There's a bit more after this, but the pages I have here are the ones IGN has up in their preview.
Simply put, Norman has a sit-down with the Sentry in the days following Secret Invasion and his assumption of power as the head of HAMMER. While talking with Bob, the topic of their discussion is "the myth of the Void". Norman knows that the Goblin within him is just his id being brought to violent, unfettered life, and he takes that approach with Bob, telling him that there is no Void and there never was. There is only Bob Reynolds; there is only the Sentry. Now does Norman actually believe this...?
My guess? Probably not. If it's the Sentry who has been Norman's "man in the shadows", and the one who instructed Norman how to deactivate his nano-chain, then all this time Norman's been dealing with the Void, not the Sentry. What Norman is doing here could well be a sincere way of relating to Bob and cowing him as a loyal, empathetic compatriot. It could also just as easily be Norman making a psychological power play while Bob is vulnerable, forcing him to suppress the Void in his psyche,convince him that the Void is a fabrication of imagination, and rid himself of the Void as Bob steps fully onto the stage. It would remove this powerful, devious foe as a potential adversary. Odds are that the Void is no fool, though, and if he is aware of Norman's machinations, would seek retribution, whether consciously in full rage, or unconsciously as he is gradually manifested more and more through Bob's increasingly vicious actions as Norman's flunky.
They're definitely setting Norman up with a circle of powerful friends as well as an increasingly unhappy circle of enemies. It's going to be villains+heroes VS. really ^^^^ing evil villains. By "really ^^^^ing evil villains" I mean the Void and HYDRA. For those who haven't been keeping up on things... turns out SHIELD has been nothing more than an arm of HYDRA for decades, including throughout the duration of Nick Fury's time at the agency. Secret Warriors recently showed Baron Strucker (the Supreme Hydra) in the events of Secret Invasion. Upon discovering Skrull agents within HYDRA's aquatic city, he fled the city, destroying it and killing 15,000. Now HYDRA is rebuilding from the ground up, and all of the HYDRA leaders are assembling for their return to the center of the villainy scene. Interesting to note that now with Strucker returning as a major adversary, it's probably not going to be long until he finds out Norman Osborn impaled his son on his son's own sword and hurled him out of a window down a precipitous cliff face. Makes even the big bad guys have at least one sympathetic angle for retribution.
As to Norman's friends... I'm not sure how this final Dark Avengers arc is going to play out, but suffice it to say that right now the Iron Patriot and Doctor Doom have traveled back in time to combat Morgana le Fay before she begins to plot against Doom and the present-day world. Doom doesn't like the idea that he had to allow the Iron Patriot to access his armor's servers in order to initiate the time cube and go after le Fay in the past, but Osborn did save Doom before le Fay could bring about the coup de grace on him. Will he be grateful that his ass has been hauled out of the fire? Will he be suspicious that someone has broken past his personal boundaries, and of his own volition, no less? Doom isn't one who lends trust readily, but he does have a code of honor. He won't trust Osborn, but I do think he will come to call if needed in order to settle the debt and be done with it. Just some thoughts. Very cool and sinister ^^^^ in the 616 right now.
