So, raise your hand if you thought Marvel were NEVER going to bring up the whole “Norman sold Harry’s soul to Mephisto” again. My hand is raised too… But they did! The whole premise of of the short, snappy Bring on the Bad Guys: Green Goblin story is Mephisto demanding a favor from Norman and reminding him of the price of his success.
We enter on a scene you’ve seen before – you saw it in Amazing Spider-Man #72.
Mephisto tells Norman that, in addition to giving up his son, he will also have to kill a stranger when Mephisto asks it of him in the future.
Yeah… why are you falling over yourselves to make Norman a good guy again, Marvel? Peter’s new bestie?
We flash forward to the explosion that created Green Goblin and get a second appearance from Harry in this comic:
…and a surprise guest in the form of Bernard! Remember, Bernard the all-knowing butler from Spider-Man 3? Here he is making his debut (I think) as a Canon Foreigner.
Why are you being so rude to your him, Harry? Say “please.”
This is a great comic for Green Goblin fans but sadly it doesn’t have much Harry in it. It does a fantastic job with Norman, though. It even remembers that childhood dog we saw him killing in Spectacular Spider-Man Annual 14. (The ghost of the poor dog shows up in Gold Goblin as well, I think.)
When Norman approaches the man he has to sacrifice for Mephisto, he sees him with his wife and children, and has a brief flashback of Harry:
That’s gotta be Emily holding Harry but I’m not sure why she’s blonde here. She’s a brunette usually.
That’s all we get from Harry in this issue but it’s definitely a must-read if you like the Goblin. Really good story and really good art!
Now… I guess we gotta wait a few years before the Norman/Mephisto/Harry thing is picked up again?
harryosborn.net 
Wow. Wow! Finally Bernard is a canon character! Yea, it was obvious all the bs with the red guy was going to be there, anyways it’s great to read some posts again! Hope you can do the continuation of the night Gwen Stacy died and the last number of Ultimate ^^
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One of my favorite parts of that book was when Norman had that tiny flickering of humanity and decided not to blow up a mom and her kid. The trio reminded him of his own family, and that hit a little too close to home for old Norm and it really showed what kind of messed-up guy he is in the process. Like, he had the bomb out and was seriously thinking about murdering a little kid who only wanted to play Fantastic Four with his mommy and daddy. But in the end, he backed off in a way that humanized the guy without absolving him. Ultimately, they survived because Norman is selfisg. He didn’t stop because he cared. Osborn put the bomb away because their similarities to things that are important to him made him uncomfortable and he made the whole thing about himself. Also, shoutout to Harry for saving two lives just by being around and making Norman feel guilty enough to hesitate. Go Harry
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[…] Remember, Norman had sold Harry’s soul to the devil by this point! […]
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