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Original Sin
Original Sin
Who killed the Watcher? Uatu, the mysterious space-god who observes mankind from the moon, is dead. Thus begins the greatest murder mystery in Marvel history! As Nick Fury leads a cosmic manhunt to the far corners of the universe, other forces marshal and other questions arise. Who is the Unseen? What was stolen from the Watcher’s lair? Just when the Avengers think they’ve cornered their murderer, everything explodes — unleashing the Marvel Universe’s greatest secrets and rocking the heroes to their core! What did the Watcher see? As all the truths come tumbling into the light, discover the Original Sins of dozens of major characters, from the Inhumans to Dr. Doom to J. Jonah Jameson!
Collecting ORIGINAL SIN #0-8, ORIGINAL SINS #1-5 and material from POINT ONE #1.
Collecting ORIGINAL SIN #0-8, ORIGINAL SINS #1-5 and material from POINT ONE #1.
392 pages, Hardcover
First published October 22, 2014
33 people are currently reading
702 people want to read
About the author
Jason Aaron
2,357 books1,675 followersJason Aaron grew up in a small town in Alabama. His cousin, Gustav Hasford, who wrote the semi-autobiographical novel The Short-Timers, on which the feature film Full Metal Jacket was based, was a large influence on Aaron. Aaron decided he wanted to write comics as a child, and though his father was skeptical when Aaron informed him of this aspiration, his mother took Aaron to drug stores, where he would purchase books from spinner racks, some of which he still owns today.
Aaron's career in comics began in 2001 when he won a Marvel Comics talent search contest with an eight-page Wolverine back-up story script. The story, which was published in Wolverine #175 (June 2002), gave him the opportunity to pitch subsequent ideas to editors.
In 2006, Aaron made a blind submission to DC/Vertigo, who published his first major work, the Vietnam War story The Other Side which was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Miniseries, and which Aaron regards as the "second time" he broke into the industry.
Following this, Vertigo asked him to pitch other ideas, which led to the series Scalped, a creator-owned series set on the fictional Prairie Rose Indian Reservation and published by DC/Vertigo.
In 2007, Aaron wrote Ripclaw: Pilot Season for Top Cow Productions. Later that year, Marvel editor Axel Alonso, who was impressed by The Other Side and Scalped, hired Aaron to write issues of Wolverine, Black Panther and eventually, an extended run on Ghost Rider that began in April 2008. His continued work on Black Panther also included a tie-in to the company-wide crossover storyline along with a "Secret Invasion" with David Lapham in 2009.
In January 2008, he signed an exclusive contract with Marvel, though it would not affect his work on Scalped. Later that July, he wrote the Penguin issue of The Joker's Asylum.
After a 4-issue stint on Wolverine in 2007, Aaron returned to the character with the ongoing series Wolverine: Weapon X, launched to coincide with the feature film X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Aaron commented, "With Wolverine: Weapon X we'll be trying to mix things up like that from arc to arc, so the first arc is a typical sort of black ops story but the second arc will jump right into the middle of a completely different genre," In 2010, the series was relaunched once again as simply Wolverine. He followed this with his current run on Thor: God of Thunder.
Aaron's career in comics began in 2001 when he won a Marvel Comics talent search contest with an eight-page Wolverine back-up story script. The story, which was published in Wolverine #175 (June 2002), gave him the opportunity to pitch subsequent ideas to editors.
In 2006, Aaron made a blind submission to DC/Vertigo, who published his first major work, the Vietnam War story The Other Side which was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Miniseries, and which Aaron regards as the "second time" he broke into the industry.
Following this, Vertigo asked him to pitch other ideas, which led to the series Scalped, a creator-owned series set on the fictional Prairie Rose Indian Reservation and published by DC/Vertigo.
In 2007, Aaron wrote Ripclaw: Pilot Season for Top Cow Productions. Later that year, Marvel editor Axel Alonso, who was impressed by The Other Side and Scalped, hired Aaron to write issues of Wolverine, Black Panther and eventually, an extended run on Ghost Rider that began in April 2008. His continued work on Black Panther also included a tie-in to the company-wide crossover storyline along with a "Secret Invasion" with David Lapham in 2009.
In January 2008, he signed an exclusive contract with Marvel, though it would not affect his work on Scalped. Later that July, he wrote the Penguin issue of The Joker's Asylum.
After a 4-issue stint on Wolverine in 2007, Aaron returned to the character with the ongoing series Wolverine: Weapon X, launched to coincide with the feature film X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Aaron commented, "With Wolverine: Weapon X we'll be trying to mix things up like that from arc to arc, so the first arc is a typical sort of black ops story but the second arc will jump right into the middle of a completely different genre," In 2010, the series was relaunched once again as simply Wolverine. He followed this with his current run on Thor: God of Thunder.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 296 reviews
July 5, 2016
Marvel decides to run Nick Fury (the old white one) through his paces one more time before he and old man Captain America retire and play shuffleboard or cribbage or knit sweaters for Tigra or whatever old superheroes do.
So how does Marvel send him off?
They have someone murder The Watcher, Nick Fury dons his Columbo trench coat and the game is afoot.
The Watcher, the big bald guy who lives on the Moon and is able to see and remember everything: You cheated on your taxes? You took a dollar from your Mom’s purse? You watch porn on your work computer? The Watcher watches and sees all.
You can run, but you can’t hide!
So, teams of superheroes are secretly assembled and sent out to find some clues and solve the mystery, which makes for some odd team-ups…
…and odder encounters.
To further complicate matters, one of The Watcher’s eyes explodes and secrets by the eyeful are revealed.
Aaron again drags out his favorite Mort of the Month villain, The Orb, and here it has some screwball logic.
Still, our teams of heroes (and the reader) are at loggerheads to solve this crime due to some byzantine plotting by Aaron.
Bottom line : Another poorly executed crossover event designed to pit heroes against one another, because otherwise what would be the point of a crossover. Even Aaron’s usually reliable wit isn’t enough to recommend this.
Two and a half stars rounded up to three for the funny…
So how does Marvel send him off?
They have someone murder The Watcher, Nick Fury dons his Columbo trench coat and the game is afoot.
The Watcher, the big bald guy who lives on the Moon and is able to see and remember everything: You cheated on your taxes? You took a dollar from your Mom’s purse? You watch porn on your work computer? The Watcher watches and sees all.
You can run, but you can’t hide!
So, teams of superheroes are secretly assembled and sent out to find some clues and solve the mystery, which makes for some odd team-ups…
…and odder encounters.
To further complicate matters, one of The Watcher’s eyes explodes and secrets by the eyeful are revealed.
Aaron again drags out his favorite Mort of the Month villain, The Orb, and here it has some screwball logic.
Still, our teams of heroes (and the reader) are at loggerheads to solve this crime due to some byzantine plotting by Aaron.
Bottom line : Another poorly executed crossover event designed to pit heroes against one another, because otherwise what would be the point of a crossover. Even Aaron’s usually reliable wit isn’t enough to recommend this.
Two and a half stars rounded up to three for the funny…
November 15, 2014
Original Sin wasn’t the random, unflushed tampon I thought it was gonna be. Lots of horrible reviews for this one kept me from getting to optimistic about the event and I went in prepared for the worst. Only my love of most things “Jason Aaron” caused me to even seek this one out. Overall, I thought it wasn’t half bad. Sure, it has issues. But nothing that was a complete deal breaker for me.
So what sucked? A few things. Aaron’s choice in villains baffled me a little. I like the idea of using relative unknowns or second stringers, but really? . These guys aren’t even bench warmers. I didn’t even recognize a couple of them. Then one of these tools actually takes on the Hulk. The HULK. I understood how, just wasn’t buying it.
The “mystery” gets resolved pretty quick and I had a sneaking suspicion who it was prior to the big reveal. Bear in mind, I’m no Sherlock or Batman. Usually I don’t figure anything out prior to the author letting it slip. I know why Aaron chose to do the reveal early in the series, but it felt rushed. I think he had a lot of ground to cover in 8 issues. The “forensic” investigations weren’t exactly overly impressive or exhaustive either. The ending was a mixed bag too.
Lastly, the extra stories included at the end of the collection were weak. The Ales Kot story was alright. But everything else was unnecessary filler.
So what’s left? A buncha cool shit. Nova and Uatu bro-ing out was fun. Nova’s got that youthful, “Spidey” attitude about him that I liked. It was cool to get a little more back story on The Watcher and check out his bachelor pad.
Cap, Logan, Natasha, and Nick having “Meat” night was fun. And that’s NOT an urban dictionary term for an orgy by the way. Stark doing the "work from home" thing in his boxers was a laugh. Banner calling him out on it amused.
There’s plenty of action too. The Avengers are front and center taking it to the bad-guys a couple of times. Buncha throw-downs in this one.
Great to see the original Nick Fury again. Not the Sam Jackson version. The original. Sam Fury was fine in the Ultimate Universe, but I’m old school. Nick’s like Eastwood. A classic.
Aaron’s team-ups were pretty bad-ass. Throwing together odd teams of heroes to investigate the murder worked for me. Frank Castle and Stephen Strange? I’m diggin' it. It was interesting to watch some of these unusual groups interact while working together. Aaron’s take on the Winter Soldier was pretty spot on as well.
I was cool with Aaron’s resolution and explanation as to what was ultimately going on. While I thought the reveal happened a little too early and easy, the back story as to what had been going on was interesting and sorta cool. Not great, but certainly not horrible.
Finally, I was not a Mike Deodato fan. I have even taken steps to avoid his stuff in the past. This was the BEST stuff he’s ever produced. His style is evolving into something pretty special. If he can maintain this level of detail in the future, I will be picking more of his books down the road. Well done, Mike.
So, overall this story comes off like a layover on our way to the next big Marvel Event. While there were certainly a few weaknesses with this one, I still had some fun. I like the way Aaron writes most characters and it was an interesting concept. Just didn’t play out perfectly in the execution. Deodato shines. Not required reading, but it has its moments.
Get this review and more at:
So what sucked? A few things. Aaron’s choice in villains baffled me a little. I like the idea of using relative unknowns or second stringers, but really? . These guys aren’t even bench warmers. I didn’t even recognize a couple of them. Then one of these tools actually takes on the Hulk. The HULK. I understood how, just wasn’t buying it.
The “mystery” gets resolved pretty quick and I had a sneaking suspicion who it was prior to the big reveal. Bear in mind, I’m no Sherlock or Batman. Usually I don’t figure anything out prior to the author letting it slip. I know why Aaron chose to do the reveal early in the series, but it felt rushed. I think he had a lot of ground to cover in 8 issues. The “forensic” investigations weren’t exactly overly impressive or exhaustive either. The ending was a mixed bag too.
Lastly, the extra stories included at the end of the collection were weak. The Ales Kot story was alright. But everything else was unnecessary filler.
So what’s left? A buncha cool shit. Nova and Uatu bro-ing out was fun. Nova’s got that youthful, “Spidey” attitude about him that I liked. It was cool to get a little more back story on The Watcher and check out his bachelor pad.
Cap, Logan, Natasha, and Nick having “Meat” night was fun. And that’s NOT an urban dictionary term for an orgy by the way. Stark doing the "work from home" thing in his boxers was a laugh. Banner calling him out on it amused.
There’s plenty of action too. The Avengers are front and center taking it to the bad-guys a couple of times. Buncha throw-downs in this one.
Great to see the original Nick Fury again. Not the Sam Jackson version. The original. Sam Fury was fine in the Ultimate Universe, but I’m old school. Nick’s like Eastwood. A classic.
Aaron’s team-ups were pretty bad-ass. Throwing together odd teams of heroes to investigate the murder worked for me. Frank Castle and Stephen Strange? I’m diggin' it. It was interesting to watch some of these unusual groups interact while working together. Aaron’s take on the Winter Soldier was pretty spot on as well.
I was cool with Aaron’s resolution and explanation as to what was ultimately going on. While I thought the reveal happened a little too early and easy, the back story as to what had been going on was interesting and sorta cool. Not great, but certainly not horrible.
Finally, I was not a Mike Deodato fan. I have even taken steps to avoid his stuff in the past. This was the BEST stuff he’s ever produced. His style is evolving into something pretty special. If he can maintain this level of detail in the future, I will be picking more of his books down the road. Well done, Mike.
So, overall this story comes off like a layover on our way to the next big Marvel Event. While there were certainly a few weaknesses with this one, I still had some fun. I like the way Aaron writes most characters and it was an interesting concept. Just didn’t play out perfectly in the execution. Deodato shines. Not required reading, but it has its moments.
Get this review and more at:
September 9, 2014
Original Sin is Marvel’s big 2014 Summer Event comic. It’s a whodunit that revolves around the murder of Uatu, The Watcher, the giant bald-headed, toga-wearing man on the moon figure who pops up every now and then, watching things. Nick Fury and Captain America lead an all-star cast of Marvel’s Mightiest Heroes as they search for clues and hunt down the culprit - but who would want Uatu dead? And what do they want with his eyes…?
Last year’s Age of Ultron was totally moronic while Infinity was just badly written (Jonathan Hickman is a great ideas man but not a great writer); Original Sin is neither but is instead just plain BORING. Or to be more specific, it’s overlong by half. Counting the #0 issue, this is a 9-issue story that could’ve been much better if it were 4 or 5 issues max.
As it is, the #0 issue (written by Mark Waid) basically introduces The Watcher to readers unfamiliar with him; the #1 issue sets up the story; there’s about 2, maybe 3, issues where the various characters collect clues; there’s another issue where the murderer explains themselves; cut out a lot of this fat and you’ll be left with a much snappier, more satisfying story.
Or would you? Because in addition to it being much too long, the story itself isn’t that gripping. Hands up who cares about The Watcher - and be honest! I doubt anyone would call themselves a “fan” of this dude. He’s a marginal character at best. I wasn’t that invested in finding out who killed this guy, especially when doing so is totally consequence-free.
Also, it’s funny to note that even Jason Aaron seems to lose interest in Uatu some way into the story - it shifts from being about his death and what it means to the person whodunit and their reasons, which actually turns out to have much more severe consequences for the Marvel U than The Watcher’s death could ever have.
Then there’s the format of the story itself which is essentially a police procedural, albeit with superheroes. I’m simply not a fan of crime fiction or police procedurals, so I didn’t care much to watch groups of superheroes find out clues, etc. on their way to figuring out The Watcher’s killer.
The team-ups were interesting, at least on paper: the Punisher and Doctor Strange; Black Panther, Emma Frost and Ant Man; Moon Knight, Winter Soldier and Gamora; Iron Man and Bruce Banner. But they basically just collect clues then reunite - there’s little explored in their relationships and they don’t do much themselves either.
That’s not to say I hated it entirely. By far the most impressive aspect of this event comic was Mike Deodato’s art. I’ve never really paid attention to his work before but his art in this book was outstanding and I think he did a terrific job giving the story this grandiose look. I’ll definitely keep an eye (hoho) out for his name on titles in the future.
And there were some nice scenes like the meat night at the start of the story where Cap, Fury, Wolverine and Black Widow have dinner at this remote steakhouse and talk about old times. And there’s a bizarre detail in the investigation where it’s revealed a PLANET was SHOT by a BULLET and KILLED. That made me laugh - that was a true Jason Aaron nutty detail.
But for large swathes of this story, I was barely paying attention. So many scenes were just flat and dull, stretched out to make it last longer. There’s a number of MacGuffins too, in keeping with the whodunit approach, that take up space. I just didn’t care for the most part and it didn’t matter either, you can still follow this even half paying attention. It doesn’t help either that we find out whodunit halfway through so all tension is lost, and the rest is just the usual superhero fights.
Take away the after-effects this story had on the characters - and if you follow comics news, you’ll already be aware of what some of those effects are - and take a look at the book itself. Were you engaged with it? Did you enjoy it? And for me the answer to both is, no. So while Original Sin may not have the flaws other Marvel event comics have, it’s still not a great book because it’s an event comic - the format itself keeps it from being good.
‘til the next Marvel event! … sigh (still a damn sight better than DC’s event comics!).
(If you don’t like being played with and need to know whodunit and other spoilers, or maybe you just want to know because you’ve no intention of reading this, I’ve included them below - but don’t forget that you clicked “view spoiler”, not me!)
Last year’s Age of Ultron was totally moronic while Infinity was just badly written (Jonathan Hickman is a great ideas man but not a great writer); Original Sin is neither but is instead just plain BORING. Or to be more specific, it’s overlong by half. Counting the #0 issue, this is a 9-issue story that could’ve been much better if it were 4 or 5 issues max.
As it is, the #0 issue (written by Mark Waid) basically introduces The Watcher to readers unfamiliar with him; the #1 issue sets up the story; there’s about 2, maybe 3, issues where the various characters collect clues; there’s another issue where the murderer explains themselves; cut out a lot of this fat and you’ll be left with a much snappier, more satisfying story.
Or would you? Because in addition to it being much too long, the story itself isn’t that gripping. Hands up who cares about The Watcher - and be honest! I doubt anyone would call themselves a “fan” of this dude. He’s a marginal character at best. I wasn’t that invested in finding out who killed this guy, especially when doing so is totally consequence-free.
Also, it’s funny to note that even Jason Aaron seems to lose interest in Uatu some way into the story - it shifts from being about his death and what it means to the person whodunit and their reasons, which actually turns out to have much more severe consequences for the Marvel U than The Watcher’s death could ever have.
Then there’s the format of the story itself which is essentially a police procedural, albeit with superheroes. I’m simply not a fan of crime fiction or police procedurals, so I didn’t care much to watch groups of superheroes find out clues, etc. on their way to figuring out The Watcher’s killer.
The team-ups were interesting, at least on paper: the Punisher and Doctor Strange; Black Panther, Emma Frost and Ant Man; Moon Knight, Winter Soldier and Gamora; Iron Man and Bruce Banner. But they basically just collect clues then reunite - there’s little explored in their relationships and they don’t do much themselves either.
That’s not to say I hated it entirely. By far the most impressive aspect of this event comic was Mike Deodato’s art. I’ve never really paid attention to his work before but his art in this book was outstanding and I think he did a terrific job giving the story this grandiose look. I’ll definitely keep an eye (hoho) out for his name on titles in the future.
And there were some nice scenes like the meat night at the start of the story where Cap, Fury, Wolverine and Black Widow have dinner at this remote steakhouse and talk about old times. And there’s a bizarre detail in the investigation where it’s revealed a PLANET was SHOT by a BULLET and KILLED. That made me laugh - that was a true Jason Aaron nutty detail.
But for large swathes of this story, I was barely paying attention. So many scenes were just flat and dull, stretched out to make it last longer. There’s a number of MacGuffins too, in keeping with the whodunit approach, that take up space. I just didn’t care for the most part and it didn’t matter either, you can still follow this even half paying attention. It doesn’t help either that we find out whodunit halfway through so all tension is lost, and the rest is just the usual superhero fights.
Take away the after-effects this story had on the characters - and if you follow comics news, you’ll already be aware of what some of those effects are - and take a look at the book itself. Were you engaged with it? Did you enjoy it? And for me the answer to both is, no. So while Original Sin may not have the flaws other Marvel event comics have, it’s still not a great book because it’s an event comic - the format itself keeps it from being good.
‘til the next Marvel event! … sigh (still a damn sight better than DC’s event comics!).
(If you don’t like being played with and need to know whodunit and other spoilers, or maybe you just want to know because you’ve no intention of reading this, I’ve included them below - but don’t forget that you clicked “view spoiler”, not me!)
August 25, 2016
So this was good fun. I enjoyed it, but this could have been soooooo much more. It was such a good idea, but it just had too many characters in it to make it effective.
Someone kills the Uatu The Watcher and takes his eyes. His eyes are like hard drives and some z lister bad guy that Jason Aaron seems to love, detonates one of the eyes releasing millions of secrets that the watcher witnessed.
Dun dun duuuurrr!
The rest is a secret.
Good story, badly executed.
Someone kills the Uatu The Watcher and takes his eyes. His eyes are like hard drives and some z lister bad guy that Jason Aaron seems to love, detonates one of the eyes releasing millions of secrets that the watcher witnessed.
Dun dun duuuurrr!
The rest is a secret.
Good story, badly executed.
April 14, 2015
So... This was a crossover event. I generally have lower standards for crossover events than I do standalone stories. I expect that there's a lot of behind-the-scenes wrangling and interference from editorial, from the writers of the books these characters appear in regularly, from so many corners that actually writing the main book has to be a bit challenging. You must do this, you can't do that, you have to include this character, etc. Jason Aaron did a decent enough job at it, even though the initial concept isn't the most promising. Somebody murders the Watcher. Ok, and? Don't get me wrong, it's not that I dislike the guy and wanted him dead. It's just that... what does his death remove of value from the world? Given that his sole purpose is to observe and not interfere? It doesn't take long for Aaron to move beyond that original premise, maybe because he also understood that the murder of the Watcher is going to be of minimal importance to most readers.
This does mean that the mystery kind of gets dismissed relatively quickly. In some ways, that's fine. It's not like I was terribly engaged in the mystery anyways. The other story threads are more interesting, and they have far bigger impacts. But it does make the murder mystery seem that much more pointless. Compare that to DC's Identity Crisis, which I don't doubt was at least a partial inspiration for this story. There, the murder mystery feels important right until the end. The victim there wasn't much more globally important than the Watcher, but at least for the span of that book, she felt hugely important.
But hey, there's some really good stuff here, mostly in isolated scenes. There's a great diner scene at the beginning, and there's the weird team ups that work way better than I could have expected. Dr. Strange and the Punisher? Yes, actually. And then there's The Orb. His head is literally a giant eyeball, and he's totally off his rocker. He was so wonderfully weird that I found myself enjoying his every appearance.
The big hardcover collection also includes Original Sins, sort of a short story collection that goes with the events of the book. The quality varied wildly. Some stories were really good. I'm thinking especially of the story with a normal guy who decides to blackmail Doctor Doom with his big secret, and it goes about as well for him as you'd expect. But most of them are just kind of ok. I was really disappointed with the multi-part (one part in each of the five issues of Original Sins) Young Avengers story. The writer tries, he really does, (the footnotes are a great touch) but it just isn't that good of a story. And there's so much repetition that reading one issue after another got incredibly boring. Also, the art in this story is... it's not good.
As a whole, this event is just slightly above mediocre. There's some interesting and entertaining bits, and there are definitely important changes happening here. But it still feels oddly lightweight for what should be such an important event.
This does mean that the mystery kind of gets dismissed relatively quickly. In some ways, that's fine. It's not like I was terribly engaged in the mystery anyways. The other story threads are more interesting, and they have far bigger impacts. But it does make the murder mystery seem that much more pointless. Compare that to DC's Identity Crisis, which I don't doubt was at least a partial inspiration for this story. There, the murder mystery feels important right until the end. The victim there wasn't much more globally important than the Watcher, but at least for the span of that book, she felt hugely important.
But hey, there's some really good stuff here, mostly in isolated scenes. There's a great diner scene at the beginning, and there's the weird team ups that work way better than I could have expected. Dr. Strange and the Punisher? Yes, actually. And then there's The Orb. His head is literally a giant eyeball, and he's totally off his rocker. He was so wonderfully weird that I found myself enjoying his every appearance.
The big hardcover collection also includes Original Sins, sort of a short story collection that goes with the events of the book. The quality varied wildly. Some stories were really good. I'm thinking especially of the story with a normal guy who decides to blackmail Doctor Doom with his big secret, and it goes about as well for him as you'd expect. But most of them are just kind of ok. I was really disappointed with the multi-part (one part in each of the five issues of Original Sins) Young Avengers story. The writer tries, he really does, (the footnotes are a great touch) but it just isn't that good of a story. And there's so much repetition that reading one issue after another got incredibly boring. Also, the art in this story is... it's not good.
As a whole, this event is just slightly above mediocre. There's some interesting and entertaining bits, and there are definitely important changes happening here. But it still feels oddly lightweight for what should be such an important event.
November 4, 2015
Uatu the Watcher has seen all the events of importance for what seems to be forever.
Someone killed him, but who would do such a thing and why.
This is a whodunnit if there ever was one. A bunch of Marvel Heroes gather together to learn who killed The Watcher and why. This story is really a 2.5. The pacing was painfully slow at times. I never got all that interested in the story although some interesting thoughts were made such as why does he watch.
Overall Original Sin felt like a crossover event for the sake of a crossover event.
Someone killed him, but who would do such a thing and why.
This is a whodunnit if there ever was one. A bunch of Marvel Heroes gather together to learn who killed The Watcher and why. This story is really a 2.5. The pacing was painfully slow at times. I never got all that interested in the story although some interesting thoughts were made such as why does he watch.
Overall Original Sin felt like a crossover event for the sake of a crossover event.
August 1, 2015
OK. So. Hmm. I'm torn.
Here there be spoilers.
On the one hand, I love the characters in this book. Cap, Tony and the Odinson are here but other than Cap, they don't dominate like they usually do.
There are however, the team ups...Dr. Strange and the Punisher; Moon Knight, Winter Soldier/Bucky, Gamora; Scott Lang Ant-Man, Black Panther, Emma Frost. Oh and Rocket Raccoon shows up but not intentionally.
We've also got original Nick Fury. I love original Nick. Because of that, the second half of this collection is problematic for me.
Who killed Uatu? It's not even the point. I liked the mystery, I liked the whoa, who did that? I didn't like that half at through, it didn't matter at all anymore, and we knew who and why. It wasn't even for a massive reason, it was because someone said how they'd always chose what they chose again, but then needs to kill to keep it secret? Nope. Not buying it.
It made a lot of sense, tying things back from Howard Stark through past Nick Fury to the future.
The respect and camaraderie between the WWII vets (Cap, Fury, Logan, Bucky) is good to see, but then they shit all over it.
This feels like an unnecessary destruction of Fury. I mean the start was great, and the secret makes total sense, I buy it. I don't buy how secrets coming out make him descend the way he did.
I totally love who ends up taking his spot. It really is the only one that makes sense.
What I liked was the distrust, the mind games and the suspicion. The not knowing. Then the reveal, and move forward. Sadly, it lost momentum and took too,long to finish.
I love that one secret reveals ?Thor (and Loki?) have a sister. I love that another renders him unable to lift Mjolnir, which explains how The mantle passes.
I didn't like how Fury used the secrets against his allies. I didn't like how he went over the top into obsession. It was a bad end.
Oh, then there's the villains, who really are only there to throw suspicion away from the right target. A Red Herring if you will...but if you do? Don't literally call one a Z-list villain IN THE ACTUAL PAGES OF THE BOOK.
It makes sense why they use them, because it's a book about secrets and knowledge. Power, lies, and how it corrodes the soul.
The real joy? Mike Deodato's Art. Love it. The covers like old pulp covers of detective stories or movie posters? Yes.
So there's good and bad, and honestly, why the hell is Ben Grimm on the cover? He's got nearly nothing to do with this. I know they need to sell books with the big characters on the covers...
So in summary...unnecessary destruction of Nick Fury's character.
Great art
Great use of characters.
Great relationships.
Bad loss of momentum.
Extra stretched out, not cool.
Unnecessary additional materials.
Cool,little scene with Nova and Uatu.
Kind of sad to see Uatu go, but likely expect him to resurrect.
Curious if Bucky makes this the day job or on his time off...?
What will the after effects be? That I do want to see.
When will Steve Rogers have to worry about what happens to Nick's age to himself?
Here there be spoilers.
On the one hand, I love the characters in this book. Cap, Tony and the Odinson are here but other than Cap, they don't dominate like they usually do.
There are however, the team ups...Dr. Strange and the Punisher; Moon Knight, Winter Soldier/Bucky, Gamora; Scott Lang Ant-Man, Black Panther, Emma Frost. Oh and Rocket Raccoon shows up but not intentionally.
We've also got original Nick Fury. I love original Nick. Because of that, the second half of this collection is problematic for me.
Who killed Uatu? It's not even the point. I liked the mystery, I liked the whoa, who did that? I didn't like that half at through, it didn't matter at all anymore, and we knew who and why. It wasn't even for a massive reason, it was because someone said how they'd always chose what they chose again, but then needs to kill to keep it secret? Nope. Not buying it.
It made a lot of sense, tying things back from Howard Stark through past Nick Fury to the future.
The respect and camaraderie between the WWII vets (Cap, Fury, Logan, Bucky) is good to see, but then they shit all over it.
This feels like an unnecessary destruction of Fury. I mean the start was great, and the secret makes total sense, I buy it. I don't buy how secrets coming out make him descend the way he did.
I totally love who ends up taking his spot. It really is the only one that makes sense.
What I liked was the distrust, the mind games and the suspicion. The not knowing. Then the reveal, and move forward. Sadly, it lost momentum and took too,long to finish.
I love that one secret reveals ?Thor (and Loki?) have a sister. I love that another renders him unable to lift Mjolnir, which explains how The mantle passes.
I didn't like how Fury used the secrets against his allies. I didn't like how he went over the top into obsession. It was a bad end.
Oh, then there's the villains, who really are only there to throw suspicion away from the right target. A Red Herring if you will...but if you do? Don't literally call one a Z-list villain IN THE ACTUAL PAGES OF THE BOOK.
It makes sense why they use them, because it's a book about secrets and knowledge. Power, lies, and how it corrodes the soul.
The real joy? Mike Deodato's Art. Love it. The covers like old pulp covers of detective stories or movie posters? Yes.
So there's good and bad, and honestly, why the hell is Ben Grimm on the cover? He's got nearly nothing to do with this. I know they need to sell books with the big characters on the covers...
So in summary...unnecessary destruction of Nick Fury's character.
Great art
Great use of characters.
Great relationships.
Bad loss of momentum.
Extra stretched out, not cool.
Unnecessary additional materials.
Cool,little scene with Nova and Uatu.
Kind of sad to see Uatu go, but likely expect him to resurrect.
Curious if Bucky makes this the day job or on his time off...?
What will the after effects be? That I do want to see.
When will Steve Rogers have to worry about what happens to Nick's age to himself?
September 20, 2018
Well that ended badly, in more than one sense of the word.
Pretty much everything you need to know about this is on the front and back covers. Someone has shot the Watcher, and a team of Marvel’s finest heroes are on the case. This is one of those Big Event books that result in Lasting Changes (until another Big Event--or just a new creative team--puts things back the way they used to be.) Yeah, I may have read a few too many of these over the years …
Actually, as Big Events go, this is one of the better ones. The idea of having the Watcher murdered is certainly audacious. Jason Aaron sustains the sense of things being being off-kilter with constant touches--having the Mindless Ones start to think, for example. There are all sorts of little bits like that that longtime Marvel fans will appreciate.
That actually may be a weakness. I’ve been reading various Marvel titles since the mid 70's (plus plenty of reprints and back issues from prior to that.) I’m no expert, but I do know a thing or two. I'm not sure how interesting this book will be to the casual reader. It seems pretty well aimed at the fans.
I also really don't like the ending. The book begins superbly, builds well, but Aaron flubs the ending. I hit the reveal and was like: That's it? That's who shot the Watcher? I don't buy it. And the bit about their having time to slip away frequently over the entire history they’ve been around in the Marvel Universe to do … things? Sorry. Not buying it. Maybe Brian Michael Bendis could have figured out how to massage the continuity to make it work, but you, Jason Aaron, are no Brian Michael Bendis. If it had been set up better … maybe. I dunno. I just found [character’s] explanation for their actions--all of them--unconvincing.
One big plus about the book, for me at least, was the appearance of the Orb. Jason Aaron seems to have lots of fun writing him, as I discovered in his run on Dr. Strange. I wouldn't mind seeing an Orb miniseries from him one of these days. At one point, someone says, “What do you mean it’s not a mask? How are you talking if it's not a mask?” to which Orby replies, “It took a long time to learn. I used to just make squishy noises and --” Just fun!
Despite my problems with the ending, this was otherwise a good book. I’d even go so far as to recommend it.
Pretty much everything you need to know about this is on the front and back covers. Someone has shot the Watcher, and a team of Marvel’s finest heroes are on the case. This is one of those Big Event books that result in Lasting Changes (until another Big Event--or just a new creative team--puts things back the way they used to be.) Yeah, I may have read a few too many of these over the years …
Actually, as Big Events go, this is one of the better ones. The idea of having the Watcher murdered is certainly audacious. Jason Aaron sustains the sense of things being being off-kilter with constant touches--having the Mindless Ones start to think, for example. There are all sorts of little bits like that that longtime Marvel fans will appreciate.
That actually may be a weakness. I’ve been reading various Marvel titles since the mid 70's (plus plenty of reprints and back issues from prior to that.) I’m no expert, but I do know a thing or two. I'm not sure how interesting this book will be to the casual reader. It seems pretty well aimed at the fans.
I also really don't like the ending. The book begins superbly, builds well, but Aaron flubs the ending. I hit the reveal and was like: That's it? That's who shot the Watcher? I don't buy it. And the bit about their having time to slip away frequently over the entire history they’ve been around in the Marvel Universe to do … things? Sorry. Not buying it. Maybe Brian Michael Bendis could have figured out how to massage the continuity to make it work, but you, Jason Aaron, are no Brian Michael Bendis. If it had been set up better … maybe. I dunno. I just found [character’s] explanation for their actions--all of them--unconvincing.
One big plus about the book, for me at least, was the appearance of the Orb. Jason Aaron seems to have lots of fun writing him, as I discovered in his run on Dr. Strange. I wouldn't mind seeing an Orb miniseries from him one of these days. At one point, someone says, “What do you mean it’s not a mask? How are you talking if it's not a mask?” to which Orby replies, “It took a long time to learn. I used to just make squishy noises and --” Just fun!
Despite my problems with the ending, this was otherwise a good book. I’d even go so far as to recommend it.
November 22, 2014
Original Sin: Someone has killed The Watcher, who was it?
Overall I didn't really care for this series. It had some major ret-conning going on, and also it just seemed a little implausible, even for a comic series. I didn't care for some of the changes the book made in long term characters. I don't want to give too much away, so I won't say more. Overall just not one of my favorite crossovers. Not terrible, but not great either. Even adding my favorite character, The Punisher, didn't really help this one.
The art was nice, no complaints there. I am actually a huge Jason Aaron fan, and this won't change my opinion of his work, he's a really good writer. Maybe this had more problems brought on by editorial changes, I'm not sure.
I would recommend this one for hardcore Marvel Comics fans only, and more casual fans should probably skip it.
Overall I didn't really care for this series. It had some major ret-conning going on, and also it just seemed a little implausible, even for a comic series. I didn't care for some of the changes the book made in long term characters. I don't want to give too much away, so I won't say more. Overall just not one of my favorite crossovers. Not terrible, but not great either. Even adding my favorite character, The Punisher, didn't really help this one.
The art was nice, no complaints there. I am actually a huge Jason Aaron fan, and this won't change my opinion of his work, he's a really good writer. Maybe this had more problems brought on by editorial changes, I'm not sure.
I would recommend this one for hardcore Marvel Comics fans only, and more casual fans should probably skip it.
April 2, 2015
I enjoyed this up until it got stupid. Nice art, good idea, bad execution. Once again I fell for sensationalism, pretty covers and cool ideas. Either this went on too long or Aaron just gave up. The last two issues felt melodramatic and anticlimactic. Also...what the hell?
September 6, 2014
Still not entirely sure how I feel about this one. It was far better than a majority of recent Marvel events, but that ending was a face palmer.
(And whatever was said to Thor had better be DAMN good to make him suddenly unworthy of lifting Mjolnir.)
RIP, Uatu. I really enjoyed your weird bald self, and still subscribe to the theory that you are alive and well in the Marvel cinematic universe as Stan Lee.
(And whatever was said to Thor had better be DAMN good to make him suddenly unworthy of lifting Mjolnir.)
RIP, Uatu. I really enjoyed your weird bald self, and still subscribe to the theory that you are alive and well in the Marvel cinematic universe as Stan Lee.
July 27, 2020
Tja. Mnogo buke ni oko čega.
Da se razumemo, da mi na red nije došlo ponovo čitanje FemTora, ne bih se ni osvrnuo na Original Sin, budući da su mi Avendžersi inače dosadni do iznemoglosti, makar van MCU i Ultimatesa, no kako je ovo na sve strane izvikivano kao neophodan uvod u Thorfall, da ga tako nazovem, rešio sam pročitam i Original Sin, kad već čitam sve ostalo.
Nisam morao da se trudim.
Ne razumem ovoliko silno hvaljenje Arona kao scenariste. Možda je njegovo scenarističko umeće ovde ugušeno nekakvim nametima i zahtevima Marvelove redakcije, ali isti utisak sam imao čitajući njegove na sva usta hvaljene uratke na (hronološki prethodnom) Toru.
Original Sin je u suštini jeftin krimić u kojem pola Marvelovog univerzuma po svemiru juri ubicu. Usput se, naravno, svi potuku sa svima - što je jedna od najimbecilnijih osobina superherojskog stripa. Neko ispadne negativac, a zapravo nije negativac, pa ga njegove do pre dve sekunde kolege namlate kao vola - uz poklike "Nikada mi nisi bio simpatičan, XY!" - te se onda ispostavi da je sve vreme on pozitivac, prinuđen na neke ekstremne mere i posle toga nikom ništa. Čekajte malo, rođaci - da meni neki kolega, s kojim radim desetak godina, naprasno kaže "Oduvek sam mislio da si kreten i mrzim te!" pa ne da ne bih posle toga sarađivao s njim na bilo čemu, nego bih prelazio ulicu kad ga vidim, ako ni zbog čega drugog a ono zato - kakva je to osoba koja je u stanju da godinama ili decenijama blisko sarađuje s tobom, a sve to vreme ne može očima da te gleda?
Ajde sve to na stranu, ali krimić kao krimić je besmislen, sve je to traljavo urađeno i sklopljeno, negativci su više komični nego zanimljivi ili zabirnjavajući i sve je to jedan potpuno besmislen galimatijas. Jedine dobre table ovog "iventa" nalaze se na samom početku, kada mladi Nova dolazi u posetu Uatuu. To je baš bilo vrhunski napisano i pročitavši te epizode izuzetno žalim zbog toga što je Marvel toliko jeftino potrošio tako dobrog lika kakav je Watcher.
Eto,
Realno 2*
Da se razumemo, da mi na red nije došlo ponovo čitanje FemTora, ne bih se ni osvrnuo na Original Sin, budući da su mi Avendžersi inače dosadni do iznemoglosti, makar van MCU i Ultimatesa, no kako je ovo na sve strane izvikivano kao neophodan uvod u Thorfall, da ga tako nazovem, rešio sam pročitam i Original Sin, kad već čitam sve ostalo.
Nisam morao da se trudim.
Ne razumem ovoliko silno hvaljenje Arona kao scenariste. Možda je njegovo scenarističko umeće ovde ugušeno nekakvim nametima i zahtevima Marvelove redakcije, ali isti utisak sam imao čitajući njegove na sva usta hvaljene uratke na (hronološki prethodnom) Toru.
Original Sin je u suštini jeftin krimić u kojem pola Marvelovog univerzuma po svemiru juri ubicu. Usput se, naravno, svi potuku sa svima - što je jedna od najimbecilnijih osobina superherojskog stripa. Neko ispadne negativac, a zapravo nije negativac, pa ga njegove do pre dve sekunde kolege namlate kao vola - uz poklike "Nikada mi nisi bio simpatičan, XY!" - te se onda ispostavi da je sve vreme on pozitivac, prinuđen na neke ekstremne mere i posle toga nikom ništa. Čekajte malo, rođaci - da meni neki kolega, s kojim radim desetak godina, naprasno kaže "Oduvek sam mislio da si kreten i mrzim te!" pa ne da ne bih posle toga sarađivao s njim na bilo čemu, nego bih prelazio ulicu kad ga vidim, ako ni zbog čega drugog a ono zato - kakva je to osoba koja je u stanju da godinama ili decenijama blisko sarađuje s tobom, a sve to vreme ne može očima da te gleda?
Ajde sve to na stranu, ali krimić kao krimić je besmislen, sve je to traljavo urađeno i sklopljeno, negativci su više komični nego zanimljivi ili zabirnjavajući i sve je to jedan potpuno besmislen galimatijas. Jedine dobre table ovog "iventa" nalaze se na samom početku, kada mladi Nova dolazi u posetu Uatuu. To je baš bilo vrhunski napisano i pročitavši te epizode izuzetno žalim zbog toga što je Marvel toliko jeftino potrošio tako dobrog lika kakav je Watcher.
Eto,
Realno 2*
April 2, 2023
This is an incredible series! Kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end and kept me questioning everything! I loved everything about it, it's story like these, that are why i read comics books because only in this format could you tell a story like this! Simply perfect if you ask me 🥰
December 31, 2014
I think the core Original Sin series has been somewhat misunderstood. I've read some complaints that it's over-the-top or hard-to-believe, but that's exactly the point. As the covers to the series make obvious, this is classic pulp fiction, with all of the requisite wackiness, from dead monsters to wacky villains to unbelievable bullets, and it's carried off well. I can see why the retcons about Nick Fury are somewhat more controversial, but I think they're presented with a lot of ambivalence. Was he right or wrong? It's not clear from the text, but I lean toward the former.
That's not to say that the story isn't without flaws. It's too drawn out, and so gets a bit dull in the last half, with endless fighting padding the story out. I also think the story is weakened by not presenting the secrets that are revealed. We hear about Thor (which is indeed Jason Aaron's secret to tell), but the rest are left to the individual series to reveal, and that feels like a big hole in this story.
Still, overall, this was one of the more interesting event comics of late from Marvel. If it'd been trimmed by about two issues in the last half, it could have been brilliant. As is', it's a lot of fun for its unusual storytelling and interesting revelations [6+/10]
The Original Sins comics are just shallow spin-offs, but they're better than most of this sort, with most of the shorts being enjoyable. The core Young Avengers comic is actually quite impressive because the author manages to catch the style of the recent Gillen run and apply it to a Sin-related story [6+/10].
Finally, the Secret Avengers digital comic is just barely an Original Sins story, but it's a nice little comic [6+/10].
On the whole, Original Sins is borderline good. I'd hoped for more, but it's still a fun event.
That's not to say that the story isn't without flaws. It's too drawn out, and so gets a bit dull in the last half, with endless fighting padding the story out. I also think the story is weakened by not presenting the secrets that are revealed. We hear about Thor (which is indeed Jason Aaron's secret to tell), but the rest are left to the individual series to reveal, and that feels like a big hole in this story.
Still, overall, this was one of the more interesting event comics of late from Marvel. If it'd been trimmed by about two issues in the last half, it could have been brilliant. As is', it's a lot of fun for its unusual storytelling and interesting revelations [6+/10]
The Original Sins comics are just shallow spin-offs, but they're better than most of this sort, with most of the shorts being enjoyable. The core Young Avengers comic is actually quite impressive because the author manages to catch the style of the recent Gillen run and apply it to a Sin-related story [6+/10].
Finally, the Secret Avengers digital comic is just barely an Original Sins story, but it's a nice little comic [6+/10].
On the whole, Original Sins is borderline good. I'd hoped for more, but it's still a fun event.
November 21, 2014
I have very little of the new Marvel stuff since Marvel Now. I heard all sorts of rumblings about this story and knew Fury was at the heart of it. The original (in "real" Marvel continuity) Nick Fury. That got me interested so I pre-ordered the book.
Overall, I was happy with this. It did draw from the historical Marvel (it clearly had ties to the old continuity). The Watcher is an old and beloved character for those who have read classic FF4. I believe he also appears in some of the classic cosmic stuff. The art work was well done and the story kept my interest. Fury is portrayed as a bad ass, as he should be. I like to think we will see him again one day.
I really dislike the weird headgear thing going on with Captain America. The odd ear parts remind me of Aayla Secura's ears and the chin strap makes it look like an old leather football helmet. Bring back the wings!
Overall, I was happy with this. It did draw from the historical Marvel (it clearly had ties to the old continuity). The Watcher is an old and beloved character for those who have read classic FF4. I believe he also appears in some of the classic cosmic stuff. The art work was well done and the story kept my interest. Fury is portrayed as a bad ass, as he should be. I like to think we will see him again one day.
I really dislike the weird headgear thing going on with Captain America. The odd ear parts remind me of Aayla Secura's ears and the chin strap makes it look like an old leather football helmet. Bring back the wings!
April 6, 2015
Alternating Pros & Cons. Go!
Pro: A fine central premise - Uatu the Watcher is dead. It's a murder mystery in space!
Con: A boring whodunnit that becomes more of a who cares.
Pro: Teaming up Dr. Strange with Punisher. Moon Knight and Gamora and Winter Soldier, together! The possibilities!
Con: The story does next to nothing with any of them.
Pro: The art.
Con: The script.
Pro: The great #0 issue.
Con: The rest.
Pro: The heroes involved.
Con: The villains involved.
To finish, let's just say that we all know when we buy an event that it's an excuse for the publisher to launch a fresh status quo and a number of new books. None of that matters if the story is good. Here, it's merely passable, and for an event, it's a non-event.
Pro: A fine central premise - Uatu the Watcher is dead. It's a murder mystery in space!
Con: A boring whodunnit that becomes more of a who cares.
Pro: Teaming up Dr. Strange with Punisher. Moon Knight and Gamora and Winter Soldier, together! The possibilities!
Con: The story does next to nothing with any of them.
Pro: The art.
Con: The script.
Pro: The great #0 issue.
Con: The rest.
Pro: The heroes involved.
Con: The villains involved.
To finish, let's just say that we all know when we buy an event that it's an excuse for the publisher to launch a fresh status quo and a number of new books. None of that matters if the story is good. Here, it's merely passable, and for an event, it's a non-event.
June 16, 2020
I read the comic books Original Sin specials, Nova s05 #18-20, Daredevil s04 #6-7, Fantastic Four s05 #6-8, All-New Invaders totalling 844 pages of Original Sin. From who killed the Watcher(!), to everyone's secrets being exposed, to the final fate of the original Nick Fury; on paper an amazing idea, in execution, just OK, and nowhere near as captivating as DC's 'Identity Crisis'. 6 out of 12.
July 20, 2021
2.75 stars. Man this was disappointing. So we get all this great build up to who actually killed the Watcher. I’ll admit, I was hooked in for the ride on this mystery. I was into it. But then we get to the end. We find out who killed him but we don’t find out why any of it happened. Like why did this character kill the watcher? They never told us why. Or if they did, I totally missed it. Then there was an entire story with Hulkling, Marvel boy and the Hood that came out of nowhere. It’s not listed on the back of the book. Weird as hell. Anyway, that rogue story was dumb. There were also randomly a lot of 1-2 pages stories that were also useless. Then we get to the Original Sins tie ins. Mixed bag here, mostly not worth anything. The only one I really liked was the one about Doctor Doom. Oh and the Secret Avengers infinite Comic 1-2 were lame as well.
August 26, 2022
Just as uninteresting now as it was to me when it released. Don't you just love being proven right about something?
August 12, 2015
Overall, I enjoyed this book. it's always a treat to see a bunch of super-heroes come together and fight a bad guy, whether it's Crisis on Infinite Earths or this. Comic nerd nirvana. Lots of strong characterization and Jason Aaron and team craft a very interesting mystery and serve up some major surprises, as all good events should.
The downside for me was that this was a couple issues longer than it needed to be, but the way Marvel tells super decompressed stories nowadays, not such a big deal. Additionally, the huge revelation in this book left me kinda "meh." I'm not a huge fan of secrets being under the nose of our heroes all the time, just unseen. That was my big issue with the Court of Owls story in Batman. This particular secret is just as far-fetched to me, and the big shift in character reminded me a lot of Hal Jordan when he went off the rails and became Parralax (before the retcon). Just not quite as believable that this secret was gotten away with.
I thought the idea of secrets in the Marvel Universe as the foundation for this event and the subsequent tie-ins was great. I hope we see more ramifications of them as time goes by, or at least until Secret Wars changes things.
The downside for me was that this was a couple issues longer than it needed to be, but the way Marvel tells super decompressed stories nowadays, not such a big deal. Additionally, the huge revelation in this book left me kinda "meh." I'm not a huge fan of secrets being under the nose of our heroes all the time, just unseen. That was my big issue with the Court of Owls story in Batman. This particular secret is just as far-fetched to me, and the big shift in character reminded me a lot of Hal Jordan when he went off the rails and became Parralax (before the retcon). Just not quite as believable that this secret was gotten away with.
I thought the idea of secrets in the Marvel Universe as the foundation for this event and the subsequent tie-ins was great. I hope we see more ramifications of them as time goes by, or at least until Secret Wars changes things.
August 10, 2015
Not bad event title. It was confusing at times but had its good moments.
April 11, 2018
(Edited)
What's becoming increasingly apparent is that I am always in the market for a new mystery comic book. So when I heard about a Murder Mystery about the Watcher, I think that is a very strong concept and I was excited to get around to experiencing it. The execution, however, eh left a lot of things to be desired. One thing I really loved was the art. All of it is the epitome of eye candy. Mike Deodato did an incredible job with his penciling, action, and the look of space. Hands down my favourite part of the book. The things I found enjoyable about the story were some character interactions like Doctor Strange and the Punisher, or a few of the reveals. Like most every mystery book I read, I do want to know who did it by the end because of my curiosity. I honestly don't think I would have cared if the murder victim wasn't a bigger character like the watcher. Because the structure, character balance, and pacing just didn't work for me.
This story did a very poor job of balancing plot lines, the many many many characters involved in all of them, and how to make them all interesting. I was consistently bored when the story switched to another subplot and then the next. This did not help the sluggish pacing of the story. Because there are an excessive amount of characters, the story has to establish a situation for everybody and fails to do so for some of them. And with the number of characters, I did not feel a strong emotional connection or investment to any of them. Nick Fury does have a lot of substance and a pretty substantial character arc though, so good job on that. About the mystery itself. I did not like the way it was structured. An escalating sense of mystery only occurs in the last 2 issues. I, of course, look to DC's Batman the Long Halloween. What was so great about that mystery, is as the reader you are creating theories, flip-flopping between possible suspects, and getting excited when a little bit of evidence shows up on a certain character. The only suspects with concrete evidence or suspicions around them are Nick Fury, Orb, and Bucky (The Winter Soldier). I was making crazy but awesome theories that weren't even established in the book. Like, for example the other Watchers murdering him, suicide, and my favourite made-up theory: a corrupt Nova. The reason I think Nova would have been GREAT, is because of the opening prelude in this trade paperback. Nova asks the Watcher if his father is alive. He says yes. Maybe Nova would never find his father and would ask the watcher where he is and what would benefit keeping it a secret. If Nova spiraled out of control with rage because of the watcher's reluctance to answer and ended up being responsible, I think that would have been great and better than what we got.
Another problem is the main villain. Yeeesh!!! Dr. Midas was blaaaaand as hell and had the most blaaaand motivation in the world. POWER and RULING! There is nothing interesting or any reason to give a shit about the villain. He is also shown so little, I forgot he was in the story for a good while. That shows how unmemorable he was because nothing he did in this story is going to stick with me. Now I have a few nitpicks.
The time jumping pissed me off to no end. Jumping back and forth from "days ago" to now to "days ago" again and again made everything very unclear when things actaully took place. Characters on 2 occasions survive ridiculous explosions! One of them was right of the characters faces! And the other leveled half a city because it was the frickin ULTIMATE NULIFIER! And the characters just get up like they got a head rush. "Whoa what the hell was that?" Not even any noticeable scarring or injuries of any kind.
In the end, this was a disappointing, at best very mediocre mystery story in my opinion. Poor pacing, character balance, lame villain, and poor structure of the mystery itself. Nick Fury's admittedly was the most compelling out of everyone. The art is gorgeous and the best part of the book for me.
Letter Grade (C)
What's becoming increasingly apparent is that I am always in the market for a new mystery comic book. So when I heard about a Murder Mystery about the Watcher, I think that is a very strong concept and I was excited to get around to experiencing it. The execution, however, eh left a lot of things to be desired. One thing I really loved was the art. All of it is the epitome of eye candy. Mike Deodato did an incredible job with his penciling, action, and the look of space. Hands down my favourite part of the book. The things I found enjoyable about the story were some character interactions like Doctor Strange and the Punisher, or a few of the reveals. Like most every mystery book I read, I do want to know who did it by the end because of my curiosity. I honestly don't think I would have cared if the murder victim wasn't a bigger character like the watcher. Because the structure, character balance, and pacing just didn't work for me.
This story did a very poor job of balancing plot lines, the many many many characters involved in all of them, and how to make them all interesting. I was consistently bored when the story switched to another subplot and then the next. This did not help the sluggish pacing of the story. Because there are an excessive amount of characters, the story has to establish a situation for everybody and fails to do so for some of them. And with the number of characters, I did not feel a strong emotional connection or investment to any of them. Nick Fury does have a lot of substance and a pretty substantial character arc though, so good job on that. About the mystery itself. I did not like the way it was structured. An escalating sense of mystery only occurs in the last 2 issues. I, of course, look to DC's Batman the Long Halloween. What was so great about that mystery, is as the reader you are creating theories, flip-flopping between possible suspects, and getting excited when a little bit of evidence shows up on a certain character. The only suspects with concrete evidence or suspicions around them are Nick Fury, Orb, and Bucky (The Winter Soldier). I was making crazy but awesome theories that weren't even established in the book. Like, for example the other Watchers murdering him, suicide, and my favourite made-up theory: a corrupt Nova. The reason I think Nova would have been GREAT, is because of the opening prelude in this trade paperback. Nova asks the Watcher if his father is alive. He says yes. Maybe Nova would never find his father and would ask the watcher where he is and what would benefit keeping it a secret. If Nova spiraled out of control with rage because of the watcher's reluctance to answer and ended up being responsible, I think that would have been great and better than what we got.
Another problem is the main villain. Yeeesh!!! Dr. Midas was blaaaaand as hell and had the most blaaaand motivation in the world. POWER and RULING! There is nothing interesting or any reason to give a shit about the villain. He is also shown so little, I forgot he was in the story for a good while. That shows how unmemorable he was because nothing he did in this story is going to stick with me. Now I have a few nitpicks.
The time jumping pissed me off to no end. Jumping back and forth from "days ago" to now to "days ago" again and again made everything very unclear when things actaully took place. Characters on 2 occasions survive ridiculous explosions! One of them was right of the characters faces! And the other leveled half a city because it was the frickin ULTIMATE NULIFIER! And the characters just get up like they got a head rush. "Whoa what the hell was that?" Not even any noticeable scarring or injuries of any kind.
In the end, this was a disappointing, at best very mediocre mystery story in my opinion. Poor pacing, character balance, lame villain, and poor structure of the mystery itself. Nick Fury's admittedly was the most compelling out of everyone. The art is gorgeous and the best part of the book for me.
Letter Grade (C)
May 28, 2015
Original Sin is one of Marvel’s more interesting but almost equally frustrating recent event series.
Framed as a murder mystery, Original Sin commences with the murder of the Watcher, the moon-dwelling alien who, for years, has observed all the events on Earth. Further, the Watcher’s eyes, the repository of all the info he’s seen, have been stolen. A diverse group of heroes, led by Nick Fury, jumps into the investigation.
The heroes run afoul of some D-list villains, Doctor Midas, Terminatrix and the Orb. They possess one of the Watcher’s eyes and have a connection to the crime. At a climactic moment, the Orb unleashes the info contained in the Watcher’s eye, essentially a “truth bomb,” that rocks the heroes with long buried secrets.
Parallel to the main investigation, three oddball teams (Doctor Strange and the Punisher; Black Panther, Ant-Man and Emma Frost; and Moon Knight, Winter Soldier and Gamora) follow their own investigation. Their courses lead them to the darkest corners of the Marvel Universe, where they uncover a number of beasts, demons and aliens killed with the same kind of weapon that did in the Watcher. They learn some startling new information about a long-time Marvel character and discover they are intended to audition to become the new “Watcher on the Wall,” the secret line of defense protecting Earth from a variety of unearthly menaces.
These plots converge in a climactic final battle on the moon. In the aftermath, the truth of the Watcher’s death is revealed. A new “Watcher on the Wall” takes his place. And a long-time character receives a grim new status quo.
There are a lot of strengths in Original Sin, especially lots of interesting ideas. Writer Jason Aaron works with an appealingly diverse cast and comes up with some intriguing sequences. The central murder mystery is solid. The Watcher is a long-time, embedded presence in the Marvel Universe. His removal, and the danger his eyes pose, are compelling drivers of the plot. As icing, it’s always fun to see a writer undertake a creative rehabilitation of disreputable villains.
Unfortunately, Original Sin isn’t able to make the most of its premise. There’s a lot going on here and it doesn’t always hang together easily. In the mix is the Watcher’s death, the major character retcon, two different investigations, thematic touchstones like “Original Sin” and “The Unseen,” and the new “Watcher on the Wall” concept. Some of those elements feel like editorial mandates that don’t quite fit easily into the main story. As such, the plot fragments and the murder mystery loses momentum. The twists in plot logic to get from one point to another don’t always work smoothly, leaving some sequences confusing. The final resolution of the mystery winds up being less than satisfying.
Worse, the revelation of long-held secrets was teased as a major feature of Original Sin. And while the “truth bomb” does detonate in the main series, the secrets themselves mostly play out elsewhere. A couple are teased in Original Sin, but what’s essentially the juiciest drama in the concept takes places in companion titles. That’s a major structural flaw that robs readers of the concept’s payoff. Fans are used to tie-in stories and can even understand using the individual titles to more fully explore the ramifications of revelations. But to almost entirely punt those from the main story was a big misstep.
Aaron does some nice work with the character interactions. The cast manages to span all of Marvel’s major franchises and Aaron makes the most of the oddball pairings. If the major character retcon doesn’t necessarily make sense based on Marvel’s history, it at least makes for some entertaining sequences.
Mike Deodato handles art duties for Original Sin. He’s working in his scratchier, more shadow-drenched mode, which works for an atmospheric murder mystery that spans Earth, the Moon, space and other dimensions. Deodato does his usual dynamic character work and keeps the action large scale and impressive. Frank Martin provides the colors and is mostly his usual dependable self. A few sequences go a bit overboard with the shadows, making the action a little muddled. But overall, Martin does a strong job, especially with the few explosions of color that add welcome contrast to the otherwise dark proceedings.
Oddly, the most affecting part of Original Sin was the #0 issue by the team of Mark Waid and Jim Cheung. It’s a simple story, barely connected to the main event, that finds Nova (Sam Alexander) visiting the Watcher on the Moon. Sam gains some new insights into the imposing Watcher and the duo forms an unlikely bond. This brief, self-contained snapshot is light on action, but big on heart. It looks great and provides some genuine insight into the characters.
Whether or not to recommend Original Sin is a difficult call. Certainly fans of Deodato’s art will be interested. It’s a high profile part of Marvel’s recent history that has some actual lasting impact. But for a lot of fans, since the fallout of Original Sin played out in the characters’ ongoing series, taking in the “main” event is less urgent. Use your judgment.
A version of this review originally appeared on www.thunderalleybcp.com
Framed as a murder mystery, Original Sin commences with the murder of the Watcher, the moon-dwelling alien who, for years, has observed all the events on Earth. Further, the Watcher’s eyes, the repository of all the info he’s seen, have been stolen. A diverse group of heroes, led by Nick Fury, jumps into the investigation.
The heroes run afoul of some D-list villains, Doctor Midas, Terminatrix and the Orb. They possess one of the Watcher’s eyes and have a connection to the crime. At a climactic moment, the Orb unleashes the info contained in the Watcher’s eye, essentially a “truth bomb,” that rocks the heroes with long buried secrets.
Parallel to the main investigation, three oddball teams (Doctor Strange and the Punisher; Black Panther, Ant-Man and Emma Frost; and Moon Knight, Winter Soldier and Gamora) follow their own investigation. Their courses lead them to the darkest corners of the Marvel Universe, where they uncover a number of beasts, demons and aliens killed with the same kind of weapon that did in the Watcher. They learn some startling new information about a long-time Marvel character and discover they are intended to audition to become the new “Watcher on the Wall,” the secret line of defense protecting Earth from a variety of unearthly menaces.
These plots converge in a climactic final battle on the moon. In the aftermath, the truth of the Watcher’s death is revealed. A new “Watcher on the Wall” takes his place. And a long-time character receives a grim new status quo.
There are a lot of strengths in Original Sin, especially lots of interesting ideas. Writer Jason Aaron works with an appealingly diverse cast and comes up with some intriguing sequences. The central murder mystery is solid. The Watcher is a long-time, embedded presence in the Marvel Universe. His removal, and the danger his eyes pose, are compelling drivers of the plot. As icing, it’s always fun to see a writer undertake a creative rehabilitation of disreputable villains.
Unfortunately, Original Sin isn’t able to make the most of its premise. There’s a lot going on here and it doesn’t always hang together easily. In the mix is the Watcher’s death, the major character retcon, two different investigations, thematic touchstones like “Original Sin” and “The Unseen,” and the new “Watcher on the Wall” concept. Some of those elements feel like editorial mandates that don’t quite fit easily into the main story. As such, the plot fragments and the murder mystery loses momentum. The twists in plot logic to get from one point to another don’t always work smoothly, leaving some sequences confusing. The final resolution of the mystery winds up being less than satisfying.
Worse, the revelation of long-held secrets was teased as a major feature of Original Sin. And while the “truth bomb” does detonate in the main series, the secrets themselves mostly play out elsewhere. A couple are teased in Original Sin, but what’s essentially the juiciest drama in the concept takes places in companion titles. That’s a major structural flaw that robs readers of the concept’s payoff. Fans are used to tie-in stories and can even understand using the individual titles to more fully explore the ramifications of revelations. But to almost entirely punt those from the main story was a big misstep.
Aaron does some nice work with the character interactions. The cast manages to span all of Marvel’s major franchises and Aaron makes the most of the oddball pairings. If the major character retcon doesn’t necessarily make sense based on Marvel’s history, it at least makes for some entertaining sequences.
Mike Deodato handles art duties for Original Sin. He’s working in his scratchier, more shadow-drenched mode, which works for an atmospheric murder mystery that spans Earth, the Moon, space and other dimensions. Deodato does his usual dynamic character work and keeps the action large scale and impressive. Frank Martin provides the colors and is mostly his usual dependable self. A few sequences go a bit overboard with the shadows, making the action a little muddled. But overall, Martin does a strong job, especially with the few explosions of color that add welcome contrast to the otherwise dark proceedings.
Oddly, the most affecting part of Original Sin was the #0 issue by the team of Mark Waid and Jim Cheung. It’s a simple story, barely connected to the main event, that finds Nova (Sam Alexander) visiting the Watcher on the Moon. Sam gains some new insights into the imposing Watcher and the duo forms an unlikely bond. This brief, self-contained snapshot is light on action, but big on heart. It looks great and provides some genuine insight into the characters.
Whether or not to recommend Original Sin is a difficult call. Certainly fans of Deodato’s art will be interested. It’s a high profile part of Marvel’s recent history that has some actual lasting impact. But for a lot of fans, since the fallout of Original Sin played out in the characters’ ongoing series, taking in the “main” event is less urgent. Use your judgment.
A version of this review originally appeared on www.thunderalleybcp.com
May 8, 2018
While not perfect, this event was a lot of fun. We get lots of heroes joining together in weird teams doing things other than having 200 page punching matches. While I liked this event well enough, there are a few things I didn't like:
Whenever Hulk was on the page, he was getting his ass handed to him. I don't think he actually ever hit anyone. It happens so often I imagine that it was a running gag in the story.
They would interrupt people just as they were going to say something important ALL THE TIME: "The secret is....oh no we are under attack now and so I can't tell you." "The person that killed the Watcher is...oh no, I have a bad headache now and can't talk anymore!". Yeah, they did this over and over and over and over and over and....well, you get it. Once is fine, but at least once per issue is just overkill.
A lot of the characters didn't really act like themselves. Also, all of the heroes were way too quick to start trying to kill other heroes for no good reason: "You showed up to this same place as me? DIE!!!". You know, in the age of Marvel's "heroes vs heroes", I just imagine all of the big villains doing things like going to the unemployment office, playing golf, working on that novel they have been putting off, etc.
While the Original Sin story is fine, you might as well light the Originals Sins 5 parter on fire and toss it out. It was boring and pointless and made me give this book 3 stars instead of 4.
Whenever Hulk was on the page, he was getting his ass handed to him. I don't think he actually ever hit anyone. It happens so often I imagine that it was a running gag in the story.
They would interrupt people just as they were going to say something important ALL THE TIME: "The secret is....oh no we are under attack now and so I can't tell you." "The person that killed the Watcher is...oh no, I have a bad headache now and can't talk anymore!". Yeah, they did this over and over and over and over and over and....well, you get it. Once is fine, but at least once per issue is just overkill.
A lot of the characters didn't really act like themselves. Also, all of the heroes were way too quick to start trying to kill other heroes for no good reason: "You showed up to this same place as me? DIE!!!". You know, in the age of Marvel's "heroes vs heroes", I just imagine all of the big villains doing things like going to the unemployment office, playing golf, working on that novel they have been putting off, etc.
While the Original Sin story is fine, you might as well light the Originals Sins 5 parter on fire and toss it out. It was boring and pointless and made me give this book 3 stars instead of 4.
March 15, 2015
So the Watcher has been murdered, which is kind of a lame plot to begin with, because let's face it who would do that??? Bad who done it, and it gets even worse with the twist when it's introduced as to who did the killing and exactly what happened. The rest of the volume is just useless filler to bulk up the volume. It's okay, and this is kind of a letdown that this was 2014 summer event for Marvel. I had such high expectations for this....oh well.
January 26, 2015
This was ok. Not the most pivotal story you would expect from the murder of a profound character in the Marvel Universe, nor from one of the best comic writers of the decade. But it was ok.
August 1, 2017
The fact that this is one of the better Marvel crossover events I've read in recent years is pretty damning for Marvel crossover events. Cause this is just OK. It's a combination murder mystery and Secret Avengers-style story about our heroes trying to figure out who murdered The Watcher and stole his secret-keeping eyeballs.
As murder mysteries go, this one is pretty lousy. The thread of evidence and investigation leaps forward without showing much about how anyone discovers anything, they just kind of... know stuff. Also, there are maybe 15 times where someone is about to reveal a big ole doozy of information and something explodes nearby, cutting them off and preventing the storyline from moving forward. It's weak as hell.
As for the Avengeriness of the story, that plays out fairly well. I love Jason Aaron's attention to character in this story, which is often something that gets dropped in these 12,000-character free-for-alls. The action and heroics are solid, and the whole moral quandary that comes into play is solidly explored.
But, that's just not enough to save this. Especially having read a bunch of the tie-in stuff. All of the tie-ins are linked to the fact that, at one point, a ton of The Watcher's secrets get broadcast into the brains of a ton of people in New York. I mean, can you imagine the kinds of secrets dude was keeping in that big ole head? Seems like they would be earth shattering!
But, they aren't. Except for the one in Hickman's Avengers tie-in (which is fantastic), they're mostly stuff like "Whoa, Charles Xavier left a will? Shouldn't he have just told us this?" or "Deadpool has a kid, which we already knew?" There's one that made me laugh about the Inhuman dog Lockjaw discovering that he buried a bone on the moon, which is made even funnier by the fact that this is about the level of secret everyone else is having revealed.
So, while the pace and writing are great, I can't really recommend this as a crossover worth reading. It doesn't seem like it has massive repercussions on the Marvel Universe at large, and kind of just feels like a little side-story only for the most fervent Marvel readers.
As murder mysteries go, this one is pretty lousy. The thread of evidence and investigation leaps forward without showing much about how anyone discovers anything, they just kind of... know stuff. Also, there are maybe 15 times where someone is about to reveal a big ole doozy of information and something explodes nearby, cutting them off and preventing the storyline from moving forward. It's weak as hell.
As for the Avengeriness of the story, that plays out fairly well. I love Jason Aaron's attention to character in this story, which is often something that gets dropped in these 12,000-character free-for-alls. The action and heroics are solid, and the whole moral quandary that comes into play is solidly explored.
But, that's just not enough to save this. Especially having read a bunch of the tie-in stuff. All of the tie-ins are linked to the fact that, at one point, a ton of The Watcher's secrets get broadcast into the brains of a ton of people in New York. I mean, can you imagine the kinds of secrets dude was keeping in that big ole head? Seems like they would be earth shattering!
But, they aren't. Except for the one in Hickman's Avengers tie-in (which is fantastic), they're mostly stuff like "Whoa, Charles Xavier left a will? Shouldn't he have just told us this?" or "Deadpool has a kid, which we already knew?" There's one that made me laugh about the Inhuman dog Lockjaw discovering that he buried a bone on the moon, which is made even funnier by the fact that this is about the level of secret everyone else is having revealed.
So, while the pace and writing are great, I can't really recommend this as a crossover worth reading. It doesn't seem like it has massive repercussions on the Marvel Universe at large, and kind of just feels like a little side-story only for the most fervent Marvel readers.
April 11, 2019
Po totálním trash eventu Inhumanity je toto skvělá záležitost. Event Original Sin taková špionážní detektivka, kdy jsem musel vždycky začít číst další issue, protože jsem chtěl vědět kdo zabil Watchera.
June 7, 2022
Well. That was definitely a comic.
May 3, 2020
****second read****
Worth it just to see Fury beat up all of the Avengers, Punisher defeat the Hulk, and Thor become unworthy.
I liked it a lot more this second time. It’s a really interesting story, with phenomenal art.
******first read******
This combines story elements I love with story elements I’ve had enough of to create a story that I think is pretty good.
Things here I’ve had enough of:
- Heroes fighting each other
- main arcs that rely too much on tie-ins
- deaths that aren’t real deaths but are made to look like real deaths even though we all know it wasn’t a real death
Things here I love:
- Events that effect the overall continuity
- Interesting team-ups and interactions
- Well placed humor
- Cosmic level shit
The best part of this is Frank Castle. He’s not even central to the story... he’s just so himself here that it rules. Teaming him up with Dr Strange was a stroke of genius.
The mystery element of this is fine. I mean, if you can’t figure it out by the third act, you may have a problem on your hands... but it’s still satisfying.
Nick Fury is a badass character, and this book definitely shows it. Even with no powers, he will always have the upper hand.
There’s a beautiful moment where The Punisher effortlessly defeats the Hulk. I love shit like that.
Rocket Raccoon also makes an enjoyable and humorous appearance.
The art was very nice and very slick. There were many pages I lingered on, enjoying the colors, lines, composition and emotional impact.
My biggest complaint is that if I really want the full story, I need to get the companion with all the tie-ins. I’m probably not going to do that. It’s kind of annoying going from one issue to the next, and all of the sudden a bunch of shit happened in the tie-ins and now I have to take a moment to use context clues to piece it together.
Here’s an idea; how about you make the volume longer and include some of the more essential tie in shit? Oh yeah... because you want people to buy the companion. Thanks for that, assholes. 😂
Whatever. That’s the nature of the beast. This was good.
This was a period of significant change for the cosmic side. We have a new Living Tribunal AND a new Watcher now. And the replacements are both important legacy characters. Very interesting. I wonder if those ideas were developed in concert with each other.
This isn’t an essential story... but it’s a good one, and if you ever need a fast and fun read, have at it!
Worth it just to see Fury beat up all of the Avengers, Punisher defeat the Hulk, and Thor become unworthy.
I liked it a lot more this second time. It’s a really interesting story, with phenomenal art.
******first read******
This combines story elements I love with story elements I’ve had enough of to create a story that I think is pretty good.
Things here I’ve had enough of:
- Heroes fighting each other
- main arcs that rely too much on tie-ins
- deaths that aren’t real deaths but are made to look like real deaths even though we all know it wasn’t a real death
Things here I love:
- Events that effect the overall continuity
- Interesting team-ups and interactions
- Well placed humor
- Cosmic level shit
The best part of this is Frank Castle. He’s not even central to the story... he’s just so himself here that it rules. Teaming him up with Dr Strange was a stroke of genius.
The mystery element of this is fine. I mean, if you can’t figure it out by the third act, you may have a problem on your hands... but it’s still satisfying.
Nick Fury is a badass character, and this book definitely shows it. Even with no powers, he will always have the upper hand.
There’s a beautiful moment where The Punisher effortlessly defeats the Hulk. I love shit like that.
Rocket Raccoon also makes an enjoyable and humorous appearance.
The art was very nice and very slick. There were many pages I lingered on, enjoying the colors, lines, composition and emotional impact.
My biggest complaint is that if I really want the full story, I need to get the companion with all the tie-ins. I’m probably not going to do that. It’s kind of annoying going from one issue to the next, and all of the sudden a bunch of shit happened in the tie-ins and now I have to take a moment to use context clues to piece it together.
Here’s an idea; how about you make the volume longer and include some of the more essential tie in shit? Oh yeah... because you want people to buy the companion. Thanks for that, assholes. 😂
Whatever. That’s the nature of the beast. This was good.
This was a period of significant change for the cosmic side. We have a new Living Tribunal AND a new Watcher now. And the replacements are both important legacy characters. Very interesting. I wonder if those ideas were developed in concert with each other.
This isn’t an essential story... but it’s a good one, and if you ever need a fast and fun read, have at it!
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