By Tim Stevens
Prison in the Marvel Universe gets much more dangerous beginning this November when its newest inmate takes center stage in OSBORN, a new limited series from writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and artist Emma Rios. The series finds Norman Osborn being transported to a facility for what might be charitably called the "worst of the worst" and quickly finding like-minded individuals to join forces with.
"Osborn has a posse; five of the baddest, meanest, deadliest, most dangerous, most ruthless villains in the world," explains editor Alejandro Arbona. "These are bad guys too bad to throw in Ryker's Island maximum security penitentiary; too dangerous to lock up in the Raft or the Slab. These are people so dangerous-'people' isn't even an accurate description-that a new prison had to be built just for them.
 |
| Norman Osborn |
Given how Osborn ended up in prison, it may not be surprising that the story revolves around questions of power and the seemingly inevitable abuses that come with it. However, readers should not expect that only Osborn will be guilty of that crime.
"Norman Osborn sees what happens when the people in power go too far," reveals Arbona. "That doesn't just apply to [Osborn], who's imprisoned for his abuses of power; he sees it play out among his fellow prisoners, and from his captors."
However, Osborn remains unconvinced that he has done anything wrong.
"Osborn is defiant to the end," the editor declares. "In his mind, he was never wrong for doing the things he's been thrown in prison for doing, and
 |
| OSBORN #1 cover |
Arbona further hints that the former head of H.A.M.M.E.R. may make persuasive enough arguments that readers themselves could find themselves uncomfortably aligned with Osborn's point of view:
"Is Osborn right? Is the injustice of his imprisonment too unfair even for Osborn?"
With those questions in mind, the story becomes an exploration of how thin the line between good and evil can really be.
"It's a hardboiled prison serial, about the oppressed fighting their oppressors-even if the oppressed in this case are six of the most dangerous super villains in the world."
For all the latest news, videos, photos, live blogs and more from San Diego Comic-Con International, keep visiting Marvel.com's official hub page!
To find a comic shop near you, call 1-888-comicbook or visit www.comicshoplocator.com
Not a subscriber to Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited yet? Join now!
Download SPIDER-WOMAN and ASTONISHING X-MEN Motion Comics now on iTunes! For more information on motion comics, visit the Marvel Motion Comics hub!
Download episodes of "X-Men: Evolution", "Wolverine and the X-Men", "Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes" and "The Super Hero Squad Show" now on iTunes!
Check out the official Marvel Shop for your favorite Marvel Heroes!
why not think outside the box on super-hero'es battles no one ever gets injured why cant hawkeye lose an arm,?or thing lose an eye? why cant osborn become a secret avenger?? bring back west coast avengers with hawkeye,, what's her name. ? osborn,, scarlet witch and her gay son's
Only a minseries? No ongoing with a sister Doc Ock title? "Who's really going to want to read a comic about Hawkeye and whatever-her-name-is, anyway?" I did becuase it was fun?
As much as I think the idea of a modernized sinister six would work, I really hope Marvel doesn't keep rehashing plot-lines. The Grim Hunt thing with Spiderman was cool for a bit, but to me it felt more and more like they couldn't come up with a new villain... I mean, they're bringing back Carnage in a few weeks, which is awesome, but, they're bringing him back.Marvel has the perfect setup ...
View More
As much as I think the idea of a modernized sinister six would work, I really hope Marvel doesn't keep rehashing plot-lines. The Grim Hunt thing with Spiderman was cool for a bit, but to me it felt more and more like they couldn't come up with a new villain... I mean, they're bringing back Carnage in a few weeks, which is awesome, but, they're bringing him back.Marvel has the perfect setup right now for some really cool and twisted new villains. You can't tell me that someone like Norman Osbourne wouldn't have had R and D departments (working with Dark Beast, especially) attempting to utilize all sorts of Skrull tech in ways that Reed Richards wouldn't touch, much less utilizing Daken's regenerative tissue, or re-tooling the symbiote suit to do all sorts of unethical things. They could make a book about the Avengers going through and disassembling all of these operations, much less any infinite number of one-shots and spin-offs. Who's really going to want to read a comic about Hawkeye and whatever-her-name-is, anyway?There's so much in the real world news right now to draw off of, too. With that giant horde of leaked Afganistan documents, I can't believe Marvel has to resort to bringing up Vampires. We get a friggin' Twilight re-hash, a Sinister 6 re-hash, and another SEVERAL Hulk characters. Hooray.
View Less
This looks like it could be the start of a new Sinister Six... Osborn plus 5 baddies. I wonder who they'll be since he has pissed off many people in the MU, both good and bad.