Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #32, Marvel Comics, August 1991
Ares: God of War #1, Marvel Comics, March 2006
Fear Itself is the big Marvel crossover event of 2011. Check Marvel’s press release right here. There is a lot of buzz on the net about the event; it’s almost as if comic book fans are clamoring for another “Civil War” or “Secret Invasion” type blockbuster. Marvel is promising nothing short of huge!
Marvel EiC Joe Quesada says the event will tackle real world fears:
“The climate in the world today was certainly the inspiration for this as we started to think about the bigger stories for the Marvel Universe,” … “You will absolutely see the real world inject itself into this story because it’s undeniable that there’s a certain something in the air right now…we tend to tap into that whether consciously or unconsciously and it effects all our stories.”
Apparently the story will include all of Marvel’s big name heroes though it is still not clear who all the bad guys will be or which bad guys will play the biggest roles.
Since the storyline is about fear it’s safe to speculate that a character like Nightmare may end up playing a major role. Nightmare first appeared in Strange Tales #110 (Marvel Comics, July 1963). Strange Tales #110 was the feature book for my Undervalued Spotlight #26. Now we can add the first appearance of Nightmare as a selling point.
This edition of CBD’s Undervalued Spotlight will focus on the characters Deimos, the God of Terrror and Phobos, the God of Fear. They first appeared in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #32 (Marvel, August 1991) in a story arc called “A Gathering of Fear”. These guys should play a big role in the upcoming Fear Itself event. Check out the Deimos and Phobos page at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe site.
Currently it seems there are 2 Phobos characters floating around the Marvel Universe. A more current Phobos is a kid named Alexander Aaron Aresson. This Phobos first appeared in the first issue of the 2006 Ares: God of War mini series.
At first glance it seems the 2 Phobos characters are one in the same but I could not find an article explaining how the old Phobos became a the new young Phobos. I got this off the Wiki site..
…their father Ares even explicitly states that both are separate individuals within the 2006 Ares: God of War mini-series. However, this mini-series takes place before Brian Michael Bendis retconned the origin and abilities of Alex. Within the mini-series Alex had grown well into his late teens, had acquired a mastery of almost all forms of weaponry, and was well aware of his divine heritage. However, when we next see Alex in Mighty Avengers #13 he is barely 10, has no combat experience, and is aware that his father is the god Ares. It is also in Mighty Avengers #13 that Alex is first identified as Ares’ son Phobos, and displays abilities similar to the original version of the character. Thus, it would appear that Bendis retconned the events of the mini-series and that Alex and Phobos are potentially the same character…
I’m sure the Fear Itself event will clear things up. Check out the young Phobos page at the ComicBookDB site.
The 40th edition of the Overstreet Price Guide shows $2.50 as the NM- value for Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #32 and $3.00 as the NM- value fro Ares: God of War #1.
Strengths that make this comic book a good long-term investment are:
- 1st appearances of what could turn out to be major villains in the Marvel U
- These comics can still be found in Bargain Bins but hurry, they won’t last
- Will spike in value in the short term but should still be worth more than they are today in the long term
