Spoiler Warning: Issue One

Spoiler Warning.  Issue One.

This is going to be a new style of discussion for things that haven't ended yet.  There is an obvious spoiler warning attached and these are all my best aproximations of what's to come.

Our topic today?  Fear Itself





Welcome to Issue one.  In Today's discussion I'll lead us along a road that answers the question of what's going to happen in Fear Itself.


At the time of this writing I have only read:
Fear Itself 1-4
Invincible Iron Man 503-505
Fear Itself Prologe:  book of the red skull.

Man, this is a doesy.  Now In all honesty, I wanted this to be my go to, top event.  I wanted this to be beter than Civil War and Siege.  But it's not.  It is, however, better than Secret Invasion, and more importantly, Flashpoint.  Here's the story in a nuteshell.  Sin, the Red Skulls Daughter and New Red Skull has sought out a dark artifact that has been hidden for years. Upon finding this hammer, she awakens an analogue to Odin, The Serpent.  He in turn, awakens The Mighty.  He sends 6 more hammers across the lands in order to instill fear in the world.  And while it isn't revealed until much later, he gains more power from fear.  Meanwhile in Iron Man we see one of the Mighty face off who does a painful thing and kills every person in Paris.  The best times are when the story slows down and lets us see the world cataclysm happening.  This is one of those events that would have benefited from taking a month off and using one shots to depict the world rather than tie in issues and mini series.  Matt Fractions main story doesn't quite hit all of the beats you want it to for whatever reason.  It feels like there are really great character moments, but the main series doesn't feature them.  they live in the tie-ins. Final Crisis had the same problems. 
So when it comes down to it, what do I find is required reading?  So far, Iron Man, the main series, and the prologue are all important issues.  And unfortunately I have a feeling more tie-ins will reveal themselves nessisary in order to understand the bigger picture. 

what does the future hold?  Well the most obvious thing I believe is that our heroes won't succeed.  Instead, we will see Dark Asgard rise and serve as an ongoing threat for Thor and his kin.
Ramifications for books not written by Matt Fraction?  Little. Unless your book is related to one of the Mighty.  Then there might be some short term fallout.  Mostly what we will see is the reformation of the Defenders.  We will also see some major shift in reaction to yet another world wide catastrophe that was allowed to run too far.  Now in Matt Fractions book we will see long lasting ramifications.  Tony will spend months making amends for his drinking and his falling off the wagon.  Thor will be dealing with what will be the death of someone likely Odin.  Honestly, other than a lackluster death in issue 3, there hasn't been anything that felt solid.  There is supposedly three more deaths before we are through but whether it'll have any meaning is left to be seen. Ultimately I'm worried that we are getting a dark reign style twist that doesn't felt properly established.  But I do feel we will leave this entire event with new, better villains for a number of characters leading into whatever comes next.

Stay tuned for Wednesday when I unveil the spoils of Schism.