One Coin Reads 15: Fear Agent, by Rick Remender, Tony Moore, and Jerome Opena

Fear Agent, by Rick Remender, Tony Moore, and Jerome Opena

2000's, collected in 2018

For weeks, as I was scouring the discount books, Fear Agent was looking back at me. ¥387. That's practically free. I read a bunch of Rick Remender work in the last few years: X-Force, Tokyo Ghost, Low, Deadly Class, Black Science. I like it, but it makes me a little tired with it's in-your-face rock and roll attitude. And I'm not a fan of Tony Moore's art (not a hater, but not a fan). Still, the cover looked fun. It has a Mars Attacks! vibe.

Anyway, long story short, I bought it and accidentally ordered the third book as well, so I'm on the way to knowing Fear Agent.

You know exactly what that beam sounds like just by looking at it

Fear Agent is a story about Earth as it gets involved in an intergalactic conflict. It was confusing at first, as book two opens with a four issue story of aliens landing, blowing things up, and the humans fighting back. I wondered if it was a pulp anthology series that restarted each arc, but in the second storyline, characters from the first arc appeared, years having passed and them looking grizzled. I was actively avoiding Wikipedia while reading since you shouldn't have to check a book's backstory when you read it, but I was genuinely puzzled as to what the concept behind the book was.  I had to do some leaps in logic to connect the dots between the first and second arcs, but it was nothing too challenging. After finishing the book, a Wikipedia check revealed that that first arc was a flashback, and the second story started where the first book collection left off.

I don't know if that's a case of, "That's what you get for starting with book two," but it wasn't exactly user friendly. 

There is excessive violence, verging on comedic

The book has a tone that's hard to pin down at first. The stories are very pulpy, and I'm all in for that, but the art, especially Tony Moore, is cartoony and takes away from the grittiness of it. If Remender could have time travelled and gotten Wally Wood to draw this, it would have been legendary. As it is, Moore's art doesn't suck me in. I had the exact same vibe with his art the first arc of Walking Dead: he's really a talented artist, but he's not a good fit for dramatic stories.

Moore is happy to draw gore, but it doesn't shock me

Opeña manages better, and I was amazed at just how different this art work was from his X-Force work. Here he does fairly traditional ink work, and it ranges from cartoony to classic EC. Some of it really captured a classic sci-fi style. He definitely becomes a better artist in the years to come, but his work here is strong.

I liked the pulp vibe the book was going for. The aliens are ridiculous looking. The physics don't have to make sense. This is not hard sci-fi. It's called science-fiction, not science-boring. 

Kipferia brings John Carter of Mars to mind

This came out before Remender and Opeña did X-Force together, so it was an opportunity to see them before they had developed into the heavyweight creators they are today. I mostly enjoy Remender's 2010's work. He's got a good pace to his stuff, and creates fleshed out worlds. And he has some fun with his work. It's not serious stuff to over-analyze, but old fashioned melodrama polished up for a modern audience. More than his current books like Deadly Class or Low though, Fear Agent is a fun book.

I liked that panel on the right: classic pose, classic ray gun

When I'm reading with a book review in mind, I often stop to take a few pics to remind myself what stood out as I was reading, and with this book, while there was tons of crazy stuff, I didn't take any pics. None of it is exceptional. But I enjoyed the book overall and will keep it. I'll probably pull this trade and give it a reread in a few years. It's fun and breezy, and sometimes that hits the spot.