10 Marvel Event Comics That Actually Lived Up To The Hype

Matt Fraction may be most loved for his phenomenal Hawkeye run, but fans hold a special place in their hearts for the massive Fear Itself story. The event spanned over a hundred issues, offering forty tie-in stories on top of the seven-issue eponymous miniseries.

Marvel heavily leaned into the marketing for this event. They set up multiple signing events and press conferences at Midtown Comics in Times Square, in order to drum up as much buzz as they could.

Things looked even more promising, as Ed Brubaker's prologue book received numerous positive reviews and managed to get fans heavily invested with the upcoming event.

Strangely, the main series bombed. Many stores reported poor sales, while critics found the writing bland and uninspiring. However, some of the tie-in books garnered huge praise and really saved Fear Itself from being a complete flop.

Though the release didn't quite go as planned, once the entire story arc had been released, opinions changed. Readers found that the story worked much better as a trade publication, where the excellent tie-ins were placed within the main story, offering greater clarity and storytelling.