Fear Itself: The Home Front #2 Review

Tagged with: Fear Itself  Fear Itself The Home FrontFear Itself: The Home Front #2

Christos Gage, Peter Milligan, Howard Chaykin, and Corinna Bechko continue giving us Fear Itself stories from the fringe.

In Speedball’s short, he’s got into some bad stuff as the townspeople of Stamford exact their anger and revenge on him.  It’s nearly curtains for Robbie Baldwin until he gets some unexpected help.  In the Agents of Atlas story, Jimmy Woo and the Agents start to get answers from the captured neo-Nazi.  The Agents head to a castle that was central in some secret occult doings during World War II.  M-11 and Woo find a room full of Atlantean bones and piles of blue skin.  Woo wants to hide it from Namora before it overcomes her with rage, but he’s too late to keep her away.  Chaykin contributes a single page Purple Man story as he escapes from the Raft.  Lastly, we’re given a non-super-powered story with Liz Allan on her way home with her son, Normie.  Because of a disturbance caused by Tiger Shark, Liz and Normie are thrust into a tense situation when a man and his brother climb aboard the train – one is wielding a knife and the other has a terrible gash that is causing him to bleed out.

As a whole, this issue is a little better than the last.  Speedball’s tale make for a good story as he struggles on the fine line between doing all he can to make good out of what he still feels is his fault and just letting them take their revenge on him.  Between his and the Agents’ stories, Robbie’s is much more character driven.  Ever since Civil War, he’s had to deal with this guilt in his own ways.

The more exciting story goes to the Agents of Atlantis.  Not that there isn’t a whole lot of character development happening, but they are on the trail to find out what’s causing the anger and fear spilling over into everyone.  They have to deal with some pretty cool Nazi robotic sentries and a pile of remains of Atlanteans.  On top of all that, you have a tie back to two things – the alleged Nazi dabbling in the occult and the whole group of people who guarded the key to bringing the Serpent back.  Maybe most importantly, I like these characters and I like Peter Milligan.  Maybe that’s all the reason I need.

The other two stories are the extra filler.  I was really surprised Howard Chaykin only got one page.  It wasn’t bad.  It wasn’t great.  It was just a quick hit on a character that has been propelled into the spotlight (despite my personal feelings on Purple Man).  So it was just kinda there.  The Liz Allan story was a nice one and showed that she can have a great deal of resolve.  Her few pages showed how the normal people in the Marvel Universe is dealing with all the crazy flying around.  I really liked that story just because not everyone is dealing with alpha-level threats.  Sometimes it’s a scared guy holding a knife in one hand and your son in the other barking orders that are impossible to follow.  Iron Man, Thor, and Steve Rogers have their worries, but this is what you and I have to worry about on a daily basis.

As much as I don’t mind the little shorts that follow the two headlining stories, I would like it if we could just have two main stories.  Overall, I’m not at all sorry I’m reading this.  In fact, this month I’m enjoying it a little more than I did the first issue.

A COMIC BOOK BLOG RATINGProsConsSolid stuff from Christos Gage and Peter Milligan. I also enjoy the stories in both these issues that revolve around the common people.While I generally like the series, it still seems to be missing a punch the other Home Front series had. Rating75%

Fear Itself reviews: #1 | #2 |

Fear Itself: The Home Front reviews: #1 | #2 |

Fear Itself: Spider-Man reviews #1 |

Journey Into Mystery: #622 |

Invincible Iron Man: #503 |

For more visit our Fear Itself tag @ acomicbookblog.com/tag/fear-itself

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This post was added on 4 May 2011, 17:49 by Geoff Arbuckle who has contributed 388 posts to this blog.

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Fear Itself: The Home Front #1 Review

Tagged with: Fear Itself  Fear Itself The Home FrontFear Itself: The Home Front #1

Ever since Civil War, Marvel always offered a supplement book to their events subtitled “Homefront”.  With a new event out now, Marvel keeps up their tradition with Fear Itself: The Home Front #1.  This time it’s a bit different.  Instead of the story following intrepid reporter Ben Urich’s coverage of the event, this title uses a revolving set of writers and shorts revolving around other characters in the Marvel Universe that won’t be getting too much exposure with the main title or the tie-ins.  So, what’s this book got for us?

First, we have a story from Christos Gage and Mike Mayhew starring Speedball and the Avengers Academy gang.  It’s the anniversary of the Stamford tragedy.  Speedball is off to Stamford to volunteer for Damien’s Gift, a non-profit set up by a grieving mother, who’s hardly a fan of Speedball.  When his identity is found out, the mother leads an angry mob against poor Robbie.  The second story surrounds the Agents of Atlas by Peter Milligan.  In this tale, Jimmy Woo, the leader of Atlas is struggling with a mindset that constantly wants to escape to 1958, and a romantic affair with Namora.  When the escalating bad feelings start causing hate groups to come out, Atlantis fights back in a more aggressive, skull-cracking way with Jimmy, in particular, growing darker and more disconnected.  The third and fourth stories are a little more light hearted with Howard Chaykin’s J. Jonah Jameson’s public address to New York City following the riots seen in Fear Itself #1 (guess what group of people he blames that on!), and Jim McCann’s slightly more realistic view of life in Broxton since Norman Osborn laid waste to Asgard.

The two best stories by default are Gage and Mayhew’s Speedball and Milligan’s Atlas stories.  These are multi-part stories that tie directly into the mood of the parent title.  They feature recognizable characters.  I mean, yeah, Jameson is a pretty recognizable character, but Chaykin obviously was going for more comedic affair.  From a critical standpoint, McCann’s Broxton story has the most emotional impact and definitely fits much more into the “Home Front” idea.  We learn that Broxton, while a tourist attraction for anyone hoping to catch a glimpse of a true god, the small town is hurting bad as a result of Osborn’s Siege.  Some are optimistic, some are scared, and some are just rolling up their sleeves just because that’s what they know best to do in tough times.  As a one off story, it’s actually riveting.  In just a few pages, I was pretty invested.

The art all around is pretty good.  How can you not love Howard Chaykin drawing a JJJ short?  Elia Bonetti’s art on the Atlas story just has a cool to it that I dare say fits the team and the story itself.  If I felt there was one critique I had it was Mike Mayhew’s photo-realistic visuals.  Frame by frame, it makes sense.  It speaks as much as a photo would (at least I hope it would), but there’s a bit too much uncanny valley going on there.  At times, it was unsettling to see Lauren Graham (I mean it, look at Miriam Sharpe and tell me that’s not Lauren Graham) hating on Robbie Baldwin and slapping him and leading an angry mob against him.  I think if I were to look at these pictures without the word bubbles or captions, I would have an easier time.  It’s a little too much for a comic.

Ultimately, it’s a good book.  If I miss anything from a Home Front title, it’s the (how should I put this?)…  liberal angle.  Ben Urich sought truth and was a bit of a hero from doing so.  These are just extra Fear Itself stories, not really anything with a punch, or anything that made you hate the obvious, conservative blow hard, or hating on the trampling of personal rights and privileges.

A COMIC BOOK BLOG RATINGProsConsThe four stories are technically good. We get some nice work from Christos Gage, Peter Milligan, Howard Chaykin, and Jim McCann in one book.Lacks the punch the other Home Front books gave us during the other events. Mike Mayhew's photo-realistic art style was a bit overload for a comic. Rating70%

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This post was added on 6 Apr 2011, 18:23 by Geoff Arbuckle who has contributed 370 posts to this blog.

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