Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Alien Zapping Fun: Fear Agent #1

How do you prefer your sci-fi? Do you like the boring and tedious SF where people go on and on about physics and gravity and, you know, actual science stuff? The kind of SF where WAY too much time is spent explaining how plausible intergalactic travel is and what it would be like to set up tariff rates for alien civilizations. OR do you prefer stories that just get on with the business of zapping aliens with ray guns and blowing stuff up?

If you prefer the latter, then Fear Agent #1 is just the rocket-ride to interplanetary action you've been waiting for! Fear Agent chronicles the adventures of alien exterminator Heath Huston. Huston is a slightly seedy, somewhat alcoholic, Mark Twain quoting, gun-for-hire whose jobs often seem to land him on the wrong side of the law. Fortunately for him, his motto is "If the law didn't see me, I didn't do it," and that seems to be working for him so far.

The first issue is really an action-packed teaser for what is to come. We follow Heath on what must be a "typical" day on the job for him. Luckily for readers, a typical day involves fighting off hordes of under-evolved ape men, dealing with brain-sucking jelly monsters, literally cliff hanging, and blowing up lots of stuff. It's enough to make a down on his luck alien exterminator really need a drink. Too bad for Heath he left his flask at home...

Fear Agent is written by Rick Remender with pencils by Tony Moore. The afterword in this issue makes it clear that these guys want Fear Agent to recapture the glory days of '50s comic book sci-fi as it was done by guys like Wally Wood. This is going to be a book loaded with action. Heath Huston is a rough and tumble adventurer who will find himself saving the galaxy from killer robots and hideous, tentacled horrors with a variety of zap guns and good, old fashioned ingenuity. The creators have big plans for this book, and I think it's gonna be an exciting ride.

Strap on your jet pack and don't let the Zagulon Hordes stand in your way! Do whatever it takes to get to Four Color Fantasies and try out this week's guaranteed Book of the Week, Fear Agent #1. If you don't read this book, the other space heroes will think you're a big scaredy cat. You're not gonna let them get away with that are you? Show 'em what you're made of, hero!

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