Fear Itself #1 Review

Tagged with: Avengers  Fear Itself  Matt Fraction  Stuart Immonen  ThorFear Itself #1Fear Itself is big enough to cross over the entire Marvel universe so we decided it was big enough to cross over our two biggest Marvel reviewers; each will be giving their own review, combining their grades for an overall score.

Geoff Arbuckle Writer, reviewer, Geek Life & editor

So…  Sin’s up to no good (like we’d ever think she wouldn’t be), and resurrected the dreaded Skadi.  Think of this like the combination of Thor and Donald Blake – Skadi and Sin now share the same space.  This doesn’t go unnoticed to Odin, who’s acting a bit like a bitter old man these days.  Realizing he must fall back, and wanting nothing to do with the notion that Asgard will be rebuilt on Earth, he mobilizes the Asgardians and whisks them back to their city in the sky.  Unfortunately, this leaves Earth completely defenseless against Skadi and his/her father, the Serpent, who wishes to wreak havoc on the planet before taking care of the Asgardians.

This is a good start to the event.  I think some expecting huge moments like we got from Civil War or Secret Invasion.  That’s not really Matt Fraction’s style.  His work typically plays out in beats, building toward a conclusion, not hitting us over the head with big moment after big moment until the climax cannot hold up to the standards given to us for the six months prior…  You know, like a real story.  There’s an underlying rhythm to this story that suggests things are going bad and only getting worse.  It’s subtle, but handled very well.  On top of that, Stuart Immonen’s art is nothing short of awesome.  Immonen helps the tone of the book on the grand scale by giving good angles to scenes and breakdowns, and even goes as miniscule as to use facial expressions to show how people are feeling.  Overall, it’s the start I wanted to see, even if others maybe didn’t.  Building toward a better ending is better than having six awesome, spine-tingling cliffhangers, only to be let down by the seventh.

A COMIC BOOK BLOG RATINGProsConsExcellent tone and a much better pace than the past events. Immonen's art is pretty awesome.There are great moments, but some might be wondering where the cliffhanger went. For me, I'm perfectly fine with how it's going so far. Rating95%

Victor Kutsenok Writer & reviewer

So let’s talk about the book. Sin, retrieves the hammer of Skadi and upon touching it is transformed into his avatar. Meanwhile, a riot has broken out in NYC. People are at their last straw and need to lash out. Iron Man offers a bit of hope in announcing that humans will be hired to rebuild Asgard. The Avengers stand behind him but Thor wishes Odin was there as well. Odin, however, feels that a long awaited “final” prophecy is at hand and orders the gods to return to Asgard after he rebuilds the Rainbow Bridge. Thor tries to stop him but is easily overpowered by his father and has Mjolnir forced from his hands. The gods, with Thor forcibly in tow, leave earth for Asgard. As this occurs, the transformed Sin, now known as Skadi, dives into the deepest part of the ocean to break out her father from a prison Odin put him in eons ago. She meets some resistance along the way but brushes it aside with ease using her new hammer. Entering the tomb, Skadi releases the frail looking man inside of it who also calls himself the All-Father. His first act, summon the Worthy to earth. And that’s the book.

So let’s talk opinions. For now, to me at least, this does not yet feel like an “event” book. It feels like an issue of Thor, guest starring the Avengers. The mythology is completely revolving around Thor and the Norse gods. I do like the way Matt Fraction, the writer, is putting a lot of the focus of the story on current events and how it is affecting the normal people. I can definitely relate to the rioters, being a native New Yorker. I feel their frustration. Iron Man’s “gift” of work is a nice touch but it really doesn’t affect the people for whom this gift comes too late. That is understandable as well. I’m not sure why Odin reacted the way he did. Is the new All-Father, who I’m guessing is the Serpent, more powerful? Why not confront him? If he beats you and you flee, that sets up the “fear” groundwork. In any case, the plot of the book is well done and raises a lot of questions as to what will happen next. The only thing that didn’t happen yet is the “Fear”. Maybe next issue. The art, while not overly exciting, was well done. The action sequences were well drawn but nothing overly memorable or spectacular. I like “BIG” art in my event books to give them that added wow feeling. There weren’t really any memorable images for me. Overall, a decent start but not really an “event” yet. That’s my opinion folks. Take it or leave it.

A COMIC BOOK BLOG RATINGProsConsnice plot set-up. decent action. very emotionally packed issue.I'm not fully feeling Immonen's art just yet Rating80%

Overall Score:

88%

Fear Itself reviews: #1

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By BlogsdnaTagged with: Avengers  Fear Itself  Matt Fraction  Stuart Immonen  Thor3 CommentsVictor KutsenokPosted on April 6, 2011 at 11:43 am

Geoff, I love that we actually have somewhat differing opinions on this book. To me it shows that we have different views on what an event should be. I personally feel the prequel had more of an event feel than this issue. This book felt pretty uneventful. Maybe that’s just me. I do have one question for you, and as a Thor fan, you can probably answer it best. What’s the difference, other than the Avengers guest starring, between this book and any other Thor book?

ReplyGeoff ArbucklePosted on April 6, 2011 at 11:51 am

While this deals a lot with Asgardian stuff, I think each issue will deal more with the other parts of the Marvel U. But to more directly answer your question, the biggest difference between this and Thor’s regular book is that while the confrontation between Thor and Odin is the climax of issue #1, Thor is more of a background character in this so far. In his book, the Avengers would have only shown up to lend a hand. Here, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark are more forefront. I’m not even certain the Avengers would have shown up if this was a Thor arc.

ReplykrakkaboomPosted on April 10, 2011 at 12:03 am

This was a decent first issue, but the opening scene was horribly executed. It’s hard to figure out what they’re protesting, and smacks of editorial meddling so Marvel wouldn’t attract the same sort of criticism as they did with the recent Captain America issue that made headlines because of the reference to the Teabaggers.

I’m just happy to be reading an event that isn’t being written by Bendis.

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This post was added on 6 Apr 2011, 11:26 by Geoff Arbuckle who has contributed 370 posts to this blog.

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