Random Thought! I like theme weeks. This time, it will be an all Fear Itself edition to go with my Random Siege Thoughts post that I did before that event ended. It's Random Thoughts time! Get excited!

Link Thought! GraphiContent for comics. butterbeatleblog for popculture. 411mania for wrestling reviews and the occasional CD review.

Random Thought! Unlike my Siege Random Thoughts, I'm not going through all of the Fear Itself tie-ins I have. Journey into Mystery has been great, but isn't essential at all. I've enjoyed some of Bendis's New Avengers and Avengers tie-ins, but, again, none are essential. If I had them all, I would include Invincible Iron Man since Matt Fraction is writing that, too. As the usual rule of thumb: ignore everything not written by the event's writer... except for one thing...

Random Fear Itself: Book of the Skull #1 Thought! A prologue not written by the writer of an event book is a prologue that you can pretty much ignore. That's a rule, fellas. But, since Fear Itself began as a Thor/Captain America crossover, it's worth seeing what Ed Brubaker brings to the table before the event proper kicks off.

Random Fear Itself: Book of the Skull #1 Thought! Scot Eaton draws lumpy faces.

Random Fear Itself: Book of the Skull #1 Thought! What Brubaker brings to the table: the hammer Sin will get in Fear Itself #1 was actually summoned by the Red Skull. That's how she knows where it is. That's all.

Random Fear Itself: Book of the Skull #1 Thought! This issue needed a scene where Bucky fights the Red Skull and gets stabbed, but survives. It's called foreshadowing, people!

Random Fear Itself: Book of the Skull #1 Thought! Granted, Bucky almost dies while fighting a Frost Giant. But he slays the giant, because he is mighty Bucky... and Captain America and Namor are fucking useless.

Random Fear Itself #1 Thought! Steve Rogers could take a brick to the skill if he was ready for it. He says that.

Random Fear Itself #1 Thought! For a guy who's been unfrozen since the early '60s, Steve Rogers is oddly unaccustomed to dealing with riots. Wasn't that all he did during Vietnam? Then again, back then, it was just hippies and college kids and they're not real people, so...

Random Fear Itself #1 Thought! The Avengers did tons of tests only to figure out that pissed off people sometimes riot. They live in a weird little bubble of magic and mind control.

Random Fear Itself #1 Thought! Apparently, it's not Steve Rogers that's awesome, it's Captain America. Because, right now, Steve ain't Captain America and Steve ain't awesome.

Random Fear Itself #1 Thought! Even Stuart Immonen can't make Noh-Varr's costume look halfway decent.

Random Fear Itself #1 Thought! The family leaving Broxton is like the Asgardians leaving Broxton. Economical troubles are to humans what secret All-Father God of Fears are to Asgardians. Now, that's social relevancy.

Random Fear Itself #1 Thought! Every man in Broxton is named Bill. Except for this Rick fella.

Random Fear Itself #1 Thought! The Avengers are out of touch with the 'common man.'

Random Fear Itself #1 Thought! Odin spits on your architects. Literally.

Random Fear Itself #1 Thought! Odin rants and raves at the Watcher. This foreshadows everyone else ranting and raving at Odin.

Random Fear Itself #1 Thought! Matt Fraction is in love with goofy Volstagg... and I can see why. "Imagine it, Steven! With your MIND!"

Random Fear Itself #1 Thought! Okay, Odin had Mjolnir forged ages ago... where the fuck did the Serpent get his seven hammers? Kind of convenient he had them waiting around, right?

Random Fear Itself #1 Thought! Odin is a mean old bastard. It's Matt Fraction taking his proper cue from Warren Ellis. Read "Worldengine" and you'll see this Odin. I love this Odin.

Random Fear Itself #2 Thought! I'm drinking pink lemonaide out of my Thor slurpee cup. That has nothing to do with this comic specifically, but it still seems appropriate.

Random Fear Itself #2 Thought! Seven minutes for working out time seems fairly random. Wouldn't most prisons make it, like, ten?

Random Fear Itself #2 Thought! The coming of the Serpent made autism rates skyrocket over the course of hours.

Random Fear Itself #2 Thought! This issue is nothing but hammers falling and news reporters freaking the fuck out.

Random Fear Itself #2 Thought! Seriously, where are the Avengers? Steve sent them all over the world and, now, they're not answer their phones? Maybe it's because news reports of how shitty everything is are jamming the airwaves.

Random Fear Itself #2 Thought! Biggest disappointment of the series: that Matt Fraction couldn't end this issue with Steve Rogers saying "I'm calling Avengers from all over the world -- this is Captain America calling!" (Tip of the hat to David Brothers for mentioning that song on Twitter with relation to this event...)

Random Fear Itself #3 Thought! Best part of the series: the guy heckling the Thing in this issue. He reminds me of a young Stan Lee.

Random Fear Itself #3 Thought! I've finished reading this comic and, yeah, stuff happened. Thor tried to escape, but was caught... and then his father tossed him towards Earth anyway. Bucky was killed. The Thing picked up a hammer and turned evil. And Steve Rogers stood around wondering what's going on... he isn't the only one.

Random Fear Itself #3 Thought! I would have liked to see Sin simply beat Bucky to death with his artificial arm.

Random Fear Itself #3 Thought! Why does Bucky randomly shout out "Avengers Assemble!" when he's only got Black Widow and Falcon backing him up? They hang out and fight stuff all of the time and he never shouts that. It's like he thought yelling it would make Sin fall down from fear or something.

Random Fear Itself #3 Thought! Every event needs a death. It's a shame that it had to be Bucky when he's about twenty times more interesting as Captain America than Steve is...

Random Fear Itself #4 Thought! Okay, that first page is just referencing the Thor movie for no good reason.

Random Fear Itself #4 Thought! On the two-page layout of the Serpent talking and, then, Odin, having Odin speak in the first panel of his page ruins the symmetry. Come on, guys, you're better than that.

Random Fear Itself #4 Thought! While everyone is fighting bad guys, Iron Fist is acting as a human campfire for some people in China.

Random Fear Itself #4 Thought! The fear of a small child is the final bit of fear the Serpent needs. He drinks your fucking milkshake.

Random Fear Itself #4 Thought! Rednecks angry at superheroes and acting like any of them are afraid of his puny shotgun will never not be funny to me.

Random Fear Itself #4 Thought! Tony Stark finally takes a drink... But, why would Odin care? How is THIS a sacrifice for Odin? He's used to live animals slaughtered, not some dude drinking "Demon in a Bottle." Seriously, it says "Demon in Bottle" (in French) on the label and has a picture of Iron Man's helmet with horns. Are we to believe that, in the Marvel Universe, someone has decided to market a booze around Tony Stark being an alcoholic? Then again, it was a bottle sent to him by a corporate rival, so maybe it was specially made. Odds are, they found an old Iron Man helmet and brewed up whatever is in the bottle inside of that helmet. Brewed in Iron Man for Iron Man!

Random Fear Itself #4 Thought! Odin and Asgard are Led Zeppelin. The Serpent and the Worthy are Motörhead. Think about it. Also, the Serpent looks like Lemmy. Thor vs. the Serpent is basically Robert Plant vs. Lemmy. It's like when Triple H and the Undertaker fought at WrestleMania and it turned into Motörhead vs. Johnny Cash. Of course, Motörhead needed to call on Metallica for back-up then... wait, what was I talking about>

Random Fear Itself #4 Thought! Thor is tired of people dropping him in random places.

Random Fear Itself #4 Thought! Odin only comes down to listen to Stark because, like me, Odin is amused by drunk's rambling about how the world owes them things and nothing is their fault and how they're victims. Drunks are funny.

Random Fear Itself #5 Thought! BRAWL!

Random Fear Itself #5 Thought! Tony Stark got drunk quickly. He took, like, one swig and he's wasted. That's probably why he shouldn't drink.

Random Fear Itself #5 Thought! Okay, Stark holding up eight fingers while mentioning that the Serpent dropped eight weapons on Earth is funny...

Random Fear Itself #5 Thought! The Serpent breaking Cap's shield is also an unintentionally funny moment. I think it's the growl he lets out while doing it.

Random Fear Itself #5 Thought! I like Thor's fight against the Thing and Hulk. I kind of wish the entire comic was just that. One big brawl. Screw that other crap -- 22 pages of those guys wailing on one another.

Random Fear Itself #5 Thought! I also like Thor's final exchange with the Hulk: "I could never beat you." "I knew." "DID YOU NOW." *home run swing that knocks the Hulk into orbit* That's Thor making the Hulk his bitch in the most hardcore game of "PSYCHE!" ever.

Random Fear Itself #5 Thought! Franklin Richards's superhero name should be Deux Ex Machina. Because that's what he is quite often.

Random Fear Itself #5 Thought! Oh no, Thor said "Pain in the ass!" With his faux-Shakespearean speech, he should have said 'arse.' Matt Fraction is obviously sorry for this oversight. (This didn't -- and doesn't -- bother me at all.)

Random Fear Itself #5 Thought! The Serpent, Breaker of Faith. How else can you explain the end of this issue where Cap is all "We're going to lose." This guy stood up to Thanos after Thanos slaughtered everyone else without even trying.

Random Fear Itself #6 Thought! Iron Fist has returned from his parttime job in China.

Random Fear Itself #6 Thought! Odin's shock at Steve Rogers shouting at him is great, because that's all anyone has done to Odin during this series. I guess he tolerates it from Thor and understands that drunk people tend to yell, but he just expects better from Steve Rogers.

Random Fear Itself #6 Thought! The Serpent is really just a proud papa who wants to give his daughter everything his parents never gave him. Awww.

Random Fear Itself #6 Thought! Odin's reaction to the Serpent is really just a scared papa who wants to save his son from pain and suffering. Awww.

Random Fear Itself #6 Thought! Captain America is the best stategist the Avengers have? The guy who picks up a rifle and thinks that will do much good against the guy who grabbed his unbreakable shield and shattered it above his head? I'm beginning to understand why Stark didn't make him a weapon...

Random Fear Itself #6 Thought! I don't even know why characters are doing what they do anymore...

Random Fear Itself Thought! Rereading this series should have, ideally, provided a glimpse of the larger picture and a throughline of what this book is all about. It didn't. Obviously, it's about the Serpent wanting to take back Asgard and Earth being caught in the middle... but it's just so random. Things seem to happen because they happen. And a lot happens outside of the series. This is very much a tentpole book ala Civil War that reads like the bare skeleton of a story with all of the meat elsewhere. Characters come and go... and why does Captain America have a rifle? Why? Maybe the final issue will pull it all together. But, right now, if the best thing you can say about this book (and, oddly, it's apparently the best thing Tom Brevoort can say about it) is that it shipped on time, then they were obviously aiming too low...

Random Comments will return next week where I'll double up. That's it for this week's edition. Thanks for reading. Later.