WolfCypher
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Did this need its own thread? Am I that full of myself? No, and no. But I didn't type this HUGE wall of text to have it limited to a thread that only gets updated once a month.
Mid-Summer of 2008 saw the beginning of a Venom surplus. Starting with Ultimate Spider-Man's "War of the Symbiotes", followed immediately by August's "Venom: Dark Origin" and Amazing Spider-Man's "New Ways to Die", it seemed like a great time to be a Venom fan.
War of the Symbiotes
The Ultimate Spider-Man title had been without a series story arc sense the well-done "Death of a Goblin" story concluded. Since then, we were treated with single stories and minor arcs like the just-for-fun "Ultimate Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends" arc featuring Iceman and the Ultimate debut of Firestar. When WotS finally happened upon us, I knew to expect a loose adaptation of the Ultimate Spider-Man video game.
Thankfully, the comic's story was a very loose adaptation. Having played the USM game, I didn't want an exact repeat of that story. I wanted new content. The obvious (for those who played the game) referrences where there all right; you had Venom's unanswered return (it was never explained how he survived his electrocution in either the book or the game), his being stalked by the Wild Pack,the Beetle was around, Trask Industries, Venom & Spidey's fight at the museum...all taken from the game's plot. As soon as parttwo, the story deviates into its own rhythm.
Just like any USM arc, I was pleasantly happy with this story. What more could I ask for? Venom had been away from USM for over four years...at some point in the story we'd get a Venom vs. Carnage throwdown, the Beetle had been given a proper introduction, and overall the story was ok.
If I had any gripes, they were few. But nonetheless they were there. I guess the 1st gripe would be Eddie's unexplain inconsistance. The whole drama behind the guy was that he had this parasitic curse ruining his life. He had to drop out of college, he was on the run, and everyone wanted him captured or dead. He wanted to get rid of the symbiote. So when that happens...he goes crazy and wants it back...and blames Peter for the lose of the symbiote. Now, it was suggested to me that Eddie had this addiction to the suit, where while he was joined, he hated what he was, but as soon as he lost it, he couldn't live without it. That sound strikingly similar to Mac Garagn in the 616 universe...still Bendis made no attempt to clarify or even subtly hint that in the book. No matter how many times I reread that portion of the story, it just seems like Eddie's change of heart is random and without warning. That would be the bigger of the two flaws.
The 2nd flaw? Well...for a story called "War of the Symbiotes", featuring Venom AND Carnage...I was hoping to see Venom and Carnage fighting it out big time. Instead, Carnage (as a perfect Gwen lifeform...too perfect, in fact, to be considered a clone) doesn't even appear until the 2nd to last installment, and the fight finally, FINALLY doesn't take place until the veeeery end.
I thought I was going to be put-off by the "Super Venom" at the end of the story, where Venom assimilates with Gwen's symbiote and grows to be the size of a house (the biggest exaggerated Venom yet), and yet, I was actually ok with that. It happened differently in the games, and that's what made it ok...I didn't quite expect THAT. Take note, people...this is the only time a truck-sized Venom sat well with me.
Venom: Dark Origin
This was originally the Venom story of 2008 I was looking forward to the least. Granted, I was hyper-ape s**t excited for this story, but it was still a story I've read, in many different iterations, a thousand times. So many takes and remakes on the same origin, who could Zeb Wells make this one stand ot? How could Angel Medina strike my fancy visually?
Although niether were perfect, they delivered. I actually found myself more excited for the next installment of Dark Origin than I was when collecting WotS and NWtD! Considering those tales are more unique in that they aren't retellings, that's saying something when this arc had a grip on me.
On Wells part, it wasn't enough to retell what had already been establisehd with Eddie Brock's (and eventually Venom's) character...he had to do two things. One, give us some new history to the backstory. Two, elaborate on the established stuff. On the former, we got new stuff add to Eddie's backstory like how he would lie and deceive others for the sake of trying to fool everyone, including himself, that he was a hero and worthy of others praise. I'll actually get back to this as it was a bit of an double-edged sword. On the latter, the stuff we aleady knew? He expanded on...greatly. We know Eddie got fired from the Daily Globe in disgrace, but who did it exactly go down? What led to his career's ruin? And how did this end up ruining the rest of his life? The naysaying Venom haters have always pointed out that Eddie's reasons for hating Spider-Man were never good enough...if Wells didn't give you a truly convincing argument as to why Eddie believes Spider-Man is the bane of his life, then you're a set Venom hater for life, because Wells went above and beyond giving us a great explaination to why Eddie views his flaws as flaws befallen on him by another.
And you never think for a minute "wow...none of this was Brock's fault...he really is the victim..." that is not what Wells does. Even I would be upset if that element was forced on Brock's character in the mainstream universe. Brock has always had the bum rap he created for himself, but you see here how it was a combination of his own mistakes and plain misfortune that did him in. Spider-Man played a medium role in all this...so Brock, who is portrayed as never taking responsiblilty for his own flaws and mistakes from the very 1st issue, can only naturally place his illogical hatred on someone else...Spider-Man was the monkey wrench in his grandfather clock, albiet that clock was poorly builded in the first place.
This is what I'm talkin' about, Wells.
I have so much to talk about in the good department alone, I haven't gotten to the bad yet...I still have to cover the ASM 300 remake, and Medina's art.
Now, Medina...the guy has a knack for Spider-Man...I was always a fan of him...and seeing his Sensational Spider-Man Vol.2 work reminded me of this fact. Best of all, his SSM V2 work was during the "Back in Black" event where we got to see his take on Black Costume Spider-Man! You can't have a Venom origin tale without an abundant amount of black and white costumes! From Venom to B.C. Spidey, it all looked good. And Medina has always had this exaggerated Todd McFarlane-style (he was even a regular artist on Todd's Spawn books), so it was perfect irony that the story that both preludes and retells McFarlanes ASM 300 would be done by Medina (though the exaggerated style is both a blessing and a curse...more on that soon). He knows how to do dark and twisted. This story had its dark and twisted moments, and Angel nailed them.
If there was one issue I looked forward to more than any, it was part 5, the ASM 300 remake. Just as this entire run had subtle changes and extra content added to Eddie's (Venom's) story, so too did Dark origin's attempt at recreating ASM 300. This milestone issue is loved by even the Venom haters...I couldn't WAIT to see Medina and Well's take on this one!
OK...last paragraph of this review has to be the negative, so here we go...As I said, Medina and Wells take on this limited series, their added touch, was not perfect. I always liked the established & accepted notion of Eddie being a good person who would try to do what he thought was right, sometimes not knowing what was right. That was tossed away in favor for Wells take, which was make Eddie an irredeemable prick from the start. Had he kept the original personality in tact, showing how a guy who had a chance lost everything and went crazy, you'd feel for him even more. Wells was content with making a bad guy worse. I still can't forgive the conclusion of partone...if I had to pick only one part of Dark Origin I hated, it would ONLY be that Wells wrote Eddie as a coward, willing to let his future wife be gang-raped in an attempt to save his hide.
When it came to the penultimate issue, part 5, the ASM 300 retelling, it had both its good points, and its bad points, on both writing and art. Writing wise? Venom has always been a villain, especially and most definately during his earliest attempts at Spider-Man (like this issue), who could draw genuine fear and terror out of Spider-Man. Instead, Wells portrays Spidey, not as a heroic yet frighten protagonist, but as a pissed off, full-off himself protagonist. Now, I'm more than ok with making Spidey pissed and angry at Venom for attacking his wif-erhhh, "girl", but the ASM 300 (and all the other "Best of Spider-Man vs. Venom arcs") I remember didn't have Spidey make Venom look like a *****. I'm not saying Spidey should roll into a fetal position and pray to Mephisto or anything, but having him talk throughout the match as if he could have taken Venom on with one hand was NOT COOL...That's like having Superman fight Darksied with his eyes-closed while reciting haiku...there has to be a struggle. Spidey had Venom on the ropes more than Venom had Spidey. Sure, Venom did web Spidey up to that bell like in 300, which in Dark Origin Spidey broke through way to easily...but after that (hell, before that, too), Wells took a fight I remember as being an uphill victory for Spidey and made it look like it was Spider-Man vs. some throw-away villain. There really was not tension. At least the banter they exchanged as they fought was EXCELLENT!
And was it just me, or did Medina take a little too big a liberty exaggerating Venom in some of the scenes in part 5? Especially whenever Spidey used sound against Venom; seeing the symbiote and Eddie in pain was like a panel version of Picasso art. C'mon, man! You're better than taht! You can do crazy artwork that looks visually appealing.
And yes, Ann, Eddie's (ex) wife is black in this book. That's both a plus and a minus. While there's no excuse for a major Eddie Brock supporting character to be a completely different ethinicity, it speaks volumes that Eddie has da Jungle Fever.
New Ways to Die
Not since "The Last Temptation of Eddie Brock" from Sensational Spider-Man Vol.2 had Venom fans looked forward to "the story that would fix the Venomless Eddie situation (or was it the Eddie-less Venom situation...), and NWtD fixed things...just NOT how we expected, or for some, wanted.
Despite me wanting this arc primarily for the return of Eddie, the possible return of the real Venom, the faux pas Gargan Venom, and this Anti-Venom riggamarow, I wasn't so biased I couldn't hype myself up for the other MAJOR GOODIES...the Thunderbolts, the Spidey/Bullseye fight Dan Slott had praised more than anything realated to this arc, Norman Osborn and the Green Goblin...all these things made me elated.
But seeing how I'm summing up all these "Venom" stories, I'll mostly, if not only, relay the Eddie/Anti-Venom/Venom/Gargan stuff. If anything, as I've already written walls of text on NWtD in its entirety, this will be my synopsis on Anti-Venom.
I went into this arc half-knowing from the get go what others refused to admit...Eddie was going in as Anti-Venom, and coming out of all this still as Anti-Venom. You Venom fanboys just knnnnneeeeeeeeww Brock would regain the Venom symbiote...I knew this wasn't so. If he alreday had a new symbiote that wasn't killing him, and he was using this new antibody-symbiote to kill the original, Gargan bonded symbiote, and if his character was being treated as this "Lethal Protector-esque" defender, why would he want the Venom symbiote back? Why lead Brock into a whole "new" (ie: been there, done that, at least this time it might, kinda, sorta work) direction only to end the story with him going back to...gah...logic...
Well, I also went into NWtD skecptical about Anti-Venom. Seriously...Brock WAS Venom! Now he's a gimmick of Venom...he's ANTI-Venom! An unnecessary counter to a character that doesn't need a villain all to himself. So AV's whole purpose is to kill Venom? That's very limited. Granted, when you have a villain whose who goal is to kill a HERO, that's different. With a name like Anti-Venom, his use looks limited. At least give the guy an all purpose name.
I must admit, I did find Eddie as Anti-Venom quite interesting. I didn't expect that...and having Anti-Venom play a big role in NWtD without stealing the spotlight was great. I definately got a cool high when the original Venom triumphed over the replacement, rendering Gargan helpless and begging for his (symbiote's) life.
So...where is my stand on Brock as Anti-Venom? Well, I'm glad Brock's back in the 616 universe. Like in the Ultimate universe, Brock had been gone for far too long. And he is a Venom, if not the RIGHT one. And he did kick Gargan's ass (yeah, so Gargan returned the favor, but he needed a pathetic Scorpion suit to do so, and Eddie didn't get schooled like Gargan did...and Eddie didn't beg like a b**** at the hands of Gargan like Gargan to Brock did...)...but still...Eddie using his powers to protect the innocent? Hmmm...this all sounds familiar...like we've been down this path before...a path that contributed to Venom's downfall in the late 90s...
Oh well, we'll be seeing AV in less than a week, so I'll just have to wait and see. His next appearance will prove whether or not Marvel has a handle on this character and his future.
Still, we don't need two Venoms, and the original should be the only one...
I was really hoping all three of these stores would totally kick-ass. They were good. They've proven beyond all odds that Venom CAN...BE...WRITTEN WELL...Eddie has been given a revival and a 2nd chance.
Mid-Summer of 2008 saw the beginning of a Venom surplus. Starting with Ultimate Spider-Man's "War of the Symbiotes", followed immediately by August's "Venom: Dark Origin" and Amazing Spider-Man's "New Ways to Die", it seemed like a great time to be a Venom fan.
War of the Symbiotes
The Ultimate Spider-Man title had been without a series story arc sense the well-done "Death of a Goblin" story concluded. Since then, we were treated with single stories and minor arcs like the just-for-fun "Ultimate Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends" arc featuring Iceman and the Ultimate debut of Firestar. When WotS finally happened upon us, I knew to expect a loose adaptation of the Ultimate Spider-Man video game.
Thankfully, the comic's story was a very loose adaptation. Having played the USM game, I didn't want an exact repeat of that story. I wanted new content. The obvious (for those who played the game) referrences where there all right; you had Venom's unanswered return (it was never explained how he survived his electrocution in either the book or the game), his being stalked by the Wild Pack,the Beetle was around, Trask Industries, Venom & Spidey's fight at the museum...all taken from the game's plot. As soon as parttwo, the story deviates into its own rhythm.
Just like any USM arc, I was pleasantly happy with this story. What more could I ask for? Venom had been away from USM for over four years...at some point in the story we'd get a Venom vs. Carnage throwdown, the Beetle had been given a proper introduction, and overall the story was ok.
If I had any gripes, they were few. But nonetheless they were there. I guess the 1st gripe would be Eddie's unexplain inconsistance. The whole drama behind the guy was that he had this parasitic curse ruining his life. He had to drop out of college, he was on the run, and everyone wanted him captured or dead. He wanted to get rid of the symbiote. So when that happens...he goes crazy and wants it back...and blames Peter for the lose of the symbiote. Now, it was suggested to me that Eddie had this addiction to the suit, where while he was joined, he hated what he was, but as soon as he lost it, he couldn't live without it. That sound strikingly similar to Mac Garagn in the 616 universe...still Bendis made no attempt to clarify or even subtly hint that in the book. No matter how many times I reread that portion of the story, it just seems like Eddie's change of heart is random and without warning. That would be the bigger of the two flaws.
The 2nd flaw? Well...for a story called "War of the Symbiotes", featuring Venom AND Carnage...I was hoping to see Venom and Carnage fighting it out big time. Instead, Carnage (as a perfect Gwen lifeform...too perfect, in fact, to be considered a clone) doesn't even appear until the 2nd to last installment, and the fight finally, FINALLY doesn't take place until the veeeery end.
I thought I was going to be put-off by the "Super Venom" at the end of the story, where Venom assimilates with Gwen's symbiote and grows to be the size of a house (the biggest exaggerated Venom yet), and yet, I was actually ok with that. It happened differently in the games, and that's what made it ok...I didn't quite expect THAT. Take note, people...this is the only time a truck-sized Venom sat well with me.
Venom: Dark Origin
This was originally the Venom story of 2008 I was looking forward to the least. Granted, I was hyper-ape s**t excited for this story, but it was still a story I've read, in many different iterations, a thousand times. So many takes and remakes on the same origin, who could Zeb Wells make this one stand ot? How could Angel Medina strike my fancy visually?
Although niether were perfect, they delivered. I actually found myself more excited for the next installment of Dark Origin than I was when collecting WotS and NWtD! Considering those tales are more unique in that they aren't retellings, that's saying something when this arc had a grip on me.
On Wells part, it wasn't enough to retell what had already been establisehd with Eddie Brock's (and eventually Venom's) character...he had to do two things. One, give us some new history to the backstory. Two, elaborate on the established stuff. On the former, we got new stuff add to Eddie's backstory like how he would lie and deceive others for the sake of trying to fool everyone, including himself, that he was a hero and worthy of others praise. I'll actually get back to this as it was a bit of an double-edged sword. On the latter, the stuff we aleady knew? He expanded on...greatly. We know Eddie got fired from the Daily Globe in disgrace, but who did it exactly go down? What led to his career's ruin? And how did this end up ruining the rest of his life? The naysaying Venom haters have always pointed out that Eddie's reasons for hating Spider-Man were never good enough...if Wells didn't give you a truly convincing argument as to why Eddie believes Spider-Man is the bane of his life, then you're a set Venom hater for life, because Wells went above and beyond giving us a great explaination to why Eddie views his flaws as flaws befallen on him by another.
And you never think for a minute "wow...none of this was Brock's fault...he really is the victim..." that is not what Wells does. Even I would be upset if that element was forced on Brock's character in the mainstream universe. Brock has always had the bum rap he created for himself, but you see here how it was a combination of his own mistakes and plain misfortune that did him in. Spider-Man played a medium role in all this...so Brock, who is portrayed as never taking responsiblilty for his own flaws and mistakes from the very 1st issue, can only naturally place his illogical hatred on someone else...Spider-Man was the monkey wrench in his grandfather clock, albiet that clock was poorly builded in the first place.
This is what I'm talkin' about, Wells.
I have so much to talk about in the good department alone, I haven't gotten to the bad yet...I still have to cover the ASM 300 remake, and Medina's art.
Now, Medina...the guy has a knack for Spider-Man...I was always a fan of him...and seeing his Sensational Spider-Man Vol.2 work reminded me of this fact. Best of all, his SSM V2 work was during the "Back in Black" event where we got to see his take on Black Costume Spider-Man! You can't have a Venom origin tale without an abundant amount of black and white costumes! From Venom to B.C. Spidey, it all looked good. And Medina has always had this exaggerated Todd McFarlane-style (he was even a regular artist on Todd's Spawn books), so it was perfect irony that the story that both preludes and retells McFarlanes ASM 300 would be done by Medina (though the exaggerated style is both a blessing and a curse...more on that soon). He knows how to do dark and twisted. This story had its dark and twisted moments, and Angel nailed them.
If there was one issue I looked forward to more than any, it was part 5, the ASM 300 remake. Just as this entire run had subtle changes and extra content added to Eddie's (Venom's) story, so too did Dark origin's attempt at recreating ASM 300. This milestone issue is loved by even the Venom haters...I couldn't WAIT to see Medina and Well's take on this one!
OK...last paragraph of this review has to be the negative, so here we go...As I said, Medina and Wells take on this limited series, their added touch, was not perfect. I always liked the established & accepted notion of Eddie being a good person who would try to do what he thought was right, sometimes not knowing what was right. That was tossed away in favor for Wells take, which was make Eddie an irredeemable prick from the start. Had he kept the original personality in tact, showing how a guy who had a chance lost everything and went crazy, you'd feel for him even more. Wells was content with making a bad guy worse. I still can't forgive the conclusion of partone...if I had to pick only one part of Dark Origin I hated, it would ONLY be that Wells wrote Eddie as a coward, willing to let his future wife be gang-raped in an attempt to save his hide.
When it came to the penultimate issue, part 5, the ASM 300 retelling, it had both its good points, and its bad points, on both writing and art. Writing wise? Venom has always been a villain, especially and most definately during his earliest attempts at Spider-Man (like this issue), who could draw genuine fear and terror out of Spider-Man. Instead, Wells portrays Spidey, not as a heroic yet frighten protagonist, but as a pissed off, full-off himself protagonist. Now, I'm more than ok with making Spidey pissed and angry at Venom for attacking his wif-erhhh, "girl", but the ASM 300 (and all the other "Best of Spider-Man vs. Venom arcs") I remember didn't have Spidey make Venom look like a *****. I'm not saying Spidey should roll into a fetal position and pray to Mephisto or anything, but having him talk throughout the match as if he could have taken Venom on with one hand was NOT COOL...That's like having Superman fight Darksied with his eyes-closed while reciting haiku...there has to be a struggle. Spidey had Venom on the ropes more than Venom had Spidey. Sure, Venom did web Spidey up to that bell like in 300, which in Dark Origin Spidey broke through way to easily...but after that (hell, before that, too), Wells took a fight I remember as being an uphill victory for Spidey and made it look like it was Spider-Man vs. some throw-away villain. There really was not tension. At least the banter they exchanged as they fought was EXCELLENT!
And was it just me, or did Medina take a little too big a liberty exaggerating Venom in some of the scenes in part 5? Especially whenever Spidey used sound against Venom; seeing the symbiote and Eddie in pain was like a panel version of Picasso art. C'mon, man! You're better than taht! You can do crazy artwork that looks visually appealing.
And yes, Ann, Eddie's (ex) wife is black in this book. That's both a plus and a minus. While there's no excuse for a major Eddie Brock supporting character to be a completely different ethinicity, it speaks volumes that Eddie has da Jungle Fever.
New Ways to Die
Not since "The Last Temptation of Eddie Brock" from Sensational Spider-Man Vol.2 had Venom fans looked forward to "the story that would fix the Venomless Eddie situation (or was it the Eddie-less Venom situation...), and NWtD fixed things...just NOT how we expected, or for some, wanted.
Despite me wanting this arc primarily for the return of Eddie, the possible return of the real Venom, the faux pas Gargan Venom, and this Anti-Venom riggamarow, I wasn't so biased I couldn't hype myself up for the other MAJOR GOODIES...the Thunderbolts, the Spidey/Bullseye fight Dan Slott had praised more than anything realated to this arc, Norman Osborn and the Green Goblin...all these things made me elated.
But seeing how I'm summing up all these "Venom" stories, I'll mostly, if not only, relay the Eddie/Anti-Venom/Venom/Gargan stuff. If anything, as I've already written walls of text on NWtD in its entirety, this will be my synopsis on Anti-Venom.
I went into this arc half-knowing from the get go what others refused to admit...Eddie was going in as Anti-Venom, and coming out of all this still as Anti-Venom. You Venom fanboys just knnnnneeeeeeeeww Brock would regain the Venom symbiote...I knew this wasn't so. If he alreday had a new symbiote that wasn't killing him, and he was using this new antibody-symbiote to kill the original, Gargan bonded symbiote, and if his character was being treated as this "Lethal Protector-esque" defender, why would he want the Venom symbiote back? Why lead Brock into a whole "new" (ie: been there, done that, at least this time it might, kinda, sorta work) direction only to end the story with him going back to...gah...logic...
Well, I also went into NWtD skecptical about Anti-Venom. Seriously...Brock WAS Venom! Now he's a gimmick of Venom...he's ANTI-Venom! An unnecessary counter to a character that doesn't need a villain all to himself. So AV's whole purpose is to kill Venom? That's very limited. Granted, when you have a villain whose who goal is to kill a HERO, that's different. With a name like Anti-Venom, his use looks limited. At least give the guy an all purpose name.
I must admit, I did find Eddie as Anti-Venom quite interesting. I didn't expect that...and having Anti-Venom play a big role in NWtD without stealing the spotlight was great. I definately got a cool high when the original Venom triumphed over the replacement, rendering Gargan helpless and begging for his (symbiote's) life.
So...where is my stand on Brock as Anti-Venom? Well, I'm glad Brock's back in the 616 universe. Like in the Ultimate universe, Brock had been gone for far too long. And he is a Venom, if not the RIGHT one. And he did kick Gargan's ass (yeah, so Gargan returned the favor, but he needed a pathetic Scorpion suit to do so, and Eddie didn't get schooled like Gargan did...and Eddie didn't beg like a b**** at the hands of Gargan like Gargan to Brock did...)...but still...Eddie using his powers to protect the innocent? Hmmm...this all sounds familiar...like we've been down this path before...a path that contributed to Venom's downfall in the late 90s...
Oh well, we'll be seeing AV in less than a week, so I'll just have to wait and see. His next appearance will prove whether or not Marvel has a handle on this character and his future.
Still, we don't need two Venoms, and the original should be the only one...
I was really hoping all three of these stores would totally kick-ass. They were good. They've proven beyond all odds that Venom CAN...BE...WRITTEN WELL...Eddie has been given a revival and a 2nd chance.
