User blog:RaefGall/The Big Bad Wolf Itself

I'd like to start off by saying that I haven't really been impressed with most of the recent Marvel events. I feel like over and over again, Marvel promises us the Big Bad Wolf from Little Red Hiding Hood, stalking our heroes, killing their grandma, and crawling into bed, slowly leading up to the kill. Instead, we end up with the Big Bad Wolf from the Three Little Pigs, huffing and puffing and trying to blow their house down. Most of the recent events have had the potential to present subtle challenges to the characters. Unfortunately, the titles end up somewhat misleading, and the political and psychological developments always end up devloving into blunt force.

Secret Invasion seemed like an exciting premise. When the event started, no one was sure who the skrulls were and who could be trusted. There was a genuine feeling of doubt about a lot of heroes. Then the skrull forces invaded Earth en masse; once it started, there was nothing secret about the invasion.

Dark Reign was a great political plot, putting a villain in charge and watching as legitimate heroes were powerless. Sure, Norman Osborn isn't the most stable guy, but he was smart enough to pull everything into line, shut out the heroes, and win over the people by making himself a hero. Then he launched an attack on Asgard, making it clear that he was not only unstable, but clearly still a villain.

In the advertising leading up to Fear Itself, I was really excited that Marvel was finally on the right track. A villain whose purpose was to defeat heroes by confronting them with their worst fears would be a great plan! As the background issues played out, I was even more excited to see Sin, the Red Skull's daughter, as a major player. She strikes me as the type of villain who would rather use mind games an manipulation than brute force. Then I read the first issue and my dreams of subtle weapons to attack the mind were shattered as the Marvel heroes are once again confronted with blunt force, literally this time, as hammers fall from the sky.

Are the heroes in a position to be afraid? Sure! A lot of the 'big guys' of the Marvel universe were supercharged with divine hammers and are wreaking havoc, they have every right to be afraid. That doesn't mean that the heroes are being confronted with their own personal fears as was advertised in the months leading up to the event. The level of fear presented is no more than was present in other events like World War Hulk, Chaos War, or even the aforementioned Secret Invasion and Dark Reign! At least Secret Invasion and Dark Reign started out in the political and psychological realm, where Fear Itself jumped straight to hammers.

I understand that superhero comics are largely about super powered titans fighting evil and saving the world. I've still enjoyed most of these events, but I appreciate it a lot more when I know what to expect, rather than having my expectations built up and then shattered. In the end, the formula keeps falling back to fairy tales with villains huffing and puffing to destroy the world, and who's really afraid of the Big Bad Wolf, anyway?