Red Goblin: Red Death #1 - Bloody Awesome!
RED GOBLIN: RED DEATH #1
Great Responsibility (Story #1) Writer: Rob Fee Artist: Pete Woods
Big Mouth (Story #2) Writer: Sean Ryan Artist: Pete Woods
The Wayside Darkness (Story #3) Writer: Patrick Gleason Pencils: Ray-Anthony Height Inks: Marc Deering Colors: Dono Sanchez-Almara and Photobunker
Publisher: Marvel Rating 9/10
Last year writer Dan Slott on his last Amazing Spider-Man arc “Going down swinging” we were introduced into a menacing new Norman Osborne threat, the Red Goblin. It seemed during that arc everyone couldn’t get enough of this new goblin and proved to be some of Slott’s best work on Amazing Spider-Man. But as quickly as the Red Goblin burst on the scene he was forgotten, until this awesome one shot hit the stands a little over a week ago.
I really enjoyed reading this issue as its shed some more light on believe it or not Norman’s somewhat decency of a human being. Each of the three short stories inside this issue did a fine job of showing just how far down the rabbit hole of bonding with the Carnage symbiote Norman was going. The first story of “Great Responsibility” by Rob Fee and Pete Woods was probably my favorite of the three. Norman agrees to take the Carnage symbiote out for a hunt to feed but quickly makes him a deal that it must be the right person to kill. From their high jinx ensue as Carnage takes over more and more and goes on a murdering spree since he wasn’t as calculated as Norman warned him to be. The art by former DC Comics exclusive Pete Woods in phenomenal over this story and the other as well and will be a welcomed addition in the future for Marvel.
In the second story of the issue “Big Mouth” by Sean Ryan and Pete Woods we are reminded at how much of an ego and temper Norman can have as he runs into a former acquaintance from his college days and this time he isn’t holding Carnage back from his need to kill and rather sets the table for Carnage to unleash. Showing more of how Norman is bonding with Carnage to become the Red Goblin.
That leaves us with the last story by Patrick Gleason that leaves us really shocked in that last panel and reminds us all to be reading “Absolute Carnage” for some more symbiotic craziness! In this story we see more of Norman but he appears to be full on Red Goblin psyche at this point. He is urging his grandson Normie to embrace the symbiotic bond and kill one of his classmates on Halloween. Can Normie do that? And that last page of the comic really makes you wonder how that is going to play out.
Overall I really enjoyed this one shot and really look forward to hopefully more Red Goblin awesomeness from Marvel in the future.