Why You Should Buy FEARLESS

This week, the fourth and final issue of FEARLESS, my mini-series co-written by Dave Roth with art by PJ Holden (2000AD), hits comic stores everywhere.

If you’re coming to this site because you’ve read about my work on CYBORG, HAZED or GROUNDED, you may not know what FEARLESS is all about. FEARLESS is the tale of a vigilante who is dependent on an anti-fear drug, which he needs not only to wage his one man war on crime, but to function as a human being as well. The story starts when someone cuts off his drug supply, and things get worse from there

If that Hollywood log line doesn’t sell you, here are some reasons to check it out:

ORIGINALITY: At the risk of being immodest, it’s one of the few original superhero ideas to come along. While I think execution trumps concept, if you start from someplace no one’s been before you’ve got a leg up on the competition.

MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK: In this age of decompression, you rarely get a complete story in four 22 page issues, let alone one. The shortest issue of Fearless is 28 pages, the first and last are 32 pages each. Do the math, and you are getting about five or six issues worth of story for the price of four. And that’s not including wonderful pin-ups by the likes of Rafael Albuquerque (BLUE BEETLE).

PJ HOLDEN & “THE FEAR EFFECT”: Artist PJ Holden kicked some major ass on this book. He’s not just a hired hand, but co-creator. His costume design alone is worth the price of admission. But what really makes this book sing is how he and colorist Nick Filardi (POWERS…as well as every creator owned book I’ve done) handles the sequences where our protagonist runs out of the drug. We don’t just see fear kick in, we FEEL it. Vertigo kicks in as leaping off a one story brownstone in a suit of impregnable battle armor becomes a death defying free fall from a skyscraper. Pathetic henchmen become more muscular, better armed, more numerous. The arch villain becomes, a mere mortal, becomes truly terrifying…it’s as if the protagonist is creates his own Jekyll and Hyde in his mind.

If all that doesn’t sway you, this will: the entire first issue is available FOR FREE on Newsarama.

Check it out, let us know what you think. And if you like it, let Image know what you think…while this is a complete, self contained story, we’ve got more FEARLESS stories we’re just itching to tell. And nothing will help that like strong sales and letters, e-mails and board posts telling a publisher you haven’t had enough of our anti-hero yet.