Original Sin HC
Publisher: Marvel
Release Date: November 18, 2014
Price: $75.00
Creator(s): Jason Aaron, Charles Soule, Mark Waid, Al Ewing, Jason Aaron James Robinson, Dan Slott (writers); Mike Deodato, Mark Bagley, Jim Cheung, Ramon Villalobos, Chip Zdarsky (artists)
Format: 392 pgs., Full-Color, Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-7851-9069-1
Age Rating: 12+
ICv2 Rating: 3 stars out of 5
 
From his home on the moon Uatu, the Watcher has long kept watch over mankind.  But when he’s murdered and his base looted it’s up to an elite group of Marvel's heroes to find his killer and recover his advanced technology.  They have a vested interest in their recovery because somewhere among them is something every bit as dangerous as super weapons; the heroes own darkest secrets.
 
The plot is equal parts Identity Crisis and Watchmen and while the art by Mike Deodato's is sufficiently dark Original Sin is pretty weak tea as a murder mystery.  Probably because the murder victim is reduced to a mere prop; with the unlikely sidelining of the Fantastic Four none of the superheroes playing detective seem to care that The Watcher is dead.  With that being the case the 'mystery' becomes merely a pretext to introduce new concepts to the Marvel Universe and establishing new status quo's for some of its heroes.
 
As a superhero story it does get some points though from its mixing heroes into unlikely teams.  The Punisher/Dr. Strange team-up is kind of fun for a while (until it devolves into an endless digression about how much they want to kill each other), the same way it's amusing to see Moon Knight actually on the moon.  Until it becomes obvious, even to him, he has no business being there.  Writer Jason Aaron packs his story with action and twists so it's never dull, but it's also unnecessarily grisly and dark.  For hard-core Marvel fans only.

Collects Original Sin #0-8, Original Sins #1-5, Original Sin: Secret Avengers Infinite Comic #1-2, and material from Point One #1.

--Steve Bennett: Writer and retail services consultant.