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Fear Agent
Fear Agent, Volume 5: I Against I
After being shot through the other side of a black hole, Heath Huston finds himself in a shadow universe marooned on the desolate Planet Westx. A stranger in a strange place, the last Fear Agent enters a world populated by gun-slinging robots, venomous mutants, and buxom cowgirls in this six-part sci-fi Western shot through the heart. Creators Rick Remender and Tony Moore reunite to bring you the good, the bad, and the ugly days of Heath Huston, outlaw - It's high noon in dead space!
Collecting: 22-27
Collecting: 22-27
128 pages, Paperback
First published March 15, 2009
120 people want to read
About the author
Rick Remender
1,244 books1,424 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 - 26 of 26 reviews
May 22, 2016
This series started out as a parody of the confident, wisecracking, hard-drinking yet always-in-control masculinity celebrated by film noir. It was the forgiving, affectionate kind of parody, granted, but it clearly played to Remender's strengths as a writer, making him look like a more hopeful version of Garth Ennis. Since then, however, the story's parody elements have increasingly been overshadowed by straight-forward heroic action, and in the process the story has become an often annoying tribute to traditional macho masculinity. Sure, the tongue-in-cheek tone has not completely disappeared, but it now takes a backseat to generic action and is no longer as sharp and fresh as in the beginning. The series' decline has been a gradual one, and it hits rock bottom with this trade (as does its hard-drinking protagonist).
July 2, 2018
I should like this way more than I did. Putting Heath in a Western setting should work perfectly since he's a space cowboy, but it was not very good at all. At the end of the last arc, Heath and Nick had just went through a black hole. So at first you think it's some alternate dimension, but then there are alternate Mara robots (I think?). And then Charlotte shows up but it's Charlotte from Heath's dimension and Heath has to fight himself. The whole story is a mess. Somehow because they hit a magic button on a box, Charlotte and Eden change into cyborgs but heath and Nick don't. It's some real crappy writing from what has up to now been a fantastic series. Remender needs to stay away from the timey-wimey shit. He's not very good at it at all. I hope Remender can turn this around in the last arc.
June 21, 2017
This might be my favourite volume so far. The story seems to pick up here and Tony Moores art is really on point. Also really liked the ending to the volume.
August 22, 2010
Pretty good book; now I just have to wait on the conclusion. Like I said in my last review of the series, when the author is trying to deal seriously with topics like death, drug addiction, and heartbreak, there have to be some emotional breaks, some ponderous moments to break up the action, and this arc had that, more than previously.
The plot was still awfully contrived, and in that way that always annoys me: Remender ignores perfectly serviceable conflicts in order to focus on less natural ones. If it had just been a pulp romp, I would have given it that, but Remender is constantly asking us to take his characters and their emotional journeys seriously, so I would have appreciated it if those journeys had been governed more by internal factors than external solutions.
The foreshadowing is also starting to come out in amusing ways, though again, I rarely feel the book is as conceptually explorative as the Silver Age sci fi is apes. There were wasted chances concerning the nature of identity and fantasy that I really would have liked to see tackled more fully. He also does some jargon explanations for various technologies, despite declaring that this sort of faux hard-sci fi star trek tech obsession isn't his intent.
Remender returns here to a perennial favorite: the Space Western, and I wouldn't be surprised if either the author or the artist were winking a passing familiarity with Blueberry. The series has always had a western tone, but here it's much more overt. I like when Remender goes off into new locations for his story, because I feel it pushes his creativity and forces him to make his plot more concise. Plus, the sudden drop into the setting put me favorably in mind of my favorite episode of The Prisoner.
The plot twists were enjoyable, and I think the huge cliffhanger will help keep the comic in my mind until the last arc comes out. I usually don't like to get into a series unless it's already completed, but I was excited to see Moore's new work, and intrigued by Remender's desire to go back to great pulp sources like Wally Wood, but unfortunately, I don't feel he ever got where he intended to go.
It's a good series, with lots of excitement, some humor, subversive characterization, multilayered plotting, and some enjoyable homages; but the plot structure can be messy, the author is unfocused, often switching from goal to goal without connecting everything. The melodrama can be somewhat over-the-top, despite the often somber tone of the series. The fast plot movement can be awkward, relying too much on exposition, with the author telling us instead of showing us.
The mixture of concepts, genres, ideas, moods, and tones is more than the sum of its parts, but never reaches the sort of sorcerous synthesis one sees in Ellis, Gaiman, Milligan, or Moore. I wanted this book to be great, and I was on-board with everything Remender promised to do, but in the end, it was better in my head.
My Suggested Reading In Comics
The plot was still awfully contrived, and in that way that always annoys me: Remender ignores perfectly serviceable conflicts in order to focus on less natural ones. If it had just been a pulp romp, I would have given it that, but Remender is constantly asking us to take his characters and their emotional journeys seriously, so I would have appreciated it if those journeys had been governed more by internal factors than external solutions.
The foreshadowing is also starting to come out in amusing ways, though again, I rarely feel the book is as conceptually explorative as the Silver Age sci fi is apes. There were wasted chances concerning the nature of identity and fantasy that I really would have liked to see tackled more fully. He also does some jargon explanations for various technologies, despite declaring that this sort of faux hard-sci fi star trek tech obsession isn't his intent.
Remender returns here to a perennial favorite: the Space Western, and I wouldn't be surprised if either the author or the artist were winking a passing familiarity with Blueberry. The series has always had a western tone, but here it's much more overt. I like when Remender goes off into new locations for his story, because I feel it pushes his creativity and forces him to make his plot more concise. Plus, the sudden drop into the setting put me favorably in mind of my favorite episode of The Prisoner.
The plot twists were enjoyable, and I think the huge cliffhanger will help keep the comic in my mind until the last arc comes out. I usually don't like to get into a series unless it's already completed, but I was excited to see Moore's new work, and intrigued by Remender's desire to go back to great pulp sources like Wally Wood, but unfortunately, I don't feel he ever got where he intended to go.
It's a good series, with lots of excitement, some humor, subversive characterization, multilayered plotting, and some enjoyable homages; but the plot structure can be messy, the author is unfocused, often switching from goal to goal without connecting everything. The melodrama can be somewhat over-the-top, despite the often somber tone of the series. The fast plot movement can be awkward, relying too much on exposition, with the author telling us instead of showing us.
The mixture of concepts, genres, ideas, moods, and tones is more than the sum of its parts, but never reaches the sort of sorcerous synthesis one sees in Ellis, Gaiman, Milligan, or Moore. I wanted this book to be great, and I was on-board with everything Remender promised to do, but in the end, it was better in my head.
My Suggested Reading In Comics
December 26, 2009
There's always been a certain amount of Western in "Fear Agent", but this story arc really pushes it to the forefront, to the point where the science-fiction parts seem like clumsily added afterthoughts. I think it will take a re-reading of the previous arcs to get me back into what it was trying to do. I'm also really disappointed in the end, since I believe Remender is concentrating on Marvel work now and the rapidly-added cliffhanger will go unanswered for a while.
May 20, 2015
Creepy alien, time travel, old west elements, wisecracking hero, love it all.
July 26, 2019
¿Western sci-fi con viajes en el tiempo? Compro. Y sigue sumando porotos la edición argentina al agregar los Tales de bonus.
Ahora, a esperar el me imagino que tristísimo final.
Ahora, a esperar el me imagino que tristísimo final.
February 13, 2018
Um, what? This read like an outline of the final episode of the Prisoner performed on radio. The artwork remains much better than the writing, although this one created a zillion questions without actually answering any of them, which was frustrating. Yes, as a reader I want to know the answers to these questions, but that's not a good way to retain my interest overall.
Still, the differences between the "clone" version of the main character and the way he originally was, as shown in this story, were interesting if not always convincing. I still don't see what Char sees in him.
Still, the differences between the "clone" version of the main character and the way he originally was, as shown in this story, were interesting if not always convincing. I still don't see what Char sees in him.
July 17, 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, 2025
Another banger volume - the confrontation between - phenomenal.
The mindscrew at the heart of this arc is something I can see turning a lot of people off - but I think it works because we spend the entire time playing on Heath's neuroses and desires - even at the very end.
The mindscrew at the heart of this arc is something I can see turning a lot of people off - but I think it works because we spend the entire time playing on Heath's neuroses and desires - even at the very end.
August 21, 2017
Kinda confused at the start but the ending was amazing..... now I just gotta get the last trade....like now! And wouldn't you know it my library does not have it....oh well there's always Amazon!
November 19, 2018
A bit slower than the last installment, but needed because it jumped into hyper drive towards the ending. I cannot wait to see how this is all resolved!
February 8, 2020
Fear Agent becomes a full alternate universe wild west Star Trek type of story. The plot focuses on Heath fighting his evil self in a serene setting, like the calm before the final storm.
February 3, 2022
A bit confusing but I hope the conclusion will make it clear
3.5 stars
3.5 stars
May 19, 2019
Edición argentina, tomo 5 de 6. Incluye todos los capítulos de la saga homónima más varias historias cortas de los Tales of Fear Agent.
January 13, 2015
Rick Remender has been writing for Marvel for a while now. I have been loving his books, Uncanny X-force, Uncanny Avengers, Captain America, but reading this reminded me of just how great Remender can be when working on his own creation, and without sensors.
Fear Agent can be tough to read. Remender is a professional at dragging his characters through the Meat Grinder. I haven't read a ton of his pre-Marvel stuff, but I think that Heath Huston might be the poster Child for being physically and mentally abused in Remender's stories.
There are a lot of similarities in appearance, temperment and dialogue between Heath Huston and Remender's Wolverine, which is probably why I love Remender's Wolverine over most. He took the character and claimed ownership.
I usually don't talk about comic book art, when I write these Goodreads reviews, but I feel like Tony Moore's artwork must be praised. Moore and Remender together is the kind of Collaborative Gold that you find in books by Brubaker and Phillips, Morrison and Quitely. This book looks so great, and it is unlike any other book out there, in terms of visuals. Only one more volume in the series after this one.
Fear Agent can be tough to read. Remender is a professional at dragging his characters through the Meat Grinder. I haven't read a ton of his pre-Marvel stuff, but I think that Heath Huston might be the poster Child for being physically and mentally abused in Remender's stories.
There are a lot of similarities in appearance, temperment and dialogue between Heath Huston and Remender's Wolverine, which is probably why I love Remender's Wolverine over most. He took the character and claimed ownership.
I usually don't talk about comic book art, when I write these Goodreads reviews, but I feel like Tony Moore's artwork must be praised. Moore and Remender together is the kind of Collaborative Gold that you find in books by Brubaker and Phillips, Morrison and Quitely. This book looks so great, and it is unlike any other book out there, in terms of visuals. Only one more volume in the series after this one.
August 16, 2013
Some things I'm not too fond of in science-fiction: time-travel, alternate universes, clones. All of these things show up in this volume making the story fairly confusing. Plus, there's still too much melodrama and angst. I didn't hate it as much as Volume 3 (which almost made me decide to stop reading the series and just give away the whole set), as there were some cool and fun moments too.
One last volume coming up and we'll see how they wrap up the series. The cover for the last trade paperback makes it seem like another depressing volume but I'm still hoping for a satisfying conclusion.
One last volume coming up and we'll see how they wrap up the series. The cover for the last trade paperback makes it seem like another depressing volume but I'm still hoping for a satisfying conclusion.
May 13, 2012
Solid entry, but so many Heaths running around makes for a bit of confusion. By the time we get to the last panel, I'm barely phased when he gets blasted in the gut at point blank range, only because it's happened so many times before. But, I suppose that sort of action is what I signed up for when I picked up a pulp sci-fi comic book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 22, 2012
Remender continues to make great use of a variety of SF tropes, but presented in innovative ways. At the same time, he builds the whole comic on a foundation of great characters.
September 29, 2014
The start of this was my least favorite part of Fear Agent, but by the end, I was ready to move on to the final trade with high hopes.
August 27, 2014
8/16/14 3.5 stars. Review tk.
8/27/14 http://www.iwantmytwodollars.com/2014...
8/27/14 http://www.iwantmytwodollars.com/2014...
January 25, 2015
A bit of a weird turn and slight letdown from the last two volumes (and their craziness) but overall still great.
January 29, 2010
I'm super confused, but I can't wait until the next volume.
July 12, 2014
This one's just wow. The art's gorgeous, the story's nuts...such good stuff.
April 13, 2015
Now we're getting back to what I saw in the first volume.
Want to read
November 15, 2018Edición argentina, tomo 5 de 6.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews