Wow! I really like this comic!

Marvel's big Summer Event book, Fear Itself is now nearly halfway done.  I have thoroughly enjoyed the way in which this series, unlike DC's Flashpoint, had made not-so-subtle references to real-world problems in a way that resonates with me.

The first 2 issues, while introducing us the the new Uber-villain of the piece, The Serpent, paint a picture of a world more like our own than the Big 2 Publishers usually go for (in their primary universes, anyway). Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter try to quell a riot in New York that serves as a direct metaphor for the Ground Zero Mosque controversy.  There's no doubt in my mind that real earthbound ignorance (ie Americans afraid of their President because he's black) and fear (see Middle East, past, present or future) served writer Matt Fraction ( @mattfraction ) well as he created a fantasy world w/ as much relatability  as I've seen in Marvel comics in a while (2007's Civil War springs to mind).  There's a great moment in issue 1 (i think), before The Serpent "rises", during which the Avengers are baffled by stopping a riot of people. We're not talkin' easily understood Villain vs. Hero rioting, it's people vs people.  It's harder to punch that kind of problem into submission.  Great stuff.  Now, on to the comic.

The Red Skull's daughter Sin, who Ed Brubaker ( @brubaker ) wrote so well, has obtained a magic Nazi Hammer, and freed a super-powerful and ruthless creature named The Serpent.  The Serpent summons 7 magic hammers from space (it's way cooler than it sounds), and creates 7 smash-happy minions out of Earth's strongest SuperPeople.  Juggernaut gets a hammer, which turns him into Kuurth - Breaker of Stone. Hulk gets one, too, and becomes Nul - Breaker of Worlds.

Meanwhile, as the evil dudes gather power, Tony Stark wants to rebuild Asgard, and again, the real world enters.  Echoes of the Roosevelt "New Deal" shine through here, as Stark strives to being the fearful, divided country together with lots of jobs and big National projects.  I rarely get history lessons shoehorned into comics in a less heavy handed way.  You can notice these themes, and appreciate them, or just read it as a silly superhero story.  Well done.

And , what a script. In a fantastic scene, Absorbing Man and Titania try to claim one of the curiously heavy magic space-hammers...
Absorbing Man: "It ain't comin' no matter how hard you tug on it."
Titania: "That's what your momma said."
Thanks for that, Matt.  Can you tell I love the dialogue here?  Everything is pitch perfect.  Another astounding line from Steve Rogers:
"Think you're the first giant girl with a hammer and no face that's tried to kill me?"

And Fraction ups the stakes big time, telling us, essentially that "these bad guys mean business". All of Asgard (not Thor of course) plan to abandon Earth to The Serpent and essentially "nuke the site from orbit.  It's the only way to be sure".  Odin suspects that when The Serpent is done with Earth, he will bring his War to Asgard, so plans to raze Earth before that happens.  The Gods are scared.  That's big.

As we are about halfway through the series, we needed 2 things to happen, and both do:
1. A hero must turn bad
2. A different hero must die
I wont do spoilers, but i really liked where Fraction went with this, although i wonder how Ed Brubaker feels about the events described in point 2.  A lot of hard work undone, Ed?

Everything here, from the cosmic craziness, to the Times Square riots, balances nicely, and maintains a steady but never boring pace.  Stuart Immonen's ( @stuartimmonen ) art is majestic, his best Superhero work since NextWave.  Nice new font, too. I am eagerly awaiting issue 4.