Taking stock of super-villains
Green Goblin: Stormin' Norman Osborn has been on a delicious slow burn since the start of the post-Registration Act Thunderbolts. With Warren Ellis taking the helm of the title, Osborn has been handled with tremendous aplomb.
In Thunderbolts #120, Osborn makes the long-awaited transformation into the Green Goblin. After the last issue, in which Norman single-handedly wiped the floor with former Masters of Evil alumni Tiger Shark, Cyclone and Mister Hyde, I was beginning to wonder if Norman was ever going to don the classic Goblin gear. After he explained his super-strength by mentioning bio-engineering, I was starting to expect some sort of mutation into a new goblinesque creature.
Seeing the latest incarnation of the Green Goblin costume (he refers to it as his "kit" in a wonderfully written passage), I'm very happy that didn't happen.
I don't think anyone writes the demented madman Osborn as well as Ellis. The first few pages of #120 are nothing but Norman ranting to himself in a nut-job rage. Click on the thumbnails below to read several of the choicest pages in the intro. Here are a few quotes:
-- "Norman Osborn. America's Last Hero. That's what I am."
-- "I'm so glad I never washed this particular costume. Smells like death, blondes and victory."
-- "'So says President Goblin!' ... Actually, that's a bit more Doctor Doom isn't it?"
-- "Note to self: Give naked dictation more often. The ideas seem to flow more freely."
-- Brad Guigar
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