Sunday 4 September 2011

Osborn: Evil Incarcerated Review

Osborn: Evil Incarcerated is in many ways a prologue to what I hope will be a great story in the next year: The H.A.M.M.E.R War - which will feature Norman Osborn's new plan for the world, a new set of Dark Avengers and the return of H.A.M.M.E.R! But Evil Incarcerated tells a different story...


Osborn has been arrested after the disastrous events of Siege and a small group of politicians are deciding what to do with him as he has not yet (and may never) be sentenced at a proper trial. After a transfer to a top secret prison that almost no one knows about, to put it simply, all hell breaks loose! A "Goblin Cult" who have infiltrated the prison want to help Norman escape, while outside the prison we're treated to a large helping of political backstabbing, fear and panic.

The story is well-written by Kelly Sue DeConnick who writes some great, likeable and interesting characters who I'd like to see return in the future. Plus the pacing is great and there's enough action to keep you interested throughout the story's five issues.
Where this book really succeeds is in building on Osborn's unstable personality. DeConnick does a good job in reminding us that no matter how many times he's defeated, as long as he's alive, he will never give up - a simple truth, but one that makes him all the more intimidating.

Emma Rios' art is an interesting variation on the stuff you usually see in comics - and while I know some people really enjoy her art - I have to be truthful and say it wasn't for me. People looked a little too cartoon-y and scruffy at some points and I just don't think her art style really fitted the theme of the book. But if you know for a fact that you like Rios' art, then this may not be a problem for you.

The biggest problem I had with this book is that it's merely setting up for a bigger story - it's the comic-book equivalent of a support act at a concert. This shouldn't be a problem as the main reason I bought the book was in anticipation for the H.A.M.M.E.R War story taking place in the Avengers/New Avengers titles next year, but I'm afraid it was. By the end of this story all you have is a bunch of open doors for the main event, making it feel a little pointless overall.


1 comments:

I think you sell the writing a little short but overall I think this is a high quality review and makes a some good points. Here are my thoughts:

For full review go here: http://youngthespian42comics.blogspot.com/2013/04/osborn-evil-incarcerated.html

The skinny is:

Overall I would give this comic about 2.5 stars out of 5. It wrestles with a lot of big ideas and is more thought-provoking that 98% of superhero comics. However it is too ambitious with all the topics it wants to cover in the limited space it has and therefore some ideas suffer. Osborn: Evil Incarcerated does successfully paint Osborn in a new more morally complex light without departing from the core character feature of him being pure evil. I would recommend this comic to anyone looking for deeper superhero comics with the caveat that some of the ideas will fall flat.

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