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I've fallen down a rabbit hole but not (this metaphor doesn't work) an exhaustive rabbit hole, insofar as I've been reading anything Venom I can easily get my hands on across two libraries. Skipped the actual origin because I have no the strength to seek out specific Spider-Man issues! (Still & forever confused that it's not "Spiderman"—is this the Mandela Effect?) Skipping indeed anything that one or another library doesn't happen to have in a convenient volume! Regretting nothing!
Every time I read American comics I find them mediocre, but I also come to them with a specific trope/dynamic in mind—it's intimacy, it's always intimacy: I read (some of) Deadpool for his relationship with death, and read this for symbiosis—so it's worth it. Almost any other comic probably would not be worth it, for me.
Title: Venom: Lethal Protector
Author: David Michelinie
Published: Marvel, 2018 (1993)
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 145
Total Page Count: 328,770
Text Number: 1170
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library (or: Juu remembers she has access to Hoopla)
Review: There are aspects of Venom as a character that I expected to like, and I did like them when present: the plural pronoun, the fact that the symbiont is the only clothing Brock wears, the reunion scene at the end; it's an unusual intimacy if I've ever seen one, and I'm trash for that trope. But all the rest of this is everything that I don't like in comics, from bulging muscles to bland one-liners to stilted expository dialog. This last would be much alleviated—and there would be more of the good parts—if the symbiont were given dialog, rather than having it related, clumsily, through Brock.
Title: Venom: The Enemy Within (collecting Venom: Funeral Pyre, Venom: The Madness, Venom: Enemy Within, and Incredible Hulk vs. Venom)
Author: Carl Potts, Ann Nocenti, Bruce Jones, Peter David
Published: Marvel, 2013
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 240
Total Page Count: 330,440
Text Number: 1183
Read Because: personal enjoyment, paperback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: TL;DR: Neconti's The Madness is the only standout; the rest is skippable. Rating biased towards the former, but really this is a 2-star book.
( Long version. )
Title: Venom: Carnage Unleashed (collecting Venom: Carnage Unleashed, Venom: Sinner Takes All, Venom: Symbiote, Venom: Planet of the Symbionts; Venom: Things Undreamt of...; The Jury: Trial Run)
Author: Larry Hama, Marv Wolfman, David Michelinie, Dan Slott
Published: Marvel, 2017 (1995)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 415
Total Page Count: 332,070
Text Number: 1188
Read Because: personal enjoyment, paperback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: TL;DR: Planet of the Symbionts is surprisingly robust and justifies this collection; it skews my rating. The rest isn't just skippable but outright bad, excepting Wolfman's oneshot.
( Long version. )
Title: Venom vs. Carnage
Author: Peter Milligan
Published: Marvel, 2007 (2004)
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 332,750
Text Number: 1193
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Overt antihero Venom, a ton of usually-scarce Carnage, daddy-issues and pregnancy, and the distinct but questionable stylistic choice that is the hyperdetailed, shiny art makes this a lot to handle. Sometimes it's unsettling in a good way, like the dripping tentacle-y symbionts; sometimes it's a fleshy pregnant belly and it just feels ... weird. Bad weird. All that said, Toxin is an interesting character who compliments the series' ongoing themes of violence, antiheroism, and consenting symbiosis—but his arc is undermined by the fact that Venom's characterization ignores so much of that character's growth along parallel lines.
A memorable volume! but not always in a good way, and not always good, generally speaking.
Title: Venom: Dark Origin
Author: Zeb Wells
Published: Marvel, 2009
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 120
Total Page Count: 332,870
Text Number: 1194
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: I didn't even read the comics where Venom first appears, and I still feel that retelling his origin is tiresome. Attempting to cram everything, including backstory, into a single arc makes for bad pacing, and the intro drags while the finale rushes. That said, retelling gives the opportunity to highlight specific elements, and this has two things to say: First, that pre-Venom Eddie is awful—and while I appreciate the insistence and lack of forgiveness, it's still unpleasant to read. Second, as horrible as the character is, however irrational and selfish his behavior, his bond with the symbiont is an active choice. It's informed, consenting—and complicated, and intimate, and powerfully intriguing. The art follows similar lines, from gross fisheye closeups of Eddie to the dynamic, unsettling illustrations of Venom (questionable anatomy, as always, excepted). What a mess! but upon occasion a beautiful mess: despite its own best efforts, the middle of this is some of the more rewarding Venom material.
Every time I read American comics I find them mediocre, but I also come to them with a specific trope/dynamic in mind—it's intimacy, it's always intimacy: I read (some of) Deadpool for his relationship with death, and read this for symbiosis—so it's worth it. Almost any other comic probably would not be worth it, for me.
Title: Venom: Lethal Protector
Author: David Michelinie
Published: Marvel, 2018 (1993)
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 145
Total Page Count: 328,770
Text Number: 1170
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library (or: Juu remembers she has access to Hoopla)
Review: There are aspects of Venom as a character that I expected to like, and I did like them when present: the plural pronoun, the fact that the symbiont is the only clothing Brock wears, the reunion scene at the end; it's an unusual intimacy if I've ever seen one, and I'm trash for that trope. But all the rest of this is everything that I don't like in comics, from bulging muscles to bland one-liners to stilted expository dialog. This last would be much alleviated—and there would be more of the good parts—if the symbiont were given dialog, rather than having it related, clumsily, through Brock.
Title: Venom: The Enemy Within (collecting Venom: Funeral Pyre, Venom: The Madness, Venom: Enemy Within, and Incredible Hulk vs. Venom)
Author: Carl Potts, Ann Nocenti, Bruce Jones, Peter David
Published: Marvel, 2013
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 240
Total Page Count: 330,440
Text Number: 1183
Read Because: personal enjoyment, paperback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: TL;DR: Neconti's The Madness is the only standout; the rest is skippable. Rating biased towards the former, but really this is a 2-star book.
( Long version. )
Title: Venom: Carnage Unleashed (collecting Venom: Carnage Unleashed, Venom: Sinner Takes All, Venom: Symbiote, Venom: Planet of the Symbionts; Venom: Things Undreamt of...; The Jury: Trial Run)
Author: Larry Hama, Marv Wolfman, David Michelinie, Dan Slott
Published: Marvel, 2017 (1995)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 415
Total Page Count: 332,070
Text Number: 1188
Read Because: personal enjoyment, paperback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: TL;DR: Planet of the Symbionts is surprisingly robust and justifies this collection; it skews my rating. The rest isn't just skippable but outright bad, excepting Wolfman's oneshot.
( Long version. )
Title: Venom vs. Carnage
Author: Peter Milligan
Published: Marvel, 2007 (2004)
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 332,750
Text Number: 1193
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Overt antihero Venom, a ton of usually-scarce Carnage, daddy-issues and pregnancy, and the distinct but questionable stylistic choice that is the hyperdetailed, shiny art makes this a lot to handle. Sometimes it's unsettling in a good way, like the dripping tentacle-y symbionts; sometimes it's a fleshy pregnant belly and it just feels ... weird. Bad weird. All that said, Toxin is an interesting character who compliments the series' ongoing themes of violence, antiheroism, and consenting symbiosis—but his arc is undermined by the fact that Venom's characterization ignores so much of that character's growth along parallel lines.
A memorable volume! but not always in a good way, and not always good, generally speaking.
Title: Venom: Dark Origin
Author: Zeb Wells
Published: Marvel, 2009
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 120
Total Page Count: 332,870
Text Number: 1194
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: I didn't even read the comics where Venom first appears, and I still feel that retelling his origin is tiresome. Attempting to cram everything, including backstory, into a single arc makes for bad pacing, and the intro drags while the finale rushes. That said, retelling gives the opportunity to highlight specific elements, and this has two things to say: First, that pre-Venom Eddie is awful—and while I appreciate the insistence and lack of forgiveness, it's still unpleasant to read. Second, as horrible as the character is, however irrational and selfish his behavior, his bond with the symbiont is an active choice. It's informed, consenting—and complicated, and intimate, and powerfully intriguing. The art follows similar lines, from gross fisheye closeups of Eddie to the dynamic, unsettling illustrations of Venom (questionable anatomy, as always, excepted). What a mess! but upon occasion a beautiful mess: despite its own best efforts, the middle of this is some of the more rewarding Venom material.
