REVIEW: Marvel’s Fear Itself #2

Fear Itself #3 is in stores tomorrow and we’re spending the day catching up in preparation. Issue #1 was a strong introduction, but it seems that #2 may have faltered a bit. A lot seems to be happening around the world (and beyond) as the Norse God of Fear and the Red Skull’s daughter, Sin, put their plan into action. Unfortunately, the assembly of their champions, “The Worthy,” left us with a lot of mixed feelings.

Spoilers for the issue and series will follow.

PTB: For as much as I enjoyed Fear Itself #1, I have to say #2 was let down. The issue just seemed to be a lot jumping around showing us that “a hammer falls here, someone picks up, and crazy they go” over and over. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, just that it was lacking a lot of content and depth that the first issue had.

KevinMLD: Odin still sucks in this issue. Does he always suck?

PTB: I don’t think so, or at least I hope not. I’m pretty sure this is fear induced sucking.

KevinMLD: That’s my least favorite kind of sucking when it comes from a god.

I also really didn’t like how the news reports throughout make it seem like the entire world is under siege when there are only a handful of guys with hammers. And where does Sin’s army come from? If she has access to such an army, why hasn’t she attacked before now?

PTB: I assumed her forces were limited and without the power of the Serpent and Skadi behind them they wouldn’t stand a chance. We’ve seen villains (particularly Captain America villains) with their private armies before and this seems like another example.

KevinMLD: I feel like I’ve been dismissive of the series in our discussion so far. The truth is I’ve found it very readable, but just not what I’m looking for in what was supposed to be at least partially a Captain America story.

PTB: I’m inclined to agree. I don’t read Thor or Captain America regularly, and while this has been good I know I’m more interested in what it means for the rest of the Marvel Universe. Also, I really believe that having seven hammers fall to Earth is too much. There may even be eight, I’m not entirely sure.

KevinMLD: It’s definitely weird and what makes them worthy? Is it that they are capable of instilling great fear? Are the hammers basically Sinestro Corps rings and is Titania basically the Scarecrow?

PTB: That’s an interpretation that makes sense, but we may find out more about why they’re “worthy” later. I’m assuming part of the reason for having so many is that limiting it to three characters like Hulk, Juggernaut and the Absorbing Man may not make the threat as overwhleming. Essentially I’m wondering if Matt Fraction questioned whether the Marvel Universe could be defeated by three Thors, or if it would take seven to conquer the Earth.

KevinMLD: First off, am I the only one who read World War Hulk? The guy doesn’t need an army of Phony Thors to be a threat. Especially considering those phony Thors are D-Level villains (plus Juggernaut), it’s hard to care about them.

PTB: That’s fair, but Hulk only attacked Manhattan during World War Hulk and had a very specific agenda to exact vengeance on the Illuminati. I don’t know that he and the Warbound could have conquered the planet with all of the heroes assembled against him (obviously he didn’t). I think the idea here is that things are blowing up all over the place at once and the world is terrified because they don’t know where the next target is.

KevinMLD: Wait there’s a difference between Manhattan and the world in the Marvel Universe? I thought 99.99999 percent of Marvel’s superheroes were in NYC.

PTB: That’s not entirely untrue or unfair, but we are seeing a bit more of the world in Fear Itself.

KevinMLD: Can I also mention that to date the Hulk and Red She-Hulk (Betty Banner) do not get along AT ALL despite the fact that we see them seemingly on a getaway trip together here?

PTB: I have no perspective on the current “Hulk Family” beyond Banner and Skaar, but that seems like something glaringly out of place.

The concluding page telling us to following the story of a bunch of jabronies like Titania and Grey Gargoyle in other titles only confirms that I made the right decision not to pick up all the Fear Itself tie ins. That may be what some readers are looking for, but not me.

KevinMLD: I also skipped the tie ins but maybe I’ll pick up a Hulk one if they publish it.

PTB: I hope part of my disappointment with this issue doesn’t lie in the fact that all the meaningful elements to these stories are found in other books.

KevinMLD: Wouldn’t that just make Fear Itself exactly like Civil War?

PTB: I don’t know if that’s entirely fair to Civil War, but I read a lot of those tie-ins so it’s hard for me to consider the series in retrospect without them. As for Fear Itself, a lot of books that I read and collect regularly are tying in, so I’ll at least have some exposure to what they bring to the story. I’m not planning to go out of my way for any of them and hopefully nothing in the story will be lost by that.

Read more about Marvel’s Fear Itself on MyLatestDistraction,
and follow each issue of the series here:

Fear Itself #1 / Fear Itself #3