Review: Red Goblin #1: The Red Death

DEAD IS THE NEW RED!

In order to finally destroy Spider-Man once and for all Norman Osborn joined himself with the Carnage symbiote, becoming the Red Goblin! Here at last are the untold stories of the Red Goblin’s rein of madness and mayhem! So grab your greatest goblin gear and rend your raiments red, for the Red Goblin rides again! – Parental Advisory

When we last left of with Norman OsbornÂ aka the Red Goblin he was smack dead in the middle of theÂ Absolute Carnage saga as the chaos had reached the Psychiatric Asylum that Norman had been staying at.

In the first Chapter called Great Responsibility:Â The Carnage symbiote that Osborn harbors, has an appetite for murder.Â So Osborn strikes deal, the power for the hunt which takes him to an inner city apartment complex. Despite his protest Osborn is more than willing to comply as long as he get the power that comes along with it.Â Â It is as raw as a depiction of the Carnage symbiote as we are going to get.Â It doesn’t pull any punches, and it is as brutal as it is shocking.

In the Second Chapter Big Mouth , we get a little section on how Red Goblin was able to make the connection between Spider-man and Peter Parker.

In the final chapter The Wayside Darkness, probably the most interesting going forwardÂ we are introduced to Eduardo an innerÂ city Latino, who has constantly been bullied by his peers, until one day he comes in to contact with the CarnageÂ Symbiote.Â There is much more information on what will happen next , but just the way it was introduced makes me think there will more in store for this character.

Carnage is creepy, but it’s not always easy to pull it off as the creative team did here.Â The art is sturdy and pretty consistent throughout, but it was the little things like the up close an personal, and the disregard for personal space, that makes me feel for the victims.

All that to say, it wasn’t perfect.Â Some of the panels felt out of place or not needed at all, such as in The Wayside Darkness.Â Which is a shame because those ghost panels slowed down the pace of an otherwise great comic issue.Â Still I think this is an issue worth picking up.

Out of 5 stars I give it a 3

Red Goblin Red Death will have 7 different covers:
Red Goblin Red Death #1 Cover A Regular Philip Tan Cover
Red Goblin Red Death #1 Cover B Variant Chris Daughtry & Ron Garney Wraparound Cover
Red Goblin Red Death #1 Cover C Variant Logan Lubera Cover
Red Goblin Red Death #1 Cover D Variant Ron Lim Cover
Red Goblin Red Death #1 Cover E Incentive Pete Woods Variant Cover 1:25
Red Goblin Red Death #1 Cover F Incentive Ryan Brown Variant Cover 1:50
Red Goblin Red Death #1 Cover G Incentive Philip Tan Virgin Cover