The Nazi's, that's right, THE NAZI'S have attacked America and seem to be winning, Odin and the the rest of the Asgardians have left Earth, some grizzled old ancient God dude called the Serpent has unleashed hell on Earth in the form of 7 magical hammers that have taken control of 7 Marvel characters and turned them into unstoppable engines of destruction AND main characters are getting killed off! Marvel will probably bring them all back in a few months, they always do, but for the moment they are dead! Looks like once it's over, the Marvel universe will never be changed forever....err....again. It's a Marvel special event all right!
Fear Itself is past the halfway mark now so I've written this piece recapping on what's been going on in all the related comics I've been reading for anyone who needs bringing up to speed. Marvel's latest event certainly is a big one with about a dozen different story arcs all tied into the main plot . Seriously, the more comics sporting the Fear Itself banner I read, the more different titles in the event I add to the list of comics I want to read to find out more about what's going on in this apocalyptic global scale cluster fuck. Damn you Marvel! I need to be saving for a new surround sound system!
With most of the previous Marvel events, they've made a good job of cramming the meat of the story into the main event limited series and then added lots of different threads to the story going on in their other titles that, while being great additions to the story, weren't necessarily essential reading if you wanted to follow what was happening. In this one though, there's so much going on all at once and in so many different places that if you only read the main Fear Itself story, you'd only just about get the gist of what was happening. Almost every page raises more questions about events taking place somewhere else or leaves holes about what certain characters have been doing that you need to read a separate comic to find out about.
I actually really like this because I enjoy collecting and reading comics and I have a job to pay for them all. It also shows they've thrown a lot of effort into writing it all but it would suck balls if I was still in school and only had the money from my Saturday job to spend on comics. People often say reading comics is for kids. I say to them, how the hell can kids afford it?..... And at least I can read, you fucking halfwit Neanderthal ass holes! You don't know what you're talking about!
Right! What's been happening then?
FEAR ITSELF PROLOGUE: BOOK OF THE SKULL one-shot
Nazi lunatic, the Red Skull's daughter Sin, teams up with Baron Zemo to track down her fathers most prized possession. A mystical book bound in the flesh of Atlanteans and inked in the secret dead language carved into the backs of an extinct tribe of gypsies at birth (extinct because Red Skull murdered them all) which he used along with an archaic and evil ritual in 1942 to summon forth a massive hammer from the sky which has remained immoveable, hidden and guarded by his followers in Antarctica ever since.
FEAR ITSELF main story
The public in general are pissed off and frightened about the recession and the state of the global climate in general resulting in civil unrest, riots and loads of “fear”. The Avengers are frustrated that this problem isn't something they can punch in the face or send to prison so they decide to make a symbolic group appearance when Tony Stark announces his plans to employ thousands of people (mostly from Broxton) to rebuild the floating city of Asgard to try and boost morale and give the people something positive to focus on.
Sin finds her father's hammer believing she is the one destined to wield it after a dream she had and removes it from the chunk of ice that had held it in place for nearly 70 years, sword in the stone style. The hammer transforms her into Askadi, herald of the ancient god of fear, the Serpent, who she then releases from his ancient tomb deep below the sea at the bottom of the Marianas Trench. The Serpent immediately calls forth his “Worthy”. 7 hammers which fall to Earth from outer space landing all around the globe.
Sensing the return of his brother and old nemesis the Serpent, Odin immediately poops his knickers and orders all of his people to leave Earth and return to their celestial home of Asgard instead of staying to live in the city Tony had planned to rebuild for them. He also slaps Thor around a bit and has him chained up and imprisoned when he expresses his objection to the planned retreat by hitting Odin in the mouth as hard as he can with his hammer. Upon returning to the realm of Asgard, Odin creates a nice big planet for himself using only the power of his mind and orders that his people prepare for war with the Serpent and commence preparations to “burn” the Earth to purge it of the humans who's fear the Serpent needs to fuel his return to full strength.
Meanwhile, the 7 hammers that fell to Earth are each picked up by various heroes and villains, boosting their power levels and transforming them into the Serpents tools of terror.
Juggernaut becomes Kuurth: breaker of stone
Hulk becomes Nul: breaker of worlds
Thing becomes Angrir: breaker of souls
Absorbing Man becomes Greithoth: breaker of wills
Attuma becomes Nerkkod: breaker of oceans
Titania becomes Skirn: breaker of men
Grey Gargoyle becomes Mokk: breaker of Faith
All the villains escape from the Raft maximum security prison and begin running amok while Sin/Askadi whips out an enormous unstoppable army of Nazi's in mystically suped-up mech suits out of nowhere and launches her Blitzkrieg U.S.A. Laying waste to Washington DC, New York and as many of their inhabitants as possible while the US military seem powerless to stand in their way. With attacks from the Nazi's and the Worthy occurring all over the world, the Avengers are spread too thin to stage much of an effective defence anywhere and Captain America (Bucky Barns) gets literally pulled to bits and murdered by Sin while trying to defend Washington.
Iron Man manages to get Odin's attention for an audience to discuss a proposal of some sort.
Thor escapes captivity in Asgard and returns to Earth to join with his human friends in the struggle against the terror that has gripped the globe, with his father Odin telling him he has only “until the shadow of the Serpent falls across the world tree” until he roasts the Earth and everyone on it, but has he returned to late? The planet is now in a state of total panic returning the Serpent to full strength who then summons forth his Antarctic kingdom of fear and his army of rock trolls, or whatever they are. Thor challenges him but is quickly twatted right back to New York where it looks like Steve Rogers (who is now wearing the stars and stripes again as Captain America) and the rest of the New Avengers have been defeated by Sin and he must now fight Hulk and Thing (Nul and Angrir) at the same time! The next issue cannot come out fast enough!
FEAR ITSELF: THE HOME FRONT
This comic has a few different stories running in it at once. Some are ongoing, some are one off shorts. Nothing vital to the story seems to have happened so far but it's a good read.
LURKER: Still feeling a lot of guilt about the Stamford disaster, Speedball is helping out (in disguise) with a Stamford based charity called Damiens Gift, headed by Miriam Sharp who's son Damian was killed in the explosion.
Hie identity is eventually discovered by the other charity workers and he gets set up on by an angry mob. Miriam Sharp shelters him from them and then has her opinion of him altered slightly when he selflessly acts to fight off a group of marauding Raft escapee's on a killing spree through the streets of Stamford.
The fight leaves him incapacitated and another mob try to murder him by suffocating him with a plastic bag. Miriam, sporting a shot gun, rescues him from the mob and he sets off to try and protect the people furthest from help as the global catastrophe worsens. He even manages to stop Juggernaut from levelling a town by using his powers to deflect him off into a hillside. With most of the countries internet and phone lines down he decides to distribute avengers tech' communication equipment to the terrified survivors so that they can communicate with each other and organise a relief effort.
Good for him. I've always liked Speedball since I read all the original New Warriors comics in the 90's. Great to see him getting praised by the people he protects and saves in this story. It's also really clever how a lot of the action and events is commentated on with quotes from social network sites scattered across the panels. Nice story of redemption so far.
THE AGE OF ANXIETY: Jimmy Woo leads the Agents of Atlas on a mission to track down and uncover an exceptionally violent group of Neo Nazi's. They end up discovering the existence of the Thule society, the group responsible for helping Red Skull obtain his hammer in the 40's and travelling to an old Nazi castle full of automated defences where they stumble upon a room full of the grim remains of Atlanteans who's skin was used to make the book which summoned the hammer that kicked off all the trouble in the first place. The room is also full of the scrap paper (flesh) not used in the book but still scrawled with the same mysterious, dark hokum.
Jimmy tries to stop his girl friend Namora (an Atlantean) from seeing the contents of the room to protect her and spare her feelings but it just backfires and she throws a massive wobbler at him, saying that he's just trying to hide things from her. Could they have found information on the origins of the problems facing Mankind that may eventually lead to a solution?
The rest of the material in the series is short, sometimes only single page stories about various people expressing their fears. Features, J. Jonah Jameson, Liz Allen, Tigershark, Cardiac, the people of Broxtan and The Purple Man whoever he may be.
AVENGERS FEAR ITSELF
Largely told through the medium of a series of clips of TV interviews with Avengers members as they recap on the events of the disaster as the situation spiralled out of control. Kind of a shame because it means you know everyone in the interviews won't be getting killed during the story which hasn't finished yet so it's a bit of a spoiler in that respect but it's all very well written and put together.
Red Hulk loses his life trying unsuccessfully to stop Thing/Angrir from bringing down Avengers tower! Well, you're led to believe he's dead when he gets launched across the horizon by Angrir's final hammer blow to his already horribly beaten face, but I'm willing to bet he'll be back fairly soon. A powerful scene none the less though as the other Avengers hang their heads in solemn silence in their interviews. “He proved himself an Avenger”
SECRET AVENGERS FEAR ITSELF
War Machine, Ant Man and Beast are the first Avengers on scene to join the US armed forces fighting the Nazi's and evacuating civilians from Washington. Beast arranges a link up to all available TV stations for his congressman buddy Leonard Gary, who turns out to be a reality altering mutant, to broadcast a hope inspiring message to the people before Leonard gets blown to bits and the rest of the good guys get beaten like drums. War Machine and Ant Man get overrun by the Nazi's as the remaining US forces pull out. “Good work Lenny” says Beast as he watches Washington burn from his retreating Quincarrier.
Valkyrie spearheads the military response to the Nazi attack on New York with a bunch of enthusiastic soldiers who seem to believe they can take on the world. “Aymes says it's bad out there.” says a nervous female private“It's always bad” jokes her over confident boyfriend.
He changes his tune pretty fast when they reach the shit and most of them get shot or blown up evacuating civilians. Maybe they should have landed their craft outside the city and walked/driven in, instead of landing right in the the middle of it, about 10 yards from a massive group of enemy mechs and disembarking directly into a wall of gunfire. Valkyrie ends up retreating with what's left of the military force she went in with after they've done all the good they can.
NEW AVENGERS FEAR ITSELF
Mockingbird makes a full recovery from the injuries she sustained fighting against the remains of Norman Osborn's H.A.M.M.E.R. Troops after she receives a combination of super soldier serum and the infinity formula that keeps Nick Fury young, turning her into a super soldier gymnast with powers and abilities that seem to surpass Captain America himself. Even though it was Victoria Hand that provided the information that led to the H.A.M.M.E.R. guys, the Avengers still don't trust her and Spider-man announces he's quitting the team.
Wolverine, Luke Cage, Mockingbird and Iron Fist make a valiant and incredibly destructive attempt to fight off the Nazi's when they attack New York but it's not enough to stop Avengers tower from falling. Things are looking very bad for the Earth. Who knows? Maybe the bad guys'll win this one.
These are all the Fear Itself comics I've read so far but having finished them, I now really wanna read the following comics.
X-men Fear Itself issues to see what happens when they try to take down Juggernaut.
Some of the Spider-Man tie in issues to see what happens when Thing goes on the rampage.
Journey Into Mystery looks interesting too. Think it follows whatever the hell the Asgardians have been up to in their preparations and weapon building since they left the Earth.
Also turns out there's some Avengers comic or other I don't have where Miss Marvel, Spider-Woman and Protector (Marvel Boy) go up against what the Hulk has been turned into.
I'm sure once I get hold of these comics I'll find a bunch more I want to read as well. I just can't help myself. *sigh* Gave up drinking only for my comic collecting to turn into a problem.
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Related reviews of Avengers titles leading up to Fear Itself (these are spoiler free)
AVENGERS Volume 1 (#1-6)
AVENGERS Volume 2 (#7-12)
SECRET AVENGERS Volume 1: MISSION TO MARS (#1-5)
SECRET AVENGERS Volume 2: EYES OF THE DRAGON (#6-12 and #12.1)
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