This morning, at Midday (EST), Marvel Comics held, and I shit you not, a live streaming press conference to announce their next big crossover event. The announcement was billed by Marvel as THE COMIC ANNOUNCEMENT THAT WILL ROCK THE MARVEL UNIVERSE IN 2011.. Suitably dramatic? Maybe they should have used a bigger font?!

Seeing as how I run a comic blog thing, I thought that I better tune it and check it out, so you didn’t have to witness the over-the-top wankfest.

So, here’s the lowdown: Marvel’s  big crossover ‘event’ for 2011 will be called Fear Itself, which will be a seven-issue miniseries, to be written by Matt Fraction, with artwork by Stuart Immonen. Each issue will cost $3.99, with an over-sized first issue. The series will be preceded by a prologue issue by Ed Brubaker and Scot Eaton, which will hit stores in March. The series is expected to have lots of tie-in issues and spin-off miniseries, on the scale of Civil War and Secret Invasion. However, Marvel, as always, are insisting that you can read just the main title, and still get the whole story… *cynical eyebrow raised*

The story will be set against the background of the “real world”, as it currently stands, with rising inflation rates, unemployment on the rise, etc. and will play on the fear that is so prevalent in modern society. Tom Brevoort stated that “There is a concealed act at the center of the Marvel universe that was committed a number of years ago, and it will change everything, and that, in essence, is what ‘Fear Itself’ is all about.”

Marvel went on to describe the story as being an “extinction-level event” (I HATE that term!), and that we should expect pretty much everyone to turn up, from the X-Men to Dracula, which is a pretty poor example of the spectrum, considering that is what is going on in their own X-Men title at the moment!

Following the announcement, they opened up the floor to questions by some fans who clearly have not left their parent’s basements for about a year, about how this will affect the politic landscape of the Marvel Universe, etc. etc.

Please excuse my cynicism, it’s just that I feel like I’ve heard this song before, a thousand times over! The only thing that really gives me hope for the series is that it will be written by Matt Fraction, and I’ve never read a thing by him that I haven’t loved. I also expect the art to be great, but that’s an aside, as Stuart Immonen is a top class artist (and Canadian!). However, as far as this being the biggest event ever, with world smashing ramifications… I think I’ll wait and see on that!

Related posts:

1. Image United Creators and Newsarama Kick off the Crossover of the Century with a Live, One Time Only Worldwide Comics Event!
2. Watch Marvel’s Big Event Announcement Live Streaming
3. Black Panther Will be the New “Man Without Fear”
4. Marvel Announces Their Next Big Cosmic Event: The Thanos Imperative
5. DC Announces Their 2010 Event Comic: War of the Supermen