Hype Machine - Osborn (Marvel’s Next Big Thing)

Along with some other heavy hitters of the comic journalism world on the web, The Weekly Crisis was invited to Marvel’s Next Big Thing conference call, where we would all discuss the upcoming miniseries Osborn. Writer Kelly Sue DeConnick, along with editor Alejandro Arbona, and James Vicardi (Marvel’s Junior Sales Administrator). Want to know what happened? Hit the jump to find out more.

For those not aware of it, Osborn is an upcoming five issue mini series written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and with art by Emma Rios. The series will center on Norman Osborn himself, as the ex-Green Goblin finds himself in a high security and top secret prison.

The inspiration for the setting comes from DeConnick’s research of a prison off the coast of Seattle that is used to hold criminals that, even though they’ve completed their prison sentences, remain in custody because they are a danger to society. This is a brand new prison that we haven’t seen before, and it was designed by artist Emma Rios, who is an architect and “wanted to explore the prison ambiance”. You can see some of the design in this beautifully designed page.

Also of note are the populace of this prison, more specifically the third wing of the prison, which holds the worst offenders being held there. DeConnick described some of the prisoners that reside there, and we can deduce from her comments and the above image some of the characters. She said...

Osborn's prison mates include a mad scientist, a "mama alien" who believes our species is a threat to her species, a demon who creates dictators, and a Peruvian "jaguar god" also called "the decapitator." They're all new characters.

And the image in question is this one...

The big spider thing is probably the “mama alien” and the girl laying down in the bed is the mad scientist that she mentioned. The empty cell is definitely for Norman Osborn, but the other two are a bit harder to decipher. There are no immediate signs of which one is which. My money would be on the odd-looking thing on the bottom left being the Jaguar God, but the guy sitting on the bed doesn’t seem particularly demonic looking (although it could be a disguise).

There were plenty of questions regarding Osborn’s psychological well being, as well as his intentions, motives and plans. DeConnick, stated that she did not see him as “chaotic evil”, but as more of a neutral, albeit manipulative and self-serving force. She spoke of an advice that Brian Bendis gave her, which was to “keep him grounded” to make Norman more menacing.

In case you didn’t know, the first issue of the series will also have a back-up by Warren Ellis and Jamie “Human Kitten” McKelvie, which will explore the background of one of the prisoners (no word if the other issues will have back-ups as well).

If you wish to check out a more in-depth analysis and description of the call, you can check out CBR's run down, or Newarama, who had a live coverage on the whole thing. For the record, I was the one that asked why Emma Rios was chosen for this particular project, and the last question to Kelly Sue, about Fraction, Ellis or Bendis giving her tips when handling Osborn (since they have all have a close relationship with her and have written the character in the past).

All in all, I was pretty excited about this series, because I’m a big fan of Emma Rios' art, and Kelly Sue Deconnick impressed me with the Sif one-shot some time back. Add in the back-up, and I’ll be definitely picking up this book (on sale in November). Are you excited about this series? Were you planning to pick it up? Let us know in the comment section below!

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