(MARVEL NOW!, 2013)   -   Reviewed by Feral Fang

When I first began to see the advertisements for “Fearless Defenders”, I thought it looked interesting enough to keep in mind, at least to give it a look when it was released.  The cover caught my attention almost instantly, and I still find it to be a pretty striking cover with strong art.  Then I finally read issue #1, and was amazed by what I found inside.  In all seriousness, this is probably the worst recently released book I’ve read since the Rob Liefeld New 52 “Hawk & Dove”.  The writing from Cullen Bunn is a boring, almost ‘phoned-in’ script, and the story itself was scrambled and oddly paced.  The artwork by Will Sliney looks like poor attempts at copying an already horrid style.  Most of it is very generic, hinting at a few popular and deeply established styles, all while never really being cohesive enough to seem like Sliney has a hold on his own, individual style.  The whole issue was a mess, in all ways it could be.  I will not be looking into this title further.  I really thought there’d be some actual story here, not just reasons to patch together some overdrawn ‘money shots’.  I may be reviewing this book a little harshly, but I really think they have room to move with this title and the characters, but all they’re doing is standing perfectly still, not making a wave or ripple of any kind.  I don’t think there’s anything more that needs to be said.

WRITING:  4 / 10

ARTWORK:  3 / 10

OVERALL EXPERIENCE:  4 / 10

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