least wait until the next summer blockbuster to forget that "Fear Itself" existed? [Sigh.]
ReplyDeleteThe Paris retcon angered me SO much, JW! I mean let's face it, we all knew Thor would be returning eventually(probably in time for the Avengers movie), so I knew that was being retconned, but the Paris thing made NO SENSE! So basically, what did Fear Itself accomplish? We introduced a new villain, who promptly died, most of his devastation was undone, and the two major deaths that took place during the Fear event either have already been retconned or will be retconned! Talk about an event that had no long lasting effect...
ReplyDeleteSeriously. I now understand why the comic-book store guy said to me, when I was buying it, "That one is...controversial." I realized how quickly "Fear Itself" faded into my memory when I looked at Avengers #21 and wondered, "Why are they 'Shattered Heroes?' What happen...oh, right." I have much higher hopes for "Avengers v. X-Men." Fingers crossed. (Has "Avengers: Children Crusade" #9 come out yet, by the way? I thought it was due out mid-January, but I didn't get it in my shipment.)
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the AvX event, JW... It SHOULD have more widespread ramifications on the Marvel U depending on who's in it and what happens... If it centers around, let's say Wanda and possibly Jean Grey coming back from the dead, then yeah, the after-effects should be HUGE. If it simply focuses on Hope(which is what I fear), it may be another Fear Itself type story, forgotten in two months time.
ReplyDeleteNope, Children's Crusade #9 didn't come out yet... I THINK(and with that series, who knows!) it's supposed to come out in the middle of this month, so I'm hoping it'll drop this Wednesday. Fingers crossed!