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Guide Part 15 (Fear Itself)

We Have Nothing to Fear… But OMG SIN HAS A THOR HAMMER

Fear Itself is all about Odin’s greatest failure, with Thor-like Hammers falling to earth and possessing all those chosen worthy. The Marvel Universe really gets it handed to them, marking the end of several notable heroes for at least 12 seconds at a time.

In the history of the Marvel age of events, Fear Itself is likely to go down as an outlier. It’s the first major event following the Bendis-led arc that began with Avengers Disassembled and more or less ends with Siege. It’s also the only Marvel event named after a famous historical quote, even though at the time Marvel was promising more of these types of events in the future. The fact that Marvel stopped with Fear Itself will probably provide some indication as to the success and critical reception of the event.

Nonetheless, there are some good ideas presented here, confronting both heroes and readers with their greatest fears and the impact they can have on our society.

It’s worth noting before you begin that Fear Itself is followed by a mini-event entitled Shattered Heroes. This essentially just deals with the aftermath of Fear Itself and an issue by issue reading order has been included.

The reading orders below include first a collection of all relevant trades, followed by an issue by issue reading order list. With the trade reading orders, I generally recommend knocking out the primary issues first, but I realize it’s often more fun to jump around issue by issue. With these orders you can do both.

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Previous: Chaos War & Tie-Ins

Fear Itself Trade Reading Order

Issue by Issue Fear Itself Reading Order List

Fear Itself: The Book of the Skull #1

Fear Itself: Sin’s Past #1

Fear Itself #1

Fear Itself: The Home Front #1

Journey Into Mystery #622

Invincible Iron Man #503

Fear Itself: Spider-Man #1

Fear Itself: The Worthy #1

Fear Itself #2

Journey Into Mystery #623

The Avengers #13

Herc #3

Thunderbolts #158

Fear Itself: The Home Front #2

Invincible Iron Man #504

Invincible Iron Man #505

Fear Itself: Deadpool #1

Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt #1

Fear Itself: Wolverine #1

Fear Itself: Wolverine #2

Secret Avengers #13

Iron Man 2.0 #5

Iron Man 2.0 #6

Fear Itself #3

Herc #4

Fear Itself: FF #1

Alpha Flight #1

Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt #2

Thunderbolts #159

Avengers Academy #15

Avengers Academy #16

Ghost Rider #1

Secret Avengers #14

Hulk #37

The Avengers #14

Fear Itself: Wolverine #3

Hulk #38

The Avengers #15

Ghost Rider #2

Ghost Rider #3

Ghost Rider #4

Thunderbolts #160

Iron Man 2.0 #7

Journey Into Mystery #624

Fear Itself: Fearsome Four #1

Fear Itself: Fearsome Four #2

Fear Itself: Fearsome Four #3

Fear Itself: Fearsome Four #4

Thunderbolts #161

Thunderbolts #162

Fear Itself: The Home Front #3

Heroes For Hire #9

Heroes For Hire #10

Heroes For Hire #11

Fear Itself: The Home Front #4

Fear Itself: Spider-Man #2

Fear Itself: Spider-Man #3

Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #521

Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #522

Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #523

Fear Itself: Deadpool #2

Fear Itself: Deadpool #3

Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #1

Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt #3

Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt #4

Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt #5

Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt #6

Journey Into Mystery #625

Fear Itself #4

Uncanny X-Men #540

Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #2

Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #3

The New Avengers #14

The New Avengers #15

The New Avengers #16

Uncanny X-Men #541

Alpha Flight #2

Alpha Flight #3

The Avengers #16

Journey Into Mystery #626

Avengers Academy #17

Avengers Academy #18

New Mutants #29

New Mutants #30

New Mutants #31

Uncanny X-Men #542

Uncanny X-Men #543

New Mutants #32

The Avengers #17

Alpha Flight #4

Herc #5

Fear Itself #5

Fear Itself: The Home Front #5

Fear Itself: The Home Front #6

Herc #6

Fear Itself: Black Widow #1

Invincible Iron Man #506

Invincible Iron Man #507

Fear Itself: The Deep #1

Fear Itself: The Deep #2

Fear Itself: The Deep #3

Fear Itself: The Deep #4

Tomb of Dracula Presents: Throne of Blood #1

Fear Itself: Hulk vs. Dracula #1

Fear Itself: Hulk vs. Dracula #2

Fear Itself: Hulk vs. Dracula #3

Journey Into Mystery #627

Fear Itself: The Monkey King #1

Avengers Academy #19

Invincible Iron Man #508

Fear Itself #6

Journey Into Mystery #628

Secret Avengers #15

Fear Itself: The Home Front #7

Invincible Iron Man #509

Fear Itself #7

Journey Into Mystery #629

Avengers Academy #20

Journey Into Mystery #630

The Mighty Thor #7

Fear Itself: The Fellowship of Fear #1

Shattered Heroes Reading Order List

Avengers #18

Fear Itself: The Fearless #1

Avengers Academy #21

Fear Itself: The Fearless #2

Journey Into Mystery #631

Battle Scars #1

Incredible Hulk #2

Avengers #19

Avengers Academy #22

Fear Itself: The Fearless #3

Invincible Iron Man #510

The Mighty Thor #8

Defenders #1

Fear Itself: The Fearless #4

Avengers Academy #23

Journey into Mystery #632

Battle Scars #2

Invincible Iron Man #511

Avengers #20

Fear Itself: The Fearless #5

The Mighty Thor #9

Captain America #6

Avengers Academy #24

Defenders #2

Journey into Mystery #633

Captain America #7

Battle Scars #3

Avengers #21

Invincible Iron Man #512

The Mighty Thor #10

Journey into Mystery #634

Invincible Iron Man #513

The Mighty Thor #11

 

Next: Avengers vs. X-men

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View Comments (11)

  • Fear Itself: Wolverine #2 comes after Fear Itself #3 as the Wolverine issue shows Greithoth, Breaker of Wills and Angrir, Breaker of Souls who both made their first appearance in Feat Itself #3

  • Thunderbolts #158 comes before Herc #3 as Man-Bull escapes the Raft in Thunderbolts and then shows up free in Herc #3

  • Of all the events that need an essentials reccomendation for continuity. This is one that has snuck by without a peep

  • I think Invincible Iron Man #503 should come before Fear Itself #1.

    Although both issues end at the same place (the mysterious objects falling out of the sky), the rest of IIM #503 involves Stark Resilient people talking about their plans for the events of FI #1.

    Also the final page reads "To be continued in the pages of Fear Itself #1 and then next in the pages of The Invincible Iron Man!"

  • Shouldn't the Incredible Hulk issue be #1 instead of #2? #1 has the Shattered Heroes banner and isn't listed anywhere else.

  • The New Avengers #14-16 seem to be out of place (or else I am). They all show the Thing as a member and in #16, Daredevil is extended an invitation to join. Whereas earlier in the reading order, Black Panther is the Man without Fear and Ben Grimm has picked up on Peter, Paul and Mary's first big hit ("If I Had a Hammer").

    So, is this another case of the left Marvel not knowing what the right Marvel is up to?

  • "Fear Itself: Shattered Heroes (Cap, Iron Man, Thor one-shots- #7.1, #7.2, #7.3)"

    These don't appear to be in the issue-by-issue order. Where would you recommend them?

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