Fear Itself: The Fearless #3

Next up, the third installment of the biweekly Fear Itself: The Fearless maxi-series... Um, by this point, having typed up 15 reviews already, that's about as good of an introduction I can come up with...

Fear Itself: The Fearless #3(of 12):

What Happened: Valkyrie and the Secret Avengers(who vexingly have Shang-Chi amongst their number) manage to fight off a horde of vampires, but not before Sharon Carter is bit by one of the bloodsuckers. Valkyrie hands Sharon a magic Asgardian apple that will heal her(don't ask me...) before flying off with her Serpent hammers, leaving the Secret Avengers in her dust. However, some weirdos calling themselves the DOA report to somebody that they had managed to plant a bug in the bag carrying Valkyrie's hammers. As for Sin and Crossbones, their experiments on the hammers Crossbones had managed to collect yield good results for Sin as her magicians and scientists have managed to reactivate some power from the hammers. But she needs more hammers for more power and as such sends Crossbones of to get her the other hammers.

The Good: I enjoyed the fight between the Secret Avengers and the vampires. We seem to be creeping ever closer to Sin regaining her god-like powers.

The Bad: I'm getting sick and tired of seeing Shang-Chi... Seriously Marvel, not EVERY character HAS to be on the Avengers! They're not the Justice League... I haven't the foggiest who those DOA goons were, nor who they were working for. Seriously, Ant-Man, the Prince of Orphans and Shang-Chi? That's gotta be the worst assortment of “heroes” I've ever seen banded together! Valkyrie escaping as easily as she did was kind of disappointing.

The Verdict: Meh. I really don't have anything else to say about this comic. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't all that interesting to me. This was like the eighth new comic book I read tonight, so maybe I was just burnt out and this one was better than I'm giving it credit for. I doubt it, but maybe that's true...

Score: 6 out of 10.I know it's wrong, but I do like Crossbones...

Fear Itself #7.3

And the last comic book review for the night? The last(maybe?probably?possibly?) issue of Fear Itself! I've got to hand it to Marvel, here I thought like a sucker that Fear Itself #7 was the end of the Fear event, but nope, this is the FORTH different version of Fear Itself #7... As I've said before, Marvel can milk an event like NOBODY else!

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.

Fear Itself #7.2

This should be interesting... On one hand, there's no way this issue could possibly reach the levels of awesomeness Fear Itself #7.1 achieved... But it IS written by Matt Fraction, so it COULD be good... Just not as good as Fear #7.1.

Fear Itself #7.2: Thor:

Summary: We begin at the end of Fear Itself with Odin cradling the corpse of Thor while the Serpent laid dead nearby. Fast forward a bit to Fallen Asgard where Odin is preparing Thor's body for the funeral pyre. Unable to stand readying Thor's corpse alone, Odin summons Freyja, Gaea and Idunn to his side and steps down as the ruler of Asgard, handing his crown over to Freyja. From there, Odin takes Thor's corpse to Earth and is soon told by Captain America that the pyre was ready. With that, Odin takes his dead brother and leaves, heading back to Asgard Space and locking the “door” behind him, choosing to remain at his brother's side to make sure he caused no further mischief. From there we head back to the site of Fallen Asgard where Thor's body begins to burn... Until he is suddenly replaced by the form of some goof named Tanarus, the God of Thunder... Wha-huh!? Anyway, everybody celebrates with drinks and revelry since they all seem to believe that Tanarus was Thor(or something...), except for Loki, who seems to be the only one who realizes that this “Tanarus” character didn't belong. From there we see Thor floating peacefully in the afterlife(?), and this issue ends with Thor's eyes opening.

Thoughts: Um, okay then... First, the obvious... Fear Itself #7.1 was WAAAAAAY superior to this issue. Hands down. Alright, now for the the good in this one... The first 4/5's of this comic was quite good. The mood was perfect for the situation(somber) and all of the characters acted in the manner I'd expect them to. I liked Odin leaving to play brother's keeper for the rest of eternity, and I'm intrigued to see how things turn out in Asgard with Freyja and the other goddesses serving as the leaders. So everything is moving along smoothly, and then the Tanarus thing happens... I think Loki put it best with regards to THAT. I guess Matt Fraction wanted to keep us completely in the dark with who/what Tanarus is, but this was just plain bizarre... ANY kind of explanation, even a vague one would have sufficed! Instead we get Tanarus drinking and chilling with everybody. Weird. As for the Thor thing, I'm not surprised in the least. I seriously thought Bucky would be the one to stay dead from Fear Itself because with the Avengers movie coming up next year, you knew there was no chance in hell Thor was going to stay dead. So I guess we'll get a few months of the Mighty Tanarus before Thor returns and Tanarus will either vanish into obscurity or maybe he'll stick around and we'll get ANOTHER Thor #1 issue... With Marvel, anything is possible.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.Well said, Loki... Well said...

Fear Itself: The Fearless #2

Next up is Marvel's attempt to continue to milk every red cent out of the Fear Itself event, in this case the Fearless mini-series. Yes I know this mini is a money grab, and yet I picked it up anyway, thus proving that Marvel made the smart move in releasing it!

Fear Itself: The Fearless #2(of 12):

Summary: The story here is twofold(well, actually threefold, but the WWII flashback stuff served no real purpose, so I'm ignoring it), with one part dealing with Crossbones, the other with Valkyrie. Both of them are hunting down the hammers that used to power the Worthy. First up is Crossbones, who is sneaking around the still silent Paris. Crossbones is aided by a magical doohickey which leads him to a group of people living in Paris's sewers worshiping the Serpent's hammer. Needless to say, a few seconds and many bullets later and Crossbones has acquired the hammer. As for Valkyrie, she comes across Raizo Kodo and his band of Forgiven vampires(!), who had managed to steal away the pieces of the Hulk's Serpent hammer from Dracula, as they promised they would at the end of the Fear Itself: Hulk vs Dracula mini-series... Props to Marvel for remembering that little piece of continuity there. Raizo battles Valkyrie one-on-one in a sword fight, and as they battle Raizo realizes that Valkyrie had every right to the hammer-pieces as an Asgardian, so he hands them over to her. Valkyrie heads outside where she is confronted by the Secret Avengers, who intended to take her in for stealing one of the hammers last issue. Before the Secret Avengers can make a move against Valkyrie though, they are all attacked by a horde of wild vampires.

Thoughts: No complaints here. The duel stories were well told, and the cliffhanger leading towards next issue was fine by me. With 10 more issues to go, we still have a long way to go with this series, but so far so good.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Marvel sure is on a vampire kick lately...

Fear Itself #7.1

The first comic I'll be reviewing this week? That's an easy one, it was this week's Pick of the Litter, and a comic I was so excited about after reading it I had to immediately post my thoughts about it. So now, without further ado, the Captain America aftermath issue of Fear Itself.

Fear Itself: Captain America #7.1:

Summary: We get things started with Nick Fury entering the apartment of Steve Rogers(Captain America), who was preparing the eulogy for Bucky Barnes. Nick tells Cap that he had something important to tell him, but he wasn't exactly sure how to go about it... With that, we have a flashback to right after Bucky was killed by Sin in Fear Itself #4. As Bucky is being flown away from the battlefield on an army aircraft, the army medics manage to get a slight pulse in Bucky, and tell Black Widow that if she had any last words to say to him, now would be the best time for them. Fury, who was also aboard the plane, says nuts to that and tells the pilot to fly to a secret SHIELD location. Once there, Fury shows Black Widow a Bucky LMD(that would be a Life Model Decoy, which is something that looks exactly like a person), and tells her that he was willing to give Bucky the rest of his Infinity Formula, which could possibly bring Bucky back to life... Fury tells the Widow that if they were to go through with this, nobody could know, since what the world needed during the Fear Itself events was Steve Rogers as Captain America, rallying the troops and taking the fight to the Serpent, and Bucky's “death” would be a sure way to get that to happen. Widow agrees to not tell another soul and Fury orders his doctors to administer the Formula to Bucky. Two days pass and Bucky wakes up, much to the Black Widow's relief(and mine as well!!). And that brings us back to the present. After hearing this story from Fury, Cap attacks him and begins to beat the hell out of him for lying to him about the fate of his best friend. Cap finally pulls away from Fury when Bucky and Widow enter the room which quickly calms things down. From there, the quartet decide to keep Bucky's return to life a secret, since that would take care of the whole “Bucky as a fugitive” troubles that Bucky was going through before Fear Itself began. Fury tells Cap that Bucky would be working in the shadows again, which angers Cap, but is what Bucky needs right now. With that, Cap heads off to Bucky's memorial service, and Bucky heads off to take care of some business that was left over from his Winter Soldier days.

Thoughts: Wooooooooooo!!!!!!! Yes, Bucky is BACK! What other thoughts could I possibly have about this comic book? Bucky never should have “died” during Fear Itself in the first place, but now that he's back, and Steve is back as Cap, I guess all is right in the world again. I'll be honest with you, I did NOT expect Bucky to come back here... I was always hoping that he'd come back, but I figured Marvel would string things out for a while first. So imagine my surprise, and yes, elation when I read this comic and Bucky came to in Fury's secret hospital. What more can I add? One of my top five favorite comic book characters came back from the dead, in a story that made sense and is getting an ongoing series in a few month's time... This comic, for me, was perfect.

Score: 10 out of 10.Yes.

MAJOR Fear Itself #7.1 spoiler!

I'm not going to have the time to do a full post for Fear Itself #7.1 until later on tonight, but I couldn't resist talking about it before then... If you don't want to read a major spoiler, turn back now... Still there? Okay... Bucky Barnes is STILL alive!!!!!!! HUZZAH!!!! Basically Nick Fury gave him the last of the Infinity Formula and Bucky managed to pull through! Again, HUZZAH!!! And to make things EVEN better, in 2012 we have a Winter Soldier series written by Ed Brubaker to look forward to, starring Bucky. So yes, I am beyond overjoyed! As I said, I'll be back later on tonight with a full review of Fear #7.1, but now is a time to rejoice, one of my favorite comic characters is alive and getting his own solo series. Make Mine Marvel! With that, X out!

Journey Into Mystery #630

So Volstagg is on the cover of this issue I see... This is going to be one of the rare cases where I hope the cover of a comic book ISN'T an accurate depiction of what we'll find inside!

Journey Into Mystery #630(Fear Itself tie-in):

Summary: My god... This issue was all about Volstagg! The horror!!! The only thing worth mentioning is that it's revealed definitively here that yes, Volstagg was indeed the Asgardian controlling the Destroyer armor(which wasn't a huge surprise, but was at least explained). Other then that, this issue involved Volstagg telling his children the fake story of how he and Thor ended the threat of the Serpent. Sorry, but there's NO way I'm going to get more in depth with this issue than that!

Thoughts: Ugh... In case you didn't know, Volstagg is the Asgardian I hate the most. I think he's supposed to be a joke character, but unfortunately for me, I don't find him the least bit funny. So yeah, that's a pretty serious problem. The only part of this comic worth anything were the first 6 pages or so with Loki. But once Volstagg went home and started telling his terrible stories, the bottom of this issue fell WAY out for me.

Score: 2 out of 10.This scan is proof that this awful comic book really happened and wasn't some sort of terrible nightmare I had...

New Mutants #32

Huh, how did I not read this issue already... Oh well. Usually this is one of the first comics I read when it comes out on account of it featuring my all-time favorite comic book character and all. Well, better late than never.

New Mutants #32(Fear Itself tie-in):

Summary: The New Mutants have pulled Hela off of the roof of her palace and have begun to prepare for the massive invasion from the Serpent's dead goons, the Draumar. The Draumar attack and Hela comes back to life after a bird crawls in her mouth... Yes, really. Moonstar is a bit surprised by that turn of events(as I'd suspect anybody would be), but Hela needed to fake her death so she'd have time to plan a counter-attack against the Draumar, thus the bird containing her life-force crawling in her mouth. Unfortunately, Hela hasn't yet come up with a plan, but does have power enough to enchant the other New Mutants, giving them a fighting chance against the Draumar. While battling the Draumar, Nate Grey(aka the most awesome comic book character ever) notices that the Draumar were somewhat hesitant to engage Warlock in battle since they had no idea what he was, what with Warlock being comprised of advanced technology the likes of which the Draumar could never even begin to comprehend. Nate then asks Hela to make his life flash before the eyes of the Draumar, figuring their minds would NEVER be able to cope with all that Nate has seen through his life. As it turns out, Nate's gamble works(because as previously stated, he is awesome and all) and the Draumar dissipate since they couldn't understand what they were seeing. With that taken care of, Hela thanks the New Mutants for their help by sending them back to Crazy Mutie Island(Utopia) where they are met by Magik, who inquires if they enjoyed their trip to Hell.

Thoughts: Okay, the most important thing about the end of this issue was the reveal that Magik seemed to know that the team wound up in Hell, not Hel, meaning she screwed them over by deliberately giving them the wrong spell. But I'm sure that'll be explored in the next few issues. As for this issue, it didn't really do anything for me. The New Mutants Fear Itself tie-in issues overall didn't do anything for me. Sure, I'm glad it was Nate's idea that ended the threat of the Draumar, thus(presumably) solidifying a spot for himself on the team, but besides the Nate parts, I didn't care for anything else. I mean it was okay, but I am definitely glad the New Mutants Fear Itself adventure has come to a close.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Awesome, it's the Age of Apocalypse!

Mighty Thor #7

Next up? A Marvel Fear Itself tie-in issue! I mean let's face it, I wouldn't feel right if I wasn't reading/reviewing several Fear Itself issues over the course of the week. This issue SHOULD be different though, as I THINK(and I could be wrong) that it focuses on the childhood of Odin and the Serpent, which could give us some great insights into the force behind the Fear Itself event. Or maybe I'm wrong. Well, there's only one sure way to find out...

Mighty Thor #7(Fear Itself tie-in):

Summary: Yup, this is the Serpent origin issue... It starts off with the father of Odin and the Serpent dying, and the Serpent, who was unprepared for being the all-father, taking over. The Serpent chose to be an evil god who inflicted panic and fear upon those that worshiped him, and soon took several allies(the Worthy) to help him spread his message of fear. Odin, unable to defeat his brother, heads to the World Tree and sacrifices his eye to find a way to stop his brother, who had become mad with power. The World Tree ends up giving Odin the whole, “The Serpent will die at the hands of your son, etc, etc” prophecy, which was fine at the time since Odin had no son as of yet. Eventually Odin and his two younger brothers stage a massive assault on the Serpent's stronghold, and the Serpent decides to send his Worthy away so that Odin couldn't kill them. Odin winds up knocking the Serpent far, far away, and buries him under the sea(or where ever it was that the Serpent wound up). With that Odin destroys everybody who knew of the Serpent from all the 9 worlds and took over as the all-father, always hoping that he had done enough to free his eventual son from the dread prophecy.

Thoughts: No problems here for me. This was a really good, fun, fast-paced comic. If I had a complaint, it would be that we never find out WHY the Serpent goes so insane, I guess I'll just chalk it up to the old, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely” adage. There really wasn't a lot of dialogue here, which was fine since we really didn't need a lot of words... The story was pretty easy to follow. So this was a really good read, but it's not like you NEED to read this issue to further enjoy/appreciate the events of Fear Itself.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Damn, you really don't want to piss Odin off!

Avengers Academy #20

And now it's time for this week's Pick of the Litter, the wonderful Avengers Academy. Seriously, if you haven't given this series a shot yet, you definitely should. So there's this week's “Read Avengers Academy plea” from me. With that out of the way, let's get to the comic!

Avengers Academy #20(Fear Itself tie-in):

Summary: This issue gets underway by telling us what we already know after Fear Itself #7... The heroes have won, the Serpent is dead, his Worthy have lost, and Thor sacrificed himself for the planet. With all that fun stuff out of the way, Veil still wants to leave the Academy since she didn't want to spend the rest of her life killing Nazis and fighting crazed super-villains. To that end she gets in touch with Jeremy Briggs(Finally!), to see if his offer(from Avengers Academy #14.1) still stood. Upon learning that Jeremy's offer to join with him was still on the table, Veil decides to leave the Academy. Besides Veil deciding to go, Speedball has decided to leave the Avengers Academy staff to go back to being a full-time hero again(Finally!). Justice also decides to leave the faculty, wanting to travel across the country with his buddy, Speedball. As for the remaining team members, Pym decides that he did wrong by the students by secluding them in the other-dimensional Infinite Avengers Mansion, and that they needed to be around other teenagers. To that end, Pym decides to move to the old West Coast Avengers Compound(!!!!!), and also decides to welcome any super-powered youth who was looking for training. This issue ends with several new students arriving at the WCA Compound.

Thoughts: This issue was kind of bittersweet... On the one hand, we're losing three characters who have been major cogs in this series since day one(Veil, Speedball and Justice). I'm honestly going to miss each character, which shows you what a great job Christos Gage has been doing with this series. On the other hand, I am SO glad that SOMEBODY is FINALLY using the West Coast Avengers Compound again! I've stated it repeatedly, but in case you don't know, my all time favorite Avengers run was the West Coast Avengers series... I loved everything about that series. Hawkeye and Mockingbird's horrible marriage, Pym trying to commit suicide, Quicksilver acting insane, Tigra becoming more and more feral by the issue, US Agent being a jerk, Wonder Man being Wonder Man, that series had it all. So taking this series back to the Compound is a fantastic decision in my opinion. Besides the location change, I am excited by some of the new students I saw at the end of this issue. Who knew anybody but me even knew that kid from the Sentinel series still existed!? So yeah, some things WILL be different going forward, but with Gage still writing it, and most of the characters still sticking around, I'm definitely not fearing for the future of this series.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.The best thing? Everything Tigra said here REALLY did happen in the West Coast Avengers series! I love that series...

Fear Itself: The Home Front #7

Ah yes... THIS comic... The last one left in my new comic pile... The past few issues of this mini have been SO bad that it's been mind-numbing... Sure, there were some bright spots(the Great Lakes Avengers story from last issue saved me from going insane after reading issue #6), but for the most part this mini has fallen completely off the rails... Here's hoping they saved the best for last? Hopefully?? Please???

Fear Itself: The Home Front #7(of 7):

Summary: Okay, you know the drill by now(I'd hope...), four stories here, same as the first six issues. I skipped story #2 as per my blinding hatred of Amadeus Cho and story #3 was only one page, thus not really being what I'd call “reviewable”. So we'll start out with story #1, the finale of the Speedball story. The citizens of Stamford, Connecticut arrive on the scene to stop the Sisters of Sin from killing Speedball and Miriam Sharpe. However, in the end it's just a bunch of normal people with guns and rakes(one person LITERALLY brought in a rake which I thought was both hilarious AND awesome, but anyway) against four super powered crazy women. So yeah, the citizens are outmatched, but their arrival affords Speedball the time to regain his senses and attack the Sisters, taking three of them out before the forth was able to tap into his brain and incapacitate him with fear. The forth Sister's powers wane though and Miriam and another member of the Stamford mob tackle the Sister, ending her threat. With that over we pick up a few days later where Speedball heads to Miriam's office to see if she wanted him to skip town before the memorial service for the people the Sisters had killed. Miriam tells him that although she can't stand to look at Speedball because it reminds her of how her son died, she didn't hate him and wanted him to attend the memorial service. The forth and final story of this comic revolved around that bald guy we saw in Fear Itself #7 from Broxton, Oklahoma who returned to Captain America's side during the final battle. We basically see him leave Cap with the rest of his militia at the end of Fear #6, drive around town saving dogs, old people and little girls before realizing that he wouldn't let Cap die alone protecting his town and heading back to Cap.

Thoughts: The two stories that I read were very, VERY sugary... But that's not necessarily a bad thing, is it? Call me a sentimental sap if you will, but seeing Miriam Sharpe and Speedball make peace and seeing that bald dude leave the safety of the school shelter to head back out to stand by Cap's side put a smile on my face... Yeah, yeah, I know, both stories were uber-sappy, but what do ya want, I brought it hook line and sinker. Anyway, I'd rather sappy to sucky any day, so this issue was a major improvement over last issue's debacle, and really, what more could I ask for?

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Cap rules.

Journey Into Mystery #629

Next up: more Fear Itself!!! This time around, it's lil' Loki and his crew trying to do what they can to help Thor and prevent him from dying at the hands of the Serpent... I think we all know how well THAT turned out!

Journey Into Mystery #629(Fear Itself tie-in):

Summary: We discover that Loki and his “Magic Secret Action Squad”(his words, not mine) had managed to write a new part to the story of the Serpent, causing the Serpent to feel a slight pang of fear while battling Thor, which Thor ultimately takes advantage of to kill his vile uncle in Fear Itself #7. Loki also frees Surtur in Dark Asgard and tells Surtur that it wasn't Asgard he gave to Surtur when they made their deal, but Dark Asgard... Nice one! Surtur is a bit pissed, but decides to destroy the foul Dark Asgard since he'd still be free to launch new attacks on Asgard when the battle against the Serpent was over. When it's all said and done, and the dust has settled, Loki is now more alone than he ever was before with the only person in Asgard who gave him a second chance, Thor, gone.

Thoughts: Eh. Much like Iron Man, this was a series that started out really strong during the early stages of it's Fear Itself tie-ins but slowly petered out. Sure, this comic gave us a bit of background as to what was going on behind the scenes during the climatic final battle in Fear #7, but it wasn't anything that I'd classify as “must read”... So while this was an okay comic, it definitely was one that could have been skipped without missing all that much.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Jeez, that's one demon I wouldn't want to piss off...

Invincible Iron Man #509

Another day, another Fear Itself tie-in comic to read. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you, just an observation. Hey, it could be worse, I could be suffering through a DC comic!

Invincible Iron Man #509(Fear Itself tie-in):

Summary: Not really anything new here... Iron Man gathers his Odin-enchanted weapons and prepares to head to Earth for the final battle against the Serpent. He stops some dwarfs from killing smoke elves and learns one of the dwarfs is an alcoholic... I can't believe I just typed that line... Anyway, Pepper Potts survives against the Grey Gargoyle thanks to the Gargoyle being summoned to the Serpent's side for the final battle. Pepper eventually catches a UN plane back to the States and is informed that somebody had released footage of her in her Rescue armor crying at her desk with a bottle of booze within camera shot... D'oh!

Thoughts: There wasn't really anything wrong with this comic, it just didn't do anything for me. I never really cared about Tony and the dwarfs, so that part of the story didn't interest me, and the Pepper reveal mainly just made me laugh... I mean seriously, the world is ending, Washington, New York, Paris and several other cities have been decimated, the Serpent is floating across the country, the Worthy are destroying everything in their path, and the news reports are showing Pepper Parks crying in her office?!? Really?!?! I'd think there were more important things to talk about, the impending end of humanity being one of them, but I guess Pepper crying was more newsworthy than that doom and gloom end of the world business... So yeah, that was pretty dumb. Next issue wraps up this series' involvement with Fear Itself, and to be quite honest, I'm glad, because while the Iron Man/Fear Itself stuff started out VERY strong, it really petered out towards the end.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.Hey look, it's Hawkeye!

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!!!

Fear Itself: Youth In Revolt #6

This issue ends what has easily been my favorite Fear Itself tie-in mini-series. And really, how couldn't I love a series that showcased so many of the awesome Avengers Initiative characters? Let's get into it and see just how highly I score this one.

Fear Itself: Youth In Revolt #6(of 6):

Summary: Last issue Hardball and Gravity had managed to put aside their differences and prevent an earthquake from destroying Las Vegas. Unfortunately, in doing so they got trapped inside the earth, along with Telemetry and Firestar. Back on the surface, Thor Girl begins to... um, transform(?) into something else, and takes on an energy form. Prodigy, fearing that she'd gone crazy, sends his forces to attack, but in this state, Thor Girl is nearly god-like and simply stands through the assault until Prodigy gives the order to stop. Thor Girl, now calling herself the Designate, pretty much rips humanity and the heroes standing before her, calling them petty, dumb and fearful with very few exceptions(Cloud 9 being one of those exceptions). Realizing she now had a more important role in the grand scheme of things, the Designate leaves the Earth, but not before using her powers to pull Gravity, Telemetry, Hardball and Firestar from the Earth's crust before they ran out of air. With that, Prodigy orders his forces to continue searching for survivors as word of the Avengers victory over the Serpent begins to come in. As the days roll on, some characters(Cloud 9) rediscover their love for super-heroics, others realize how lucky they are(Hardball), while some realize their life wasn't nearly as bad as they made it out to be(Gravity). Finally, Captain America thanks Prodigy for his leadership during the Fear Itself event, and tells him that the feds Prodigy had locked up earlier on in the mini-series had no hard feelings and wanted to offer him a promotion. This issue ends with the vindictive feds bringing Prodigy to his new job... Sorting through hundreds of old files.

Thoughts: I enjoyed everything about this issue with the exception of the Thor Girl stuff, mainly because I had NO idea what the hell was going on there! I'm not an expert on Thor Girl, her powers or origin or anything like that, so when she suddenly became the god-like Designate, I was pretty lost... But like I said, everything else here was great. The stuff with Hardball and Komodo(easily one of my favorite couples in all of comicdom), Gravity finally lightening up, Cloud 9 remembering who she was, for a fan of the b and c-list Marvel characters like I am, this issue, and this entire mini-series was a treat. Here's hoping Marvel gives Sean McKeever another mini-series featuring these characters sometime VERY soon.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Please give me a Hardball series/mini-series/anything, Marvel!!!

Fear Itself #7! Spoilers, thoughts and more!

Well, before I do a single thing today, play Arkham City, continue the job search, eat, there's one thing that MUST get done... And that would be reading Fear Itself #7. In my opinion, Fear Itself has been one of Marvel's stronger events in recent memory, so yeah, I'm pretty excited to see how it ends... Sort of... Since Marvel has already announced three extra Fear Itself issues(7.1-7.3) as well as The Fearless, a twelve issue maxi-series that spins out of Fear Itself, it looks like the Fear Itself festivities will be continuing going forward. So while the Serpent will almost definitely be taken down in this issue, there's A LOT of fallout that should be felt through the Marvel U from Fear Itself going forward. Here's hoping that fallout makes for some great stories. And now, without further ado......

Fear Itself #7(of 7):

Summary: Okay, lots to go through as this was actually a $5 comic that was well worth the price. We begin with Captain America(the original and sadly the only) standing his ground near Broxton, Oklahoma, while the Serpent and most of his Worthy(Hulk was freed in Fear Itself: Hulk vs Dracula #3) slowly approach the location of fallen Asgard and the World Tree. However, Iron Man emerges at the World Tree site and hands out the 8 enchanted weapons(well, 10 if you count Iron Man's armor and Thor's additional armament) Odin gave him to attempt to stop the Serpent before Odin and the hordes of Asgard had to step in and destroy the Earth to stop the Serpent's march. The enchanted Avengers, The Mighty, charge to Cap's aid and engage the Worthy, while Thor himself makes a beeline for the Serpent, even though Thor knew that he was prophesied to fall with the Serpent if they were to battle each other. Thor throws his hammer at the Serpent, but it is deflected away, so he attacks the Serpent's with the Odinsword instead. As for the hammer, it falls near Cap, who picks it up(!!!!!) and rallies the Avengers. As these events are going on, around the globe the citizens of the planet are slowly breaking free of the fear effect the Serpent had been plaguing the planet with and are helping their fellow man, thus weakening the Serpent's powers even more. The battle rages with the heroes slowly gaining a tentative advantage, but Odin can't wait any longer and rallies his own troops and begins to march to the Earth to raze the planet and kill his evil brother. As Odin enters the Earth from Asgard, he watches as Thor thrusts the Odinsword deep into the Serpent's head, killing him. With the Serpent dead, all of the Serpent's mystical hammers abandon the Serpent's Worthy, turning them back to regular flash and blood villains. Villains who were no match for the still god-powered heroes. As for Thor, as prophesied, he falls at the feet of his father, seemingly dead(!!). And that's that. A few days later Thor is laid to rest in the remains of fallen Asgard in Broxton, where Earth's heroes are preparing a funeral pyre for him. Before the pyre is lit, Odin takes the corpse of his brother to Asgard to stand guard over it forevermore, and apparently leaves the rest of the Asgardians on Earth at the site of fallen Asgard. From there the days roll along and Bucky is buried(.....), Tony Stark heads back to his dwarf friends and the dwarfs recreate Captain America's shield, this time mixing it with some Uru, making it stronger than ever, although there is a slight scar in the shield. Stark gives the shield to Cap, who is pleased with the new shield, and feels that the scar gives the shield a bit of character. With that, Cap promises the Avengers that they would rebuild, and the planet slowly begins to get back to normal... And that ends the main part of this event. However, there are several epilogues here, and I'll hit on each of them in rapid fashion. First, Sin is freed from captivity by some weird looking freaks, and Sin realizes that although she lost her god-like powers, she still remembered all she had learned as Skadi(the World Tree, the hammers of power, etc)... The Hulk, tired of being used, and doubly tired of Bruce Banner's constant whining, separates from Banner, leaving them as two separate beings, a feat that leaves Banner shocked and angered... Something about Marcus Johnson being the most wanted man in the world(don't ask me what that means!)... And finally the Hulk realizing that when he broke his Serpent hammer, he released Nul, the Breaker of Worlds and gave him physical form. Not being able to let Nul roam free, Hulk heads to Dr. Strange to tell him that the Defenders were needed once again...

Thoughts: Well, that's that. There really wasn't much NOT to like here. The final battle was powerfully drawn, and well written. Cap picking up and using Thor's hammer was awesome in so many ways. Cap getting the new shield and wanting to leave the scar on it makes sense since Cap himself is scarred from the events of this mini-series. Thor's death? I'm not sold on it since Thor is a major part of the upcoming Avengers movie coming out next Spring, as well as the fact that he still, you know, has a solo series... So I'm not expecting Thor's “death” to really stand for long. I liked Odin heading to Asgard space and locking the portal behind him to watch over his brother to make sure no more evil would come from him. The Asgardians on Earth? Been there, done that. So I'm not too keen on that. I will say I am a bit pissed that Sin survived this, because nothing would have felt better than to read Sin dying at Cap's hands to end this one. But I guess Marvel thinks she's worth more alive than dead, but after what happened to Bucky, I almost needed to see her die here... But hey, there's always later on down the road, right? That's probably the best thing about this event. There IS more to come. The multiple epilogues, for the most part, they look really interesting going forward. Hell, I actually want buy a HULK comic for the first time in my life! How crazy is that! So overall, this event did some things wrong(Bucky's death), but did many more things right. And for that, and this very strong final issue, I'm going to give this comic, deserving or not, a score of.....

Score: 10 out of 10.Oh hell yeah!!!

Fear Itself: Hulk vs Dracula #3

Huh, this mini-series sure went by quickly... On the one hand that really helped me not forget what was going on from issue-to-issue, on the other hand? This is STILL Hulk vs Dracula, a battle I doubt very many people were clamoring for...

Fear Itself: Hulk vs Dracula #3(of 3):

Summary: Upon leaving Dracula's castle, Raizo Kodo heads to his band of Forgiven vampires, grabs one and tells the rest to do whatever they could to try to buy Raizo an hour against the Serpent-possessed Hulk. As for Dracula, he puts out the call for every vampire in his kingdom to prepare for a last-ditch attack on the Hulk. Dracula plans to lead the Hulk to a small castle where his forces would stage the final battle, with Dracula himself leading the charge. The best The Forgiven can do is gain the Hulk's attention, as he simply knocks them around. After dispatching of The Forgiven, Dracula sends a portion of his army out to draw the Hulk towards the castle. The vampires do as told and Dracula taunts the Hulk, leading him to the castle's gates. When the Hulk is in range, the vampires launch an adamantium laced net covered with gravity generators that make the Hulk several hundred times heavier than normal and manage to snare Hulk in it. Before the vampires can celebrate though, the Hulk TEARS the adamantium netting(!!!) and throws the entire contraption at the castle, destroying it. With that, the Hulk approaches the fallen Dracula and raises his hammer with the intention of ending Dracula's long reign of terror. However, Raizo arrives on the scene with Betty Banner, who causes Hulk to momentarily stop in his tracks. Betty begs Hulk to fight off the Serpent's influence and tells him that the only thing she feared was losing him. Momentarily conflicted, the Hulk grabs the Serpent's hammer and destroys it(!!), transforming back to Bruce Banner. It's then we learn that “Betty” was actually the vampire Raizo picked up at the beginning of this issue who had used the rare, and nearly lost vampire ability of mesmerization to trick Hulk into thinking she was Betty. By this time Dracula has risen and prepares to behead Banner, but is stopped when Banner transforms into the Hulk. Realizing he had a more important battle, Hulk leaps away, leaving Dracula and Raizo behind. Dracula tells Raizo that with the danger passed their truce had ended, and as such he wanted Raizo and his Forgiven out of his lands. This issue ends with Dracula commanding his troops to collect the broken pieces of the Serpent's hammer...

Thoughts: I'm not exactly sure what to say about this comic... Dracula came across as a real moron... How the hell did he survive for so many years? Seriously, how could he possibly think confronting THE HULK and dropping a net on him was a wise strategy? Raizo had the right idea. I mean hell, EVERYBODY knew that you couldn't defeat the Hulk with brute force, so he tried a different tactic, attacking the Hulk's emotions. I have to admit though, the Hulk being free of the Serpent's influence should make Fear Itself #7 that much more interesting when it comes out. All in all this was an okay little mini-series, but it's not something I'd go out of my way to recommend or anything.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.Brilliant plan... Make the Hulk even madder!

Fear Itself: The Deep #4

Last review of the week, as tomorrow brings us a new comic week, with new comics to review. This issue was last week's Runt of the Litter, so it goes without saying that I'm not expecting much... But who knows, maybe it'll impress me and we'll end this week on a high.

Fear Itself: The Deep #4(of 4):

Summary: Serpent-possessed Attuma rallies his forces and prepares to storm the surface world in the name of the Serpent. Standing in his way? Namor, Dr. Strange, the Silver Surfer, Lyra and Loa. Initially Attuma knocks the heroes(including the Surfer!) around, emboldening his troops. However, Dr. Strange manages to send out a message that summons every Defender/Secret Defender. Attuma's forces begin to fall before the Defenders, but Attuma himself is still standing strong. Namor launches himself at Attuma and manages to drive a trident into Attuma's chest, which stuns Attuma. Dr. Strange rallies the Defenders and they attack Attuma, managing to disintegrate his hand, causing him to drop his hammer. Separated from the source of his powers, Attuma's strength begins to slowly wane, and Namor smacks him around a bit. Attuma manages to will his hammer back to him and regrows his hand, taunting the heroes before running away. With Attuma gone, his demoralized forces are captured with ease and Namor thanks Dr. Strange for his assistance, ending this mini-series.

Thoughts: Well, I wasn't fond of the first three issues of this mini(they were okay I guess...), but this issue was a fun little romp. I really don't have anything bad to say... I mean this issue wasn't a masterpiece or anything, but it was a satisfying read, and really, what more can I ask for?

Score: 7 out of 10.Little known fact: my middle name is Imperius! No, not really, but I've run out of things to say this week...

Fear Itself: Hulk vs Dracula #2

Hey look, it's another vampire-oriented comic book! This time from the Marvel side of the fence! The title of this one tells you pretty much all you need to know, I'd think.

Fear Itself: Hulk vs Dracula #2(of 3):

Summary: Dracula's legion of monsters don't fare well against the Serpent-possessed Hulk, who tears the monsters apart. With his plans thus far failing, Dracula decides to let his vampire enemy, Raizo Kodo, try his hand at stopping the Hulk. Kodo sends out his band of not-so-evil vampires to evacuate a village in the Hulk's path, since the vampires had been able to glean that the Worthy were intent on creating fear for the Serpent, and no villagers means no fear. While Kodo's band of vampires engage the Hulk, Kodo himself pores through every available piece of information Dracula had been able to gather on the Hulk/Bruce Banner. As expected, Kodo's vampires are taken apart by the Hulk quickly, which leads to Kodo grabbing a picture from Dracula's Hulk information center and heading to the Lord of Vampires with it. Kodo hands Dracula the picture and tells Dracula that the vampires were going about things all wrong since there was no force on Earth that could defeat the Hulk. Kodo leaves and tells Dracula that stopping the Hulk was beyond the capabilities of the Vampire Nation. Dracula's lieutenants are incensed at Kodo's perceived insult to their Lord, and Dracula studies the picture handed to him before telling his lieutenants that they had an hour to amass their forces to stage a final assault against the Hulk.

Thoughts: So the picture was of Betty, right? And presumably Kodo is going to fetch Betty(or Red She-Hulk or whatever the hell she's called now) to try to reason with Hulk since brute force wasn't the answer. And Dracula is going to send his mouthy lieutenants off to face the Hulk as a distraction because Dracula KNOWS what Kodo was planning and wanted to buy him time... At least that's how I saw the end of this comic. Otherwise Dracula just looks like an idiot who's going to go rushing headlong into an unbeatable foe, and I'd have to think that being alive for several centuries has taught Dracula patience... But who knows! Maybe Dracula IS an idiot and Kodo IS a coward, and the Hulk will leave the vampires alone after he receives his inevitable summons from the Serpent. Whatever happens, I will say this... This issue was much better than the prior one, and after reading this issue I'm interested in seeing how this mini-series concludes.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.This has NOTHING to do with this issue, but I liked it so here it is.

Journey Into Mystery #628

Ah, now here's a series I've been enjoying since the Fear Itself tie-in issues began, which is the opposite of how I feel about MOST Fear Itself tie-ins! I've enjoyed following Loki as he clandestinely organized a strike force against the Serpent, and with Fear Itself ending in a few short weeks, this issue should finally reveal the full breadth of Loki's machinations... Or at least that's what I hope!

Journey Into Mystery #628:

Summary: This issue kicks off with Loki and his allies(roll call! The Disir, Tyr, Leah and the Destroyer) managing to breach the Serpent's stronghold, the floating city of Dark Asgard. Loki and company manage to make their way through the Serpent's forces and head towards the Serpent's library, luckily only running into some of the Serpent's lesser minions. The group manage to enter the library, where Loki and Leah go and look for a book of some importance while the rest of Loki's group barricade the doorway and attack the forces that try to enter. Loki and Leah manage to find the book, and Loki reveals that the piece of Surtur's sword he received from Surtur was actually a magical pen?!

Thoughts: Um, okay... For whatever reason, I never really managed to get into this comic. I was a bit annoyed that none of the Worthy, who should have been by the Serpent's side on Dark Asgard, confronted Loki and company once the Serpent's goons set off the alarm. I guess the Serpent was THAT confident that he didn't care someone had breached Dark Asgard? I don't know. Plus this issue strongly focused on the Disir, who I really could care less about. Eh, hopefully this issue was just a blip and the next issue will be on par with the prior couple of issues.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.Wow, those are some UGLY buggers!