Simon is probably going to disagree with me, but I think Fear Itself has been a really good story so far. Okay, so maybe it’s not as good as Civil War orSecret Invasion, but it’s been a pretty fun story and I’ve been enjoying it. As with every other big comic book event, Fear Itself has a bunch of tie-ins to go along with it and give you more of the story. One of my favorite tie-ins for this event is Fear Itself: Spider-Man, written by Chris Yost with pencils by Mike McKone. Those two names alone automatically make this book worth reading.

In this last issue of the mini-series, Spider-Man is forced to go up against one of his oldest superhero pals, The Thing. Ben Grimm has been possessed by Angrir: Breaker of Souls and has decided to go on a rampage at a hospital where Spider-Man has just brought a pregnant woman who is on the verge of dying. Spider-Man’s been sick and fighting non-stop for almost two days straight and now has to fight one of the strongest characters in the Marvel Universe, who’s now more powerful than he’s ever been. All in an effort to protect as many people as possible.

With everything that Spider-Man has been through recently in his own book, I thought it was pretty interesting to see how he’s handling everything going to Hell. I always like to see stories where the hero is pushed to his limits, especially a story with Spider-Man. There’s something about Spider-Man as a character, he’s one of those comic book superheroes that can really be inspiring. It doesn’t matter what the odds are, he’s always going to be there to protect the people that need saving. It’s good to keep Spider-Man as the protector of the common man and I think Yost really brought that point out with the way this book ended.

I really enjoyed McKone’s art in this book. He did a great job portraying the hysteria of what’s going on in the world. Every panel shows how chaotic everything is and the way everything was laid out worked perfectly. The best thing about this book is how McKone draws The Thing. He’s one of my favorite artists for one of my all-time favorite characters, even if he’s a weird color and has creepy leech things on him. I did have a problem with the coloring though, I’m never a big fan of when Spider-Man’s costume looks black instead of blue, but beyond that, this book looked great.

When there are tons of tie-in books for big events, it’s easy to ignore a few of them. I understand that sometimes it’s hard to pick up every book. Although, I highly recommend this one. If you’re looking for a good Spider-Man story that sticks with his character and shows why he’s one of the greatest comic heroes ever, you might want to pick this series up.

Ken Zeider
Ken@ComicImpact.com