Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Original Sin #8 of 8
Marvel Comics
Aaron, Deodato & Martin
Jason Aaron is among my favorite active writers. If it’s got his name on it I will try it for several issues. Not everything sticks (Hulk) but some stuff I really enjoy (Scalped, Thor, Wolverine). This series is not good. I’m not sure why anyone cares that The Watcher was killed, specifically with so many others popping in later on. Nor do I understand how or why this is a game-changer for Fury. If he’s been a robot this whole time and the real one has been guarding Earth for decades then what’s the difference what he’s done in this event or issue? It’s not really shocking because none of the Marvel Universe characters ever really interacted with the “real” Fury since the 1950s. I can’t get myself to recommend this and I understand it is a game-changer for a few characters. Perhaps it would be better to just pick up the threads in the newly launching series that are spinning out of this event.
The comic book has a nice pace and that is a plus. The book has plenty of action and has plenty of surprises to keep the reader’s attention. Another plus is that the comic resolves a bunch of plots. I was pleasantly surprised with this because I sort of expected some of the problems to linger on in other books. At the same time the final few pages open up a bunch of newly created threads to follow in the comics down the road. These are all good things with the comic.
Nick Fury kills this issue. He makes these speeches that seem to ramble on without end. I can’t understand why he was lecturing The Watcher when The Watcher has already seen everything. I get that it is to inform the reader but there has got to be a better way than a speech.
The speeches don’t end there. Blank Panther, Captain America and a couple of others add in their own take on the situation and they read so clunky and sappy that I can’t help but chuckle at the dialogue. There was simply too much forced drama from these characters.
The comic book comes in at a few pages over twenty so Marvel decided that charging $5 was a smart idea. This, in the same week, where they overstuff a Wolverine comic book for the same cover charge. Compared against the Wolverine book this is a rip-off in terms of content and that’s being nice.
Finally we have the artwork. The battles are hazy, I can’t tell the depth of some of the characters on the page and the book has an unclear flow to the panels and that’s the tip of the iceberg. For example, on one of the final pages there is a character seated with someone standing either behind them or in front of the. Perhaps they are phasing through the character. This was a poor book and I say that with the utmost respect for the creators and their talents.
Perhaps reading the entire series won’t make this particular issue stand out as so unreadable. However, the event was never that interesting to begin with. This comic just didn’t resonate with me and it was on a variety of levels. I wouldn’t recommend this comic.
1.5 out of 5 Geek Goggles
