Original Sin #4 Review – Which Nick Is Which?

We’re halfway through Original Sin, and we’re seemingly not much closer to unraveling the series’ central mystery: who killed the Watcher? Unlike a lot of Marvel events, there haven’t even been too many villains for the heroes to pound on and relieve their frustration.

The Orb is involved, but he seems like more of a visual gimmick and slightly crazed pawn than anything. There’s Dr. Midas too, looking like Iron Man Mk. I in a trenchcoat. Is he pulling the strings, or is someone else the man behind the man?

Speaking of strings getting pulled, our small strike forces of heroes all start to get the feeling they’ve been misled. Jason Aaron continues to do a stellar job making the interactions between heroes who normally wouldn’t be working together come off the way they should, and the Punisher-Doctor Strange conversations in this issue are pure gold. But there’s a real sense of distrust that we haven’t seen in a Marvel event since Secret Invasion. It doesn’t help that the Winter Soldier has gone rogue, seemingly killing Nick Fury and becoming prime suspect number one.

Yet it never really made sense that the killer would be revealed so quickly and so obviously, making Original Sin something like an episode of CSI. You know, where the first suspect is almost always the wrong one. It’s amazing how quickly so many people are to believe that Bucky is the guy who pulled the trigger on Uatu. You would have thought his time filling in as Captain America and serving on the Avengers would have bought him some benefit of the doubt, but I guess not.

Anyway, in honor of Fury’s eyepatch, here’s a pirate warning:

AHOY MATES! THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD!

After the obligatory hero fight brought on by misunderstanding, it turns out that the good guys fell for the oldest trick in the book, a.k.a. the old Life Model Decoy. Winter Soldier chopped the head off an LMD, but he claims it was the most advanced one he’s ever seen. It was even good enough to fool Logan, though if memory serves some have been able to do that in the past as well. This issue’s final page has a very much alive though pretty old-looking Fury show up, backed by a squad of more LMDs. If he can be taken at his word, Fury has been pointing the heroes in the right direction, though at this point, who knows what the real deal is? Any of these Nicks could be the real one, or maybe none of them are.

The blurb for issue #5 focuses on the idea of the Unseen, so we’ve got an additional mystery to solve, one that even the Orb seems reluctant to really dive into. This issue was very much a transitional one typical of the midpoint of longer stories, but it wasn’t bad at all. Mike Deodato deserves continued praise for his work on the art, as it’s been consistently setting the proper tone throughout. It’s hard to believe this is the same guy who used to obvious homages to the original Image style for both DC and Marvel.

Favorite moment: The Punisher dealing with the Hulk, albeit temporarily.

Final thought: You know what would be a fun idea for a drinking game? Re-read this issue and take a sip of an adult beverage (if you’re of legal age, of course) every time someone says they never liked Bucky. You may be tipsy by the end.