The Watcher has been killed, his moon base has been pillaged, and someone’s stolen his eyes - that must’ve been one helluva house party! I’m calling it now: Wolverine, Doop and Thor got blackout drunk and things got a bit out of control!
Jason Aaron’s a pretty funny bugger when he wants to be and while Original Sin’s supposed to be super-serious and the audience is apparently on the edge of their seats to find out how The Watcher died (theoretically anyway), he throws in a pretty epic joke in this issue: someone has killed a PLANET with a GUN! That’s pretty amazing, right? Mike Deodato’s art really sells it though – he gives the planet a fucking FACE!! Great stuff, guys, that was so ridiculous and unexpected you gave me a big belly laugh with that one, really!
The planet homicide is something Moon Knight, Winter Soldier, and Gamora discover as they hunt for clues which is what all the heroes are doing in this issue (like in the last issue as well). I’m not very invested in the story though, especially as there’s no main character yet – no Sherlock Holmes type who we’re following, just an ensemble cast of random characters.
Besides humour, Aaron’s style of Marvel writing is to bring back obscure characters from the past and throw them into modern comics. He includes three of them in this issue: The Orb (a giant eye-headed guy who explains how he’s able to talk without a mouth in a totally unconvincing yet funny way), Dr Midas (the dime-store Doctor Doom lookalike) and Exterminatrix (a deadly S&M assassin – almost like a Grant Morrison character). These three are connected to The Watcher’s death and seem to be the ones who’ve been corralling the mindless ones, but they don’t seem to be the ones whodunit.
Then The Orb uses one of The Watcher’s eyes to reveal everyone’s secrets to the world… or something… because that’s what The Watcher’s eyes do?! I guess this is what the “Original Sin” of the title refers to, characters’ deepest, most earth-shattering secrets? And then there’s the ending… wow… where did THAT come from? And yeah, character deaths in superhero comics, etc., but still – pretty gruesome and shocking!
Original Sin #3 concludes the first act of this story which remains as puzzling as it was at the beginning. It’s not an amazing issue but it’ll do as an appetiser until we get to the main course. The good thing is, given the unpredictability and lack of information thus far, anything could happen in the upcoming issues, so here’s hoping for more insane moments like the planet homicide!
Original Sin #3
Did you read Grant Morrison's Marvel Boy? Dr. Midas and the Extermanatrix were both in it.
ReplyDeleteNo, I've never even heard of that book but that sounds awesome - I'm gonna see if I can get my hands on a copy. Cheers Dan!
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