Harry and Norman Osborn’s first ever on-panel (Amazing Spider-Man #37) interaction sets, shall we say, a certain tone for their interactions.
It’s bad.
I mean its *really* bad.
For context, Norman was at the time being written specifically as an Ayn Rand-ian ‘parasite’, a man who had only gotten where he was through theft and guile, and the writer wasn’t one for giving nuance to characters he was portraying as bad guys.
But still.
Harry is nothing but on his father’s side, and Norman is just… there’s no other word for it. Mean. He’s mean an abusive.
It sucks.
Harry: “I don’t get it, why would Spider-Man try to burn down your plant?”
Norman: “Don’t believe everything you hear, Harry. It wasn’t Spider-Man! Someone else was behind this!”
Harry: “But who?”
Norman: (internally) “I can’t tell the kid how I cheated Professor Stromm out of his inventions and then railroaded him into jail when he began to threaten me? It has to be Stromm who’s after me!”
Harry: (continuing his previous thought) “Wouldn’t it be somethin’ if Spider-Man is trying to work a protection racket?”
Norman: “Harry, don’t you ever shut up?”
