Red Goblin #2: Red is the New Green

This series has been an unabashedly 90’s teen superhero comic, with roots of familiarity stretching to Generation X and Young Justice. Still, Red Goblin is far from a pastiche of latter-day saints. It’s fresh, exciting, and unafraid to bear its heart as a superhero story for all to see. The first issue was not only an impressive start; this second issue proves that it wasn’t just a fluke in quality. Alex Pakandel & Jan Bazaldua have something extraordinary on their hands.

RED GOBLIN #2 kicks off in a sewer, following up on the abduction of Norman Osborn from the last issue. From the jump, the book starts with a tonal blend of supernatural and scientific horror that treats its more campy concepts with respect and realism. The return of Phil Urich’s Hobgoblin isn’t hokey, and he presents himself as an excellent first villain for Normie to face. He’s the picture child of what goes wrong with Goblins, and for this new, heroic Goblin to go up against what he should be is not only an exciting parallel but a subtle one.

The issue also does some world-building for Normie, sending him off to school where we introduce relatable social dilemmas and a possible new friend. There’s a significant amount of character work being done with him as well, Pakandel not shying away from all the trauma Normie has endured over the last few decades. This plays into his relationship with his symbiote, Rascal, who is lovable if a somewhat socially small slice of alien goop that bounces off Normie’s hard-ass attitude very well. Rascal has the potential to go off and rip complete control of Normie in hyper-violent ways, adding to the pressure and intensity of the action in this issue. He’s a loaded gun, and it’s very fresh from having a symbiote that the user can’t fully control or isn’t part of the hyper-intelligent symbiote hive the rest are. compete

From a writing standpoint, Pakandel works excellently on both his narrative and plot delivery, his dialogue feeling real and personal to each character without getting annoyed. The pacing in this issue is near perfection.

While Jan Bazaldua’s figure work for the kids that appear in this issue is, for lack of a better word, off-putting, they are still very well drawn. The flow of action is excellent, and his new Red Goblin design is simple and sleek. Every page is immersive and rich with background work and character detail without going overboard. Together, Pakandel & Bazaldua work well to bolster each other’s work with excellence. They even execute a cliche ‘superhero’ moment together that genuinely brought a smile to my face while reading: