Original Sin #5 Review – And Now For Something Completely Different …

Up until this point, Original Sin has been propelled by two intertwining mysteries: who killed the Watcher, and who knew enough about it to set the heroes of the Marvel Universe on the trail of the killer?

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In issue #4, it appeared that Nick Fury might be the answer to both of those questions. Or at least someone who looked like Nick Fury, or a Life Model Decoy. You can never be too sure with Nick.

The first four issues also flowed along nicely because of the deft touch Jason Aaron has shown with dialogue between the unusual combinations of heroes that have been sent off to find Uatu’s killer. He’s also made z-grade villains like the Orb and Dr. Midas into interesting pieces of the puzzle.

Strangely, issue #5 has virtually none of those elements. It’s almost like a book-length pause to allow us to catch our breath after the rapid fire shocks that the previous two issues have delivered. In fact, it’s really one long story told in flashback by Fury. The real Fury. Maybe.

If this was a movie, there would be one heck of a long voiceover. That made it hard to decide if I actually enjoyed it, because while we learned a lot, all of the information was basically fed to us in one big helping.

I can’t discuss any more without giving you the obligatory …

SPOILER ALERT!

Fury’s big reveal in a nutshell is this: back in 1958, he almost died trying to fend off an alien invasion. He was saved by a mysterious man with some serious tech (especially for the time) who died saving him.

Turns out the deceased fellow was like a one-man Men in Black, responsible  for safeguarding the Earth from extraterrestrial and extradimensional threats in secret. Howard Stark asks Fury to take his place, and he does, pulling off his most important missions during his down time with S.H.I.E.L.D.

All those bodies that the heroes have found along the way, the monsters underground and wherever Doctor Strange and The Punisher traveled to? All Fury’s work, with the help of his squad of LMDs, since he couldn’t tell any real people what he was doing.

The only being who saw him on the job was the Watcher. Does that mean Fury killed Uatu? The Orb seems to know but comes down with a convenient case of information sickness before he can talk. It’s also not outside the realm of possibility that this isn’t the real Fury, because why couldn’t Marvel go back to that well one more time?

At least Aaron and Mike Deodato have left us with some new mysteries to ponder as we head down the stretch. I’m just hoping we don’t have to take one whole issue during the last three to sort out any of it.

Favorite moment: Fury’s flying car can go all the way out into space. Not too shabby for a convertible. Phil Coulson might want to see if he can get his beloved Lola to do that.

Final thought: As funny as it would be, I really hope this doesn’t all end with someone pulling a Fury mask off the killer and whoever it is saying, ” And I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for you meddling kids!”