The end of July is here and the sins have not stopped. Comic Booked continues the weekly coverage of Marvel’s Original Sin event. This huge event has included quite a few major heroes, and some minor ones, as well as several villains, so far. From the Avengers to the X-Men, none of the major groups have been untouched. Let’s see what this week holds for us.
Reviews
Original Sin #3.3: Hulk vs. Iron Man #3 – This is really the big one, folks. Last issue we saw Bruce Banner working with Arno Stark to “tweak” the Extremis in his system to rewire his brain and remove Hulk. What really happened was that Banner, knowing full well that Tony Stark had tampered with the gamma bomb prior to the first test, blamed Tony for turning him into the Hulk and wanted to be able to deliver some payback. What we have now is Smart Hulk again, Banner’s personality in full control of the Hulk but also madder than heck. Bruce destroys Tony’s Malibu house and then heads off to Troy, taking the fight right to Iron Man’s city of the future. Tony is still unsure of what happened that night, because he was blackout drunk, but he rewires a cell phone that he built at the time and uses the GPS he designed to show what happened. Then his memory filled in the rest. Not only did he tamper with the bomb to make it more powerful… but he did something else. Of course we will have to wait till next issue to find out. Meanwhile, Hulk beats the crap out of Iron Man. All in all, a great issue. Lots of action, smashing, and even some great writing. I like this story, despite the anachronisms necessary to place the origin stories in a believable timeline. My Rating: 4/5
Uncanny X-Man #24 – Last issue it was revealed that Professor Xavier left a will. Jennifer Walters, our friendly neighborhood She-Hulk showed up at the mansion and asked that all the X-Men gather for the reading, including Cyclops. No one knows where he is… except for Beast, who wants nothing to do with Scott. The rest of the old X-Men are divided over how to deal with finding Scott, but they finally decide that this needs to be dealt with, they have to confront him and come to some closure of over the murder of Charles Xavier. Meanwhile, at the end of last issue, we met a man named Matthew Molloy who exhibited major powers, explosively leveling a chunk of Newberry, South Carolina. Now, Maria Hill, or at least a holographic image of her, approaches him and tries to gauge the situation. The artwork on these pages, while simple, is still detailed and really cool. It truly exhibits the despair, aloneness, and complete confusion of Matthew. Let’s just say that S.H.I.E.L.D. is not nearly ready to deal with this sort of powerful mutant. In the far North, the Blackbird touches down and Iceman, Storm, and Beast call for Cyclops. This is when we see the first shot of Dazzler’s new look, no longer a long haired blonde, she now has a raven mohawk and a cool eye tattoo. Can we say “badass”? The end of this issue is too good to spoil, so pick it up if you want to know what happens. Do they convince Scott to return with them? What is in the will? Will this decide the future of the X-Men or at least Cyclops? And, how does Mystique fit into all of these events? Because she does. My Rating: 5/5
Avengers #33 – 5,045 years in the future, the Avengers, at least the ones left on this crazy time hopping trip, met Franklin Richards and had a few questions answered, but not enough. Then, the next hop left Captain America alone and hurtled forward 51,028 years from the now. This storyline has been nothing if not interesting. This jaunt is no different. Cap is confronted, in some amazing scenes, with a fragment of the Ultron A.I. that has developed into a world mind called the Wolrdcore. The Worldcore explains that it has been trying to create a perfect program by removing all the problems from the past. This has sparked off a temporal war. When Steve had met his future version/robot counterpart, that creature implanted a bomb in his head to take to the future. This is the future that was to be destroyed. A lot of what goes on in this issue is a reflection of the inner determination of Captain America and what has really made Steve Rogers the best carrier of that moniker. Regardless of who else steps into the role, there will never be a stronger human being carrying the shield. In the end, one last leap into fractured temporal space… what will happen there as this storyline concludes next issue? My Rating: 5/5
Can you say “Wow!”? I hope you can, most babies can do that. But really, this is an interesting week as revelations are made and questions are posed. What will be the fallout of all these secrets? There are still two months left in this event, even though the main series end in August, the minis will continue into September. Stay tuned to Comic Booked for all things sinful.
sounds like another good week for fans of marvel’s deep dark secrets!