In what Marvel was calling a “major press conference” the company announced this its big event for next year. Marvel Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada, and VP Executive Editors Tom Brevoort and Axel Alonso announced that April will see the release of Fear Itself, a 7-issue series written by Matt Fraction with art by Stuart Immonen. The series will see the biggest characters in the Marvel universe taking on a new villain, some king of god of fear. Aside from the seven issues of the main series there will also be a prologue issue out in March, which will be written by Ed Brubaker and feature art by Scott Eaton.

As with past events, the main story will be contained in the main miniseries, however, the story will spill into any number of regular series and special issues. Brevoort remarked that the number of tie-in issues would approach the number seen during Civil War. We can expect all the major players in the Marvel U to play a part in the adventure at some point, so be prepared for that.

Any time a comic company makes this kind of announcement, actual details are hard to find. We know that the story involves with some kind of big secret that deals with the birth of the Marvel universe, and that when the secret is revealed it will change everything (stop me if you think that you’ve heard this one before). The story is based around the current sense of fear that many people experience in their daily life. Quesada opened the press conference by saying that the world can be a scary place, and they as creators want to tie into this, also saying that the best Marvel stories come when they tie into real events. We also know that the first issue will be 45 pages with a price of $3.99.

It’s too early for me to make any judgment on whether this will be any good. There aren’t a lot of plot details, but I’ll be honest, I’m not terribly excited. I have been enjoying the characters in Marvel’s books having time to have adventures without getting interrupted by these big events, and even though I know I don’t HAVE to buy every tie in (I tend to only buy whatever I was buying before an event starts), I wish Marvel would get away from telling this kind of story. The reality is that these events sell, and Marvel as a company has to do what it needs to in order to sell books. I’m sure I will at least pick up the main story, because I’m a sucker for Stuart Immonen’s art, so I guess I’ve got nothing to complain about if I’m going to continue being part of the problem.

To check out the full press conference, a preview of the series, and Fraction’s comments about the series, visit Marvel.com now. The press conference runs for about a half hour so sit back and enjoy.