Osborn #4 review in the house!

Osborn 4

Writer:Kelly Sue DeConnick

Art:Emma Rios

Colors:Jose Villarrubia

It’s like raaaaaaiiiiiiiiiinnnn on your wedding day, a free riiiiiiiiidddddddeeeeeee when you already paid. Writing two reviews in a week when you thought you’d only be doing one, well who would have thought? It figurrrreeeesssss. Sorry, I just didn’t know both the things I review would be coming out this week, and I figured that’s just as ironic as anything in that song. Or that fact that she gets paid millions of dollars for her “talent”. I’m currently in the process of moving, so its going to be a couple days till I get my review of Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine #5 up. You guys will have to just find other ways to fill your time. One other thing, I don’t know how to change my name on here, but for all of you wondering (all 2 of you) it’s Anthony Sinibaldi. The name would surprise you if you saw how pasty and Irish I look. Anyways, the review:

Plot:

There was a lot going on this issue. I know last review I mentioned this story being light on plot. This issue more than makes up for that. The last three issues we were shown the underwater prison where Osborn and his fellow inmates are housed. We met the fellow inmates, who were broken out of the cells by a shady priest. Also Norah Winters was brought to the prison to document things, and last issue ended on a cliffhanger when Osborn captured Norah. This issue opens with Norah thinking back on her life, and how her grandma’s casting of God as a creepy boogeyman figure turned her off to a belief in God. She than states that if  “a devil like Osborn can exist” than maybe God can exist as a counter balance, as she asks for His help out of her current predicament. Osborn then goes on a rant about him being a man of the people and appointed by God to lead the prisoners, or some such crazy talk. Crazy talk was literally what I was thinking when the next panel showed Norah’s notes on Osborn’s speech, and all they said was ‘crazy talk’ in a big circle. That made me LOL. Osborn, Norah, and some of the prisoners go on a mini quest to find out who exactly brought Norah there, and why. Through some detective work, they figure out its all Senator Morrison’s doing, so he can pin everything that goes wrong on Senator Muffoletto, and take her chairmanship in the senate, or something. Its still not 100% clear what is going on, but it is definitely something shady. Osborn gets in touch with Sen. Muffoletto and tells her he will make all of this go away if she tells him how to escape. It turns out the place has an underwater escape pod/submarine. We then find out the priest isn’t helping Osborn out because he worships him, but because he suspects him of being the anti-Christ, and wants to bring about the apocalypse, as depicted in Revelations. We also find out Carney Rives (the guy I complained in my first review was dead before we got to meet him) is alive, and he was the one that brought Norah Winters down there. He uses his powers of intangibility to get Osborn, Norah, and the gang in the escape pod (but he can’t use his powers to escape the prison, which they specifically mention). The priest is not in the pod, because Osborn sent him on an errand that wasn’t made clear. Sen. Muffoletto than calls the pentagon, and the issue ends with a missile blowing up the escape pod.

The Good:

Wow. There is a lot going on this issue. I tried my best to accurately portray all of it, but my summary didn’t really do it justice. It’s like they saved 70% of the plot for this one issue. That being said, the book dosen’t feel crammed at all. Everything seemed to come about organically. Nothing felt forced. Norah Winters, who in the last three issues was in very few panels, gets a lot of face time in this one. Not only do you get a small look back at her child hood (as I mentioned in the plot part) but she gets some terrific moments with Osborn. She tells him like it is in this issue. Ive seen a lot of posters on the Crawlspace mention that it’s stupid that any one would follow Osborn, as it’s clear he only cares about himself. Norah calls him out on this in front of the other inmates. I don’t want to give away too much, but she really sticks it to Osborn. I was never quite sure if Osborn believed himself to be a sort of savior, and what this country needs, or if he just wanted power. This issue makes it pretty clear how delusional he really is. He seems to really think he was put in power to help people, and that his new mission is to expose this secret prison, and to get people fair trials. I like the complexity of this issue. Norah argues that he’s a monster who gets what he deserves, while Osborn argues that everyone deserves a fair trail. In case any of you have been living under a rock for the last ten years, this is a lot like the debate about Guantanamo, and weather the suspected terrorists deserve a fair shake of the justice system or not. The art, again amazing. Emma Rios is one of the most talented new artists in the comics field, and I hope she gets a lot of work after this. That, and she’s pretty cute as well. 

The bad:

Having read this issue, and being a kinda broke college student, I think they really could have shortened this to2-3 issues and saved me some money. That’s really just nitpicking though, as this issue was perfect.

The Ugly:

Still no remorse from Norman about Gwen. Im still waiting….

Overall:

a pretty great issue. I looked up pics of Kelly Sue DeConnick. Boy, she sure is exactly the type of girl I normally date. Too bad she’s married to Matt Fraction…*grumble grumble*….Anyways I give this issue the honor of 5/5