Comics
Review: “Original Sin” #1
By Jorge Solis
A spell-binding murder mystery, “Original Sin” #1 delivers a knockout first installment filled with suspense, action, and thrills. For months, readers have been teased about the murder of The Watcher and now it’s finally here. Dark in tone and with a cool title to boot, “Original Sin” is a clever concept of throwing superheroes into a suspenseful thriller.
WRITTEN BY: Jason Aaron
ART BY: Mike Deodato
PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: May 7, 2013
The Watcher’s cosmic duty is to bear witness to earth’s evolution and never get involved at all. As he gazes upon the stars and planets, The Watcher has seen everything, including his own death. He accepts his death with a sigh and awaits his doom. When the superheroes of the Marvel Universe arrive at the crime site, they all see The Watcher lying dead, with his eyes gouged out. Someone wanted The Watcher to die in a painful and brutal way. While everyone is playing detective, there is a killer on the loose across the universe.
Writer Jason Aaron has captured a gritty and moody murder mystery filled with memorable characters and exciting moments. Aaron keeps the conversation running smoothly amongst a group of characters. Though difficult in the hands of a lesser writer, Aaron knows how to give each character their own voice and allow their personality to shine. My favorite amongst the team-ups is The Punisher and Doctor Strange. This odd couple brings in the dark humor as the Punisher and Strange play good/bad cop as they interrogate a suspect.
Aaron keeps a serious tone in the dark narrative as the Marvel superheroes find themselves starring in an Agatha Christie-like mystery. Everyone wants to play the role of detective but no one really has the stomach to ask the tough questions. Nick Fury even reminds Captain America that their investigation will lead to dark places. The Watcher saw and knew everything, including everybody’s dirty little secrets.
Artist Mike Deodato delivers the tragic death of The Watcher with a heart-breaking blow. In the opening pages, the Watcher is staring at the stars in awe of its beauty. Deodato keeps the camera tight on the Watcher’s face as he grimaces, knowing that beauty is just a fleeting moment. In an epic two-pager, we see the eyeless Watcher lying dead, with his arms stretched out and legs bent.
I particularly loved the way how Deodato placed the camera on the crime scene as the superheroes gathered round the dead body. We have seen this shot many times in cop movies and Deodato’s illustrations imitate that police procedural aspect. With the camera kept at a low angle, Captain America and Wolverine seem larger than life as they analyze the crime scene, searching for clues like real detectives.
Kicking off to a great start, “Original Sin” #1 sets the stage for a riveting thriller. There’s just something cool about The Punisher, Wolverine, and Captain America playing detectives in a murder myserty.
Comics
‘You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive’ – IDW Dark’s Next Horror Comic Will Make You Question Reality
Five friends. Four houses. One perfect life. Bloody Disgusting is excited to exclusively announce You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive, a brand new horror comic from IDW Dark.
From Eisner-Nominated writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, and rising horror artist Heather Vaughan, You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive is described as a “paranoia-laced, socially-conscious, horror mystery that will leave you questioning reality, and reveal that this crafted world is more of a nightmare than the idealistic dream they were expecting.”
Phoebe Joplin has never questioned the world her parents built: a secluded community where she and her friends were raised to be smarter, stronger, and better than anyone else. No distractions. No dangers. No secrets. Until the night of their graduation.
When one of them dies under impossible circumstances, Phee starts to pull at the edges of her perfect life—and what she finds is something far more terrifying than she ever imagined.
Because this place isn’t a sanctuary. It’s a cage. And no one who discovers the truth ever leaves it alive.
Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing (Batman – One Bad Day: Clayface, Star Trek: The Last Starship) co-write the upcoming IDW Dark horror comic, featuring art by Heather Vaughan.
Jackson Lanzing said in a statement to Bloody Disgusting, “You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive is in many ways a spiritual successor to our last creator-owned horror, The Principles of Necromancy – a dive into the promise and consequence of playing god with the blood of innocents. But the Hivemind book this reminds me of most is Clayface: One Bad Day. This is a deeply human story with intensely raw emotions – five best friends and their five mysterious parents, tearing one another apart for the promise of some impossible glory that’s waiting just beyond their darkest actions. We’re thrilled to be bringing this story to life with our long-time partner in crime, editor Heather Antos, at IDW Dark – and we’re particularly excited to give our Clayface fans a new, brutal and emotional horror made just for them.”
Adds Collin Kelly, “We’re deconstructing a feeling that seems universal these days; our elders have a death grip on their power, without any intention of giving it up to the generations that come next. YNLTPA is about growing up with the limitless potential of the future… and realizing how much it’s a lie we’ve been fed to keep us under the yoke of the past. Bringing this brutal experience to life is our artist and co-creator, Heather Vaughan, who brings an incredible amount of humanity to our cast. But it’s in our youthful leads that Heather’s art really shines – you are going to fall in love with these young people, even as they go through the worst experience of their lives. What we’ve all crafted together is going to be tragic, painful, but above all else, sincere – with a future so uncertain, there’s only one thing we can trust: you’ll never leave this place alive.”
“Some horror stories are about monsters in the dark. YNLTPA is about realizing the monsters raised you,” previews Senior Group Editor Heather Antos. “Working with Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly on this series has been a dream in the darkest possible way. They’ve built a story that’s layered, brutal, and deeply emotional, and every issue gives artist Heather Vaughan opportunities to push the art into places that feel both haunting and deeply personal. Some horror comics will keep you up at night…this is one that will stick with you for years to come.”
The first issue of You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive goes on sale October 14, 2026! Make sure to pre-order at your local comic shop by September to guarantee a copy.
Exclusively check out the various covers for Issue #1 down below.
IDW Publishing’s horror imprint IDW DARK features comics like A Quiet Place: Storm Warning, Smile: For the Camera, The Exorcism at 1600 Penn, Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees, The Twilight Zone, Event Horizon: Dark Descent & Event Horizon: Inferno, and more.
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