World Official Green Goblin Appreciation Thread

[Spider-ManHero12]

Both Goblin's are awesome and I actually grew up watching TAS, but the Green Goblin in TSSM is just better, IMO. However, I still think TAS Green Goblin is awesome, it's just that I perfer TSSM's Green Goblin, as I said. Also, if we are getting a season 3 of TSSM, I don't think we will see Norman in that season, as I said. I think we'd see him in season 4 though.

 

[SpideyTheBest]

Hahahaha!

 

[Chris Wallace]

"That laugh is getting on my nerves."

 

[greedyslayer]

LOL (pun totally intended) at the video! Nice compilation.

Here's my own vid rec, a tribute to Spectacular Spider-Man's Green Goblin (not sure if anyone's linked this already).

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOmL06gSy_g[/YT]

Just in case the forum formatting doesn't work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOmL06gSy_g

Thought the song was very fitting.

Thinking about STAS and Spectacular's Goblins, I was reminded of the really short-lived CG series on MTV, and how cool it would've been if they had done a flashback sequence with the Goblin...

 

[SymbioticToxin]

I remember watching the CG Spider-Man. I honestly thought it was alright, it could have been better if it was given a chance....and not on MTV, the killer of teenager minds and television. That, and the last Spidey Show I watched was Spider-Man : Unlimited, and that wasn't exactly amazing either. A good Green Goblin? C'mon now.

 

[Chris Wallace]

Unlimited was a train wreck & MTV just lost many of the key elements of SPidey's appeal in hopes of reaching a TRL-type audience. I think the made-up villains, Dawson's Creek-esque subplots & Spidey's general disregard for public safety/preservation of life got in the way of our enjoyment as fans.

 

[MaxG]

The Green Goblin is Awesome, hes always been my favourite Spidey Villian.

 

[Hobgoblin]

You can see how things went wrong.


And then there is this:

"Boo!" vs a knife to the throat. Who wins?

 

[greedyslayer]

A good Green Goblin? C'mon now.

I still think a lot could be done with the concept in alternate universes, like a 'verse with morals reversed, etc... From what I've heard, Phil Urich's mini-series sounded cool, and I like what they did with Normie Osborn in Spider-Girl--though I'll admit, I don't know how much he counts, since I'll doubt he'll ever take up that identity again (and I'm cool with that).

In that Unlimited comic cover (they had comic versions? wow) I really have no idea what they're trying to do--are they trying to mock the concept in a misleaded high-brow way. But, from the wiki entry, Unlimited!GG sounded slightly intersting--but the entire show really was too out there in the scifi element.

Spectacular!GG trounces Unlimited either way; the knives certainly help.

Anyway, I was looking at IGN, and I found this really amusing thing. For their Best of '08 Countdown in Comics, their Best Moment is when "Norman Osborn loses his $%&^ in Thunderbolts #120." You can find the whole thing here, image included:

http://bestof.ign.com/2008/comics/13.html

Go Norman! May '09 continue to be as good (hopefully improve) for you.

 

[SymbioticToxin]

Ah, now thats the Norman we all know and love.

 

[Chris Wallace]

You can see how things went wrong.


And then there is this:

"Boo!" vs a knife to the throat. Who wins?

And the latter image was from the supposedly more "kid-friendly" Spidey series.
Wasn't there also a heroic Vulture?

 

[SymbioticToxin]

Yeah there was. Vulture wasn't any good either.

 

[Chris Wallace]

Nothing about that show was any good IMO. Once you have SPider-Man breaking into the Baxter Building & stealing tech to make himself an ugly costume with a cape, it doesn't get better from there.

 

[greedyslayer]

Spectacular as the more "kid-friendly" Spidey series? LOL, just look at the scene where they actually show Norman twisting his own son's leg, then define "kid-friendly." (I wanted them to actually show us that, when we were all theorizing--I can't believe on top of everything else, they actually animated that short flashback.) Norman, you're a complete monster (see TvTropes), but I still love you (you're a Magnificent Bastard).

BTW, I've always rather liked how Spidey doesn't wear a cape.

Also, question: this was a while ago, but has anyone ever seen this online quiz where you answered questions, and then it showed you your "favorite" Spider-Man couple based on the answers, and I'm asking about this here 'cause they were a lot of Green Goblin pairing options (Norman/his Wife Emily, Harry/MJ, Normie/Mayday, Normie/Brenda, even Norman & that Swedish nurse Kolina from that one mini-series...).

For Amazing 595 (Dark Reign Tie-In, and reading up on what the heck Dark Reign is...Norman, in charge of everything? Really? Fascinating):

"...Spider-Man’s world has become more messed-up and stressful than ever and the fact that his biggest enemy, is in charge of the world…and the Avengers…is only the icing on a really dangerous cake.
Now faced with hard choices about family and friendship, Spider-Man knows exactly what he has to do to save the world…it’s time to take down Norman Osborn."

A little more information (with cover) here at http://marvel.com/catalog/?id=11812

 

[Hobgoblin]

For Amazing 595 (Dark Reign Tie-In, and reading up on what the heck Dark Reign is...Norman, in charge of everything? Really? Fascinating):

"...Spider-Man’s world has become more messed-up and stressful than ever and the fact that his biggest enemy, is in charge of the world…and the Avengers…is only the icing on a really dangerous cake.
Now faced with hard choices about family and friendship, Spider-Man knows exactly what he has to do to save the world…it’s time to take down Norman Osborn."

A little more information (with cover) here at http://marvel.com/catalog/?id=11812

I'll believe it when I see it.

Wasn't there also a heroic Vulture?

I only saw a few episodes. As for a heroic Vulture, he supposedly became a hero in the Get Kraven series. Thank God that whole mess has been ignored.

 

[SymbioticToxin]

Indeed.

 

[Mutagen]

Hahahaha!

The 1994 Goblin, in undeniably the best laugh and voice, imo.

 

[greedyslayer]

I'll believe it when I see it.

Tell me about it. They've got my interest, and I rather appreciate they even openly advertise it as such...but I don't they'll actually deliver. And they really shouldn't--I mean, kill off Norman AGAIN. That would just be...stupid. Seems dumb to me, killing him off a SECOND time; if they're gonna resurrect him at all, it should actually stick.

From TvTropes:

"In the Spider-Man movies, Ultimate Marvel, and The Spectacular Spider Man cartoon, Harry Osborn is a rare example of being The Un Favorite as an only child, with his father preferring fellow intellectual and friend Peter Parker to his own son. This is in contrast to the portrayal of Harry and Norman's relationship in the comics: originally, Norman was portrayed as a loving, but absentee father who tried to make up for his utter lack of time for his son, via spoiling him rotten. This in turn led to Harry becoming a drug addict, as he used his dad's money to avoid working, and spend his days partying and buying drugs from his neighborhood drug dealer. Of course years later, the relationship between Harry and his father was retconned into a "Kickthe Dog" scenerio to make Norman (then dead and buried, with Marvel dead set on not resurrecting him) an evil person who physically and emotionally abused his son throughout his entire life. When his son died, this led to Norman seeking out a replacement heir, ultimately settling on Peter Parker largely due to editor Bob Harras's demand that Peter and Norman's rivalry be changed to be more like Professor X and Magneto's rivalry, complete with Norman wanting Peter to join with him the same way Magneto is forever harping on Xavier to join forces and conquer humanity."

It's interesting, 'cause I've always liked the remix with Norman consciously preferring Peter, wanting him as his heir, etc. (though at the same time still loving his own flesh-and-blood in his own twisted way), but when put that way, there remained equally interesting complexities in the former canon. Like, I dunno, I do like Norman even as a complete monster, but I like seeing shreds of decency in any of my favorite villains; like, extra elements added to a character that don't completely contradict the other traits that make him up, that don't detract from him, but really do add something else.

Also, though I don't know X-Men that much, isn't the only thing they have in common is the whole "damn it, 'hero,' join my side" thing? Like, Norman has more of a messed up father-son thing with Peter, while with Magneto and Xavier, aren't they contemporaries and former best friends, with both wishing they could join together, but can't really do it 'cause they have drastically opposite goals/methods?

 

[Hobgoblin]

I really dont know the X-Men very well either, so I cant say.

I dont know if I agree with the quote saying that Norman was loving towards Harry. He didnt hate him but he was certainly cold. The first time we see him, he is scolding Harry about how much his college education is costing Norman (as if he couldnt afford it). The idea that Norman didnt care for Harry came about well before Norman returned. Read some of Harry's last issues before he "died." He certainly didnt have much to say in terms of love and support from Norman.

I dont necessarily like the idea of Norman being a decent person, deep down. He thinks of himself and OsCorp first and foremost. In The Osborn Journal Norm sees Harry practicing with the glider and weapons and decides to let him become the Green Goblin and thus, a man. I guess that could be a type of fatherly love, albeit twisted. I think it has more to do with the Osborn name: Harry was finally going to "do it proud."

I didnt mind the idea of Norman trying to make Peter his heir, I just didnt like the execution. I can see from early Spidey/Goblin stories that Norman had a real respect for Peter as a scientist. (See ASM 96 where Norman says "I want young people with young ideas. Especially a bright young scholarship student, like you. It's hard to get good men nowadays.") I just thought that the way the "heir" story was handled seemed to spring the idea on us. Like Norman woke up one day and said "Hey, Parker is pretty smart. I'll make him my heir." I would have liked to have seen him ease into that train of thought.

Just my knit picky two cents.

 

[greedyslayer]

I interpreted the quote as admitting that, yes, Norman did love Harry, but it's not only that he's mostly absent and tries to sorta make up for it with financial security, but I also thought it was implied, just by the fact that Norm ends up as a murderous supervillain, that what love he had for Harry was twisted--any emotion Norman would hold for another being would always be rather twisted, never on the perfectly loving level observed as the rule/ideal by most of society.

I think it does make Norman unique among Spidey's Rogues Gallery, that he's not really a decent man deep down. As the MadGoblin said on spideykicksbutt.com, he's more like an evil bastard gone insane and with superpowers. (Though if I'm charitable and feel like looking at it from a different way, I'd say Norman is a monster with some occasional traces of humanity.)

I really want to get hand on old issues, especially Harry's "Death" in 200. I've just learned that Marvel's new digital distribution here also provides access to older stories, so I think I'll look into it sometime:

http://www.marvel.com/digitalcomics/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Digital_Comics_Unlimited

Although I grew up with 90's STAS, I was ok with the 'heir' plot first introduced--though admittedly, that was after the first Spidey movie got me interested in the Green Goblin and a lot of other Web-Head related stuff, so I guess I can blame the film for my easy acceptance of the 'heir' thing. That, and spideykicksbutt's essays on the subject, it's in one of the Goblin articles.

I kinda just took it for granted that, of course, Norman would make the jump from 'worthy opponent' to 'worthy heir' with Peter. But this:

I would have liked to have seen him ease into that train of thought.

--Does really interest me. (And puts in mind the funny image of Norman catching himself starting to think that, go "WTF?", pause, then consider it for a bit...). I wonder if the writers wanted to spring it as a surprise, at the expense of really slowly building it up.

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

The 1994 Goblin, in undeniably the best laugh and voice, imo.

That's a VERY tough one for me to decide. He sounded so mean and menacing in TAS, but in TSSM, he sounds mean, menacing, and scary to. Hmm, I'll have to think this one over, they just both sound fantastic.

 

[Hobgoblin]

I would have liked to have seen him ease into that train of thought.

--Does really interest me. (And puts in mind the funny image of Norman catching himself starting to think that, go "WTF?", pause, then consider it for a bit...). I wonder if the writers wanted to spring it as a surprise, at the expense of really slowly building it up.

I think thats exactly what Howard Mackie had in mind when he wrote the story. It was only a two part story and the surprise was sprung on us on the last page of Part One. (The Goblin had been attacking Peter's friends and its revealed at the end that it was Peter in the costume, drugged and hypnotized to be the attacker.) Part Two was all about the battle of wills between the captured Peter and Norman as Spidey refuses to take the Goblin Formula. Then the whole "heir" angle of the relationship was dropped from future stories, except for Sins Past.

That's a VERY tough one for me to decide. He sounded so mean and menacing in TAS, but in TSSM, he sounds mean, menacing, and scary to. Hmm, I'll have to think this one over, they just both sound fantastic.

I think I prefer the '94 Goblin voice. The current voice doesnt seem as menacing to me. TAS had a nice, even sarcastic quality. Although I do like it when the current voice drops in tone suddenly. Listen to the part where Spidey and Gobby are fighting in the factory as Tombstone and Hammerhead escape.

"Tsk, tsk. How embarassing. At least I brought party favors."

That sudden drop in his voice was nice. I wish he spoke like that more often.

 

[SymbioticToxin]

I like TSSM Goblin's voice, mostly due to what Demogoblin said about the sudden drop in his voice. It just gives me chills when he's all high pitched and evil, but it goes down suddenly to this low, menacing voice. I love it!

 

[Chris Wallace]

Spectacular as the more "kid-friendly" Spidey series? LOL, just look at the scene where they actually show Norman twisting his own son's leg, then define "kid-friendly." (I wanted them to actually show us that, when we were all theorizing--I can't believe on top of everything else, they actually animated that short flashback.) Norman, you're a complete monster (see TvTropes), but I still love you (you're a Magnificent Bastard).

BTW, I've always rather liked how Spidey doesn't wear a cape.

Also, question: this was a while ago, but has anyone ever seen this online quiz where you answered questions, and then it showed you your "favorite" Spider-Man couple based on the answers, and I'm asking about this here 'cause they were a lot of Green Goblin pairing options (Norman/his Wife Emily, Harry/MJ, Normie/Mayday, Normie/Brenda, even Norman & that Swedish nurse Kolina from that one mini-series...).

For Amazing 595 (Dark Reign Tie-In, and reading up on what the heck Dark Reign is...Norman, in charge of everything? Really? Fascinating):

"...Spider-Man’s world has become more messed-up and stressful than ever and the fact that his biggest enemy, is in charge of the world…and the Avengers…is only the icing on a really dangerous cake.
Now faced with hard choices about family and friendship, Spider-Man knows exactly what he has to do to save the world…it’s time to take down Norman Osborn."

A little more information (with cover) here at http://marvel.com/catalog/?id=11812

The show is kid-friendly; it's just geared toward kids who have seen three increasingly violent movies surrounding this character.
And I was knocking the cape. I hated that damn thing with a passion!

 

[Hobgoblin]

Fun with the Spectacular Green Goblin.

The song is even ok. I like the part about "no use for apologies." Fitting, as they have made it a point to say that Norman never apologizes.