User talk:Jhenderson777/Fictional history of Green Goblin

Streamlining

No matter what happens down the road, we do not need the blow-by-blow overdetail of the "Death in the Family" section. Details like the fact it takes place at Midtown High are irrelevant. The two sharing a laugh has no repercussions in Spider-Man's life, making it irrelevant, and the comparison to Batman: The Killing Joke is an uncited OR observation.

Here are the two paragraphs of that section, followed by a condensed version that pulls out the only details that affect the long-term status quo:

The story begins with Norman visiting Harry’s grave, and in Norman's introspection he states that he had reached out to Peter and that he had refused him, and that Norman can’t let things stand at that. Meanwhile, Peter is haunted by a dream and he has no one he can confide in; he tries Mary Jane, but decides not to talk to her (she is in California and they aren’t together). As if drawn to each other, Spider-Man and the Green Goblin meet up in the middle of a rain storm; a fight ensues and Norman leaves Peter with an invitation to a family reunion - a funeral.[27] The Green Goblin then appears on TV stating that it was Spider-Man who was responsible for the death of Gwen Stacy and that he had originally planned to catch her after her drop. Peter confronts Norman while Norman is with some clients and Norman tells Peter that one of them, either Peter or Norman, has to die. The Green Goblin then force feeds Flash Thompson, a recovering alcoholic, whiskey and then has him drive a truck that crashes into Midtown High. Due to the accident, Flash goes into a coma.[28]

Norman offers to repair Midtown High since it was his company’s truck that crashed into the school. Later, Norman has Peter meet him at one of Osborn’s chemical companies. While there, Norman states that he plans to kill his grandson, Normie Osborn.[29] The fight continues and Norman states that only one of them can leave there today and that he has operatives stationed all over the place and they are ready to kill those close to Peter at any time. An enraged Peter Parker pummels the Green Goblin, beating him mercilessly. Just before delivering the final blow, Peter releases Norman and says that he can’t kill him. The two even share a laugh at that point. He then confides in Norman about his dream at which point Peter realizes the meaning of the dream. Every day, he refuses to hate Norman for what he did and Gwen lives; if he caves into the anger she dies. He doesn’t cave into the anger and Peter calls Norman’s bluff concerning killing young Normie. As the story arc closes, the two rivals share a laugh, in a scene reminiscent of the conclusion to Alan Moore’s Batman: The Killing Joke. It appears as though Norman set the whole thing up because he wanted Peter to kill him; that was the “death in the family” and Norman contemplates suicide at the conclusion. The ramifications from this story arc are numerous; however, one of the major results is Flash becoming a paraplegic.[30]

And the condensed version with the significant information remaining:

In Peter Parker Spider-Man vol. 2, #45 (date), Osborn sets the stage for a truck crash that sends Parker's friend Flash Thompson into a coma, and otherwise conspires to push Spider-Man to the breaking point of killing the suicidal Green Goblin, which Spider-Man refuses to do. Thompson emerges from his coma a paraplegic in issue #47 (date).

Confiding to Osborn about his dream, "An enraged Peter Parker pummels the Green Goblin, beating him mercilessly", the never-consummated bluff about Normie ... all irrelevant overdetail, which WikiProject Comics and Wikipedia writing-about-fiction standards disallow. --Tenebrae (talk) 01:27, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Another example

What use are the details of how and where Kidder's body was found? Do they make any difference whatsoever to the main point?

BEFORE

The Goblin outed publicly

Terri Kidder, a reporter for the Daily Bugle, follows a lead she was given from a friend concerning missing persons at Oscorp. Her friend is an employee at Oscorp. In an attempt to break the story, she tricks her way into the office of Norman Osborn to question him about the missing people.[20] She is then found dead and mutilated in the reservoir on the east side of Central Park. Ben Urich puts the pieces together and eventually the police come to investigate Norman for the missing bodies. When they arrive at Norman’s office, they find the Green Goblin instead. Spider-Man intervenes and neutralizes the Goblin, who nearly kills both Ben Urich and Jessica Jones, Luke Cage’s girlfriend. Luke Cage, angered by the attacks on his then-pregnant girlfriend, goes after Norman after he had already surrendered to the authorities. To escape this attack Norman dons his Goblin apparel, but Luke subdues him. The story concludes with Osborn being confirmed publicly as the Green Goblin and being placed in jail.[21]

AFTER

Osborn revealed publicly as Green Goblin

In a storyline in The Pulse #1-5 (date), Daily Bugle reporter Terri Kidder is found dead after investigating a lead about Osborn. Tthe police, along with Spider-Man, Ben Urich, and Jessica Jones and her then boyfriend, the superhero Luke Cage, capture Osborn, who admits his dual identity.

--Tenebrae (talk) 01:36, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Another

Again, the "Sins Past" section doesn't need detail about finding the letter, and taking the letter to analysis, etc. — the letter's not the point! The existence of the Stacy kids are. We can say who they are, what it comes from and what it means in much, much fewer words that this rambling overdetail.--Tenebrae (talk) 01:50, 3 October 2010 (UTC)