Marvel's "Fear Itself"

[DarKush]

Glad I largely skipped Fear Itself. Easily the weakest of the recent mega-events for me. I just didn't get it. I assume they were trying to center it around Thor and Captain America, but something about the idea just felt too convoluted. It didn't feel as organic as Civil War, Secret Invasion, Dark Reign, and Siege.

Even though Flashpoint was ultimately displeasing I still enjoyed it more than FI. And FP at least heralded the new 52. I doubt that many of the big events in FI will not be changed in less than a year.

 

[Mike Farley]

Hell, FEAR ITSELF 7.1 already undoes one of the major events of the series.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Yeah this happens a lot now it seems...oh and now there is this which contains spoilers of what we've already been talking about in the thread.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/marvel-next-big-thing-winter-soldier-111103.html

 

[Mr Light]

WTF?! I really did not see FI 7.1's reveal coming at all. What a cheat. It worked much better as is. So not interested in that new series coming 2012.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Why does this surprise people? Marvel has done this before a number of times. So has DC rendering things irrelevant or void.

 

[Mr Light]

When it comes to the non-starring characters I do actually think they can die for reals. I'm not expecting the Sentry to be resurrected any time soon

 

[Hound of UIster]

So behind the scenes power struggle at Marvel?

7.1 smells like an editorial compromise meant to keep Bru happy.

 

[Admiral_Young]

The only thing I thought lame and or was surprised about was the additional three issues. Fear Itself was already too long for my liking.

 

[Turtletrekker]

7.1 smells like an editorial compromise meant to keep Bru happy.

Nah. Bru was going to fake Bucky's death at the end of the "Gulag" arc anyway. The Fear Itself event just gave them a chance make his "death" more of a big deal to the MU at large.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I just read the issue...and it was pretty good. It sucks they did what they did but I'm excited that he is returning as

Spoiler: New Ongoing

Winter Soldier

.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I actually wonder after thinking about it if this decision doesn't have anything to do with the possibly of this character returning as that character in "Captain America II"?

 

[Turtletrekker]

It sucks they did what they did...

Spoiler: Fear Itself 7.1

Not to specifically single you out here, Admiral_Young, but I've seen this opinion a lot and don't really get it. It was a good fake out, not deception with malice aforethought. Sometimes a good fake out is just good storytelling. (Although, I'll grant that the original "death" scene wasn't done that well.)

The Prologue issue and 7.1 by Brubaker have been the best FI issues of the bunch. The story was originally going to be a crossover between the Thor and Captain America books until it got the "event upgrade". After this happened, Brubaker backed out of the co-writing duties. It makes me wonder how much better the story might have been if Brubaker had stayed with the project, or if it had been written by Brubaker instead of Fraction.

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ Yeah and after I read the issue (I have to admit to judging before actually getting to read the issue) I thought it was a well done fake out and makes sense within the context of the issue's explanation and I'm excited for the ongoing. That also doesn't mean that these constant reversals after the fact don't suck though. I can understand how fans would be pissed. Both DC and Marvel pull this kind of stuff all the time.

 

[Derishton]

I'm more excited for Winter Soldier than almost anything else Marvel has on tap right now, since they cancelled the Doctor Doom mini.

 

[Admiral_Young]

It kind of sucks that the epilogue was more entertaining than the actual series was. Ugh. I am a Matt Fraction fan but just can't get over how weird and bad the event was.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I forgot that the Thor point two issue came out...picked it up and quite liked it. How come Fraction couldn't write like this during the actual freaking event? Anyone know if these three "point" issues are going to be included with the hardcover in Jan? Also can't stand when they write Peter obnoxious or clueless and think this is funny. Peter Parker is many things but clueless isn't one of them...although given the mythology aspect I can understand he would be confused about what the hell was going on. I loved Loki's line at the end of the book.

 

[Mike Farley]

What they need to do is just let Kieron Gillen take over Thor. He's been killing it writing Young Loki in Journey Into Mystery.

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ This. A thousand times this.

 

[Admiral_Young]

So it would seem that the point of these point issues was to undo all the relevant and poignant story points that were part of the main event story. I ask again, what was the point of Fear Its Self? It would seem on the surface to have brought nothing new to the status quo, and if it was meant to be an exploration of fear and hopelessness then I think Fraction and Marvel failed to convey the gravity of the situation due to the myriad of tie-ins.

 

[Mr Light]

Yeah, I can't believe how these three aftermath issues basically erased every major event of the series.

Spoiler

Bucky didn't die. Thor didn't die. The population of Paris didn't die. So basically all that's left is Colossus is now the Juggernaut, the TBolts escaped, Veil quit the Avengers Academy, and Avengers Tower and Washington DC got blown up...