Someone’s killed The Watcher! The Who? The big bald-headed chap with pupil-less eyes who wears a toga and lives on the moon! But why would anyone do that? So begins Marvel’s 2014 Summer Event, Original Sin, as the Marvel heroes assemble for a superhero whodunit.
You know what I really appreciated about this issue – other than being a decently written/drawn comic? The Watcher, a minor character in the Marvel Universe, died and nobody went crazy with grief. Compare this to DC’s POS book, Identity Crisis, which starts off with the death of an even more minor character, Sue Dibny – Elongated Man’s wife – and the ENTIRE DC Universe becomes an overwrought sobbing wreck. Superman, Batman, Martian Manhunter, EVERYONE is at Sue Dibny’s funeral bawling their eyes out, before launching a planet-wide hunt for her murderer. Sue freakin’ Dibny. For reals.
But The Watcher? The superheroes are shocked but pragmatic and immediately begin combing the area for clues before breaking off into teams and setting off to figure out who did the deed.
Before all of this though is a brilliant scene in a far flung steakhouse where Cap, Wolverine, Black Widow and Nick Fury classic (ie. not Sam Jackson Nick Fury), are sitting down to the best ribeyes Logan’s ever had. It’s a simple enough scene but it’s the kind of thing Jason Aaron does so well – bringing the everyday to the fantastic and meshing them together perfectly. Fury’s story of the best steak he ever had is the highlight of the issue, and is so well written and vividly told that it’s actually as memorable as the death of The Watcher.
Mike Deodato’s art is perfectly fine in this issue and he does a good job of rendering the characters. His double splash page of The Watcher’s death is pretty good and the action is handled well too. I’m not overexcited by the art though as I’m not a fan of Deodato’s, but I’ve no complaints about the way the issue looked – it was well done.
Marvel’s Event comics tend to always start well before falling apart as the title goes on. I’m hoping that with Jason Aaron in the driving seat for the main title issues that this doesn’t happen with Original Sin, especially as he does really well in this first issue. The story is set up nicely, the characters are given their individual missions (even if the pairings seem quite arbitrary and weird – the Punisher and Doctor Strange, whaaaaaat?), there’s some action, and there’s the great steakhouse scene – in other words, lots of good stuff to enjoy here and going forwards.
Original Sin looks, to me anyway, to be Marvel’s Identity Crisis – I just really hope there’s no rape, brainwashing or a super-dumb ending! Great first issue though, hopefully this Event comic will be this good throughout.
Original Sin #1
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