I used to have time to read my comics in a coffee shop. Now I have to read them in the bathroom. Then I write reviews of them. I wash my hands in between.
ORIGINAL SIN #0
I keep getting suckered in. Like, no matter how many events or crossovers I get excited about, buy into wholeheartedly and then move to the top of my read pile every month, I am invariably disappointed in the outcome. Yeah, yeah, I know, this is only the zero issue and made for background information and setup for the main story but I'm kinda bored and not a little annoyed already.
This whole crossover is supposed to be about somebody killing Uatu The Watcher. He's the big bald guy that's always around at cosmic level turning points in the Marvel Universe. Always silently watching, never interfering, that's his gig. He's got a remote base on the moon from which he observes just about everything. Thing is, nobody ever bothered to ask him why he does what he does. So that's just what Sam Alexander, the new Nova, does.
Here, let me pause and address this Nova for a minute. I've always been aware of the character but never really followed him. I'm aware that the Nova Corps is essentially Marvel's answer to the Green Lantern Corps, an organization of space-faring aliens policing the galaxy. My only real exposure has been on the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon that I have been watching on Netflix. This show features the young, brash hothead Nova we see here in this comic. And he's equally as annoying there as here. I mean all the characters on that show are pretty annoying so I shouldn't single out Nova alone, but I'm doing it anyway. Here in this comic we have the same young, newly Nova-fied Sam who's got more baggage than the TV version but is still pretty geeked out when the Avengers show up (though why Cap, Thor and Iron Man show up to investigate some random Incan god who showed up to terrorize some oil fields in New Mexico is beyond me). But Sam is pretty jazzed that he defeated the rampaging god-slash-rival oil company robot and stumps the big three avengers by asking about Uatu and his dealio.
So Sam goes to the moon because, well, he can, and confronts the Watcher himself. Uatu, being pretty tight lipped, doesn't say much. He shows Sam a video/memory of his people and how they violated the Prime Directive with good intentions by bringing nuclear energy to a pre-industrialized planet, launching the indigenous people light years ahead of evolution. Surprise! This ended badly! Ten years later Uatu's people swing back around to this side of the 'verse and find the initial planet destroyed, it's people having abused their gifts to wage war on each other. Realizing his mistake, Uatu's dad swears them all to observance but non-interference for the rest of time. Sam, having his own daddy issues, can relate. They have a bro-ment and Uatu breaks his vow just a little bit and let's Sam know his dad is still alive. The end.
Okaaaaaay. Soooooo what do we know now that we didn't know before? We know that the Watcher watches EVERYTHING. Not just the regular universe but infinite possibilities. This is not very surprising or out of the realm of possibility. We know he keeps an arsenal of deadly weapons from across the galaxy INCLUDING The Ultimate Nullifier (which is the only item that Sam and I both recognize). Again, possible, makes sense he would pick up the dangerous toys left behind at the battles he watches. We learned some really trite and hackneyed origin story for Uatu that is entirely played out in just about every corner of the sci-fi universe. Not a damn thing surprising there, although I'm sure that the fact that his father's decision plays out the same in every universe and variation will have something to do with he overall story.
But really? Well? That's about it. I really hope this crossover turns into something spectacular. I could use a refill of my 'faith in crossovers' tank. But I'm not holding my breath. Though I will, I guess, keep watching.
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