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Fear Agent
Fear Agent, Volume 4: Hatchet Job
Abandoned in deep space, near death, and with no hope of rescue, Heath learns the cost of crossing the nefarious pirates of the Centurion Nebula. Meanwhile, back on the moon base a mysterious figure from Heath's past arrives as a harbinger of more hard days for humanity.
Collecting: Fear Agent 16-21
Collecting: Fear Agent 16-21
128 pages, Paperback
First published August 27, 2008
134 people want to read
About the author
Rick Remender
1,238 books1,414 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 - 29 of 29 reviews
July 1, 2018
Probably my favorite arc of this series so far. This series works best when it's just Heath landing on an unknown planet. Chaos ensues and Heath has to blast his way out of trouble. That's exactly what we get for most of this story as Heath and Keith go to one planet in search of food while Charlotte and Mara take the rest of the Fear Agents in search of a new home planet for humankind. The story dipped in the last chapter as it sets up the series for the next arc. Remender has a bit of ADHD with this series. After 4 or 5 issues he seems to get bored with the direction of the story and completely rewrites it to head in another direction.
August 20, 2010
At this point the series seems to have moved off course from it's original intentions and fallen heavily into the realm of Cerebus Syndrome, where a series departs from it's origins and begins to rely heavily on interpersonal drama. Original, Fear Agent was meant to be an homage to earlier sci fi series, before the pseudo-scientific utopia of Trek and the spiritual journey of Star Wars.
The series began rather promisingly in that vein: episodic, weird, and with an emphasis on high adventure. However, Remender has slowly replaced those elements with melodrama, and his guaranteed plot twists have ceased resembling the twilight zone and started to resemble a soap opera.
There is still the background of New Weird sci fi, and this arc gives us both an arena scene reminiscent of L'Incal and the always delightful 'mysterious jungle world' subplot, but both of them are packed with long-winded, emotionally wrought expositionary dialogue.
Remender clearly has an obsession with character psychology, which he doesn't mind talking about at length in the letters page, but he isn't great at getting that psychology onto the page. His story construction is a bit haphazard, overly full and quickly paced, which is hardly complimentary to the high-adventure style that marks his inspiration.
He wants to play with the ideas of his chosen genre, with subversion and satire, and when he can get his point across, it proves enjoyable. However, his histrionic characterization is not played for laughs, despite the fact that its overwrought intensity makes it hard to take seriously.
He's combining different styles and inspirations here, but so far, he hasn't synthesized them into something new and interesting, he's just put it all together and let it fly, which isn't entirely unenjoyable, but it's also rife for eye-rolling. I wish Remender were in on the joke more often, because when he takes things too seriously, the quality drops.
What's interesting to me is that, so far, he's failed to explore the difficult questions that marked the Silver age of sci fi and its comic book adaptations. There isn't that constant question of 'what makes us human?' or 'what is the nature of the universe?' that lent those books a curious, ponderous depth, even when they were palpably pulpy.
In fact, the book hardly takes a moment for retrospection anymore, it's all battles, deaths, and dramatic revelations. I'm afraid I have to side with Hitcock when he said that you can't tell a story through constant escalation, you have to have contrasting moments of peace and introspection to help the epic moments stand out.
Remender is walking a fine line between all the things his comic could be, but doesn't really want to commit to any, which is unfortunate, because it leaves the thing rather without direction. He doesn't really want it to be as campy as old sci fi, yet he doesn't want to take it seriously, like the Trekkies and all their 'tech manuals'.
Remender's compromise isn't bad, but I keep getting the feeling that it could be so much more if it was more scrupulously constructed. He's trying to do a lot with it, which is admirable, but in the end, a lot of it isn't working, and the fact that he's settling on 'omg drama!' doesn't inspire much confidence.
The art is getting better, but there are still some really awkward panels here and there, and I still blame the inkers. The panel-to-panel structure is also a bit lackluster. They could stand to do some more artistic exploration in the bright, strange, alien worlds they present.
The high drama also feels like it might profit from some more cartoony reactions, at least then the words would better match the picture. If you're going to subsist on 'Shocking Secrets Revealed!', then I want the character's face to have the subtlety of a radio serial organ.
My Suggested Reading In Comics
The series began rather promisingly in that vein: episodic, weird, and with an emphasis on high adventure. However, Remender has slowly replaced those elements with melodrama, and his guaranteed plot twists have ceased resembling the twilight zone and started to resemble a soap opera.
There is still the background of New Weird sci fi, and this arc gives us both an arena scene reminiscent of L'Incal and the always delightful 'mysterious jungle world' subplot, but both of them are packed with long-winded, emotionally wrought expositionary dialogue.
Remender clearly has an obsession with character psychology, which he doesn't mind talking about at length in the letters page, but he isn't great at getting that psychology onto the page. His story construction is a bit haphazard, overly full and quickly paced, which is hardly complimentary to the high-adventure style that marks his inspiration.
He wants to play with the ideas of his chosen genre, with subversion and satire, and when he can get his point across, it proves enjoyable. However, his histrionic characterization is not played for laughs, despite the fact that its overwrought intensity makes it hard to take seriously.
He's combining different styles and inspirations here, but so far, he hasn't synthesized them into something new and interesting, he's just put it all together and let it fly, which isn't entirely unenjoyable, but it's also rife for eye-rolling. I wish Remender were in on the joke more often, because when he takes things too seriously, the quality drops.
What's interesting to me is that, so far, he's failed to explore the difficult questions that marked the Silver age of sci fi and its comic book adaptations. There isn't that constant question of 'what makes us human?' or 'what is the nature of the universe?' that lent those books a curious, ponderous depth, even when they were palpably pulpy.
In fact, the book hardly takes a moment for retrospection anymore, it's all battles, deaths, and dramatic revelations. I'm afraid I have to side with Hitcock when he said that you can't tell a story through constant escalation, you have to have contrasting moments of peace and introspection to help the epic moments stand out.
Remender is walking a fine line between all the things his comic could be, but doesn't really want to commit to any, which is unfortunate, because it leaves the thing rather without direction. He doesn't really want it to be as campy as old sci fi, yet he doesn't want to take it seriously, like the Trekkies and all their 'tech manuals'.
Remender's compromise isn't bad, but I keep getting the feeling that it could be so much more if it was more scrupulously constructed. He's trying to do a lot with it, which is admirable, but in the end, a lot of it isn't working, and the fact that he's settling on 'omg drama!' doesn't inspire much confidence.
The art is getting better, but there are still some really awkward panels here and there, and I still blame the inkers. The panel-to-panel structure is also a bit lackluster. They could stand to do some more artistic exploration in the bright, strange, alien worlds they present.
The high drama also feels like it might profit from some more cartoony reactions, at least then the words would better match the picture. If you're going to subsist on 'Shocking Secrets Revealed!', then I want the character's face to have the subtlety of a radio serial organ.
My Suggested Reading In Comics
October 16, 2017
3.5 stars
November 15, 2012
Brief Introduction:
After reading the last volume, “Fear Agent: The Last Goodbye,” I was more than excited to find out what would become of Heath Huston after his tragic past was revealed. Now, that I have finally picked up the fourth volume, “Fear Agent: Hatchet Job,” things become more interesting to me at discovering more about Heath Huston!
What is the story?
In this volume, Heath and the other Fear Agents try to find a new home for humanity after the feeders destroyed their planet. Once the Fear Agents split up to different planets, Heath will realize that they got trouble on their hands when he goes on the planet Kipferi to fight in a battle against Charlotte’s new husband, while the other Fear Agents face a betrayal amongst them!
What I loved about this comic:
Rick Remender’s writing: As usual, Rick Remender has done a brilliant job at really developing the characters and showing more emotional moments around the characters. I loved the way that Rick Remender portrayed the relationship troubles that Heath Huston has with both Charlotte and Mara as he ponders about whether he should stay with Charlotte or move on with his life with Mara and it was heartbreaking seeing this type of choice that Heath has to make after he just found his first love Charlotte. I also loved the surprising twists that Rick Remender throws into this story as we see a betrayal in the team that revealed a shocking past on one of the characters that I felt was extremely tragic to read about and it really brings out the dark nature of this sci-fi thriller series! I really enjoyed Heath Huston’s character in this volume as he is shown as being a sympathetic character who has gone through so much tragedy in his life as he tries to make up for his past mistakes while defeating various aliens along the way!
Jerome Opena’s artwork: Ever since I started reading the “Fear Agent” series, I have often found Jerome Opena’s artwork to be much more beautiful to look at as it contrasts Tony Moore’s more gritty style. Jerome Opena’s artwork is extremely gorgeous to look at as the characters seem to glow and the details to the alien world that Heath lives in are extremely vivid and creative to look at!
What made me feel uncomfortable about this book:
For one thing, anyone who does not like gory violence might have trouble getting through this volume since this volume has plenty of gory violence including scenes of people getting their faces ripped off and people’s guts being ripped out (your typical alien horror show). Also, the reason why I gave this volume a four star rating was because the plot did move a bit too fast for me to keep up with as there were too many things going on (the betrayal, Heath’s fight with Charlotte’s husband, the space pirates), although that is not too bad, but in this case, it was difficult to keep up with the story at this pace.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, “Fear Agent: Hatchet Job” is a great follow up to Heath’s adventures and hopefully, I will be able to see more of Heath Huston’s adventures in the alien world in the future!
Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog
January 6, 2021
The plot ricochets amidst the love drama of Heath, Mara and Char and the usual loop of alien worlds, new species and Heath blasting his way out of it.
Things get complicated when Char arranges for Keith and Heath to go on a joint mission to a dangerous alien world, hoping that Keith and Heath get to know each other. But as expected all good intentions are thrown out the window and things go disastrously wrong.
You will see multiple occasions of a single person's rage, derailing the teams mission and putting them squarely in the path of destruction
And for some extra Sci-Fi creds, a Black hole is thrown into the picture, with an entire species centered around religious hogwash attaining nirvana (or death in plain speak) at the same time (thanks to the black hole)
Things get complicated when Char arranges for Keith and Heath to go on a joint mission to a dangerous alien world, hoping that Keith and Heath get to know each other. But as expected all good intentions are thrown out the window and things go disastrously wrong.
You will see multiple occasions of a single person's rage, derailing the teams mission and putting them squarely in the path of destruction
And for some extra Sci-Fi creds, a Black hole is thrown into the picture, with an entire species centered around religious hogwash attaining nirvana (or death in plain speak) at the same time (thanks to the black hole)
September 29, 2014
Taking the pulp sci-fi stuff in the direction Jodorowsky isn't a bad idea, but I'll admit seeing the same old tropes resolve this one took some jam out of my doughnut. Still, it's got the space weirdness and beautiful art I love.
February 13, 2013
This got a little heavy. And strangely, that made it harder to put down.
May 13, 2025
This is such a gutpunch of a comic. This volume sure, but the series overall.
Reading about Mara's backstory makes you want to do unspeakably horrible things to every single Zerin out there. I'm surprised Heath doesn't hate them more, frankly - it's not like he doesn't have the negative emotions to go around. Mara's standoff with Levi Diablo, Heath's hypocrisy - holy fuck that was great.
Heath and Keith's interactions, Keith's sacrifice, the truth about Eden and the gladiator arena - none of what I just said will make any sense if you haven't read the comic, but those who know - you know.
Bit cagey about the time travel stuff, but the reveal that that made me so mad.
Interested to see where the story is going with Andi.
The sci-fi pulp aesthetics of this comic remain phenomenal - the literal space pirate galleon, the whole planetary romance opening with the Kipferi - wonderful. Shamelessly pulp.
Reading about Mara's backstory makes you want to do unspeakably horrible things to every single Zerin out there. I'm surprised Heath doesn't hate them more, frankly - it's not like he doesn't have the negative emotions to go around. Mara's standoff with Levi Diablo, Heath's hypocrisy - holy fuck that was great.
Heath and Keith's interactions, Keith's sacrifice, the truth about Eden and the gladiator arena - none of what I just said will make any sense if you haven't read the comic, but those who know - you know.
Bit cagey about the time travel stuff, but the reveal that that made me so mad.
Interested to see where the story is going with Andi.
The sci-fi pulp aesthetics of this comic remain phenomenal - the literal space pirate galleon, the whole planetary romance opening with the Kipferi - wonderful. Shamelessly pulp.
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.
May 17, 2021
Very Strong Arc
OVERALL RATING: 5 stars
Art: 4.75 stars
Prose: 4.75 stars
Plot: 5 stars
Pacing: 5 stars
Character Development: 5 stars
World Building: 5 stars
Best arc yet. The story certainly picks right up again and throws in the Rememnder twist and turns I've grown to appreciate very much. The art also improves (unbelievable given Moore set such a high bar). Opena is just top top tier. Must read!
OVERALL RATING: 5 stars
Art: 4.75 stars
Prose: 4.75 stars
Plot: 5 stars
Pacing: 5 stars
Character Development: 5 stars
World Building: 5 stars
Best arc yet. The story certainly picks right up again and throws in the Rememnder twist and turns I've grown to appreciate very much. The art also improves (unbelievable given Moore set such a high bar). Opena is just top top tier. Must read!
August 19, 2017
Another fun read. Still keeps me coming back. So why no fifth star? Here's why: end of chapter four we see Heath without his helmet in space, literally saying no oxygen, he's holding his breath.....then the start of chapter five there he is with his helmet....ugh I know you like to jump around in subsequent issues but this continuity error is just terrible.....ok end of soap box rant
February 13, 2018
This story almost caused me to stop reading the series. Too many characters are becoming one-faceted and uninteresting, which is really too bad.
The artwork remains much stronger than the writing, but the story itself is interesting enough to be worth my time.
The artwork remains much stronger than the writing, but the story itself is interesting enough to be worth my time.
November 19, 2018
More space hopping gun slinging fun from Heath Huston and his pals. Loved seeing moments from the first arc have pay-off here. Few things are more satisfying in comics then seeing proof that the story had been totally planned from the start.
September 6, 2018
Edición argentina, tomo 4 de 6. Incluye la saga que da título al libro más varios Tales of Fear Agent.
February 8, 2020
The pulpiness continues, with space pirates, battle arenas and overall space extravaganza. The only issue that gave me a hard time was the sprawling overarching arc that was hard to follow at times.
May 23, 2020
Fantastically drawn, expectantly violent, and fun plot twists abound! Nicely executed.
January 27, 2022
Now we're talking!
4.5 stars
4.5 stars
January 24, 2015
Avoided this series for so long just because of my faulty assumptions. I can't get enough now! After the last volume's gut-punch flashbacks, I didn't think we would see more loss and heartbreak, yet here it is. The characters are just so brilliantly varied and layered. The motivation behind what Maya does (that really tears apart the series) is amazing. The actions of everyone have real consequences and the entire story is playing out at a breakneck speed that I usually wouldn't like but somehow works here.
You know what it reminds me of? The Walking Dead early volumes before it turned into a 'let's watch your favorite beloved character get raped/butchered/eaten/racially assaulted'.
Just great.
You know what it reminds me of? The Walking Dead early volumes before it turned into a 'let's watch your favorite beloved character get raped/butchered/eaten/racially assaulted'.
Just great.
August 5, 2013
It was...okay.
This is the first time I've finished at Fear Agent trade and felt genuinely conflicted about it. The story is good, yes, but there's really little relationship to the original story that got me addicted. Instead of being a pulpy homage, it's something...different. Still good, but not great, and definitely not Fear Agent as I know it.
I've had some trouble getting my hands on the final two volumes, so I'm curious as to how it evolves from here, but I'm also not in a ton of a rush to find out. I don't ultimately know what that says about this series.
This is the first time I've finished at Fear Agent trade and felt genuinely conflicted about it. The story is good, yes, but there's really little relationship to the original story that got me addicted. Instead of being a pulpy homage, it's something...different. Still good, but not great, and definitely not Fear Agent as I know it.
I've had some trouble getting my hands on the final two volumes, so I'm curious as to how it evolves from here, but I'm also not in a ton of a rush to find out. I don't ultimately know what that says about this series.
January 5, 2010
Nothing in heath's life is ever easy. People give him chance after chance. Sometiems he screws it up, sometiems others screw him out of it. Regardless, heath is screwed. Art is excellent, though not as perfect as Moore's early work on the series.
August 16, 2013
An improvement over the angst and drama of the last volume. If I hadn't already bought the whole series I would have given up after volume 3. The lead character is starting to annoy me (this is probably the writer's intention, but still...)
Anyway, Jerome Opena's art is still fantastic!
Anyway, Jerome Opena's art is still fantastic!
December 10, 2018
El tomo más telenovelesco de lo que va de la serie. Por suerte, lo que tiene de culebrón también lo tiene de entretenido, y los Tales que vienen de bonus desde el tomo anterior hacen que la cosa promedie para arriba. Ahora, a esperar la recta final.
December 17, 2009
This is a great volume, some serious revelations go down, and serious shit happens. Really enjoyed it.
July 12, 2014
One thing that gets me about this book is about how easily characters die, and yet it's always shocking. I kind of love it.
July 22, 2012
This comic just continues to improve, as its deep characters continue to meet with shocking and surprising twists.
April 13, 2015
Volume four is a place holder like volume three, though instead of a back story we get silly melodrama. Though I am glimpsing a light a the end of this tunnel.
July 7, 2014
7/1/14 Review tk.
7/7/14 http://www.iwantmytwodollars.com/2014...
7/7/14 http://www.iwantmytwodollars.com/2014...
May 13, 2015
This is the stuff of old Saturday morning movies, with swashbuckling heroes and creepy aliens. Love it.
January 17, 2025
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