Original Sin #1

Oof. I know this comic is about space-murder, but man, what a downer.

Seriously. I’m kind of shocked that Jason Aaron wrote this one, as there is no evidence of the sense of fun and adventure that permeated his other Marvel works. I can’t blame Allan Heinberg and Ed Brubaker, because their work is usually right up my alley too. Could it be that there were too many cooks in the kitchen?

And almost nothing happens. The Avengers talk about some steak, investigate poor Uatu’s crime scene, and then the many varied players start assembling for their team-ups. Perhaps part of my problem is that everything in this issue had pretty much been revealed in interviews and preview materials. For whatever reason, the only thing that caught my interest in the whole issue was the scene when Spidey and the Thing took on the Mindless One. I’m gonna need a whole lot more of that type of stuff to come back, though.

I will admit to being intrigued at some of the team-ups. There is a lot of potential in mixing and matching the Marvel U heroes like action figures. Why shouldn’t Ant Man team up with White Queen? I sure hope Black Panther isn’t teaming up with a villain. I know that moral compromises are the fuel for New Avengers, but I dropped that book for a reason. I’m confident that Aaron is writing him to get a good moment, though. I’m not too worried.

And the angst! Geez, this was full of the portentous, dire dialogue that made Infinity bleed purple (prose). Nick Fury is worried that the killer might be a good guy! Actually, looking back, almost all my problems with this involve Nick Fury. He’s just a boring element who barely moves the plot. All he does is walk on panel and glower.

Mike Deodato’s art is pretty darn nice. I don’t care for the space suits on the Avengers, but I love the Mindless One fight. The action is dynamic and the rubble has a nice variety of size and weight. There is a tad too much Photoshop in the backgrounds, but the foreground figures are solid throughout.

I’m not an idiot, I know murder mysteries can’t be “fun,” exactly, but the comic shouldn’t feel like a chore to read. I’m reading Infinity on Marvel Unlimited, and it is really not good. If Original Sin is going to read in a similar dour fashion, I may just cut out now. 

I liked the 0 issue, though, and Aaron has written enough excellent comics for me to give this EVIL comic one more chance to redeem itself.