Behind the Scenes: Fear Itself: The Fearless #9

Here's another look behind the scenes at one of the comic books I wrote. This one–Fear Itself: The Fearless #9–came out a little over a week ago, but I've been swamped with family obligations and conventions. I'll try to do better next time.

This issue was co-plotted by Matt Fraction, Chris Yost, and myself. I handled the script. Paul Pelletier and Mark Bagley did the pencils. Danny Miki and Andy Lanning inked the book. Matt Wilson did colors. This is the Part 9 of a 12-issue limited series.

Here we go!

Pages 1 – 3.  This is the last flashback to appear in the series. Up until this point, every issue has started with a look toward the past, almost always from Valkyrie's perspective. I wrote them to establish some of Val's motivation without hitting the reader over the head with a lot of exposition. In this case, I wanted to show that the Valkyrior have been forbidden to enter Midgard, but they still serve the warriors of Asgard. The most telling line comes on page 3, when Val tells her companions that sometimes, men got to war because it is the will of the gods.
Page 3. Speaking of gods, I love that I got to write even a single page featuring old school Thor. But it wasn't only my inner fanboy that drove me to write Thor into this issue. I thought his appearance played nicely when going into the next scene with its themes of godhood, self-proclaimed or otherwise.
Pages 4 – 9. I've said before that this scene is one that I've had in mind since the earliest days of this series. Originally, I had the idea that Val would use some sort of Asgardian relic to turn herself into a lightning-throwing thunder goddess, too. In the end, I decided it was more interesting to have a warrior on a winged horse fighting Storm. Val uses a little trickery to defeat Storm. I wanted to show that Val will take steps to reach her goal that another hero wouldn't. It's funny how angry some people got because of this scene. They became spitting mad that Storm was taken out. To them I say: Don't worry. I'm sure some other writer will tackle a rematch at some point.
Pages 10 – 13. Speaking of exposition–this scene is loaded with it. At this point in the series, it's a necessary evil, though. I probably could have handled it differently, but this was what worked for me as I was tackling the script. Again, this scene stirred some ire. "There's no way Crossbones could beat up on someone as powerful as Hellstrom!" That's true, but I think that it speaks to Crossbones' over inflated sense of badassitude that he's willing to grab hold of the Son of Satan like that. Also, just because Hellstrom could flash-fry Crossbones where he stands, it doesn't mean it serves his purposes to do so.
Pages 14 – 17. More exposition!? Yeah, sorry about that. Trust me, the rest of the series is pretty action-packed. But this scene, when combined with the last, drives home the fact that Val's sanctum is actually a piece of her soul and that when she dies, the place vanishes from existence, taking the hammers with it. Also, I wanted Captain America and Val to come to an understanding. They couldn't stay enemies, could they?
Page 16. Valkyrie has a long, complicated, confusing history. That last panel on this page is my way of summing it up so we can just forget it and move on.
Page 19. I know readers were sitting there saying, "Do it… Shoot the horse…" But don't you get enough horse violence in The Sixth Gun?