New Venom Ongoing by Rick Remender and Tony Moore

[NightBeetle]

Who Is Venom?

One of the most complex entities in Spider-Man’s world stands ready for a brand new day of his own, but this time around, the Marvel Universe will experience a very different kind of Venom.

Beginning in March, 2011, longtime collaborators Rick Remender and Tony Moore reunite once more for a VENOM ongoing series unlike any other, as the deadly alien symbiote bonds with a new host familiar to fans and gets put to work as an operative of the United States government. Remender proved eager to share more details, but ran into some red tape along the way.

“Due to the volatile nature of Project Venom, the Pentagon has come in and flagged some of my answers for security concerns,” prefaces the writer. “[redacted], the enhanced, black ops agent Venom, is charged with chasing a trail across the globe to uncover the man behind a plot to sell the world’s dictators and terrorists weaponized [redacted], all while juggling a double life, and a growing addiction to a symbiote that is constantly trying to take him over.

“[The set-up for VENOM] originated with [AMAZING SPIDER-MAN writer Dan] Slott and [editor Steve] Wacker. Once they told me the basic concept, and who the main character would be, I was sold. International adventures of 00Venom, c’mon, that’s good comic booking. Dan and I worked up a few ideas for supporting cast and rules for Venom and both went off to write. The initial set up issue will be by Dan in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #654.1 [and] you won’t want to miss that. Then the story picks up in VENOM #1.”

Expect VENOM to combine classic adventure in the mighty Marvel manner with espionage action and even a touch of horror.

“The tone merges the same brand of ferocious hardcore violence fans of Venom would expect with the international high-adventure of ‘The Bourne Identity,’ globe trotting from bleak Eastern European war zones to exotic Marvel Universe locations like the Savage Land,” lays out Remender. “It’s James Bond style worldwide adventuring with high stakes espionage, intrigue, fast action and an opening mission that holds the stability of the world in the balance. The result is a harsh lesson in the consequence of a secret life, and the mental duress of an exhilarating, yet temporary, [redacted].

“The chalice is poisoned; [redacted] can only wear the suit a few days at a time and the assignment itself is finite [as] for his own safety he will one day be taken off Project Venom,” he continues. “The tension is only compiled by the stress of keeping his black ops missions secret from his loved ones, the classic Spider-Man villains he’s set against, and the deep depression he begins to feel when separated from the suit and the [redacted] it offers.”

Remender reunites with artist Moore for this series, and can’t think of anybody he’d rather drag into the war zone with him.
“If you know Tony’s work from our last collaboration on PUNISHER, or Fear Agent, or his co-creation The Walking Dead, or his run on GHOST RIDER, then you know the guy can do monsters, action and distinctive tech like few others,” praises the writer. “And he’s a world-class storyteller; he puts story before all else. But, yeah, at his core, Tony is a monster guy, he loves creatures and it shows in his work. So putting him on VENOM is a no brainer in my eyes. And having seen his designs and some of the other stuff he’s got coming up, I can say with total confidence, there isn’t a better man for the job—on Earth anyway.

“Venom mixes the high-octane action stuff we do in Fear Agent with stunning monster work from our PUNISHER run. It’s a perfect middle and we’re both tremendously excited for people to see what we’ve cooked up.”
In his various incarnations, we’ve seen Venom as a lethal villain, a repentant hero, a sadistic nut job and just about everything in between; what makes Remender and Moore’s take stand apart?

“Behind the action and intrigue is [redacted], but the opportunity to become one of the most powerful people in the world in service to his country,” says Remender. “Given the difficulty controlling the nefarious symbiote, our protagonist’s mettle is well tested. Our focus isn’t the suit; it’s the man inside the suit and the sacrifice he makes by wearing it. To me, the character is a hero going in, what will the suit do to him, and will he comes out a hero, remains to be seen.”

Look for the debut of the new Venom in AMAZINGSPIDER-MAN #654.1 in February, then pick up VENOM #1 the very next month!

 

[Spade]

Flash Thompson as the new Venom?

The premise has me hooked. An initially heroic character as Venom opens up a lot more dramatic possibility for the alien goo than having Gargan as its host.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Tony Moore's art will be a shame to miss, but I'm not touching this with a ten-foot pole.

 

[Watchman]

Tony Moore's art will be a shame to miss, but I'm not touching this with a ten-foot pole.

Yup. Tony Moore- good, Rick Remender- good, Venom-

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I like Moore and I'm about 50/50 on Remender, but I refuse to get behind this ******ed concept of the Venom symbiote switching to a new host every couple years. Venom is Eddie Brock and the symbiote. Bring that back and I'll give it a try. Until then, nope.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Yeah, they should have Eddie Brock back as Venom. Also instead of a Venom ongoing, Venom would be far better suited as a redemptive hero on the Thunderbolts than having his own ongoing.

 

[Dread]

Eddie Brock is still Anti-Venom, which was Dan Slott's move. Now that he's the sole guy atop ASM, I highly doubt that is changing.

Flash Thompson as the new Venom?

The premise has me hooked. An initially heroic character as Venom opens up a lot more dramatic possibility for the alien goo than having Gargan as its host.

Gargan as Venom was a misfire to me. I'd rather have a decent Scorpion. I always thought he was a shouda-been kind of villain - the cunning mind of a P.I. combined with more physical strength than Spider-Man, who at least in the old days could escape his webbing. Alas, he spends much of his time as a raving lunatic, and he doesn't have enough strength to succeed as that.

Where has it been stated that Flash will be the next Venom? Or is that just still conjecture?

I liked Venom a lot in the 90's and early 2000's, but by around 2002-2003 that wore off.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, they should have Eddie Brock back as Venom. Also instead of a Venom ongoing, Venom would be far better suited as a redemptive hero on the Thunderbolts than having his own ongoing.

Keep the black ops angle, even. Eddie's been tossed around from one personality to the other so often that he could work in practically any context at this point.

 

[CConn]

If it's 2.99, I'll buy it. Purely because Remender and Moore were awesome on Frankencastle.

 

[stillanerd]

Where has it been stated that Flash will be the next Venom? Or is that just still conjecture?

It's still conjecture, but a very plausible one, IMO. I've also seen John Jameson's name be a possible candidate as well, but if that were the case, it will be the fourth time Jonah's son has acquired super-powers, which is incredibly redundant and repetitive. Could be either one, IMO, but at this point, I'm definitely thinking it's going to be Flash.

 

[IFryKids]

They're seriously jumping the shark with this one. The only way I could see this working is if it was Brock again, but that's not gonna happen. I wonder why it's taken writers so long to figure out that Venom only really works with Brock as the host? Without him Venom's always just another grunt, even with Gargan.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Thunderbolts' Ellis-era sales were pretty good, though. I imagine that's why they're not going back to Eddie.

 

[CConn]

Gargan Venom was horrible. Mainly because Gargan isn't that interesting to begin with. Flash or John Jameson could actually prove for an interesting story, however.

 

[Dread]

It's still conjecture, but a very plausible one, IMO. I've also seen John Jameson's name be a possible candidate as well, but if that were the case, it will be the fourth time Jonah's son has acquired super-powers, which is incredibly redundant and repetitive. Could be either one, IMO, but at this point, I'm definitely thinking it's going to be Flash.

Agreed, John Jameson has been Col. Jupiter, Man-Wolf and Stargod. It would be nice if he picked one of those.

Flash Thompson is also possible, although the symbiote would have to "grow" him some legs. Granted, I believe Hybrid, who was a forgotten 90's character, was a crippled man who could walk when he was merged with I think 4-5 symbiotes. If one reads up on him, they might be amazed how similar the concept of Toxin would be years later. There really ARE no new ideas in comics, are there?

 

[Shockdingo]

I think this could be rather interesting since it's not just a run wild concept, but almost like a temporary super soldier program. I'd think Flash would be interesting as a candidate. He'll have it, but not long enough for it to bond with him and thus he'll be having unique effects from going on and off of it constantly. Granted Brock in the 90s did the secret agent thing, I think this, if handled CAREFULLY could really work. As I said in the Brock's clubhouse thread, I'm sad they didn't go this direction with Anti-Venom really. Slott have him a rather nice clean slate:

-Brock himself was cleared of all charges he'd ever done as Venom

-Regained his faith in full force, thus he forced himself to face all the things he ever did, accepted responsibility, FORGAVE PETER and found his love for people again. “It's not all about me” he said. While he did kill in the AV& Punisher comic, there was a rather large and notable difference. On his own, in a "regular" setting he wouldn't choose murder as his first course of action the way "Lethal Protector did" he had to be pushed and pushed rather hard.

-Outside of becoming a felon again for helping Spider-man, he showed that he was willing to bury the hatchet and come to his aid, but overall to do GOOD not for himself, but others. He wasn't doing good to see justice for himself was carried out, but rather selflessly aiding others. A rather good and potential ace in the hole for a big threat. (Hey, I Thought that Brock would jump out of nowhere to help Pete at a desperate point in origin of the species, but oh well)

-With the power to HEAL he has a lot of rather interesting potential small scale/ quiet stories (those dealing with real people, helping homeless, etc) and he could be totally used as an ace in the hole for some sort of corrupting alien invasion/ infection type story- him proving his worth in front of all the world by healing and curing people

-His partnership with Jenna is like older brother/ young sister or almost father-daughter (Brock is significantly older than Pete, maybe late 30's early 40s? I never could really place it) Either way, him having a supporting cast could really add to him, and fill the void in his heart that was left after Ann died. Giving Brock something to care about I think, could be one of the most important developments to his character.

Overall, I don't want to see Brock go back to the void after this point. Maybe they'll meet up? I hope he'll be used again at this point now that he has so much potential character freedom when compared to his last days with the original symbiote. Having Brock appear every once in a while to keep an eye on this new Venom could be interesting, even if he shows up in the field and acts like an unofficial mentor, that would be rather interesting. Showing him how to tame the beast much to his reluctance. Their first encounter could be Brock resuming his mission to kill the symbiote thinking that it's Gargan underneath, but later on 00Venom's mission, Brock sees the good that 00Venom was able to perform and gives him an ultimatum. “Never stray from this current path of heroism...let me kill it as soon as you feel it's becoming addictive...as soon as it begins worming its way into your innermost thoughts and desires.” I'm not a great writer, but I think something better could come out of this.

I have high hopes for this series (If it's affordable first off) and so, I'll keep my eye open. This could be fun and a nice new status quo. Frankly, no matter what the media says, the symbiote was never evil at the start (it learned hatred and rancour from its time on earth), so if it learns to love again, or even ease up, that could change things drastically.

 

[stillanerd]

Agreed, John Jameson has been Col. Jupiter, Man-Wolf and Stargod. It would be nice if he picked one of those.

Well, at least Stargod was sort of like the Man-Wolf again, only smarter.

And hey lookie here! John Jameson had actually bonded to a symbiote before!

In the same issue that gave us THIS:

Gotta love those wacky 1990s.

Flash Thompson is also possible, although the symbiote would have to "grow" him some legs. Granted, I believe Hybrid, who was a forgotten 90's character, was a crippled man who could walk when he was merged with I think 4-5 symbiotes. If one reads up on him, they might be amazed how similar the concept of Toxin would be years later. There really ARE no new ideas in comics, are there?

Interestingly enough, take a gander at Quesada's cover for Venom #1, especially at what's going on with the legs. Hmm....

 

[Dread]

Interestingly enough, take a gander at Quesada's cover for Venom #1, especially at what's going on with the legs. Hmm....

Yeah, the 90's were wacky. Yet even back then, a non foil comic was still $1.50.

That Quesada variant does seem to be rather obvious about it.

 

[Shockdingo]

Gah, comics being only 1.50 seems like an eternity ago!

 

[Dread]

Some comics were still $1.99 in the year 2000. Some were even still $2.50 in 2005-2006.

 

[stillanerd]

Some comics were still $1.99 in the year 2000. Some were even still $2.50 in 2005-2006.

And once upon a time, fans would consider that was too much to pay for comics.

 

[WolfCypher]

Do we even need a heroic Venom when...ya know...we already have a heroic Venom?

Anti-Venom? That guy what hasn't been used in forever?

 

[Tron Bonne]

I don't really care all that much about Venom, any of them, but I really like this team.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

I don't really care all that much about Venom, any of them, but I really like this team.

Ha, I like Venom but don't have any feelings towards the creative team. I'll prob check this out

 

[Gamma Goliath]

New mystery venom and carnage coming? Plus Eddie Brock as anti-venom, I like it.

 

[Justkidding]

Do we even need a heroic Venom when...ya know...we already have a heroic Venom?

Anti-Venom? That guy what hasn't been used in forever?

Toxin too.



Well, I liked his mini series at least.