The Recap (Minus Some Spoilers)
Original Sin #3 kicks off with a flashback of the massively disgusting ocular menace known as Orb plotting with Dr. Midas to send the Watcher for a nap with the fishes (that’s a mobster metaphor for murder by the way). The goal for putting Uatu on ice is to gain access to the vast knowledge he possess and all of the nasty planet destroying goodies he’s collected from all over the galaxy.
Flash forward to where the previous issue left off, with Orb triumphantly displaying the Watcher’s eye overhead, blasting earth’s heroes with all of the deep dark secrets it contains. The Hulk learns of something that immediately gives him a strong desire to pound Tony Stark’s gonads into jelly, and Thor finds out he has a sister. These are just a few of the secrets that’ve been revealed, so who knows what whackiness is going to proceed from this point on in the arc.
Nick Fury pops up and gets Orb to surrender and takes him to Avengers Tower for questioning, bringing the eye, AKA, the Truth Bomb (that’s what I like to call it) along for the ride. Before he’s carted away, Orb declares his innocence saying he’s not the one who killed Uatu.
Deep down inside the earth’s guts, Ant-Man, Black Panther, and Emma Frost continue their investigation of a graveyard containing various strange animals and creepy freaking monsters. They are believed to be victims of the same killer as the Watcher. Black Panther gets his Sherlock Holmes on as he surveys the landscape filled with bodies and comes to the conclusion the Watcher was killed for seeing something he wasn’t supposed to see.
In a place only defined as “beyond our dimension,” Frank Castle (Punisher) and Dr. Strange continue investigating a dead body of their own, with the Punisher going all CSI at the crime scene. Castle determines the trajectory the green bullet travelled and the distance the shot was made from, coming to the conclusion that only 10 people on earth could make this shot, his own bad self included. Dr. Strange asks Castle to spill his guts on the identity of the 10, excluding himself of course.
The Winter Soldier, Gamora, and Moon Knight are flying through the galaxy investigating coordinates they were given, only to discover that what they were looking for was a trail of giant shell casings obviously fired from the BFG in the universe (that stands for Biggest F...well...use your imagination).
The story suddenly jumps to a shadowy figure watching the Winter Soldier and his team following the trail of shells. The figure is no doubt the one behind the strange happenings in the Marvel Universe, as he’s holding up one of the green, gamma irradiated bullets, telling a muscle bound enforcer they’ll need more ammunition when their “visitors” (the good guys) show up.
Back at Avengers Tower, Wolverine and Hulk team up to interrogate Orb by threatening him with a game of “stab cop, smash cop,” which by the way, was one of the best lines in the whole issue. Orb decides it’s time to talk and asks to see Nick Fury. And you thought Jack Bauer got bad guys to crack fast.
Fury is watching the interrogation on screen, and happens to get a radio transmission from Captain America saying the trail for the investigation has gone colder than a dead body in Alaska. Fury asks why Cap isn’t falling apart after having all of Watcher’s secrets dropped on him, to which Cap says that he’s going to stay focused on his mission. Fury then wonders what the crap happened to Uatu’s other eye and who might have access to even more devastating secrets.
Back in space, Winter Soldier and friends follow the trail of bullets to a lifeless, deserted planet. They soon discover the surface of the planet has more holes and craters than a 14-year-old kid with acne. The team suddenly realizes that the craters are bullet holes and the planet is actually a dead body known as a “living world.”
Suddenly, Winter Soldier slinks away from his team, opens a portal to Nick Fury’s office, and….I’m not going to spoil the crazy ending to the book on this one! Read it yourself to find out what happens!
The Verdict
This issue was good. Damn good. Marvel and DC do a crap ton of events and the majority of them, for the most part, aren’t really that entertaining. Original Sin is different. It’s not the typical event scenario consisting of alien invasions, time travel,or interdimensional rips. It’s a straight up murder mystery involving every major Marvel character in the universe.
Jason Aaron has consistently brought his “A” game with the writing for these issues, with this one being the best of the series, and that includes the tie-ins. The dialogue was great, the pace was quick, although at times a bit jumpy. The clincher of the whole book is the shocking twist ending that totally takes you off guard.
The art was good, but I was sucked into the story so deeply that I didn’t notice the artwork all that much. The final splash page is so epic it will be seared in your brain for eternity, it’s that damn awesome.
Overall this was an amazing issue, and I don’t say that lightly. The story not only kept my interest, but has me super excited for the next installment in the series. If you haven’t read this, you need to. I mean it. You NEED to read it. Buy it now!
Score: 9 out of 10