Comics / Comic Reviews / Marvel Comics

Fear Itself #7

By Colin Andersen
October 22, 2011 - 13:57

So, Marvel Comics’ latest big event comic FINALLY draws to a close and, just like the rest of the issues, ends on a whimper rather than a bang. I won’t go into the details about why I was disappointed by this series as a whole because I already went over that in my review of Fear Itself #6, but suffice it to say that my opinion was not changed by the finale. Beware for those that haven’t read the issue yet, THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD!
   

So the issue begins where the last one ended, with Captain America dual-wielding  shotguns, as the Worthy all rush towards him. If that sounds cool, it admittedly is even if it seems somewhat out of character for Cap. After that, the readers finally get to see Tony Stark’s new Asgardian weapons for some of the Avengers that he spent three issues of his own series creating. This was one of the worst parts of the issue for me as there was absolutely no reaction from anyone to these awesome new weapons. No one is surprised or awed or has to get used to their weapons; they are literally nothing more than plot MacGuffins that allow the heroes to finally triumph over their overpowered enemies. I could have forgiven this somewhat if the fight against the Worthy had at least been interesting, but we get to see little of what new powers these weapons give the heroes, if any, and the battle just sort of happens. The only particularly awesome scene comes when Captain America picks up Thor’s Hammer and uses that to continue his fight against Sin.
    Overall, there was just very little emotional impact anywhere to be seen in this issue. There is no real resolution to anything that happened to any of the characters, such as Bucky’s death or what kind of affect being controlled by the hammer’s may have had on any of the Worthy (with the minor of exception of the Hulk in the epilogue). It’s as though Matt Fraction had some cool ideas for huge battles but couldn’t be bothered to write any real significance or any good way to get from one to the other. Even when he does try to express some emotion it falls flat, such as when Odin brings Thor’s body back to Asgard. There was just very little emotion present anywhere in the book and the pacing was all over the place. This did not make for a compelling read. The uninteresting epilogues did not help matters much and did not get me particularly excited for the new series’ that they set up.
    Luckily for Fraction, he brought probably the best backup he could find to help him by getting Stuart Immonen as the artist for Fear Itself. Though Immonen isn’t always perfect in his work with this issue either (see the lackluster designs for the Mighty for proof of this), he does go a long way towards redeeming it. Some of his depictions of the Worthy/Mighty fight are truly awesome, particularly Dr. Strange and Iron Fist’s tag-team defeat of Titania and when Cap lifts Thor’s hammer. Still, his emotion in some scenes could have used some more work. It may not be the best work of his career, but Immonen is still miles ahead of many of the other artists in the industry today.
    Like Siege before it, Fear Itself left very little positive impact on me or the Marvel Universe, but Siege had the advantage of being only four issues long whereas Fear Itself seemed to drag forever with far too many pointless tie-ins. Though it’s been getting there for a while, I think Fear Itself needs to be the nail in the coffin of Marvel “Event” comics for a while. They’ve grown so tired and uninteresting and I’ve found myself only reading them so that I know why some changes occur in the Marvel Universe. Fear Itself was a largely uninspired, boring mess that will hopefully teach people to vote with their wallets come next summer when Marvel inevitably tries again with their next big story. If you really feel the need to read Fear Itself, do yourself a favor and wait for the trade and don’t bother with the tie-ins. A year from now, it probably won’t matter anyway.

Rating: 4 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12