So, here’s the report from the Live Marvel Press Conference at Midtown Comics – at a little after noon today, to a PACKED store and a stream boasting more than a thousand viewers, Marvel announced their brand new event, FEAR ITSELF.
The press conference began by Joe Quesada giving a short speech about fear in our current environment, speaking of the economy and divides of belief, and bringing up the old slogan, “Who do you trust?” This then segued into Quesada showing a trailer featuring all of the teaser images from the Fear campaign, at the end of which announcing the event “Fear Itself”, written by Matt Fraction with art by Stuart Immonen as the Marvel heroes go up against the (brand new and bearded) God Of Fear. The theme and question is, “in a world full of fear, who will be the eight most worthy on the planet?” In a world of heroes and villains, who will succumb to the fear and what will be the results? The story will begin with a vicious reveal of something that happened a long time ago in Marvel’s history and move from there. It’s also described as “an extinction level event” by Marvel editor Axel Alonso.
They also announced a secret message from a mystery guest “transmitting from an underground bunker” (in Portland), which was revealed to be Matt Fraction, who went on to talk about what inspired the event, claiming that this would be the biggest story Marvel has ever told as well as adding that soon Marvel would be teasing the “eighty worthy” and why. He and others also repeatedly note Civil War as a thematic comparison.
The story begins in April 2011 with seven issues, with a prologue being released in March by Ed Brubaker and Scott Eaton starring Cap and the Invaders. There will also be tie-ins featuring Dracula and the X-Men, the Hulk, and Spider-Man described as Tom Brevoort as a “massive undertaking,” although he notes that if you read only the main title you will be satisfied.
So there you have it kids! We’ll update with better pictures when we have them (as Marvel promised all that is shown at the conference will be available online), as well as any additional information we receive.
