Forgive me readers for I have sinned. It has been several weeks since my last installment. In that time, I have helped to update our servers to make them bigger and better and updated our site to look cooler and, hopefully, more appealing. The sins are piling up, so I bring you Comic Booked’s Original Sin Event Coverage, a review of all activity during Marvel’s Original Sin Summer event. We are winding down, almost done now, so soon all the sins will be exposed.
Reviews
Original Sin #7 – I will admit that I was much more enthused in the first few weeks of this event than I am now. Although some of the side stories have been intriguing, I feel like the main story has lost its bite. With this issue, I sort of felt like we should be getting that penultimate cliffhanger feeling that, uh-oh, something big was going to happen. Instead, I felt like the team sort of ran out of story juice last issue and this was just a gratuitous fight scene to fill pages. Basically, Nick Fury, the old one not one of the several robot ones, shot all sorts of stuff to stop threats to Earth. Dr. Midas and his daughter, along with the Orb, had one of the Watcher’s eyes and Nick Fury had the other. We see a flashback where The Orb seems to be the real killer, but even his shot to Uatu’s head looks like he thinks it is a mercy killing. And someone has to tell me why Dr. Midas looks like the Thing drank water from the stream in Tron. Oh, but wait. Psyche! The shot that the Orb took only blew out one of the Watcher’s eyes. Nick Fury shows up and finishes him off. Wow, ok, so that was really not surprising. And then there are a bunch of Watchers. I don’t know. Maybe all the heroes are pissed because they expected more from the even as well? My Rating: 2.5/5
Amazing Spider-Man #5 – This issue could really be called “Everyone is pissed at Spidey”. Either that or “Attack of the Horny Spider-Lady”. Either way, we have several things going on this issue. As you may or may not know, Peter Parker is back in charge of his own body and brain. He is still trying to figure out all the changes that Doctor Octopus, the one who recently hijacked his brain and played a much better version of Spider-Man than Peter ever had, had put into place in his life. New girlfriend who just happens to live with him, his own company, and Electro really really pissed at him for screwing with his brain and powers, among other things. Did I mention that Felicia Hardy is also really mad? Yeah, then there is the mysterious Silk, a young woman who was bitten by the same radioactive spider as Peter Parker. Believe me, the was some funky time manipulation crap going down to make that happen, or can you just say “ret-con”. It makes it tough for those of us long time Spider-Man fans who remember the scene of Peter holding the dead spider in his hand… just like Pluto not being a planet anymore. *sigh* Anyway, this issue, Peter and Silk can’t keep their webs off each other, which is awkward for my favorite character in the the Spider-Verse right now, Anna Maria Marconi, a character that I believe should be the next Doctor Octopus because it would be amazing. Dan Slott can read my article if it helps him make it happen. Anyway, long story short, Black Cat and Electro team up to fry Spidey, kidnap his partner, Sajani Jaffrey, but instead find out that Parker has them all working on a cure for Electro. Jonah Jameson got a new gig on TV, one of those tabloid shows, so it turns out to be a perfect venue for Hardy and Electro to zap Spidey and reveal his true identity… maybe. We will see next issue. My Rating: 4/5
Fantastic Four #8 – Oh how the mighty have fallen. Marvel’s First Family has really hit rock bottom. The Thing has been taken away by S.H.I.E.L.D. because they believe that he killed the Puppet Master, but the only witness is Alicia Masters, daughter of the deceased and on and off girlfriend of the accused. I really like the way that this book is written as a news article by Betty Brant. Last issue we saw the truth behind an experiment gone awry because of some tampering by Johnny Storm. This was a long time ago, and it was inadvertent, but it was covered up, which is the worst of it and now the main reason that Ben can never be completely human again. Did this in some way contribute to what happened? Did the Ever Lovin’ Thing really kill the bald headed manipulative little evil-doer? Betty continue to recount the sins of the Four as she reveals that Sue Storm attacked the Avengers who were keeping her from her children and the rest of the Future Foundation. She exercises more power than most of them are ready for and is only stopped by Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch, who is currently the guardian of the children. Finally, Reed and Sue agree to go live in a new floating city, Eden, the Community of Tommorow. Their host, John Eden, wants them to use their gifts to make the world a better place while Ben Grimm arrives at Ryker’s, a place where many of his enemies reside. Pick up the next issue to see the return of someone from the past and some very interesting other stuff that does not relate to Original Sin but is still a good story. My Rating: 4/5
Deadpool #33 – This issue is really a lot bloodshed and one happy scene at the end contrasted immediately with an unhappy phone call. Deadpool has found his daughter and has to fight through the goons of U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M., yeah, could we find guys with a longer acronym? For your edification, it stands for Underground Liberated Totally Integrated Mobile Army To Unite Mankind and is led by Flagsmasher, of whom there are multiple versions because he keeps getting beat or killed or both. Anyway, in the end, deadppol gets shot, cut, and messed up but ends up messing the bad guys up worse. Thanks to his friends, Quentin Quire and Evan, the powers that be now believe his daughter is dead and everything is wrapped up. In reality, Ellie is now living with Agent Preston. Of course, Deadpool is not to be kept from his daughter, so he buys a neighboring house, much to the delight of the owners, and set up camp to keep her safe. A great fun story, but we still don’t know about what happened to his parents. The final panel is the big reveal of what Agent Adsit saw… Deadpool killed his own parents! My Rating: 4/5
Original Sins #5 – This offshoot series comes to an end with some interesting stuff. Right off the bat with a big ole smack upside the head. Nick Fury and Dum Dum Dugan are discussing Nick’s aging and Dugan says he can use the Infinity Formula from his blood to help him. Nick has to reveal a secret he has kept since 1966… Dum Dum has been an LMD since he died back then, Nick has kept bringing him back. Very sad interchange between the two, and I would consider this story a must read. Next, we wrap up the Young Avengers/Hood storyline. They finished siphoning off all the secrets and had the Hood well in hand… right up until they didn’t. Luckily, Prodigy messed up his encryption key so that he will never be able to retrieve the data and use it. The catch? Prodigy is Prodigy. There is no challenge he will not tackle, and dencrypting the ultimate encryption he set up, piece of cake. Now, what about those secrets? The final pages are the funny stuff, and this really makes this issue. I laughed so hard I almost pulled a Namor, lol. My Rating: 4/5
Nova #20 – Sam Alexander’s hunt for his father has led him to a nasty alien named Adomox who has poisoned him and Rocket Raccoon and will not provide the antidote until they retrieve a device that can reprogram the Black Nova helmet that Sam uses. Sam finds a secret Black Nova base and some interesting information. As Original Sin wraps up, we find the truth behind the scene that Sam had seen, of his father killing another Nova. That was a way to get into Adomox’s good graces and infiltrate the Black Novas so Jesse could expose them and have Adomox kicked out of the corp. All things up up well as both Sam and Rocket get the antidote, with a little help from their friend, Cosmo, the telepathic space dog. Overall, a good story. But, to top it all off, Sam sees a broadcast from Chitauri Prime of some gladiators fighting. One of them looks awfully familiar… could it be his dad? Yep, so Sam is off to find him in the hopes he is still alive. My Rating: 4/5
Since we are almost done with Original Sin, I am breaking this issue into two huge pieces so that you don’t choke on all the fat and meaty secrets flowing out of these books. Stay tuned and jump over to my next article to see what happens as judgement is about to rain down.
oh, the hood. what a worthless character.