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Venom reviews: Lethal Protector; The Enemy Within; Carnage Unleashed; Venom vs. Carnage; Dark Origin
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.
Venom: Funeral Pyre
The bits of Venom buried under plot/antagonist/Punisher are sparse and fail to develop the character or capture any of their interesting qualities. Punisher's stilted voiceover infects all the dialog, and I don't want to read about him & this didn't change my mind. The art is the banal worst of comics, not bad enough to be funny but also busy and ugly. 1/5
Venom: The Madness
I'll probably never love American comic aesthetic and this—as the promising stylization/use of shadows tips over into plain Bad Art—is exactly why. The writing is also a little redundant and attempts character development for Juggernaut, which strikes me as a fool's errand. But Neconti gets it, hitting on so many of the elements that make Venom interesting, including but not limited to power exchange/consent within the symbiosis, personal responsibility/self-control, and a monster-curious/-wary love interest. This is what makes Venom, and this particular collection of Venom narratives, worthwhile. 3.5/5
Venom: Enemy Within
This progresses approximately nothing about Venom's character, and there's repetition in the narrative structure. But Morbius, who is new to me, is surprisingly not awful, and the interactions between Venom and Morbius are unexpectedly charming, despite that I still don't love comic-style banter. The art is decent. 2/5
Incredible Hulk vs. Venom
I only read this to see Venom's lower jaw elongate in every panel, which is certainly a ... creative decision: almost weird enough to work, but mostly silly. The actual narrative is decently paced for a one-shot, but I don't care about Hulk and this didn't change my mind. 2/5
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.
Venom: Carnage Unleashed
This, in my scattershot reading, is my first encounter with Carnage, and I'm disappointed by the combo of flat psychopathy and undermining bad humor; he's not memorable and has no chemistry with Venom. The plot here hasn't aged well, and what was probably cutting-edge technobabble has become precisely dated and innately hilarious. Venom isn't bad here, but everything else is. 1/5
Venom: Sinner Takes All
Bad meat on halfway-decent bones. The symbiont melding with another, its influence on personality, the themes of gender and consent, and the repercussions of Venom's actions and reputation all have potential. But Sin Eater is an uninteresting antagonist who's more of a callback than a thematic compliment, the repercussions frequently have ridiculous forms, and taking on gendered issues while drawing women like this is a lost cause. 1.5/5
Venom: Symbiote
A one-shot means the bulk of the issue is given to plot, but the outsider-view of the symbiont/symbiosis is fascinating—dark and strange, and I wish we got more of it. 3/5
Venom: Planet of the Symbionts
This is unexpectedly good. The diversity of artists is disorientating and highlights how uniquely but universally bad comics look. Otherwise, this is middling-to-strong. It's overambitious but mostly succeeds, and while I don't love every element of the worldbuilding I appreciate how substantial it is; the cast is overburnened by tie-ins but inoffensive and sometimes even charming, and Venom's underlying character arc is phenomenal, an intimate struggle with communication and ongoing themes of violence. I only wish the Other, and the symbionts in general, were better drawn—it would benefit so much of this. 3.5/5
Venom: Things Undreamt of...
The idea of the Other acting alone/entirely taking over a body is interesting, but this provides resolution for a character I've never encountered. Better for completionists; for me, pointless. 1/5
The Jury: Trial Run
Thematically this is on the mark, as ruminations on violence and the superhero/supervillian overlap compliment Venom's character. The arc itself isn't surprising or complex, but it's decent. But ultimately, who cares? The Jury isn't sufficiently interesting to justify a spin-off of a spin-off, or whatever degree of remove this is. 2/5
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.
Venom: Funeral Pyre
The bits of Venom buried under plot/antagonist/Punisher are sparse and fail to develop the character or capture any of their interesting qualities. Punisher's stilted voiceover infects all the dialog, and I don't want to read about him & this didn't change my mind. The art is the banal worst of comics, not bad enough to be funny but also busy and ugly. 1/5
Venom: The Madness
I'll probably never love American comic aesthetic and this—as the promising stylization/use of shadows tips over into plain Bad Art—is exactly why. The writing is also a little redundant and attempts character development for Juggernaut, which strikes me as a fool's errand. But Neconti gets it, hitting on so many of the elements that make Venom interesting, including but not limited to power exchange/consent within the symbiosis, personal responsibility/self-control, and a monster-curious/-wary love interest. This is what makes Venom, and this particular collection of Venom narratives, worthwhile. 3.5/5
Venom: Enemy Within
This progresses approximately nothing about Venom's character, and there's repetition in the narrative structure. But Morbius, who is new to me, is surprisingly not awful, and the interactions between Venom and Morbius are unexpectedly charming, despite that I still don't love comic-style banter. The art is decent. 2/5
Incredible Hulk vs. Venom
I only read this to see Venom's lower jaw elongate in every panel, which is certainly a ... creative decision: almost weird enough to work, but mostly silly. The actual narrative is decently paced for a one-shot, but I don't care about Hulk and this didn't change my mind. 2/5
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.
Venom: Carnage Unleashed
This, in my scattershot reading, is my first encounter with Carnage, and I'm disappointed by the combo of flat psychopathy and undermining bad humor; he's not memorable and has no chemistry with Venom. The plot here hasn't aged well, and what was probably cutting-edge technobabble has become precisely dated and innately hilarious. Venom isn't bad here, but everything else is. 1/5
Venom: Sinner Takes All
Bad meat on halfway-decent bones. The symbiont melding with another, its influence on personality, the themes of gender and consent, and the repercussions of Venom's actions and reputation all have potential. But Sin Eater is an uninteresting antagonist who's more of a callback than a thematic compliment, the repercussions frequently have ridiculous forms, and taking on gendered issues while drawing women like this is a lost cause. 1.5/5
Venom: Symbiote
A one-shot means the bulk of the issue is given to plot, but the outsider-view of the symbiont/symbiosis is fascinating—dark and strange, and I wish we got more of it. 3/5
Venom: Planet of the Symbionts
This is unexpectedly good. The diversity of artists is disorientating and highlights how uniquely but universally bad comics look. Otherwise, this is middling-to-strong. It's overambitious but mostly succeeds, and while I don't love every element of the worldbuilding I appreciate how substantial it is; the cast is overburnened by tie-ins but inoffensive and sometimes even charming, and Venom's underlying character arc is phenomenal, an intimate struggle with communication and ongoing themes of violence. I only wish the Other, and the symbionts in general, were better drawn—it would benefit so much of this. 3.5/5
Venom: Things Undreamt of...
The idea of the Other acting alone/entirely taking over a body is interesting, but this provides resolution for a character I've never encountered. Better for completionists; for me, pointless. 1/5
The Jury: Trial Run
Thematically this is on the mark, as ruminations on violence and the superhero/supervillian overlap compliment Venom's character. The arc itself isn't surprising or complex, but it's decent. But ultimately, who cares? The Jury isn't sufficiently interesting to justify a spin-off of a spin-off, or whatever degree of remove this is. 2/5
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.