Fear Itself Issue Six First Thought

Last night I was able to read issue six of Fear Itself and this was probably the best chapter so far. This issue contained Captain America yelling at Odin, Thor receiving armor and a sword from Odin,  Iron Man throwing himself in a pit of boiling Uru and then Cap preparing to take on the Serpent King with rifles.

This issue revolved mainly around Captain America and showing how much he's on the edge. He's been through a lot so far, his best friend was stabbed in the chest, his symbolic shield has been shattered, he doesn't want to show the people that they have lost, he's worrying about the safety of the whole planet as he tries to figure out how's he's going to evacuate Earth, he has to worry about Thor's safety and now he's about to point a loaded rifle at the Serpent King and his Worthy while he stands on the front line with no one but himself.

This issue wasn't just about Cap though, there were parts with Thor and Iron Man also. Thor was carried into Heimdall's Observatory to be transported into Asgard by Captain America, Hawkeye, Protector and Mrs. Marvel. As they walk through the gate, they are greeted by Odin and Steve was not afraid to give him a piece of his mind.

Who the hell talks like that to Odin and keeps their finger? Captain freakin America, that's who!

Odin teleports Captain America and his bridage back to Earth as Odin carries Thor back to his room. From there, Odin explains to Thor that the Serpent King can be beaten and that it will require the items that beat him in the first place. Since Odin was the one to banish the Serpent, Odin is the one who has said items, so he bestows Thor with chest armor and "a blade forged to end all things", Ragnarok, the Odinsword. Unfortunately, we don't get to see this sword in action in this issue.

After receiving Odin's gifts, Odin and Thor head over to Svartalfheim where Tony and the dwarves are busy making the weapons to help defend against the Worthy. The weapons are a combination of Stark's repulsor tech and enchanted Uru. These weapons though, will only be "Earth's mightiest weapons for Earth's mightiest heroes" if Odin gives the blessing to them, and the only way to do that is to throw the weapons into boiling Uru. No big problem for Tony to do, he can easily throw weapons into boiling Uru, but his suit is to be blessed also to be made into a weapon, the armor that's biologically attached to him. Tony throws himself and the weapons into the cauldron to be transformed into something more powerful.

Captain America is still trying to figure out what to do, he has the whole world he needs to protect but he knows he's going to fail. Knowing that he's not going to make a difference doesn't stop him though, so he heads straight towards the Serpent's floating palace armed with just a handful of rifles so he can go head to head with the God of Fear himself.

This issue gives Captain America a great story, it shows how much Captain America will go through and still won't give up, even though he knows he has been beaten. He knows that the Serpent is going to win, but hell, he's still prepared to go against him and his Worthy with just a rifle. Hell, I haven't seen Steve use a gun in such a long time. I really enjoyed Cap's part in this issue, it was amazing and showed how persistent he is. And as for Iron Man, I cannot wait to see the Mighty in action in the next and final issue of Fear Itself next month in October.

This is by far my favorite issue from this event, it's continuing to be more and more amazing.

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Fear Itself (So Far)

Tonight I have decided to write my thoughts on Fear Itself and inform people of what's going on. Be cautious though, there will be tons of spoilers.

Fear Itself's synopsis basically goes like this: The Serpent, an old enemy of Odin, was defeated by Odin and locked was locked away under the sea while Odin messed with space and time and made it look like the Serpent never existed. Back in WWII, the Red Skull used a magical book constructed of the skin from Atlantians  to call forth a hammer similar to Thor's hammer. The Red Skull tried to move the hammer but he was not deemed worthy and instead constructed a fortress around it. Now in current time, Sin, the Red Skull's daughter, found the Red Skull's book and located the hammer and was able to lift it. From there Sin found where the Serpent was sealed and freed him, unleashing fear across the planet and summoning several different hammers. By now, Odin has been released from Hell and walks amongst the crumbled Asgard, but once he senses the Serpent's return he gather's the Asgardians as he opens a portal to return to the space were Asgard was first located, creating a new Asgard and leaving earth behind while he builds an army and leaves Earth to fend for itself against the new evil. Thor fought against Odin, but was thrown in chains and forced to leave Earth against his will.

That basically covered the comics Sin's Past and Fear Itself 1 and part of 2. These Hammers that fall down are pretty much the same as Mjolnir; "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of <name of the Worthy>." The Worthy are followers of the Serpent that resides within the Hammers, as these Hammers are falling all around the globe, only "the Worthy" are allowed to wield them and are possessed by the Serpent's followers. By now, all Hammers have been claimed by heroes and villains alike, giving them the strength of Thor and at times being stronger than Thor. The heroes/villains who are possesed are as follows:

• Sin - Skadi
• Juggernaut - Kuurth
• Absorbing Man - Greithoth
• Titania - Skirn
• The Hulk - Nul
• Attuma - Nerkkod
• The Thing -Angir
• Grey Gargoyle - Mokk

 The Thing was the last to change in Fear Itself #3 which ended with one hell of an ending: the death of Captain America (Bucky, not Steve); he got in a tussle with Sin/Skadi with him getting stabbed in the chest then getting his arm ripped off as he gets smacked in the air.


Right before Cap's death, Odin finally heard Thor's plea to let him go help Earth after Loki broke him out of his chains. Odin warned him though, that if Thor dies protecting Earth, he will not help him. The Worthy possesses power equal or greater strength than Thor, they might be one of the strongest opponents Thor as ever faced.

This wouldn't be a Marvel event if there were no crossovers, luckily the best crossovers came out last Wednesday. Those comics included:

• Avengers 14
• Avengers Academy 15
• Youth In Revolt 2
• Deadpool 1
• Iron Man 505
• Alpha Flight 1 (Haven't read yet)

 The most notable comics were Avengers, Avengers Academy and Iron Man, they gave me so many chills throughout the story. For the past two issues, the Avengers comic, the Avengers are portrayed to be in interviews speaking about how their going against the fear that's attacking the people along with the possessed heroes and villains. This issue focused more on the duel against Thing/Angir and the Red Hulk, this issue was so amazing on many levels. During these interviews, the heroes are saying that they don't trust the Hulk, that they don't think he should be an Avenger and that he'll have to prove himself. But slowly they start to change that direction and started to say that he did earn the title of being an Avenger. The Red Hulk went head to head against Think/Angir, as he's attacking the Avenger's Tower. Int he end, the Red Hulk was not able to defeat his enemy, he fell along with the monumental Avenger's Tower; his fate is not yet sure, he could still be alive for all we know, but he definitely earned the right to be an Avengers.

 
I'm not a big fan of Avenger's Academy, but this was another great one; despite Pym being a dick, this issue shows his soft side and how much he cares about his students. It revolved around kids fighting in a war whom Pym doesn't fully believe is ready for this kind of situation. Fear Itself will test the students at the academy and how far are they willing to go to be heroes; Mettle has already killed a man attacking people for the first time and he's forced to pull it together and continue evacuating civilians. This issue was a nice read just because it is not about people who are trained for a situation like this, the heroes in this comic are just kids who are only prepared for fighting some of the villains in the Raft.

Iron Man is going against Grey Gargoyle/Mokk after he has turned every civilian in Paris into stone. What really made this comic amazing were these two pages, one at the beginning and the last page:

In the first picture, Tony is talking to his dad about a Neutron Bomb by filling people up with radiation. And in the last page, Tony is holding a blue capsule, which is most likely the Neutron Bomb that was earlier discussed. But why would Tony be doing with such a devastating thing? I believe he is going to use it in Paris. Everyone is already dead in Paris, so Tony doesn't have to worry about hurting anyone except for Grey Gargoyle/Mokk, but I don't think Tony is afraid of killing him since he killed Detroit Steel and his pilot in front of Stark. What Stark will exactly do with whatever he has is not fully clear, but I cannot wait to find out.

A lot of other stuff is going down in the Marvel Universe, the Defenders are back with Dr. Strange leading Namor, Lyra (Hulk's "daughter), Loa and the Silver Surfer. Hercules is fighting against the God of War's son while Hercules no longer has the powers he use to have, Loki is up to something by making Hela and Mephisto go at war with each other  and Deadpool is doign what Deadpool does.

Speaking of Deadpool, his Fear Itself tie-in is probably one of the worst things I've read next to Lady Deadpool's one-shot. I really can't put my finger on it, but the writing for it is weak, it just seems too silly for Deadpool. But I will try my best to stomach his tie-in even though I am quite sure what he does won't have much affect, unlike in Secret Invasion.

So far, Fear Itself is amazing with many chill inducing moments. There have been some epic battles so far (one being the one with the Red Hulk) and there will be many more to come. One tie-in I'm waiting for are the ones including the X-Men, I don't know how they will fit in with this event but Marvel will find a way; only thing we know is the Dracula is involved since he's in the Fear Itself banners. I suggest Fear Itself to any comic reader though, it started off with a bang and so far it's getting better and better.

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