Fear Itself (comics)

"Fear Itself"
Promotional image by Stuart Immonen
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Publication date	April – October 2011
Main character(s)	Thor Captain America Iron Man The Worthy: - Serpent: God of Fear - Skadi: Herald of the "Serpent" - Kuurth: Breaker of Stone - Nul: Breaker of Worlds - Skirn: Breaker of Men - Nerkkod: Breaker of Oceans - Mokk: Breaker of Faith - Greithoth: Breaker of Wills - Angrir: Breaker of Souls
Creative team
Writer(s)	Matt Fraction (miniseries) Ed Brubaker (prologue)[1]
Penciller(s)	Stuart Immonen (miniseries) Scot Eaton (prologue)[1] Steve McNiven (miniseries covers)
Inker(s)	Wade von Grawbadger
Colorist(s)	Laura Martin

"Fear Itself" is a 2011 crossover comic book storyline published by Marvel Comics, consisting of a seven-issue, eponymous miniseries written by Matt Fraction and illustrated by Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger, and Laura Martin, a prologue book by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Scot Eaton, and numerous tie-in books, including most of the X-Men family of books.

"Fear Itself" was first announced by then-Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada, Executive Editor Tom Brevoort and X-Men group editor Axel Alonso at a press conference held at Midtown Comics Times Square on December 21, 2010. The story, whose title is a reference to the famous quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself", depicts the various superheroes of the Marvel Universe contending with the Serpent, an Asgardian fear deity who causes global panic on Earth, and who seeks to reclaim the throne of Asgard he contends was usurped by his brother, Odin, father to Thor, when the latter vanquished him ages ago. Within the comics, the characters refer to this conflict as The Serpent's War. Although it is a company-wide crossover, it emphasizes Captain America and Thor, as with past crossovers of the late 2000s.^[2]

Critics exhibited mixed reaction to the different books of the storyline, praising the art in general, but generally panned the writing, especially in the core miniseries, and reported that the title failed to sell through at shops,^[3] though greater praise was given to some of the tie-in books, with one critic summarizing, "Fear Itself was a disaster. I don't see many people arguing that point—the most that can be said is that it had some amazing tie-ins", in particular Avengers Academy, Journey into Mystery and the later tie-in issues of Uncanny X-Men.^[4] Criticism was also directed to the number of books involved in the crossover, its duration, the lack of a clear beginning, middle and end to its structure,^[5] inconsequential character deaths, and the lack of any change to the status quo.^[6] The overall storyline holds an average score of 7.4 out of 10 at the review aggregator website Comic Book Roundup, with the core miniseries holding a 6.5, and the various tie-ins ranging from 4.3 to 7.9.^[7]