COMICS IN THE CAN- Episode LVIII (Original Sin #1)

COMICS IN THE CAN
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 #1

Holy Crap there is a lot going on in this book!

If you look back at my review of issue zero, you’ll see that that book annoyed the crap out of me. In semi-real and mostly petty ways (as most of my annoyances tend to be). This book, though…this book gives me hope. And I haven’t had a lot of hope in my life lately. At least where mega crossover events are concerned. Come on, Jason Aaron, be my hero.

So The Watcher gets shot in the opening pages of the book (inciting incident for all you literary nerds out there) and we cut to a diner in the middle of nowhere where Captain America, Wolverine, Black Widow and Nick Fury Sr. are having what they call ‘meat night’. Apparently these old friends and colleagues still get together on a regular basis to share a meal and commiserate. The scene is genuine and real and shows me that Aaron can do the quiet, character moments well. 

Cap gets a call from Thor and they are off to the moon to investigate the scene of the crime, bringing a retired Fury along for the ride. Once there, they discover that things are way worse than anticipated. See, we learned in the zero issue that The Watcher has been storing a bunch of super weaponry in his base on the moon (including the Ultimate Nullifier that scared off Galactus way back when). Well, a bunch of those dangerous weapons are now missing. As are The Watcher’s eyes. Gross and I have the feeling is gonna turn out to be way worse than the missing weapons. I mean, he’s seen everything with those eyes, right?

And kudos to Marvel for an awesomely creepy tie in product:

So Nick Fury takes point on the investigation, while a mysterious figure recruits a ragtag team of heroes including Black Panther, Emma Frost, Ant Man, Winter Soldier, Moon Knight, Gamorra, Doctor Strange and The Punisher to investigate different aspects of this crime…I think…it was kinda vague, but in an interesting, ‘all will be revealed’ way. This person teams them up and then sends them off in different directions. I hope this doesn’t mean crossover books. But you know I’ll buy them all because I’m a sucker.

Black Widow finds a glowing green fragment of something she thinks is the bullet that killed Uatu, and before they can talk to Bruce banner, Cap and Fury have to head back to earth because the Thing and Spidey are fighting a ‘Mindless One’ who suddenly has a mind and some telepathic powers and is also wielding the Ultimate Nullifier! The MO is all upset because it has thoughts now due to something it did on the moon and then uses the Nullifier to blow its brains out. 

Meanwhile, in a warehouse somewhere, a bunch of other Mindless Ones are developing individuality, as are their bosses, cloaked in shadow, and clearly the ones who took The Watcher’s eyes and weapons. But they are being changed by their stolen items…

I’m not sure where this is going and that’s OK. I’m always down for an old fashioned murder mystery and that’s what this seems like at its core. So I’m giving it a chance. We’ll see if I want to rip my own eyes out by the time its over.