Original Sin Annual #1 Spoilers

[jackolover]

I thought that the Alternative Cover "Eye for an Eye" was a story in the book, and that excited me because the inference is the Eye People had something to do with the Watchers. But reading the book, that cover had nothing to do with the book itself, so that disappointed.

What this book does show is that the succession protocol of the Man on the Wall is not as thorough as one would imagine. We now see what Bucky was faced with when we see the story unfolding of how McCord succeeded Stafford, his predecessor, and Stafford wasn't alone either, in the very early days, when the Martians invaded in 1913, because there were like 6 other Men on the Wall at the time, but the Entari whittled them down to just Stafford by 1931, when McCord was rescued by Stafford. 1943 saw the succession of McCord from Stafford, when Stafford appeared to be mortally wounded and walked away leaving the job in the hands of the young McCord.

What Bucky is left with is what McCord was left with. Just the diarys of his predecessors and nothing else. So Bucky would have to read through Furys diarys and gleen from that what the threats are around the corner, and, the processes of what to do to hunt for the next ones.

The Annual introduces the race of the Entari, but we don't know if Fury had wiped out their threat completely in the intervening years. The problem is, is that the Entari are a vicious race of Earthling killers who hunt for slaves, and McCord had been a party to an autopsy on an Entari, so he learnt how the Shadow invisibility worked, and was able to utilise that skill to kill a pack of Entari attacking Stafford. There is an opportunity to bring the Entari back with the Winter Soldier series.

A curious episode happened at the end of the book as Stark was welcoming Fury to the Helicarrier for the first time in 1968. The editor missed that it wasn't Howard Stark that accompanied Fury, but Tony Stark, but we can overlook that. If it was Tony Stark who accompanied Fury, then Tony knew Fury was the Man on the wall because Stark asked Fury why he hadn't reported in, in the last few months. Then we cross to the satellite in Earth orbit and an LMD telling the real Nick Fury that LMD 1 wasn't answering Starks question, so Fury already had LMD'S before SHIELD made casts of him for LMD'S, in the first Appearance of SHIELD in the comics. This tells me 1) Tony Stark was always aware Fury was practicing assassinations in outer space, and 2) That Tony Stark knew and probably made LMDs for Fury before SHIELD. And that probably LMD's were alien tech of some sort.

Was this book worth it?

We learnt there was a deeper history to the Man on the Wall than we even realised. We learnt Tony Stark was maybe aware of this. We learnt that LMDs didn't come out of thin air. I liked that McCord was a solitary, lonely, figure who never had family ties, and this made it easy for him to do what he does. He was the Ghost who walked. The John Walker of the Marvel Universe. As to whether this adds anything to the MU? I'd have to think deeper about this than I have so far. President Teddy Roosevelt set them up to do this duty in secret, from their very earliest days, so even back then, there was some need to have this duty carried out.

[THANOSRULES]

THis is just too elaborate of a retcon for my tastes...there are some nice sci fi motifs involved and some cool topics from a fiction point of view, but it is just too drastic to shoe horn this into the 616 universe.

[jackolover]

Why were there Martians in the MU in 1913, and why did the POTUS set up the Men on the Wall? We know there was a Portal to Mars in 1869, because after the American Civil War, Thorndrake discovered the Portal the Martians used, and kept using it himself up to the present day, until Antman destroyed it in Secret Avengers. But there was a need for a specialist team to fight monsters, and aliens, called the Entari, assassinated the team for years so that by 1931, there was one left. By then, the work of the team was done by one man, and was a secret operative. I assume he still reported to the POTUS of the day? Maybe Fury reported to the POTUS of the day too, and that's why Bush wouldn't arrest him after Secret War, and just let him do his thing?

There is still a lot of unexplained detail about why this job has to be done, and why it still has to be done by Bucky to this day? It appears to be an archaic duty set up long ago, that was superseded once the Silver Age started. The only possible explanation for its continued use is that the Man on the Wall does a sweep of the dangers he can eliminate, and let's those he can't go through for the heroes to address. Is this efficient, or just a grizzly throat cutting exercise to send chills up the spines of Aliens?

If the 1913 Martian Invasion was the first indication to America that it needed to have a homegrown battlement (unlike old SHIELD in Italy), then it is an attempt at self preservation of the USA on an individual basis. What we are seeing here is the fledgling emergence of a pre-super hero enforcement of the survival of the USA against strange and outer space attacks. Maybe the American government views the Man on the Wall as their insurance, in case the super heroes stuff up?

[Tofali]

I bought the book because of the Eye ppl but they weren't part of story in the 1st issue but I still loved the story. However I'm not going to continue picking it up simply because of Howard Stark being made to be the one who started it all lol!

[cranger]

The editor missed that it wasn't Howard Stark that accompanied Fury, but Tony Stark, but we can overlook that.

I am going to guess this changes the history of things. Tony Stark no longer did that, just like they changed what war he was in.

THis is just too elaborate of a retcon for my tastes...there are some nice sci fi motifs involved and some cool topics from a fiction point of view, but it is just too drastic to shoe horn this into the 616 universe.

Take out the padding that was Stark and Fury and this was an enjoyable sci-fi story that I would expect to find in some sort of anthology or something. As a Marvel Universe story, yeah, it just does not work. The reason for that, the reason they should avoid trying to explore past events in this way, is that it just exposes something we are not supposed to think about. Where were all these threats to Earth and existance itself before 20 years ago?

[norj]

A curious episode happened at the end of the book as Stark was welcoming Fury to the Helicarrier for the first time in 1968. The editor missed that it wasn't Howard Stark that accompanied Fury, but Tony Stark, but we can overlook that.

They retconned the Stark thing decades ago.

[jackolover]

I am going to guess this changes the history of things. Tony Stark no longer did that, just like they changed what war he was in.

Take out the padding that was Stark and Fury and this was an enjoyable sci-fi story that I would expect to find in some sort of anthology or something. As a Marvel Universe story, yeah, it just does not work. The reason for that, the reason they should avoid trying to explore past events in this way, is that it just exposes something we are not supposed to think about. Where were all these threats to Earth and existance itself before 20 years ago?

If I were suspicious, I'd say changing Howard Stark for Tony Stark was Marvel re-writing of history. Why they would put Howard Stark introducing Fury to SHIELD in 1968, when Howard Stark disappeared in the 1950's, might be trying to reinforce Tony Starks appearance in the MU in the 2000's. It was such a long time ago anyway, that making Tony a no show back in the 60's is not going to be too disconcerting to modern readers, but to those of us who were there, it certainly changes Marvel history especially pre-2000.

[jackolover]

They retconned the Stark thing decades ago.

Yes, but it's the first time they showed that point in history another way.

[jackolover]

It really shows why Fury couldn't confront Galactus and the Secret Invasion, because those threats were way outside his wheelhouse. It shows the limitations of the man on the wall. He thinks he's something, but really, all he is, is a guy taking pot shots in rabbit season and nothing more.