David: The latest event at Marvel is starting up – in one sense – with this week’s Original Sin #0, a comic that is neither written nor drawn by the team who is writing and drawing the actual event comic itself. With a gestation period that is moderately comical and hype from Marvel that is more infinite than their digital comics, this book is one that I think might be coming in with a deficit for many readers. So Matt, where’s this book at for you? I know you love some Jason Aaron, but is cynical Matt overwhelming fanboy Matt at this point?
Matthew: We’re somewhere in the middle, admittedly.
Cynical Matt is just, like, so done with event comics, you know? Like, whatever, man, they’re all the same.
Fanboy Matt is super pumped and hyped for a Aaron/Deodato jam, though. Honestly, Aaron is my favorite writer at Marvel right now, without a doubt, and I’ll pretty much read any comic that he writes at this point. And Deodato? He had some issues of New Avengers that I didn’t care for, but I loved his work on Thunderbolts, on Dark Avengers; I think for a murder mystery, he could be the perfect catch.
So, yeah, very much in the middle — low expectations, but optimism none the less. How about you?
David: I’m a weird type of online comic fan, in that I read almost nothing about comics before they come out. I don’t read solicits, I don’t really read creator interviews, I really just go to the shop on Wednesdays and buy my comics based off creative teams and flipping through books at the shop. I am basically exactly as not prepared for the act of purchasing comics as my longform pieces suggest that I would be prepared. So when I say I know very little about this series, I’m being honest: I know it’s an event comic, I know it’s Aaron and Deodato, I know Uatu dies, and I know there are a couple teams involved as they try to figure out who exactly killed him.
Past that? I know about as much as the kid playing in the park outside of my house right now, which is likely to say not very much.
But they got two very big things right. The writer and artist. Like you said, Deodato is a great fit for a story of this sort, and Jason Aaron is the type of guy who excels at telling big sandbox stories that let him do his own thing. So the potential is certainly there to accomplish something great, even if event comics aren’t really about that anymore. So I’ll be buying issue #1, even if I may be passing on #0 because I’m not sure why it exists (it will get a flip through, for sure though).
What I do know about this book though is that this book was teased like…2 years ago in a Point One. It may be longer than that. It’s so long that I really don’t know anymore, regardless. My question for you on this is that in the process of hyping their events, like they did with Age of Ultron previously, Marvel is getting so far ahead of themselves that these pieces are being connected so far in advance that, by the time the book is released, all interest in the ideas are waning to the point of more than just the standard comic event apathy. Do you think Marvel’s handling of this event, and events in general, in ways like that have become detrimental to their own success?
Matthew: That’s actually a really interesting question, something I don’t think I’d ever really thought of before. I mean, not to be a pessimist or a defeatist, but at a certain point in following the industry you very much reach a point where some things do not even stand out as noteworthy anymore; the lead-up to an event is definitely one of those things.
But upon reviewing it, I think that’s a fair argument, albeit something that probably has to be taken on a personal basis. I mean, for folks that read comics regularly we’ve certainly been inundated with teasers and announcements of all kinds of tie-ins (“Everybody has one…”) to the point that it actually sort of feels like “Original Sin” has already happened, or is already happening. When I saw that “Original Sin” #0 was out this week, I was actually confused for a second because I thought I’d read it and forgotten about it.
Continued belowIf you’re not on the internet 24/7, though, I imagine “Original Sin” is very new to you. Marvel certainly came out swinging and teasing that event some time ago (our first post about it was November 2013, which is INSANE to look back on!), and they announced it in January, but there are people who don’t follow along with blogs and whatnot; it’s entirely possible that there will be people who hear about “Original Sin” the week of, or even much later when the Deluxe Hardcover is released, you know?
So, yeah, I don’t know if I’d compare it to “Age of Ultron” where that was something that just kept getting delayed, but it actually does sort of feel like something that has happened, or that we’ve already dealt with and moved on from — and it’s not even out until May! And in terms of building hype for it, I think that Marvel is certainly not doing themselves any favors by trying to promote it over half a year’s worth of time; there’s almost too much out there about it for those willing to look that it really does feel like we’ve at least read the first issue.
Also, just for posterity’s sake, I do want to point out that I would be willing to wager money on the fact that “Original Sin” as it is today is not as it may have been originally intended to be — though not in the way that you’d expect. Brubaker wrote that story you’re referring to in the Point One issue, which was a framing device for the first ever Point One. Following that, aspects of this story were followed up in Jeff Parker’s “Dark Avengers”, after Brubaker’s involvement at Marvel had waned. While “Original Sin” is certainly born out of the same place, I’d imagine that whatever Marvel had planned for where that Point One story was to lead is not exactly the same as what “Original Sin” will be.
David: Oh, I certainly agree with that. It’s definitely morphed since then, but man, is it just me or do things like that make those Point One, $7.99 comics even more ridiculous? That same Point One (which had the Watcher story) came out in November of 2011, a full two years before our first post about “Original Sin”, and it also featured Coldmoon & Dragonfire, everyone’s favorite new characters that were never seen again. Those things are crazy.
Anyways, back to this book. I’m now aware that it’s kind of Marvel’s characters bad moves from the past coming back to haunt them, like Cap getting mind wiped. The obvious comparison is Identity Crisis at DC, but do you think – conceptually, and outside of the the creative team – this book is interesting enough to be a big game changer for Marvel’s line? It seems a bit thinner than we usually get, and that is saying something.
Matthew: Well, you know, I’m not really sure. At a surface level, I suppose yes, there’s certainly room for it, right? All these secrets coming out, certainly there’s one that could have ramifications for the future; maybe the Avengers will get peeved and disband, or the X-Men will reunite, or who knows what. I can certainly see the potential for a very base “game change” idea.
BUT! What I think works about “Original Sin,” what I think is the more interesting “game change” notion, is that it seems like this is a book that is not born out of anything else. Correct me if I’m wrong, but if you look at Marvel’s recent events (or even DC’s), then there’s something going on in comics that really kicks things off — “Infinity” had lots of lead-in from Hickman’s Avengers, all of Bendis’ events were born out of things happening in “New Avengers,” etc. But “Original Sin?” Nothing; it’s back to basics, it’s just a shot that kicks things off and then a series of further affairs that assumedly build towards a big finish that spills out elsewhere.
I think that back to basics approach is the biggest shift here. For better or for worse, I think Marvel probably notices the reaction to their big scope approach to events, so narrowing it to something inherently more focused (tie-ins aside), if it is received well and sells well and whatnot, could result in the biggest revision towards how we see these things unfold in the future.
Continued belowDavid: Yes! That aspect I love. The relatively little build-up. The fact it’s kind of coming out of nowhere and is very much on an island to tell its own story (tie-ins aside). That’s really great, and it kind of gets away from the nature of events going all the way back to Bendis’ run were involved with. Those events really affected everything, for better or worse. That this doesn’t makes it feel more like an event, I guess you could say.
There’s an entirely different discussion here to be had about whether or not game changing is something that is necessary for these events, or if it’s preferable to just have good stories, but I think “Original Sin” is at least doing something along the lines of being interesting to start with, which is better than we’ve seen recently from events.
Matthew: Uhhhhhhhmmm. I mean, and this is the wrong answer, but I guess? Well, I mean, maybe not necessarily buy it, but I’ll certainly look into it.
Look — I can tell you exactly what that book is going to be. I can 100% predict the entire issue for you right now, OK? It starts off with the Watcher, and he’s on the moon, and he’ll be all “Oh, this is me on the moon, thinking about stuff, and I see things” And then we spend the next 18 pages of him looking at his past or showing us things from his history that we’d never known, that sorta stuff — basically an issue’s worth of an origin story for a modern audience to get to know who he is. And then the last page will be some kind of coy remark that he knows what’s coming next, that he knows he’s going to die.
That’s my prediction for the book. Why? Because Marvel has done a ton of these #0 issues or prelude one-shots. It feels like a mix of a quick money-grab to potentially confuse fans like you or I into buying something, but is also a decent introduction for new fans, I guess.
But… I mean, it’s Mark Waid, so it’ll be well written and well-considered towards the history of the character and the Marvel Universe. It’s Jim Cheung, so it’ll be absolutely gorgeous in every facet. I can tell you right now that the issue will be otherwise “worthless” in the grand scheme of things, but will it be good? I’d give it the potential benefit of the doubt. IT’S A REAL CATCH-22, DAVID.
David: I hope he sets up a camera, or maybe a mirror, to capture his own doom. But yeah, you pretty much nailed it. This will be one of those books that I’ll flip through and probably end up buying because I am a big ol’ sellout for good art, and Jim Cheung makes pretty amazing art. If it was $3.99, I’d be in for sure, but $4.99? It gets a definite flip through, but you know, Uatu isn’t actually that interesting. He’s only interesting because he shows up when interesting things happen. He as a character is a guy who stands around and doesn’t say anything while wearing a toga and a tight shave up top. Not exactly my favorite read.
It seems like we’re on the same page then. “Original Sin” is a book we’re buying because we trust good creators to do good things, while nearly every other part of the production makes us want to say “no thanks”. Would you say that’s a fair assessment?
Matthew: Sort of. Honestly, the one thing that I think makes “Original Sin” stand out to me is, again, that it’s not ostensibly connected to anything. There are certainly little things that hint at ideas for “Original Sin” that are omnipresent, and you can see how a book like “New Avengers” is going to react to an event like this, but for the most part “Original Sin” remains autonomous — that’s what gives me the most interest.
Meanwhile, yeah, everything else Marvel seems to be doing with this event is pretty much par for course, isn’t it? Which is a damn shame. I think Marvel, especially in the past couple reals, has shown a very strong presence in the medium; it may not be on Image levels of creativity and excitement, but they’re assembling great creative teams on books that have exciting premises that you want to read! But then you see everything surrounding “Original Sin,” you see the egregious amount of otherwise useless tie-ins and the Zero Issues and minis and… ugh. But that’s indicative of Marvel’s “two step forwards, one step back” routine — they’ll do just enough to be on everyone’s good sides where pizza is our business and then just cross their fingers and hope that we’ll buy “Original Sin” #3.1 and #3.2 just because.
Well, no, thank you. When you have Jason Aaron and Mike Deodato telling a murder mystery in the Marvel Universe, you don’t need anything more than that.
