So last week I decided to write a critical review of Flashpoint and this week I thought I'd do the same for Fear Itself.  The series' are coming out so close together that I can't help but find myself comparing the two directly, which I know is probably not the thing to do.  In the end, I kind of liked this issue better than I did Flashpoint, although admittedly not by much and probably largely because Stuart Immonen is so very amazing that he can't draw a bad comic book.

My first reaction at this point is that no way did this story require or even deserve seven chapters, but that's been evident from the start.  As with the earlier parts I waited patiently for that moment which would justify it, that revelation that cracks the internet in half and justifies the editorial hype, but it just doesn't come.  Even the death of Bucky several months ago seemed come and go so quickly and ignominiously that I wondered if it actually happened (surely such careful and elegant work by Brubaker to bring him back deserved better when it came time to put him back in the ground?).  This is a fun fight issue, but we're less than a third from the end and I don't feel like we're anywhere near act three.  There are two pages in this twenty two page comic devoted to Stark asking Odin to use his workshop.  That level of decompression, something I'm not necessarily against, just seemed like a lot.

Now there are things I still kind of loved.  There's a simple drive to the issue that I liked a lot.  The fight does have a brutality to it, and Thor versus Hulk was an old fashioned Marvel slugfest to the core.  There are character moments, like Cap's whispered "Avengers assemble" and the banter between Val and Franklin, that really shone.  I was even shocked at the destruction of the shield late in the issue.  At the same time, I wonder if Thor would say "pain in the ass" and I know in my heart that as much as Peter loves his family, he always puts the fight for right above those closest to him, no matter how dark things get.  Still, Fraction gets enough of the caharcter work right for me to be impressed by that aspect of his writing.

As alluded to, the prop holding the whole thing up is Immonen, ably assisted by Wade Von Grawbadger and Laura Martin.  It's always a gorgeous book page after page, and with a giant fight scene to convey it seems to really come into it's own.  Thor versus the Worthy is epic and bold, yet manages to fit in little details like Spider-man watching from the fringe and citizens running in fear.  Every Cap close up is filled with grit and determination, and every street scene feels detailed and lavished with attention.  It's blockbuster comics drawn perfectly, defying deadlines somehow, as sweet to behold as Olivier Coipel's Siege was the other year.

I may be judging these two events overly harshly and of course this is all just one man's opinion. The thing is I think in a crowded marketplace it's only right to have high expectations of superhero books, especially those that are right in the middle of the spotlight.  When I think of how good the Cap and Daredevil relaunches were (and how much story they seemd to contain), or how amazing Detective Comics, Batman Inc, Thunder Agents and Xombi over at DC have been, surely such "important" books should rise to meet that standard.  Or maybe it's an impossible standard given that these crossover's have to satisfy the demands and expectations of so many different people.

Or maybe I'm just getting old and have started to hate fun?