Original Sin #7
Writer- Jason Aaron
Artist- Mike Deodato
Color Artist- Frank Martin
Review by Justin Townson
There are few things that divide the comic book community more than crossover events. Some people love them, some people hate them. I’m not going to lie, I absolutely love them. That being said I do believe that those who criticize them do have valid points. The entire “THIS WILL FOREVER CHANGE THE UNIVERSE AS WE KNOW IT” moments rarely ever happen. The tie in issues can be cumbersome to pick up and read, and the flow of the book you’re reading month to month can be halted. All of these points are very valid and correct and I wouldn’t argue with any of them. Yet, even with all those points made, I still love them. For me I’ve always loved the way events connect the universe as a whole, and will usually get characters to interact in ways we wouldn’t see otherwise. It’s what helped me get interested in other characters back when I was first starting to read again. With this is mind, I was excited to hear about Original Sin, I was totally ready to jump on board and feel my usual excitement with the event unfolding in front of me. However, as I closed issue #7 I sat back and wondered to myself what in the world was going on in this book.
Out of all the recent events, a genuine murder mystery surrounding the death of the Watcher helmed by Jason Aaron seemed like a great idea. Aaron is at the top of his game right now with his run on Thor, so I thrilled to see how this was going to play out. The short answer I can provide is: it’s not going well. It feels like the puzzle pieces for a great story are there, but they aren’t fitting together correctly and thus the entire thing feels like a disjointed mess. We have Nick Fury attacking The Avengers, why? I’m not entirely sure. Couldn’t we stop and talk about this? We have a random assortment of heroes just standing around doing absolutely nothing at the moment (although bonus points should be given for somehow getting Rocket, Gamora and The Punisher in the same panel) and Dr. Midas and his merry band of lunatics are doing their own thing. None of these groups feel connected with each other in the least and that’s giving off an unbalanced feel to the story. While I’m disappointed in way the story is playing out there are interesting individual things happening here. It would seem that Aaron has started the groundwork for what’s upcoming for both Thor and Iron Man.
Whatever your or my feelings on the story are, there is really no denying the art in the book. Mike Deodato and Frank Martin create a really wonderful looking book here. While the pencils and the color are both noteworthy and well worth mentioning, the thing that caught my eye the most in this issue was the page and panel layouts. I love when artists tinker with the usual formats. Here we see anything but the usual. White is also used as a back drop quite often in the book and it works really well. There’s an especially amazing spread of Fury taking on The Avengers that incorporates panel layout with weapon shots. I hope to see more artists be creative with paneling like this in the future.
Verdict
Pass on it. If you have been reading this through like I have, I would suggest seeing it to the end, but if you haven’t been then this is something you can pass on. It pains me to say that because I wanted this to be so good, but the story just hasn’t come together like I had hoped. The final issue is a few weeks away, here’s hoping Aaron can connect the pieces and stick the landing.
