ORIGIN

Concluding their powerful Year One story arc, Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott shine in “Wonder Woman” #14. Knowing that Diana will face off against Ares in the issue had readers expecting a slugfest, and the creative team didn’t disappoint when it became “go” time. But Diana is equal parts warrior and philosopher, and her depth of character is on brilliant display throughout the book as she seeks peaceful resolution before resorting to ass-kicking force. Ares is here to extract the location of Themyscira from Steve Trevor’s mind, and after Diana attacks Ares to save Trevor, she supplicates herself before the god and offers that in return for peace he takes the information from her. Ares’ attempted extraction fails because Diana, whose eyes are now bleeding, genuinely does not know the location of the island. Realizing her exile from home is actually a gift, Diana defeats Ares with the help of her patrons. RELATED: REPORT: Wonder Woman Villain Revealed Without actually stating it, the app

Despite effective artwork and much-awaited answers, Jason Aaron and Mike Deodato’s “Original Sin” #8 doesn’t quite stick the landing. The pacing and structural problems of the last few issues were bound to take a toll on the finale, and issue #8 doesn’t make a strong impact. Though it’s a disappointing end to an altogether average series, it does establish creative, promising consequences for the Marvel Universe. I like to start with the positive, and Mike Deodato and Frank Martin produce some beautiful, fascinating panels. With cloudy backgrounds and murky inking, these pages do require close attention — no easily readable action here — but I was only ever surprised, not confused. The arrangements are simply so unexpected, with shapes popping in and out of the corners. Deodato also isn’t afraid to the let the metaphorical take visual precedence over the action, sometimes even leaving the Watcher’s corpse right under the reader’s nose, in the foreground, rather than hovering in the

“Original Sin” #7 by Jason Aaron and Mike Deodato is one big fight, “Nick Fury vs. The World.” “Original Sin” has been a bait-and-switch. The teaser was the Watcher’s death and the murder mystery. The mystery aspect has been kicked aside for a story about Nick Fury’s backstage role in the Marvel Universe. While the revelations about Fury are epic, the tone and structure of the story have changed from an intergalactic detective story to a story about Fury’s moral vulnerability and decline from the responsibilities he has carried. The two plot structures are linked by a theme of crime and punishment, and the shift is gradual. Still, a reader who picked the book up for the whodunit aspect would be right to feel nonplussed. When he’s not taking down an Avenger or two, Fury uses his time on the stage in “Original Sin” #7 to try to make a case against the commonplace moral logic that murder is bad, no matter what the motives. Previous treatments of the theme such as Dostoyevsky “Crime an

Jason Aaron and Mike Deodato’s “Original Sin” #6 is a perfectly acceptable read, but it lacks the forward momentum and direction to make it truly compelling. There’s arguably merit to slowing the story down before the final two issues, but it doesn’t feel like it’s resting so much as stalling. Bogged down by a great deal of recap from character to character, it inevitably drags — despite having the same evocative artwork from Deodato and line-level quality of writing from Aaron. It’s not going to affect my overall impression of “Original Sin” or turn me off the event, but even with all its great qualities, issue #6 is still overly slow and answerless. In principle, slowing down for issue #6 makes sense. The first four issues were full of frenzy, and issue #5 was all backstory, so a recap-and-recover issue is a logical next step. It also leaves Aaron with plenty of story for issues #7 and #8. However, the issue is very heavy on recap. It’s necessary to assemble the entire team in the

The cover to “Original Sin” #5 asks, “What is the unseen?” but the credits page attributes this comic book as “The Secret History of Colonel Nicholas J. Fury,” as written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Mike Deodato, with colors from Frank Martin and letters by Chris Eliopoulos. Fury takes center stage in this issue and, as this issue deals with history, a visit to 1958 kicks off the second half of Marvel’s summer event. “Original Sin” #5 is told in Fury’s voice, with the one-time Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. narrating adventures from the past seen for the first time, establishing a defense system for Earth that raises more than a few questions. Focusing on the secret history of Fury, Aaron sets S.H.I.E.L.D.’s top cop up as a difference maker in the Marvel Universe. I’d like to see Aaron take this idea and grow it out further. “Original Sin” #5 is a decent-to-good Nick Fury story that adds more subterfuge and sneakiness to one of Marvel’s most iconic personalities, but as the flow of the sto

In “Original Sins” #2, the Young Avengers continue their encounter with the Hood, Black Knight is visited by an inquisitive journalist and Howard the Duck is besieged by caption boxes. The concept behind “Original Sins” is to share tales of secrets divulged when the Watcher’s eyeball was detonated. This collection of characters are barely tangential to the actual event, but does provide a nice outlet (despite the flimsy excuse) for fans who have been itching to see characters like Howard the Duck or Black Knight. Frank Tieri’s ten-page lead Black Knight story sends an author and historian to Dane Whitman’s door to ask him about the curse of the Ebony Blade. Whitman, understandably, is resistant to discuss his trademark weapon and artist Raffaele Ienco is tasked with showing the readers Whitman’s suffering. As this all occurs, Ienco draws up stunning imagery that covers the gamut of the story, including historical evidence of the curse and Whitman’s own struggle with it. This chapter

Sporting a J.G. Jones cover that features very Silver Age-y looking Hulk and Iron Man, “Original Sin” #3.1 contains a story co-written by Kieron Gillen and Mark Waid with a script by Waid and art from penciler Mark Bagley, inker Andrew Hennessey, colorist Jason Kieth and letterer Cory Petit. The first of a multi-part arc that builds from the Orb’s detonating the Watcher’s eye, the issue promises a “Hulk Vs. Iron Man” story. Readers can’t be disappointed then, when opening the cover to find a fight between Iron Man and Hulk already in progress. Iron Man gets in some good shots, but Gillen and Waid remind readers that Hulk is “the strongest there is.” With the cover furnishing a clue and the notion of dirty little secrets unleashed across the Marvel Universe following the eyeball explosion that rocked the world, it’s not too difficult to surmise what the fight could be about. Gillen and Waid provide the basic premise behind the story and also insert plenty of retconned relations betwee

A nagging suspicion many readers have endured for the past couple of weeks since last issue’s shocking and graphic cliffhanger is addressed by writer Jason Aaron in “Original Sin” #4. It’s a mostly sedate issue that doesn’t give artist Mike Deodato many exciting things to draw, but the plot does slowly advance and Aaron even delivers another surprising cliffhanger of sorts, although it’s milder nature plays into the quieter tone of the story. That is, the story is quieter in the sense that there are no giant exploding eyeballs and no one is murdered this time around. Oh, there are a couple of skirmishes between the disparate cast members, but most of the noise comes from the characters’ mouths rather than their fists or guns. There’s a lot of macho posturing between The Punisher and Dr. Strange, and then The Punisher and The Winter Soldier, and then even The Punisher and a fan-favorite character Aaron introduces into the story. The villain known as The Orb speaks only cryptic ramblin

There is nothing to really dislike about “Original Sins” #1, but it makes almost no case for itself as essential reading. Its three stories – one each for Deathlok, the Young Avengers and Lockjaw – are of varying relation to the main event plotline, with varying implications and editorial plans going forward. Your excitement for each will depend almost entirely on how invested you are in its title character(s), because not much happens in this issue. It’s great to see old favorites on the page again, but it would be even better to see them in more engaging adventures going forward. The Deathlok story is plainly a prequel for the series coming this fall, and this transparency of purpose is both its strength and its weakness. It’s clear what the creative team is trying to accomplish, and they drive the story efficiently through its short page count. Nathan Edmondson’s script is subtle in its specifics; he leaves lines like “Your mission went bad” and “I saw the bodies” to hang, so th

Fortunately for the Avengers et al, the rapidly-evolving Mindless Ones blow the search for the Watcher’s murderers wide open, allowing the team to track down an important artifact from the moon: The Watcher’s eye. In a surprising turn of events, Jason Aaron and Mike Deodato dive right into the story by giving a glimpse into the villains’ perspective; while the villains they reveal are clearly only a small part of a larger coup, this collection of D-listers will certainly pique interest in the men behind the curtain. With a regrettably lackluster cliffhanger, “Original Sin” #2 comes in strong with action-packed, one-liner fun and dazzling creature design. For all that this book has been promoted as dark (murder! intrigue! secrets!), the tone is surprisingly lighthearted. Simply put, the issue has more than one chuckle-worthy sequence, largely thanks to banter between old and new team dynamics; for instance, the unlikely pairing of Doctor Strange and the Punisher throws a sharp and ra