Osborn #1, written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, with art by Emma Rios hits stands on November 17. Marvel held a conference call with DeConnick and editor Alejandro Arbona to discuss the upcoming 5 issue mini series, and we were there.
After Siege, and his downfall from Dark Reign, Norman was imprisoned in the Raft, but now he's going somewhere worse: The SCC, or Special Containment Center. DeConnick says the idea sparked by a story she'd read about a special prison off the coast of Seattle, where civil liberties are sort of an afterthought, and an expired sentence and time served doesn't really mean so much. Osborn is transferred to the SCC at the beginning of the series, which takes place after his appearance in Avengers Academy, and this prison is hardcore. It houses the worst of worst. It's the kind of place "the president knows about, but the vice president wouldn't," says DeConnick. Where Osborn is kept, the Third Wing, he hooks up with a bunch of new characters; characters are who are so powerful, they've been locked away, and most people don't even know they exist. Of course, "Norman views himself as a political prison," so he'll be banding with the others to return some of the power to himself that he's lost.
We'll also see a return of Nora, from Joe Kelly's "American Son" storyline. She was so troubled by what she saw during that story that she can't seem to get Norman out from under her skin. It's another of Norman's chickens come home to roost.
When asked if she thinks of Osborn as evil, or merely insane, DeConnick replied that he's "super hungry for power. He thinks what he's doing is right. He knows what's best and needs to be in charge. He's more ordered," and that he has a "CEO quality about him."
I also asked about making a "bad guy" the protagonist, and how she goes about making readers sympathetic to him at all, to which DeConnick said, "he's funny." She pointed out that Warren Ellis (in Thunderbolts) gave Osborn a sense of humor, and very funny things to say, "and that's the thing about his Norman that stuck with me. Bendis too. That's how I find his voice."
Speaking of Warren Ellis, the series will feature a backup story written by Ellis, with art by Jamie McKelvie about the backstory of one of Osborn's fellow inmates: mad scientist, June Covington.
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Some rights reserved.
I’ll wait for the softcover.
This mini sounds fun…good series that feature bad guys as the protagonist are usually interesting and feature a twist in the character that always hooks me.
Meh
Good for her! I’ll give it a whirl…
Very much looking forward to this, Rios is one to watch…
Bad idea, never a good thing to have a book just about a villain. I can’t stand Osborn, wish he would have remained dead like he was supposed to be.
You don’t know that it’s just about the villain. You don’t know what it’s really about at all. And, I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention to the raves Action Comics has been getting, but it’s all villains.
Very weird that a creative team like Ellis/McKelvie gets shafted to the backup.
I would like to see this series done by THAT team. Although Rios art is gorgeous in those previews, so you take what you can get.
"When asked if she thinks of Osborn as evil, or merely insane, DeConnick replied that he’s "super hungry for power. He thinks what he’s doing is right. He knows what’s best and needs to be in charge. He’s more ordered," and that he has a "CEO quality about him.""
I wonder if creators are specifically instructed not to point out obvious comparisons between similar characters from other publishers. You could literally replace "Osborn" with "Luthor" in the above quote and it would still be an accurate description. But I suppose you replace Osborn with Luthor in all of Osborn’s stories and it wouldn’t change much either. Forget it. I’m digging a hole.
Love the premise.
Would buy the book if it was by a writer I knew and liked.
Keep in mind that Dark Avengers was Marvel’s highest selling title for a while and it was villain-centric.
If you only read stuff by writers you know and like, how do you ever find something new?
You do that for me, Josh.
That’s why I listen to you guys.
Dammit. Your logic wins.
You are the tastemaker.
Be responsible with your power cuz I’m one in your herd.
Give me a dollar.
hahaha, I don’t know if that is a reference to something I just don’t get but I already give you a hundred a year.
This is going to be pretty awesome.
there’s got to be at least half a dozen prisons in the Marvel U that house the worst of the worst. i mean, how make worst can the worst of the worst in the raft be than the worst of the worst in the Negative Zone jail ?
This prison has Stiltman and Big Wheel.
Worst of the worst.
Edward- I agree
Villians so powerful and nasty- we’ve never heard of them- hmmm
I ike DeConnick- but the piece she wrote for Age of Heroes # 3 was flat out silly- Maria Hill and Sharon Carter defeat the Absorbing Man buy tricking him into absorbing Victoria Hand’s flu? Yes the way they defeat an asgardian powered villian is by giving him the sniffles- Lame.
I’m in.
Actually, if they put some serious under used ultrapowerful villains like the dude from Slott’s Mighty Avengers The Unspoken and the villain from the new event Chaos War, they could pull off the worst of the worst thing in the meaning I think they intend.
Maybe The Sentry/Void is in there.
Or Ultron (though he is used a lot)
Osborn is a great character. He was over exposed during Dark Reign. It will be nice to see him return in a smaller dose.
Just based on the strength of the Sif and Rescue one-shots, I’m in for anything Kelly Sue does.
im buying this because someone finally drew him w/o his weird ass cornrows
Ellis would be writing the book if he wished. He likes Kelly Sue and him writing the backup is a chance for him to make a little cash without having to worry about sales and also will get more readers (like me) to give Kelly Sue’s book a shot.
Ellis can also be kind of slow, he might not have time to commit to another whole book right now.
Backups aren’t always useless throwaway stuff.
This is like a writer/artist dream team book for me, and the concept sounds awesome!
Am I the only person who wishes that Norman Osborne had stayed dead after the original clone story back in the 70s . It seems like Marvel is content to just keep beating the same unoriginal dead horse over , and over again . The house of ideas has run out of them evidently .
Rios is awesome and I’ve been wanting to give DeConnick a chance for a while now. In.
OH GAWD MAKE IT STOP
I know! Maybe they could just put Osborne in solitary in a small, cube-shaped room somewhere and write a comic book about him navel-gazing for a year.
I admit I haven’t been reading anything Marvel for awhile. But I do try to keep up with major events and such. Is it just me, or is Norman Osborn becoming the villain version of Wolverine? You know, a constant ‘guest star’/heavily used character/distraction from the writer’s inability to come up with something genuinely new.