Marvel has a company-wide crossover event called Fear Itself that I’m currently reading, which brings about memories of past crossover events that I’ve read and collected, stories like Civil War, Siege, and Shadowland. It’s quite challenging financially to catch up on all the tie-ins of a major event, so I thought I’d do my part and talk about Fear Itself’s tie-ins (SPOILER alert).

The main story has ended, and a lot of tie-ins have wrapped up. Honestly, I’m quite disappointed with how the story turned out, so I’m a bit demotivated to finish reading and reviewing these tie-ins.

The debut of the American Panther.

Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #521-#523

The chaos of Fear Itself had resulted in the Hate Monger’s spirit to return and possess a bigot who had then used the Hate Monger’s power of mind control to bend the people against immigrants in Hell’s Kitchen. This puts this new Hate Monger and his henchman, the American Panther, against the Black Panther. Like the Herc tie-in, this is a really good read that doesn’t have strong ties to the Fear Itself story. If you’re looking for a complete Fear Itself experience, you can skip this. But if you’re a Black Panther fan or you just want a good read, this can be a good jumping on point for this series.

The Fearsome Four (clockwise from top): Nighthawk, She-Hulk, Howard the Duck, Frankenstein’s Monster.

Fearsome Four #1-#4

This tie in is about Howard the Duck’s quest to stop the Man-Thing, whose power stems from fear, from consuming the city. He enlists She-Hulk, Nighthawk, and Frankenstein’s Monster to aide him. I wouldn’t recommend picking up this title for several reasons: this has very little to do with Fear Itself, the story poses continuity problems as the Man-Thing was central to the Thunderbolts tie-ins, the cast is composed of B- and C-listers, and I found the story to be just average. No offense to the creators but I have to admit that I had to force myself to read through this for the sake of reviewing it. It wasn’t bad at all, but not good enough to be a must read.

Canada’s super hero team faces against one of the Worthy.

Alpha Flight #1-#4

Canada’s premier superhero team deals with Attuma in the first issue, but I don’t see how the rest of the “tie-in” issues actually tie into Fear Itself. In the succeeding issues, the team deals with an enemy from within the government that turns the people against them, as well as a surprising traitor in their ranks. Only the first issue is a must-read if you’re only considering strong ties to the Fear Itself story. But it’s a good read and a good start to a new ongoing series that reintroduces the team to the Marvel Universe. I hope this ongoing lasts longer than Marvel’s last attempt at an Alpha Flight series.

Who is the mysterious Monkey King?

Fear Itself: The Monkey King #1

This is a one-shot that tells the origin of the Monkey King, the character who briefly tussled with the Absorbing Man and Titania in the Iron Man 2.0 Fear Itself tie-ins. This has nothing to do with Fear Itself at all, only a a spinoff of a Fear Itself tie-in. A nice read, but the Fear Itself tag is misleading. Iron Fist fans should pick this up, but those focused on just Fear Itself can skip this.

The New Mutants are embroiled yet again in Asgardian conflict.

New Mutants #29-#32

This tie-in has the New Mutants follow Dani Moonstar, who is summoned to Hel by Hela in order to aide her against the Draumar, undying warriors who were formerly commanded by the Serpent. The sequence that shows how the Serpent lost to Odin is a must-read, but the rest of the tie-in is like a side-story that shows how the Serpent’s forces is affecting Hela’s realm.

This review/summary has been sitting in my drafts for quite some time. Since the TPB is coming out soon, this may help readers out there who are interested in picking up the title.

Background:

During the Messiah Complex storyline, Cyclops formed a field team that consisted of hunters, trackers and killers and sent them off to pursue the kidnappers of the newly born mutant. At the end of that story, Cyclops decided to retain the services of that team and named them X-Force – a group secret to the rest of the X-Men that was formed to be a proactive and permanent solution to mutantkind’s problems.

The existence of the team was finally revealed during the events of Second Coming, when Wolverine inadvertently exposed his methods to the field team that was sent to intercept and retrieve Hope and Cable. Not sitting well with the rest of the X-Men, Cyclops finally disbanded the team after the final battle with Bastion. Unknown to Cyclops, Wolverine and Archangel formed a new X-Force lineup, deciding that their extreme way of dealing with issues are still very much needed.

Summary:

The story opens with Deadpool infiltrating an ancient structure. Witnessing a ritual, Deadpool successfully sends out his intel before he is downed by a minotaur-like statue. Receiving confirmation that Apocalypse has been resurrected, Archangel sets up a meeting with Wolverine and the rest of the team – the mutant telepath and Archangel’s on-and-off lover Psylocke, and the mercenary known as Fantomex. Aboard Fantomex’s ship E.V.A., the team proceeds to the ancient structure in an attempt to rescue Deadpool. They encounter the stone minotaur who attacks them. Wolverine is hit and is taken over by an inner rage, causing him to attack Archangel. Realizing the nature of the minotaur, Fantomex uses his powers of misdirection to convince the minotaur that he’s in love with Psylocke, which results in the explosion of the statue.

The team succeeds in rescuing Deadpool. Realizing that the structure is actually a ship that is about to take off, the team escapes and regroups. They reflect on several realizations – that Apocalypse has indeed been resurrected, and that the minotaur that they encountered is an avatar of War, one of Apocalypse’s horsemen. Given the minotaur’s power, Archangel further muses that he is one of the Final Horsemen. The team decides to kill Apocalypse because he poses a major threat and using E.V.A., they travel to the moon.

The Final Horsemen (clockwise from left): Famine, Death,  Pestilence, and War.

Upon arriving, X-Force is immediately engaged by War, and the other horsemen follow suit: Famine, a Confederate soldier whose drumming causes a cancer that feeds on the flesh of those who hear it; Pestilence, a Japanese geisha with the ability to spew carnivorous beetles from her mouth; and Death, a Persian prince who has the ability to transmit terminal diseases to others whenever he is in contact with various metals. Due to the tremendous power of the Horsemen, X-Force is overcome easily – Archangel succumbs to Famine’s power, Deadpool is overwhelmed by Pestilence’s beetles, and Wolverine, Psylocke and Fantomex collapse due to the terminal diseases given to them by Death.

Using her psychic powers, Psylocke discovers the nature of each horseman’s powers. She enables Fantomex and Wolverine to fight by turning off the pain receptors in their brains and shut down their auditory organs before she is taken prisoner by War, who brings her to his chambers. With his misdirection power, Fantomex is able to disable Pestilence and fool Death into believing that he’s killing Wolverine, who in reality was swapped with an unconscious Pestilence. The two heroes make a retreat and, being unable to find them, the remaining three Horsemen retire to their fortress. While this was happening, Deadpool recovers due to his healing factor and proceeds to feed Archangel bits of his flesh.

Upon realizing that Apocalypse’s ship/fortress is about to teleport off, Wolverine orders Fantomex to use his misdirection powers to fool the ship into thinking that it has already taken off. It works, due to the ship’s sentient nature, and the pair make their final assault. Meanwhile, Psylocke uses Fantomex’s misdirection to her advantage – she flirts with War, giving her the opening to incapacitate the Horseman via her Psychic knife.

After felling Apocalypse’s lackeys, the duo were once again overwhelmed by the remaining three Horsemen. Relishing their victory, the illusion fades and the three realize that they have been victimized by Fantomex’s misdirection. While fooled into believing that they had Wolverine and Fantomex beaten, a recovered E.V.A. transported the three to another planet. Rejoined by Deadpool and a recovered Archangel, the four made their way to Apocalypse’s chambers and were confronted by Psylocke.

The team discovered that Apocalypse has been reincarnated as a young boy, which prompted Psylocke to change her mind about killing the despot. Wolverine is also swayed , and after a brief tussle, Archangel finds out that he cannot murder the child, even if it is Apocalypse. Fantomex ends their argument by shooting the young Apocalypse in the head. At a loss for words, the team is jolted back to reality when the fortress shuddered in preparation for the teleport jump. Completely silent, the team departs from the area. They will have to deal with the ramifications of their mission some other time.

Future Impact:

Not much effect on the Marvel universe outside of X-Force, but this sets up a future storyline in the X-Force title: The Dark Angel Saga.

My favorite moment:

I loved the entire storyline, but there’s one scene that’s quite unforgettable – Deadpool feeding Archangel bits of his flesh. It’s crazy, it kind of makes sense, and it was totally unexpected.

Open wide…

My least liked moments:

This is nitpicking, but Famine’s power didn’t make much sense to me. He can conjure a bio-auditory sound that consumes the flesh of everyone who hears it – so flesh is consumed, and yet Archangel recovers from it by feeding on Deadpool’s flesh? Also, the team relied heavily on Fantomex’s powers of misdirection. Without Fantomex, they would’ve been screwed three times over. Would’ve preferred it if the misdirection wasn’t used like a Deus Ex Machina that saved them from the predicament they were in multiple times in the same storyline, but thankfully the rest of the team didn’t look incompetent – rather, the threat of the Final Horsemen was really established because of this.

Final Thoughts:

If you thought the recent X-Force was good, wait until you read this. The cast is perfect, the dialogue is crisp and in-character, with each standing out as an individual personality that contributes to the team rather than just being a member of the roster. Being free from the usual X-Men storyline helps a lot and gives Rick Remender the freedom to explore storylines without having to stay within the boundaries of the current status quo. There’s also a lot of action that makes sense, and none of the important battle scenes happen off-panel. This is a good opening arc that plants seeds for future storylines and successfully establishes why we need X-Force.

Marvel has a company-wide crossover event called Fear Itself that I’m currently reading, which brings about memories of past crossover events that I’ve read and collected, stories like Civil War, Siege, and Shadowland. It’s quite challenging financially to catch up on all the tie-ins of a major event, so I thought I’d do my part and talk about Fear Itself’s tie-ins (SPOILER alert).

There’s an influx of completed tie-ins, I don’t think I can cover all those in this post, so I’ll only talk about the recently completed tie-ins that I read first (meaning, those that I was interested in more).

Stopping the unstoppable – can the X-Men succeed?

Uncanny X-Men #540-#543

After a successful engagement against the Thunderbolts, the possessed Juggernaut continued to make his way west towards San Francisco, where the X-Men are headquartered. What transpires is another “stop the Juggernaut” story and I thought it was a great read. The tie-in is able to continue X-Men story threads while being fully tied into Fear Itself. A must-read to see where else Juggernaut wreaks havoc and to see why Cyclops is considered a good strategist.

Everyone’s busy so it’s up to Wolverine to deal with S.T.R.I.K.E. in this tie-in.

Fear Itself: Wolverine #1-#3

Similar to the Herc tie-in, the Fear Itself: Wolverine limited series is about bad guys taking advantage of the chaos brought upon by Sin and her forces. This time, the bad guys are members of the thought to be defunct organization known as S.T.R.I.K.E., now more akin to a terrorist group. Successfully taking over one of Osborn’s helicarriers, S.T.R.I.K.E. is manipulated into dropping a nuke on New York City shortly before Sin’s invasion forces arrive. This is a average-to-good read, but has very little to do with the main Fear Itself storyline. It’s also hard to make sense of where this fits in Fear Itself, given Wolverine’s appearances here, Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force, and New Avengers. Not essential if you’re only looking for a complete Fear Itself experience, but not a waste of money if you want to read a Wolverine story.

The Avengers try to contain the Hulk in Brazil.

Avengers #13-#17

Like the New Avengers tie-ins, the Avengers tie-ins feature one-off stories per issue that’s framed in Bendis’ oral history approach. And like the New Avengers tie-ins, I’d have to rate the Avengers tie-ins per issue. Issue #13 shows the Avengers around the time of Stark’s press conference on rebuilding Asgard, #14 covers the Red Hulk and Thing battle in New York, #15 shows the Avengers group that faced the Hulk in Brazil, #16 is about Steve Rogers’ assault on one of Sin’s bases in Sweden, and #17 is a battle between the Avengers and Sin. Basing it solely on how strongly tied an issue is to Fear Itself, I’d say issues #14, #15, and #17 are must-reads while issues #13 and #16 are nice-to-haves if you have if they fit in your budget. As for quality of the writing, well, I have to be honest – Bendis’ talking heads approach is an acquired taste, and I don’t have it yet. I didn’t like his Fear Itself tie-ins and will probably skip most issues during re-reads.

The Absorbing Man took his recent losses to Hank Pym personally, and now he wants payback.

Avengers Academy #15-#19

The best Avengers-related Fear Itself tie-in in my humble opinion, Avengers Academy is a must-read. With Speedball away (in The Homefront) and the rest of the faculty helping out on the Raft (funny how they didn’t even run into the Thunderbolts or Heroes for Hire), it became up to Tigra and the students to help fend off the Washington, D.C. invasion. Pym, Quicksilver, and Justice are then sent to Dubai to deal with Absorbing Man and Titania, who shunted them off to the Microverse. This allowed both Worthy to reach the Avengers Mansion, leaving the students to deal with the two by themselves. A must-read tie-in, so go ahead and get this.

Marvel has a company-wide crossover event called Fear Itself that I’m currently reading, which brings about memories of past crossover events that I’ve read and collected, stories like Civil War, Siege, and Shadowland. It’s quite challenging financially to catch up on all the tie-ins of a major event, so I thought I’d do my part and talk about Fear Itself’s tie-ins (SPOILER alert).

In Part 1, I talked about Sin’s Past #1, Fear Itself: Spider-Man #1-#3, Iron Man 2.0 #5-#7, and Fear Itself: FF #1, recommending the Spider-Man and FF tie-ins. In Part 2, I talked about Secret Avengers #13-#15, Herc #3-#6, Fear Itself: Black Widow #1 and Fear Itself: Deadpool #1-#3, recommending none of the tie-ins but giving the Herc and Deadpool tie-ins as good reads.

These are different incarnations of the Thing and the Hulk, and yet they still end up fighting each other.

Hulk #37-#38

Both issues revolve around the Red Hulk’s battle with the Thing in New York, but add the story of M.O.D.O.K. and Zero/One, two technologically-enhanced organisms that used to be human who are pursuing the Red Hulk in order to kill him. Their advanced intelligence leading to the realization that Sin’s invasion force is the greater enemy, the two villains instead cooperated and defended New York from the invaders that followed the Thing’s path of destruction. This has strong ties to Fear Itself, and I think is a must-read just to see the real outcome of the Red Hulk and Thing fight.

Can the Thunderbolts stop the unstoppable?

Thunderbolts #158-#162

One of the better ongoing titles that has ties to Fear Itself, the Thunderbolts issues first show the team deal with the situation at the Raft, securing prisoners and escapees and restoring security before heading out to stop their teammate from wreaking havoc on Chicaco. Failing to stop the unstoppable Juggernaut, both the Thunderbolts A- and B-Teams engage Sin’s invasion force. This is what I’d like to see in tie-ins: the issues successfully continue previous plot threads and start new ones while directly tying-into the main storyline. It also gives screen time to the Thunderbolts staff – insights on warden John Walker, former member Crossbones, and then-current member the Juggernaut before he became possessed. Finally, I like how they avoided plot holes by limiting Luke Cage’s appearances to simply communicating with Songbird (after all, Cage was with the Avengers in New York) so it meshes well with the overall story. My only nitpick is that even after 3 re-reads, the end of #162 didn’t mesh well with the start of #163 – it’s like something happened off-panel. I won’t spoil the details so you’ll have to get the issues to read about it. This is definitely a must-read tie-in.

Misty Knight’s recruits for this mission (clockwise from top): Shroud, Gargoyle, and Elektra

Heroes for Hire #9-#11

Another ongoing title that ties into Fear Itself, the Heroes for Hire issues revolve around two pairs of heroes hired by Misty Knight to help with the situation: Elektra and the Shroud at the Raft breakout and Paladin and the Gargoyle at Yancy Street to deal with the Thing. At the Raft, Elektra and Shroud helped round up escapees but they are soon confronted by the Purple Man. Paladin and the Gargoyle ended up losing badly against the possessed Thing and decide to stay to help out survivors but are attacked by a new villain called Monster. A decent read, but the connection to Fear Itself isn’t as strong as other tie-ins – the Raft scenes are limited to just one section, and the battle with the Thing only lasts a few panels. Not a must-read, but it adds to the Fear Itself experience. Get this only if you have the budget.

Daredevil was supposed to be in the New Avengers lineup when the book was relaunched, but spoilers caused Bendis to drop him.

New Avengers #14-#16

As I mentioned before, the Avengers tie-ins (save for Avengers Academy) focus each issue on individual members of the Avengers. What separates Bendis’ work from Secret Avengers is his “oral history” approach – a story is woven via excerpts taken from “interviews” conducted with the Avengers members. Another advantage is that the New Avengers tie-ins manage to continue story threads of previous New Avengers issues – Mockingbird’s “rejuvenation” is covered in the first tie-in, Squirrel Girl’s value as a nanny in the second tie-in, and Daredevil’s long overdue inclusion in the New Avengers is shown in the final tie-in.  All three issues are right in the middle of the New York invasion so this really does add to the Fear Itself experience, but the “oral history” storytelling method is an acquired taste – yes, the New Avengers tie-ins really happen in the middle of Fear Itself, but that doesn’t mean it’s good. Not a must-have, but should be considered if you have extra cash (note the emphasis on extra).

That’s four tie-ins, all with strong enough ties to Fear Itself, but I only consider two (Hulk, Thunderbolts) as must-reads. The other two tie-ins are for those who want to get all of the tie-ins or those who just want a little more of the Fear Itself experience. We’re drawing to a close now – the main series is already at issue six (of seven) and most of the remaining tie-ins are on their last or second to the last issue – how many more are Worthy of your money?

Who is this character:

Avalanche is a mutant with the power to generate seismic waves from his hands. He was a member of Mystique’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants incarnation (one of the more popular incarnations) and joined the team together when they worked for the United States government as Freedom Force. A friend of Pyro, Avalanche showed some nobility when he spent some time trying to find a cure for the Legacy Virus. Recently, he gave up his criminal ways and set up a bar in San Francisco that has become a frequent stop for his fellow mutants. He’s donned his costume more than once since then, assisting Cyclops and his X-Men when called on.

Avalanche’s costume is actually a suit of armor that offers protection from injury.

Kick-ass moment that I read about:

He’s been off most writers’ radar recently, but he’s still significant to have minor parts in recent storylines, such as when he assisted the other X-Men in holding off the Nimrod sentinels during Second Coming. He was Cyclops’ Plan # 4 in attempting to stop the hammer-wielding Juggernaut during the events of Fear Itself.

Avalanche was relevant enough to warrant multiple VS System card versions. This is one of the rarer Avalanche cards.

Why this character should be “clixed”:

The most recent set rotation removed several Brotherhood of Mutant figures from Modern Age so it helps to have a few cost-efficient Brotherhood members, especially since two of the more prominent Brotherhood-keyworded figures in Modern Age (Juggernaut and Magneto) weigh in at almost 200 points. The Freedom Force keyword also had several additions in the form of Mystique, Pyro and Blob so I consider it as an injustice not to remake the other prominent Freedom Force members.

Avalanche’s and Pyro’s friendship even made it to the popular 90′s X-Men Animated series.

What I want to see in this character’s clix incarnation:

Seeing all those Duo traits in the Captain America set made me want something similar for Avalanche, whose been known to buddy up with Pyro during their stints in the Brotherhood and Freedom Force. So the first thing that I want to see in a remake is a trait that gives both Avalanche and Pyro a +1 attack bonus whenever they are adjacent to each other. While the Duo traits all have the word “Duo” in their names, I can’t help but use the name Shake and Bake for this trait.

Shake and bake, baby!

As for Avalanche’s powers – I’ve never known him to have any special movement abilities so I didn’t assign him any Speed Powers. His seismic ability was represented by the Pulse Wave power in his previous incarnation, and I want to retain that here but add two other abilities; the first ability being the standard Quake power, and a second ability that allows Avalanche to use Quake along a single line and generate debris markers on squares with opposing characters. I’d also like to give him Barrier as he uses his seismic powers to raise chunks of earth as barriers, and Toughness for his suit of armor. He loses Barrier, Pulse Wave and the special Quake to give way for standard Toughness and Quake once he takes enough damage. I also gave him a range of 8 so he can use Pulse Wave at a range of 4. Here’s my Heroclix version of Avalanche:

I have another version in mind that I’ll work on soon, maybe an Avalanche that can do a ranged Quake and create debris markers within his range and line of sight (will make him Magneto’s favorite mutant co-hort), but right now I’m aiming for a version that would pull his weight in teams without Magneto. I really hope to see a version of him soon – Wizkids, I hope you’re listening!

Marvel has a company-wide crossover event called Fear Itself that I’m currently reading, which brings about memories of past crossover events that I’ve read and collected, stories like Civil War, Siege, and Shadowland. It’s quite challenging financially to catch up on all the tie-ins of a major event, so I thought I’d do my part and talk about Fear Itself’s tie-ins (SPOILER alert).

The Secret Avengers: (top, left to right) Steve Rogers, Sharon Carter; (bottom, left to right) Beast, Black Widow.

Secret Avengers #13-#15

Except for Avengers Academy, the Avengers tie-ins have all been single issue stories focusing on the experience of a member as the events of Fear Itself unfold. The three Secret Avengers tie-ins follow the same format, with Beast featuring in a story about a politician friend of his who is refusing to leave his post in the U.S. Capitol during the Blitzkrieg of Sin’s forces in Washington. The second issue shows Valkyrie help a female soldier deal with the death of a loved one on the battlefield as she reminisces of her own experience. The third issue is all about the Black Widow as she reprimands the staff of a public news and gossip website for capitalizing on the tragedies resulting from Sin’s attacks. They’re entertaining stories, but I have to be honest – these stories didn’t really add to my Fear Itself experience. Can be skipped, and I only recommend this to readers who want more glimpses on what goes on with the non-hero folk during these events.

Hercules, the now-mortal son of Zeus in his new costume and sporting new weapons.

Herc #3-#6

Herc’s Fear Itself tie-in involves Raft escapees Basilisk, Griffin and Man-Bull as they ally themselves with Hercules against Kyknos and Hecate in Brooklyn. Hecate, feeding on the fear rising across the globe, empowers Kyknos and backs him up in his quest to revive Ares, the God of War. This story is a nice read but has little to do with Fear Itself. Pick this up if you’re a Hercules fan; skip if you’re on a limited budget.

The Russian super-spy finds herself in another Fear Itself tie-in.

Fear Itself: Black Widow #1

A one-shot story that follows Black Widow on a mission given to her by Steve Rogers after the events of Fear Itself #3: stop terrorists in France and rescue all of their hostages. I wonder why Black Widow got a one-shot when she already had a solo story in Secret Avengers. There’s nothing special in this one-shot, and it doesn’t have much to do with Fear Itself so my verdict is skip.

Err… You’ve got the wrong idea, Deadpool.

Fear Itself: Deadpool #1-#3

This three issue tie-in centers around Deadpool’s attempt to cash in on the chaos brought about by Sin and the Serpent. Pretending to be the “Spectre of Mass Destruction”, Deadpool successfully convinces the Walrus that he has been “chosen” via a regular-looking sledgehammer and manipulates him into causing property damage in Cimarron, New Mexico. He then convinces the residents of Cimarron to hire him to stop the Walrus which almost backfires when the sledgehammer’s mystical powers trigger under the full moon’s light. A silly story that has nothing to do with the main Fear Itself storyline. Some jokes throughout the tie-in fall flat but the Beatles’ fan in me appreciates the Walrus references. A fun read, but on a tight budget this should be skipped.

On my previous post, I recommended two out of four tie-ins. How did we fare this time around? Not too good, with four out of four tie-ins that can be skipped. One is a worthwhile read though, and the other can be a good read if you like slapstick. So if you have a little extra space in your budget consider getting the Herc and the Deadpool tie-ins.

Marvel has a company-wide crossover event called Fear Itself that I’m currently reading, which brings about memories of past crossover events that I’ve read and collected, stories like Civil War, Siege, and Shadowland. It’s quite challenging financially to catch up on all the tie-ins of a major event, so I thought I’d do my part and talk about Fear Itself’s tie-ins (SPOILER alert).

Sin becomes Skadi, the (Marvel) Norse God of Fear in Fear Itself #1.

Fear Itself: Sin’s Past #1

This is a one-shot with a little summary on Sinthia Shmidt AKA Sin, the Red Skull’s daughter and one of the main villains of Fear Itself. What you get for the $4.99 cover price is a few new pages showing Steve’s thoughts on Sin, and then has reprints of Captain America # 355 – # 357.  Not worth $4.99, in my humble opinion.

Fear Itself: Spider-Man #1-3

A side-story that features Spider-Man as he tries to deal with the wave of fear that’s sweeping across New York City. The story also focuses on several civilians and how they’re coping with different situations during the ongoing madness, and how Spider-Man manages to save them. In the end, Spider-Man faces off against a hammer-wielding Thing and suceeds in driving the possessed hero away from a hospital. A good read, but it’s kind of hard to tell where this fits in the overall event, considering that Spider-Man makes appearances in the New Avengers tie -in,  as well as the main series. Consider getting this tie-in just to get a glimpse of what goes through civilians’ minds (and to check out Mike McKone’s art).

Fat Cobra, War Machine and Iron fist against a transformed Absorbing Man.

Iron Man 2.0 #5-7

This tie-in starts in Washington D.C., where Secret Avengers Beast, Ant-Man, and War Machine were deployed in Secret Avengers #13. The Prince of Orphans, one of the Immortal Weapons and recent member of the Secret Avengers, joins them only to be transported (together with War Machine) to China where they meet up with Iron Fist and the other Immortal Weapons. The tie-in to Fear Itself is the brief fight that ensued between the heroes and Titania, which ends abruptly after the Absorbing Man takes possession of his hammer and knocks all of the heroes out. The story then focuses on the Immortal Weapons as they attempt to close the Hell Gate (the reason why all of the Immortal Weapons were transported to China). Having very little to do with Fear Itself, the only reasons for reading this tie-in are (1) if you’re a War Machine/Iron Fist/Immortal Weapon fan or (2) if you want to see how the Absorbing Man finds his hammer. Otherwise, skip this.

The Thing, transformed into Angrir, Breaker of Souls.

Fear Itself: FF # 1

This one-shot picks up from Fear Itself #3, after the Thing picks up the hammer that landed in New York City. This tie-in features the rest of the Future Foundation as they try to stop their teammate from wreaking havoc. This definitely adds to the overall story as it explains how the hammer is manipulating Thing, who normally shows resistance to mind control and other influences. It’s not essential, but if you can afford it, you should get this tie-in.

Daken LE from the Web of Spider-Man Set

The format is limited to 500 point Modern Age armies but with a twist – an army must have at least three figures that have the following symbols/abilities: the Transporter Speed symbol, the Duo Attack symbol, the Sharpshooter Attack symbol, the Indomitable Defense symbol, the Giant Damage symbol, the Colossal Damage symbol, and the Trait symbol. A symbol can only be represented once, e.g. a team with three figures that have the Sharpshooter symbol isn’t qualified. Also, a figure can only represent one symbol, even if it has two or more, e.g. Cloak and Dagger, who has both the Transporter symbol and the Duo symbol counts as just one in meeting the requirement.

While building my army, I wanted to adhere to comic accuracy, so I stuck with Named Keywords. I almost chose Marvel Knights (ironic, as you’ll see later) but I ended up choosing an army centered around the Justice League of America keyword. In order to meet the specified format, I selected The Atom and Hawkman (Duo symbol, 120 points) from The Brave and the Bold set, Green Arrow (Sharpshooter symbol, 80 points) and Aquaman (Transporter symbol, 106 points) from the DC 75th Anniversary set. I selected the three figures because they added up to just 306 points, leaving me with 194 points – definitely a lot of room for including strong figures.

To round out the team, I selected Batman from the Justice League set (75 points), and Barry Allen (the second Flash) from the DC 75th Anniversary set (119 points). Barry Allen would serve as my main attacker – with his Hypersonic Speed of 14 and 3 Damage, he could attack and penetrate Invulnerability, then evade. Meanwhile, Batman was my strategic piece, allowing me to counter any problematic powers on the opposing team.

From left to right: Barry Allen, The Atom and Hawkman, Batman, Aquaman, and Green Arrow

The event involved eight players, which needed three rounds to determine an overall winner. In the first round, I faced against our judge (arguably one of the better players in the group) and it was almost a mirror match – he had selected the same three figures to qualify for the format. Instead of having Batman and Barry Allen, he included Superman from the DC 75th Anniversary set. It was a difficult match, but when time ran out, I had eliminated more figures and ended up the winner – Barry Allen was too hard to contain and his Superman didn’t do enough damage against my army to matter.

In the second round, I faced against another veteran who was semi-retired. He played an Animal-themed team that had Gorilla Grodd (from Arkham Asylum), Beast Boy, Solovar, Detective Chimp, and a Gorilla City Warrior (all from DC 75th Anniversary). It was a good team with a lot of offensive options – Mind Control, Outwit, Telekinesis, Willpower, you name, he had it. I thought I was going to lose, but a few bad rolls on his part gave me the advantage. Again, time ran out and I emerged victorious simply because I had eliminated more figures than he did.

In the third and final round, I got a little nervous. I had gone 2-0 without completely eliminating the opposing teams, winning solely on point advantage. When I saw the opposing team, I calmed down a bit. My opponent, another veteran and former judge, called it a “Shadowland” team, but it really wasn’t. It was the Marvel Knights team that I initially considered (see the irony) and I was going against it in the final round. The team was composed of Daredevil (81 points, from the Hammer of Thor set), Cloak and Dagger (Transporter symbol, 109 points), Elektra (Indomitable symbol, 80 points), Power Man and Iron Fist (Duo symbol, 136 points) and Punisher (83 points). To fill out his team, he also included the Amadeus Cho bystander token (11 points) from the Mutations and Monster set.

It was a Stealth-heavy team, so I used a map that didn’t have a lot of hindering terrain – the Arkham Asylum map. What I failed to realise was Power Man and Iron Fist’s Wall Buster Special Power would greatly benefit from this map. After the first two turns, I knew that the map that I had chosen would be beneficial for my opponent. He moved his team around the map closely, with Power Man and Iron Fist boosting everyone’s defense values to 18 while at the same time smashing walls to provide the hindering terrain that the team needed.

I had placed an Open Hydrant Special Object in the middle of the map to impede his mobility and increase Aquaman’s effectiveness. Because of this, my only offensive option was to send Barry Allen around the map, eventually taking out the Amadeus Cho token. Facing an 11 point deficit, my opponent sent the entire team after Barry, who retreated to one of the corners of the map. This was, for me, the turning point of the match. Chasing after Barry, my opponent placed all of his figures on one corner of the map. I tried making hit-and-run attacks with Barry, and he responded by smashing the surrounding walls to litter the ground with debris (which would stop Barry in his tracks). While he was busy dealing with Barry Allen in the corner, I destroyed the Open Hydrant and advanced my team to control the center of the map. Cornered, he was forced to take the offensive, sending Daredevil, Cloak and Dagger, and Elektra against The Atom and Hawkman. All the debris that my opponent created trapped the Punisher and Power Man and Iron Fist, resulting in a five-on-three battle in the middle. Holding the numbers advantage, I quickly disposed of Elektra and landed a good hit on Daredevil. Realizing that the odds of winning were low, my opponent conceded the match.

I’ve been playing Heroclix for years, and I’ve never gone undefeated in any event, so I’m very happy when I ended up with a 3-0 win/loss record without any byes. And this win was full of ironies – aside from facing the team that I initially came up with before switching to the Justice League, a almost exclusively Marvel player won an event playing an all-DC team. I wonder if there will be other tournament wins for me in the future?

Last May, several “modern” sets finally rotated out of Modern Age and I’m really feeling the effects. Before the recent retirement, I preferred the Modern Age format over Golden Age for several reasons that won’t be discussed here, but with several sets rotating out I’ve felt very restricted in team building, and what I’d like to talk about are the game elements that will be gone from Modern Age that I’m definitely going to miss. For Part 1, I’ll talk about Bystander Tokens.

In the past, Feats were the game elements that players used to fill out their teams. Feats are game cards that granted special abilities to characters who could meet the requirements at the cost of a few points, ranging from 0 to 25 points. Before feats were introduced, it was quite common to have teams that did not maximize the point limit – people were playing 287 point teams, 295 point teams, and so on. But feats allowed players to maximize their remaining points.

Bystander tokens were cards/tokens that represented single-click characters. They have the same attributes as actual figures – they can have range, speed, attack, defense, and damage values. A lot of bystander tokens even have standard and special powers. Since they only had one click of life, there wasn’t any need to represent these characters with actual 3D figures and dials. They were also quite affordable, with the most expensive bystander token costing only 15 points. When the Modern Age mechanics were announced, Feats were one of the game elements that were banned – this resulted in Bystander Tokens as one of two ways that players could use to round up their teams. Sadly, the last few sets with Bystander Tokens have rotated out, so we can’t use them anymore in Modern Age play. And I miss them a lot! Here are the Bystander tokens that I’ve always relied on to fill out my teams, in order of the least expensive:

Lila Cheney from Mutations and Monsters (6 points)

I have to be honest – I only reach for Lila Cheney if I need exactly 6 points for my team. She serves only one purpose that other Bystanders can’t do better, and that’s as a highly mobile tie-up piece. She’s got a Speed value of 10 and the Phasing/Teleport power, which means that she can definitely tie-up any figure that you need to keep occupied. Her Attack and Defense values are so low that you can’t expect her to survive battles, so once you send her out, you know she’ll get KO’ed. But at least your opponent is going to waste an action to KO her.

Val Cooper from Mutations and Monsters (7 points)

For an additional 1 point, you can upgrade from Lila Cheney with Val Cooper. Val fills a different role – she’s mobile blocking terrain that can fight back. Her Stealth can prevent opposing figures to take a shot at her, making her a good piece for your more important figures to hide behind. A Speed value of 7 can get her around well enough, and you can always have a flier carry her around. With effective placement, opponents won’t just waste an action to get to the figure that she’s protecting. Her Range value of 6, Attack value of 9 and Damage value of 1 means that she can at least fight back and ping opposing figures for 1 damage.

Jimmy Woo from Avengers (10 points) and Adeline Wilson from Crisis (9 points)

These two bystander tokens are quite similar to each other – they both have a Range value of 6, an Attack value of 9, a Damage value of 2, and Willpower. Willpower in itself is good for bystanders to have as it allows them to move two turns in a row without pushing, giving you more maneuverability if you’re using them as mobile blocking terrain. But they’re also capable attackers for their point cost due to their Attack and Damage values. I’ve used both of them successfully to ping through an opposing figure’s Toughness.

If you can afford it, spend the extra point and reach for Jimmy instead of Adeline. For that 1 point, you get 1 point for Speed (he’s got 8 compared to Adeline’s 7) and Defense (his 16 to her 15). Don’t underestimate Jimmy’s Defense – I’ve played several games wherein my opponent needed more than one attack just to take the token down – in fact, I’ve missed attacks on him myself.

Amadeus Cho from Mutations and Monsters (11 points)

Amadeus Cho’s combat values aren’t high enough to make him a factor in combat, but you’re spending 11 points for his special Outwit. If you don’t have any means of disruption in your team, you may want to make some room for Amadeus. For a measly 11 points, you get a token that will cancel any power at the cost of a Power action. That means he has to be clear before you can do any Outwitting, but for 11 points, that’s fine. Move him in place with Telekinesis, then Outwit away. Whenever I face teams with him in the roster, I usually try to take him out first as he really has a potential to mess up my plans.

Congorilla/Congo Bill from Crisis (15 points)

15 points may seem costly for a single-click character, but it’s well spent on Congo Bill/Congorilla. He’s two bystander tokens in one – Congo Bill, a jungle explorer with a range of 8 and Willpower and an Attack value of 9, or Bill’s alter-ego Congorilla, a simian with a Defense value of 17, Super Strength and Leap/Climb. At the start of every turn, you can choose between one of the two.

He costs a bit too high for me, and I’ve really only seen him get used for one purpose – to carry the Shield Disruptor along with him. The rules of the game do not allow characters to drop carried objects – this only happens if they lose the Super Strength power. And that’s what happens when you switch between Congorilla and Congo Bill! Have Congorilla carry the Disruptor with him, then next turn switch him back to Bill to enable the Shield Disruptor’s ability (more on this in part 2).

There are a lot of other Bystander tokens that got retired, but these are the six tokens that I’m missing the most. I hope there are alternatives in the future as it’s really hard coming up with enough points for a well-rounded Modern Age team these days.

In today’s comic publications, Angel wears this costume:

Luckily, I didn’t have to do a lot of modding. Several years ago, WizKids released the Danger Room Starter set, which included an Angel figure. It was nicely sculpted, arguably the best sculpt of feather-winged Angel that’s ever been released. The problem was, I didn’t like the paint-scheme:

It’s true, Angel wore this costume in comic books, but he rarely did in his blue-skinned version as shown here:

But it still wasn’t the current look, and personally I find the color scheme to be a bit off – I simply didn’t find the combination of Angel’s royal blue skin, rich blonde hair and deep red costume pleasing to the eye. So I got a bottle of light brown (Citadel Elf Flesh wasn’t available at the time) paint and did this:

Doesn’t he look better? I’ll update this post soon with a picture of Angel and the rest of the X-Men. Can’t wait to run this repainted figure in a tournament soon!