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Fear Agent
Fear Agent, Volume 3: The Last Goodbye
The origin of the last Fear Agent revealed! Fanfavorite creators Rick Remender and Tony Moore reunite to tell the most pulsepounding yarn yet. Tired and broken down, trucker Heath Huston returns home after months on the road to find his troubles have only just begun as Earth is attacked by the three feuding alien races. Within hours nearly every living creature on Earth is obliterated, leaving Heath and his wife Charlotte trapped in the middle of a nightmare with no way out.
Collecting: Fear Agent 11-15
Collecting: Fear Agent 11-15
104 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2008
1 person is currently reading
139 people want to read
About the author
Rick Remender
1,238 books1,413 followersRick Remender is an American comic book writer and artist who resides in Los Angeles, California. He is the writer/co-creator of many independent comic books like Black Science, Deadly Class, LOW, Fear Agent and Seven to Eternity. Previously, he wrote The Punisher, Uncanny X-Force, Captain America and Uncanny Avengers for Marvel Comics.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
June 30, 2018
Fear Agent's origin story. We find out what happened on Earth 10 years ago that caused Heath to head off into space. It's got a very Mars Attack / War of the Worlds vibe to it with a dash of Hitchhiker's Guide thrown in. Now all the other subplots from the previous 2 volumes make complete sense.
October 28, 2012
Brief Introduction:
Ever since I started reading Rick Remender’s “Fear Agent” series, I had always wanted to know more about Heath Huston’s origin tale about how he became a Fear Agent and about why the aliens were attacking the planet Earth. Well, we finally get Heath Huston’s origin tale in the third volume, “Fear Agent: The Last Goodbye” and man, is it an emotional joyride that you cannot miss!
What is the story?
In this volume, we are finally introduced to the origin tale of Heath Huston and his everlasting battle with both the Tetaldian Race and the Dressite Empire! Heath Huston was just your average trucker who was married to Charlotte and had a son named Kent and they lived happily together until a tragic day when an alien bomb blows up Heath’s Ranch, taking the lives of his father and son with it! With only his wife Charlotte surviving with him, Heath must find a way to defeat the invading aliens while soon discovering his destiny in becoming a Fear Agent!
What I loved about this comic:
Rick Remender’s writing: After reading the first two volumes of the “Fear Agent” series, I was always so interested in the dark yet exciting world that Rick Remender had crafted throughout this series! I was actually happy that this was the volume that explained Heath Huston’s back story about how he became a Fear Agent and when the aliens started attacking the planet Earth. Rick Remender has once again proven how effective he is with the storytelling of this series and this volume was not only the most action packed of this series, but it was also the most emotionally scarring volume I had ever read! I actually felt so much pain and sympathy for all the characters in this volume as Heath and Charlotte had to bear witness to the destruction that the alien race had done to the planet Earth and seeing so many people that they cared about die in the hands of both the Tetaldian Race and the Dressite Empire was a truly tragic experience for me. I also loved the way that Rick Remender portrayed the relationship between Heath and Charlotte as they truly care for each other and I loved seeing the scenes where Heath would go out of his way of protecting not only Charlotte, but the survivors of the human race. Rick Remender has done a fantastic job at providing the dramatic twists in this story as there were many moments where I was in shock about how this event was pulled off.
Tony Moore’s artwork: Usually, the artwork of the “Fear Agent” series change within every volume so this time, it is Tony Moore who is the artist of this volume! Tony Moore’s artwork is truly effective in this volume (even though there were a few scratchy artworks going on in some scenes that made it hard to see what was going on). I loved the way that Tony Moore did the characters’ expressions as their expressions of shock and terror were truly dramatic to see and I also loved the little details that Tony Moore did with the fighting scenes between the Fear Agents and the aliens as they look truly exciting and intense at the same time.
What made me feel uncomfortable about this book:
Even though I was excited that I finally come across a volume in the “Fear Agent” series that actually explains Heath Huston’s origin story, I have to wonder myself about why this was not done in the first volume? What I love about origin stories is that you are able to get to know the character on a much deeper level and it makes the events that they are going through much easier to understand. So, after I read this volume, I actually felt more sympathy for Heath’s character, but I wished that this was introduced in the first volume so I would have understood Heath’s character a bit better. Also, for anyone who does not like gory violence and strong language, this volume has plenty of strong language and the violence is raised up a notch as there are many images of people being killed and having their guts being ripped out of their bodies.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, “Fear Agent: The Last Goodbye” is a great read that really delves into Heath Huston’s character and even though it took about three volumes to finally get Heath’s full back story, it was worth it as now I am looking forward to reading the fourth volume in the “Fear Agent” series to see what will now become of Heath Huston!
Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog
August 17, 2010
In this collection, the team changes format, ceasing the episodic homages to the old sci fi anthologies and working on a more complete arc for the backstory hinted at in previous issues. Unfortunately, Remender still hasn't hit the high water mark I saw a glimmer of in the early issues.
In growing more linear, melodramatic, and heavy-handed in his storytelling, he loses a lot of what made the early comics good: the wild, strange, vacillating alien-ness of it all as events unfolded bit by bit, showing us glimpses of the past.
In this collection, everything is laid out much more simply, which strains Remender's vow to keep surprising the audience. Since he cannot do it with revelations of the past and wildly different episodic settings, he instead relies on melodrama and death, mentioning in the back-pages his war comic inspiration.
Yet the characters aren't that developed, and so they never really surprise us. The whole thing moves at a steady clip, more concerned with exposition than with mood, character, or pacing, and in the end, it feels somewhat rushed.
This expediency was less of a problem in earlier issues, but between the quickly introduced (and killed off) cast and reams of plot to establish, the rollicking pace is less beneficial. He is treating war in the same style he treated adventure.
This means the constant escalation of melodrama and deaths has no emotional build. Without that foundation, each moment of increasing violence and loss feels more like slapstick than tragedy. One issue gives a shoutout to writer Garth Ennnis, who took a similar tack on his 'Preacher', and who had similar problems.
But for Ennis, the point was rarely the poignancy of the human drama, he was obsessed with ridiculousness itself, so the slapstick nature of death was an intentional sardonic note. Plus, he was capable of slowing the pacing down to lend some emotional punch to important deaths, which Remainder sadly rushes through.
I also remain unsatisfied with the art team, who has some consistency problems. There are some great panels that show off Moore's skill at characterization, action, and vitality, but a lot of it is getting lost in the inking. The background characters are especially weak, and I can only assume the inker simply doesn't have the subtlety to capture a smaller face with a few, simple lines. The detailed, foreground faces all look like Moore, but the midground and background ones are often misshapen and flat.
Hopefully things improve, but this is one authorial experiment that has not lived up to its promise. It would have worked better to simply keep revealing details and background within the episodic structure, letting the themes of those episodes cast a tone on past events, as Moore had some success with before.
This style does not show the author at his best, and I continue to doubt that he will be able to translate to the page the ideas about storytelling that he has expressed in the back-pages. The loss of the short 'Tales of the Fear Agent' stories also reduced the multifaceted approach of previous volumes, leaving something much more thin than the story or characters deserved.
My Suggested Reading In Comics
In growing more linear, melodramatic, and heavy-handed in his storytelling, he loses a lot of what made the early comics good: the wild, strange, vacillating alien-ness of it all as events unfolded bit by bit, showing us glimpses of the past.
In this collection, everything is laid out much more simply, which strains Remender's vow to keep surprising the audience. Since he cannot do it with revelations of the past and wildly different episodic settings, he instead relies on melodrama and death, mentioning in the back-pages his war comic inspiration.
Yet the characters aren't that developed, and so they never really surprise us. The whole thing moves at a steady clip, more concerned with exposition than with mood, character, or pacing, and in the end, it feels somewhat rushed.
This expediency was less of a problem in earlier issues, but between the quickly introduced (and killed off) cast and reams of plot to establish, the rollicking pace is less beneficial. He is treating war in the same style he treated adventure.
This means the constant escalation of melodrama and deaths has no emotional build. Without that foundation, each moment of increasing violence and loss feels more like slapstick than tragedy. One issue gives a shoutout to writer Garth Ennnis, who took a similar tack on his 'Preacher', and who had similar problems.
But for Ennis, the point was rarely the poignancy of the human drama, he was obsessed with ridiculousness itself, so the slapstick nature of death was an intentional sardonic note. Plus, he was capable of slowing the pacing down to lend some emotional punch to important deaths, which Remainder sadly rushes through.
I also remain unsatisfied with the art team, who has some consistency problems. There are some great panels that show off Moore's skill at characterization, action, and vitality, but a lot of it is getting lost in the inking. The background characters are especially weak, and I can only assume the inker simply doesn't have the subtlety to capture a smaller face with a few, simple lines. The detailed, foreground faces all look like Moore, but the midground and background ones are often misshapen and flat.
Hopefully things improve, but this is one authorial experiment that has not lived up to its promise. It would have worked better to simply keep revealing details and background within the episodic structure, letting the themes of those episodes cast a tone on past events, as Moore had some success with before.
This style does not show the author at his best, and I continue to doubt that he will be able to translate to the page the ideas about storytelling that he has expressed in the back-pages. The loss of the short 'Tales of the Fear Agent' stories also reduced the multifaceted approach of previous volumes, leaving something much more thin than the story or characters deserved.
My Suggested Reading In Comics
August 31, 2024
Cool to see the background of the attack on earth. How everyone died and got killed was brutal. I think the biggest downside is I couldn't get into a lot of the characters, so when they died was just kind of like "Oh no". But overall still fun and exciting to watch the world go to hell. A 3 out of 5.
January 6, 2021
The pieces start coming together. One always got the sense that behind the swashbuckling, adrenaline pumping demeanour of Heath Huston, there is brooding character with a very dark history.
Volume 3 gives us the origins of Heath, his family life. And when everything is taken away from him in one instant, Heath's fury knows no bounds as he unleashes hell on Dressites and wipes out an entire race, the burden of which always casting a shadow around him
Volume 3 gives us the origins of Heath, his family life. And when everything is taken away from him in one instant, Heath's fury knows no bounds as he unleashes hell on Dressites and wipes out an entire race, the burden of which always casting a shadow around him
August 16, 2013
This volume basically provides the origin for most of the main characters as well as fill in the backstory for the whole series. In that regard, I guess it was a necessary interlude before getting back to the business of the main story.
The art for the whole series continues to be top-notch. In fact, I think that the art and the over-all book design are my favorite things about this series. Tony Moore and Jerome Opena are now among my favorite comicbook artists. Some of those covers and splash pages would certainly look good blown up and framed.
The art for the whole series continues to be top-notch. In fact, I think that the art and the over-all book design are my favorite things about this series. Tony Moore and Jerome Opena are now among my favorite comicbook artists. Some of those covers and splash pages would certainly look good blown up and framed.
July 25, 2013
A Fear Agent origin story? Why not?
I wish I had more to say about this series, to be completely honest. I really enjoy reading it, it's fun and different, but it doesn't lend itself to much in the way of long treatises on the book. They're simply a lot of fun, especially for a science fiction comic.
I wish I had more to say about this series, to be completely honest. I really enjoy reading it, it's fun and different, but it doesn't lend itself to much in the way of long treatises on the book. They're simply a lot of fun, especially for a science fiction comic.
January 23, 2015
What a surprising turn this series is taking. The first few pages of vol. 1 made me think this was just going to be a silly alien-exterminator story but it got deep pretty quickly and this flashback volume really sets the tone. Horrendous tragedy, sci-fi violence and an overall unhappy feelings makes this much different than I thought.
May 12, 2018
Konečně se dozvídáme co se událo Hustonovi v době kdy podivná mimozemská entita napadla naší planetu. Oproti minulému booku, je tenhle hodně akční a brutální. Remenderovi spolu s Moorem se povedla vykreslit bezradnost lidstva a brutalita kterou mimozemská rasa rozsévala. Postavy tu umírají, gorem se nešetří, a pryč je humor (trochu ho tu je) a dobrodružný feeling alá Indiana Jones.
Na jednu stranu mi to bylo líto, ale na stranu druhou jsem si tenhle origin opravdu užil, jelikož už od začátku Fear Agent série mě zajímalo co se hlavnímu hrdinovi přihodilo, a Rick Remender to chytře odhalil po delší době když už s hlavním hrdinou sympatizujete a máte ho rádi, protože díky tomu to má větší úder.
Jediné co mi tady trochu vadilo bylo místy až příliš rychlé tempo, které se dá ale pochopit když je celý tento book jeden velký flashback a pochybuji že se tím Remender chtěl zabývat ještě více. Proto to raději všechno odvyprávěl aby se příběh mohl co nejrychleji posunout dál.
Každopádně jedná se o skvělé pokračování a jsem rád že tu zase dostal prostor Tony Moore, jelikož Opeňova kresba která se místy až komicky nemotorně snaží Moorův styl okopírovat mě až tak neoslovila.
Na jednu stranu mi to bylo líto, ale na stranu druhou jsem si tenhle origin opravdu užil, jelikož už od začátku Fear Agent série mě zajímalo co se hlavnímu hrdinovi přihodilo, a Rick Remender to chytře odhalil po delší době když už s hlavním hrdinou sympatizujete a máte ho rádi, protože díky tomu to má větší úder.
Jediné co mi tady trochu vadilo bylo místy až příliš rychlé tempo, které se dá ale pochopit když je celý tento book jeden velký flashback a pochybuji že se tím Remender chtěl zabývat ještě více. Proto to raději všechno odvyprávěl aby se příběh mohl co nejrychleji posunout dál.
Každopádně jedná se o skvělé pokračování a jsem rád že tu zase dostal prostor Tony Moore, jelikož Opeňova kresba která se místy až komicky nemotorně snaží Moorův styl okopírovat mě až tak neoslovila.
May 12, 2025
A sickening gut punch of a volume. The trauma of being collateral damage in a war between aliens who don't care if you die in their war, with jetpack lizardmen maneaters preying on you while you flee. The degradations and humiliations of being stuck in that war and what it does you. Amazing work.
The fact that the aliens have the aesthetics of old school oddball sci fi aliens just makes the grindhouse, gorey stuff work all the more. Heath's descent into genocidal rage is believable and compellingly tragic. Best volume in the series so far.
I think the description is wrong - this collects #11-14, not 15.
The fact that the aliens have the aesthetics of old school oddball sci fi aliens just makes the grindhouse, gorey stuff work all the more. Heath's descent into genocidal rage is believable and compellingly tragic. Best volume in the series so far.
I think the description is wrong - this collects #11-14, not 15.
February 13, 2018
Still grim, still depressing, and the main character is still way too hard to like. That, plus the fact that this origin story suggests so many ways in which the main character is only alive due to author fiat, meant that my rating is based on writing at 2 1/2 stars, artwork at 3 1/2 stars, for an average of 3 stars.
Part of my problem with the writing was that the flashback origin story just didn't help. It fleshed things out a bit, but never really explained the attraction of Charlene to the main character. He's never been that great a guy, not even in the pre-war story, apparently.
Part of my problem with the writing was that the flashback origin story just didn't help. It fleshed things out a bit, but never really explained the attraction of Charlene to the main character. He's never been that great a guy, not even in the pre-war story, apparently.
April 21, 2019
Dragged out final volume to this time-travel sci-fi series
This volume brings together all the themes of the previous volumes and leads unsurprisingly to Heath’s end. It’s still quite well-illustrated, colourful and detailed and the plot is quite complicated. I found the second arc drawn out and annoying, probably also because I dislike time-travel stories .in which protagonists can travel into the past to change events. I’ve never been overwhelmed by this series and that is still the case at its conclusion.
July 16, 2021
What begins as a no-holds-barred romp through the galaxy turns into another humans-versus-aliens war to end all wars, with our hero Heath Huston leading a ragtag bunch of scrappy survivors on a quest to avenge an alien-ravaged Earth. It all should be more fun that it is, though, especially since in these middle volumes, from 2 through 5, the story keeps ratcheting up the stakes, ignoring the most interesting things about its characters, quoting Mark Twain for faux gravitas, and generally becoming less fun and compelling the deeper we get in.
April 24, 2018
Me encantan los "Secret Origins", me encantan los finales tristes y circulares y me encanta que esta edición incluya Tales of Fear Agent que no traía el TP original. No me gustan algunas "actitudes" del guion, por llamarlo de alguna manera, y lo poco que me llegué a encariñar con la gran mayoría de personajes que terminan muertos antes de finalizar la saga. Pero me dejó con ganas de más, eso sí.
May 17, 2021
Not Bad But a Little Telegraphed
OVERALL RATING: 4.25 stars
Art: 4.5 stars
Prose: 4.5 stars
Plot: 4.25 stars
Pacing: 4 stars
Character Development: 4.25 stars
World Building: 4.25 stars
Quite a bleak filling in of Heath's past. The twists were pretty obvious unlike the last two trades but the story was still gripping but not quite as strong.
OVERALL RATING: 4.25 stars
Art: 4.5 stars
Prose: 4.5 stars
Plot: 4.25 stars
Pacing: 4 stars
Character Development: 4.25 stars
World Building: 4.25 stars
Quite a bleak filling in of Heath's past. The twists were pretty obvious unlike the last two trades but the story was still gripping but not quite as strong.
February 8, 2020
A change of pace for the series and a strong 3rd volume in which we get to know Heath Huston's origin story. From being an average trucker to a tragic avenger of humanity, his character grows and the story of the series makes some more sense in the new context.
August 17, 2017
2.5 stars. As origin stories go this was not terrible. Sets up a decent backstory, but wow what a depressing story over all. That's why I only gave it 2.5 stars
August 27, 2018
Heath Hustons Fear Agent origin is here. A surprisingly emotional story, with a few sucker punch moments and the same fun i've come to expect from this series!
April 29, 2020
Heavy. Helluva story though. Worth it.
January 27, 2022
4.49 stars
The dark origin of Heath and Fear Agent.
The dark origin of Heath and Fear Agent.
June 2, 2018
Edición argentina, tomo 3 de 6, primero en aumentar el contenido con respecto al tp original. Incluye la miniserie que le da nombre al tomo más tres relatos conocidos como Tales of The Fear Agent que transcurren cronológicamente entre lo narrado en este tomo (diez años antes del relato principal) y el comienzo de la serie.
Incluye también una introducción tomada de la edición original del primer issue del tomo y una introducción a los Tales donde relativizan su canonicidad.
ÍNDICE:
· Introducción a la saga principal
· El último adiós, capítulo 1
· El último adiós, capítulo 2
· El último adiós, capítulo 3
· El último adiós, capítulo 4
· Introducción a los Tales of The Fear Agent
· La hora de la araña
· Doce pasos en uno
· R&R
· Pinup Gallery
Incluye también una introducción tomada de la edición original del primer issue del tomo y una introducción a los Tales donde relativizan su canonicidad.
ÍNDICE:
· Introducción a la saga principal
· El último adiós, capítulo 1
· El último adiós, capítulo 2
· El último adiós, capítulo 3
· El último adiós, capítulo 4
· Introducción a los Tales of The Fear Agent
· La hora de la araña
· Doce pasos en uno
· R&R
· Pinup Gallery
March 5, 2017
Volume 2 left us in kind of a cliffhanger , and the volume 3 doesn't address that all, It goes back to the back story of Heath ,explaining about the drinking. I found it to be a bit long , it goes deeper in the character ,yes , but since this is was in the middle of he story, ,to much pages was spent on this . Causing storytelling rhythm to be broken ,for me it was not a good choice maybe inverting volume 2 and 3 would have been better.
This is the only reason i liked it less than the other 2 volume , can't wait to read #4.
This is the only reason i liked it less than the other 2 volume , can't wait to read #4.
August 9, 2014
Fear Agent, Volume 3 answers many questions about Heath's origins as a Fear Agent and how a battle between alien races destroyed the earth. As always, the action is fast-paced, resulting in a real page-turner. There are many interesting twists in the story in Volume 3 that adds context to the overall quality of the book.
September 29, 2009
Really liked getting Heath's backstory, had quite a few surprises and a good horror movie feel since things take place on earth. Also featured more of an ensemble cast, which for me, the lacktereof might be one of Feat Agent's usual weaknesses.
July 11, 2014
Oh, man! This volume was harrowing. Huston's whole origin was just great, and...well. I can't wait to see if I'm right, and Andi is Mara. But man, this volume was fantastic, and Moore's art really made the whole volume sing. Such good stuff.
January 23, 2013
I read volume 1 online where it was free for a while. I'm going to give a review for volumes 2 and 3 together because it really is all one story. It is a pretty well drawn and the story is interesting but a little unnecessarily confusing. It is fun but not ground breaking.
November 11, 2014
My favorite of the Fear Agent volumes I've read thus far.
January 5, 2010
Portions of the 'back story' are engaging and electric. Portions I just didn't care about. However, it is all important as it leads into the next TPB.
February 11, 2013
So that got a bit gnarly.
July 22, 2012
Much of the book is just a big fight scene, but it’s a good fight scene, and overall nice backstory for the series.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews