Personal Fear #7 – Monsters, martians, murderers, oh my. So if you haven’t gathered from the first six entries, I’m pretty much afraid of everything. In fact, afraid of so many things that it’s hard to just pick seven. So this last one pretty much encompasses my fear of the unknown. Sure it may sound far fetched to some, but when that day comes when the alien spaceship appears in our skyline, or a giant monster starts destroying skyscrapers, I won’t look so crazy then, will I? Hey, it could happen. But even more realistic unknown quantities such as a stranger breaking into my apartment or car jacking me has haunted my dreams since I was young. It’s a scary world out there, I don’t know how I manage to leave my apartment every day for work.
Fear Itself 7: Thor’s Day
Writer: Matt Fraction
Art: Stuart Immonen
Inks: Wade Von Grawbadger with Dexter Vines
Colors: Laura Martin with Justin Ponsor and Matt Milla
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos
Cover Art and Alternate Covers: Steve McNiven, Stuart Immonen and Billy Tan
Plot: The Serpent and his minions approach the World Tree outside of Broxton, Oklahoma. Captain America stands his ground, guns raised, and takes down the Serpent’s Nazi battle tanks and followers. In the ruins of the fallen Asgard, the remaining Avengers are greeted by Iron Man and Thor. Tony Stark presents several of the Avengers with the Asgardian weapons he forged. The Serpent continues to grow in strength as Stark’s Mighty Avengers storm the battlefield and join Captain America with their powerful new weapons.
Thor, decked out in Odin’s armor and wielding the Ragnarok sword, challenges the Serpent, now transformed into a giant dragon-like creature. The two clash, beginning their prophesized battle, and Thor loses his grip on his mighty hammer, Mjolnir. The weapon crashes to earth, sending several of the combatants, including Captain America, sprawling. Rick, a local resident of Broxton, has returned to help defend his home, and assists the iconic hero to his feet. Captain America retrieves Mjolnir, raises the weapon in the air, and rallies the heroes and normal humans alike with his “Avengers Assemble” battle cry.
The war begins to turn in the Avengers favor as Black Widow, Hawkeye, Dr. Strange and Iron Fist employ their new weapons to great effect. Thor battles fiercely with the gigantic serpent, Captain America downs Skadi, and She Hulk and Wolverine defeat two of the Serpent’s minions, Kuurth and Nerkkod. In Asgardian space, Odin prepares his army to march on Midgard to raze the planet and defeat his brother. News reports from around the world begin to tell of heroic and miraculous events involving the perseverance and goodwill of mankind, and Thor strikes down the Serpent with a fatal blow.
Odin arrives in time to see the war end. The hammers of the Serpent’s Worthy lose their powers and fly away from their owners. Captain America stands over a fallen, unconscious Sin. Thor stumbles toward his father and collapses in his arms.
The following day, the Avengers construct a funeral pyre for their fallen Asgardian ally. Odin leaves with the defeated Serpent’s body, swearing to watch over his brother until the end of time. The All-Father returns all the Asgardians to Midgard, preventing them from returning to Asgard. In the next few days, things begin to return to normal. A service is held for the deceased Bucky Barnes, Tony Stark destroys the Mighty’s weapons and presents Captain America with a reforged, uru-infused shield. Cap tells the Avengers that there is nothing left to do but rebuild.
In Broxton, Rick greets new neighbors and provides them with a lawnmower, telling them that in this time “we all gotta take care of each other.”
In a series of epilogues, Sin is revived by a mysterious team of scientists and she remembers the power of the Worthy and vows to obtain the hammers again. A team of hit men and mercenaries begin a hunt for Marcus Johnson, the most wanted man alive. The Hulk separates himself violently from his alter ego Bruce Banner, leaving him in the desert. Nul, the Breaker of Worlds and former Serpent minion who possessed the Hulk, is running free. The Hulk seeks out Dr. Strange to assist him in finding and defeating Nul.
*
What to Cheer: It took seven issues to reach the awesome ‘wow’-moment that I would expect to see in every issue of a big story event. Captain America wielding Mjolnir with lightning crashing into the hammer as he rallied the Avengers was that scene and the best panel of this series by far. I was disappointed that Tony Stark didn’t include Cap in the weapon-making process, so I appreciated Fraction having Tony explain that he didn’t think Cap needed a weapon because Captain America had his shield. Steve Rogers is definitely worthy to lift the powerful hammer and this was much better than having Cap mow bad guys down with guns.
One of my complaints earlier in the series was that all of the Serpent’s minions possessed hammers, so I liked that the Mighty weapons were each different and catered to the specific heroes. You don’t get to see the weapons used a lot but when you did, Immonen did a nice job creatively showing the heroes and their armaments.
The powered-up heroes also gave the team of colorists, Martin, Ponsor and Milla, a chance to really make the Avengers stand out. I’m still unsure why it was necessary to outline the Avengers in neon designs, but it definitely made them stand out more. However, it didn’t work for Iron Man and Wolverine. Why did they grow spikes over their outfits with their powers, and what exactly was Wolverine’s weapon? He wasn’t present to have his adamantium claws blessed with the other weapons so I’m not sure what Stark did for him or why his claws were glowing.
It seemed a tad corny and cliché that Mankind rallied and conquered their fears, but it was a good ending because it reflected the focus on their fear at the beginning of the arc. I’m glad it was not overly drawn out as it was in the beginning.
*
What to Fear: Fraction didn’t really draw anything out in this last issue, which was the issue’s downfall. This huge battle needed more time and more focus on the weapons and heroes. Everything felt rushed in order to cram all the important things into this final issue. I would have liked to have seen this battle given a full issue to really flesh it out and highlight more action and use of the weapons. It seemed odd as well that the Avengers were just standing around the ruins of Asgard in the beginning while Cap held the line by himself. The battle, the weapons or the ending should have been developed more fully, as they could have been if a whole issue had been devoted to this battle.
There were other points that could have been explained with more time for example, where did the non-hammer wielding minions of the Serpent come from? It also seemed a bit jarring to see the Serpent turn into a massive dragon all of a sudden. The quick battle scenes never really conveyed a sense of danger for Thor. Even when the Asgardian Avenger was literally in the jaws of defeat, I never got the sense that he was outmatched or overwhelmed. It seemed a little forced when he fell to the ground in the end and also when his corpse was resting on top of the funeral pyre. And why is it necessary to burn his body anyway?
The action wasn’t the only thing that seemed stunted. The dialogue was rushed and tacky at times, especially Odin’s and the Serpents. I know the Asgardians talk in a Shakespearian dialect, but I just wasn’t a fan of Odin pontificating things like “Brother of mine, oh brother of mine.” Odin’s behavior seemed a little at odds with how he was portrayed earlier. He didn’t care about destroying Earth or killing innocents at any point in this series, but then when the time comes to invade, he claims it’s for the “glorious dead of Midgard.”
*
The Big Picture: This event received a lot of build up only to fall short and feel extremely rushed in the end. The best issues were the middle three comics in this seven-part series. Overall I thought it was a decent story, but it just wasn’t great as a big, universe spanning event. It was too drawn out and could have been better managed to make the first two and last two issues more enjoyable.
Worse yet, I am unsure what the point of this event was. They returned Steve Rogers to the role of Captain America, brought the Asgardians back to Earth, and killed Thor. Is that it? The mighty weapons Stark created were destroyed right away, Cap’s shield has been repaired and the world will be rebuilt and faith in humanity restored. It just seems as though this event won’t have as much of a lasting impact on the Marvel Universe as the Civil War or Skrull Invasion did.
However, there will be an impact for a short while as the epilogues served as introductions to several new storylines. Stories such as the Fearless and the Defenders will spin out from this story, but the degree of their importance to future Marvel storylines is yet to be determined, and I have no interest in continuing to read about Sin or Nul. In addition to these new stories, there are three more follow-up comics to wrap up the event. I have no idea why these are necessary, and it just adds to my opinion that this event was mismanaged. It draws more attention to the fact that seven issues weren’t enough to tell a complete story for some reason.
*
Rating: Good, art. Meh, story and action. Poor, characterization and writing. 3/5 Frightened Marvelites.
*
Story Arc Rating: Good, art. Meh, action, characterization, story and writing. 3.5/5 Frightened Marvelites.
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@Brian It’s looking like he’ll be sticking around in Fantastic Four for a bit… They have an event going on right now in the book and it’s looking like it might crossover between FF and Fantastic Four. And it was more the fact, I really do not like Cullen Bunn and Rob Williams styles of writing. Talking of Bush league, you own it. You got Ultimate Spidey, New Avengers, (had) Fear Itself, and managed to fit in a video game review. Kudos to you sir…
And before I forget, do you have an account on the message board?
@10 spideytothemax… I was under the impression that all the weapons were destoryed, was not aware that Red She Hulk was keeping hers. I wonder what their explanation will be for her keeping hers while everyone else’s was destroyed.
@12 Enigma… you’re absolutely right, this is the equivalent to the summer time blockbuster action with not a whole lot of substance to it. And I apologize, I know they are not the same character just a slip up in the review where I refer to her as regular She Hulk just cause I got lots of other things I’m thinking about while writing that something like that just goes under my radar and I don’t think about it.
@15 Sarcasmic… is Fantastic Four going to have Spider-Man running around still? You get a little overwhelmed by two comic reviews to keep up with, that’s bush league 😉 I keep hearing great things about Avengers Academy, just can’t bring myself to commit to another Avengers comic. The only reason I follow Avengers and New is because I like the characters on those teams, even if Bendis screws with them.
@Brian: I’m not a fan of Cullen Bunn, the writer of Fearless. I’m willing to bet it will mostly deal with Ben and considering I’m looking at both Fantastic Four and FF now (explained in review) I think I got my hands full.
As for Fear Itself tie ins… Christos Gage knocked it out of the park with Avengers Academy and his parts in the Home Front issues.
@two-bit
Look at her… I think Jeph Loeb messed with her enough.
@Enigma
Hey, now. Don’t mess with Betty Ross.
“Worse yet, I am unsure what the point of this event was.”
Lemme sum it up for you with a question…
How was your popcorn?
And will people stop calling that red b**** She-Hulk?
I just keep scratching my head. Why did Thor have to die again?
I didn’t feel the impact when Cap took up Mjolnir and I felt even less when Thor and Bucky bit the dust, so I guess that makes Fear Itself a failure in my eyes. Definitely the most lackluster of the big Marvel Events of the last few years. The only thing I’m really curious about is what’s going to happen to the weapons of the Mighty. Fraction has said that Red She-Hulk will be hanging onto her sword in the new Defenders book. So what’s gonna happen to Spidey’s new uru stinger things? We didn’t even get to see him use them.
I was pretty underwhelmed and confused by Fear Itself. However, the Home Front tie -in with the Speedball story line was really amazing and will be a welcome read to anyone who read civil war. Check it out.
I did not actually. Just the Spider-Man tie-in (wasted story potential) and then what happened in X-Men, which was only used to set up Colossus turning into Juggalossus.
@6 Brian Thanks for the clarifications! By the way, did you get any other tie in? I was wandering if the big fight was covered anywhere.
@5 Sthenurus, thanks and I agree with your thoughts completely. Nothing really new was established with this series besides the new comics that will spin out of them and it doesn’t seem like theres a lot of buzz following those. I got to think that the less stellar way this series ended has to do with some of that apathy towards them. I didn’t think it was necessary to destroy the weapons that quickly after making them. I wasn’t a fan of the heroes having these weapons but it would have at least been nice to see Tony spend an issue (maybe one of these unnecessary 7. issues) in deciding that he needed to destroy them. Makes them really pointless. I was excited to see how big the book was when I picked it up cause I thought they were going to actually try to spread some good stuff out, but instead they wasted the pages on those epilogues and the neighborly interaction between the normal humans.
And just because I like defending myself, my ratings and my math skills… I went back and looked through my reviews and technically 2 of the issues (3 and 5) I thought were great (5/5), one issue (4) was good (4/5)… issues 1,2 and 7 were meh (3/5) and issue 6 was poor (2/5)… so you balance those out it does come out to be around 3.5. so not not good, but a little above average. Still not what you’d want out of a big event. 🙂 Now if I was rating it as a story as a whole and not by its parts, I may have gone with a slighlty lower rating, but the lowest I would have given it is a 3 most likely. Average at best.
Here is what I tough of this finale:
As expected, Fear Itself #7 was a disappointment. Even with 56 pages, I felt like I was reading filler material, with the interesting part completely glossed over. The “mighty” Avengers fight with the Worthy is only glimpsed, in which Spidey doesn’t even factor for more than TWO background shot. The transformation into said worthy isn’t even show. What happened to the weapons at the end was never explained. But what hurt me the most is that all of this has been done before, and that with this story, the status quo is going back to what it was nearly 5 years ago:
• Thor is dead
• Bucky is dead
• Steve Rogers is back as Cap
• Hulk is separated from banner
• The world at large doesn’t know Peter Parker is Spiderman
• Heroes don’t have to register.
Therefore, it makes the last 3-5 years’ worth of storytelling irrelevant. Granted, most of these changes are not solely Fear Itself fault, but it does feel like the serpent is eating its tail (pun intended).This makes the story feel weightless, the deaths seem cheap and unimportant, and the many plot threads started at the end feel more like a free comic book day giveaway than a fitting epilogue.
All in all, a rather good idea that stumble and crash, much like Secret Invasion or Siege did before. I just wish we would have had an extra issue of FI: Spider-man to see Pete’s reaction to being empowered and fighting. Once again, wasted potential, where what should have finished into a beautiful firework ended up being nothing more than a wet firecracker.
/rant.
Now, Great Review Brian, even if i do find you a bit generous on this one. 3 good issues out of seven is barely equal to a 3.5 mathematically 😉
@Sarcasmic… I agree. I was a little surprised to see my overall story rating be above a 3. It was really buoyed by the solid 3, 4 and 5 issues I feel. The beginning and the end to this series left a lot to be desired, and while I enjoyed it for the most part it seems, it definitely was not as good as a huge Marvel event should be. I would expect that the big events should be getting a 4-5 rating if the creative team is doing their job right. So as a regular comic story I think this was alright, but as an event it fell just a bit short. Correct me if I’m wrong, but this looks like Fraction’s first stab at a big event, in which case it was a good effort on his part, but it seems he has some things to work on.
I was not planning on reading or reviewing any of the follow up stories for this, but I guess that’s up to Brad if he wants any of the issues covered. If the Fearless deals with the FF a good bit and you wanted to handled that, and Brad was down with it, don’t let me stand in your way. Do you think it will mainly be covering Ben’s guilt over his actions?
@3 Nathaniel… The fact that it lasted way too long and dragged out could probably have something to do with that. As well as the fact that there were two other big events going on in Marvel that overshadowed this one. Kind of sad to be glad it’s over since I was really getting into it at the height of the stories event in the middle of the series. Lackluster is a great way to describe its ending.
The good part about this issue: this event is finally over. I don’t even want to bother with The Fearless, this entire event just felt very lackluster to me. I can’t explain it but I was just not into it.
Also, are you going to be reviewing The Fearless wrap up series? I do believe the FF (and by association Peter) play into heavily.
You were really generous to the story as a whole.
Logical points, but I still felt like you were grasping for pros at points during this series; still at the same time I’ve praised the character’s costumes, so I can understand when you give the varied weapons of the… Mighty(?) as a pro.