With the digital release of Spider-Man: Birth of Venom, I wanted to make some edits from Todd McFarlane’s art. Feel free to use them!
With the announcement of Marvel vs Capcom Infinite today, who's ready for the best character in the series to make a comeback? Any other symbiote characters you might want to see? Artwork from Marvel vs. Capcom 1 and 2
My Thoughts on Venom #1: Silly edit aside, this issue felt underwhelming. Editor Devin Lewis is calling this series a love letter to Venom fans, but it's hard to call it that when the series is already deceiving and confusing Venom fans to begin with. From the beginning, this series has been advertised with the tagline "Lethal Arrival" with a total of six covers including variants depicting an Eddie Brock styled Venom with only the action figure variant depicting Lee Price Venom's new look. This led many long time Venom fans and new readers expecting Venom to return to status quo with Eddie Brock. To counter this, we've had Devin Lewis specifically announce at NYCC that "Eddie Brock is in this book and will play a big part in it," but issue four solicitation yesterday makes no reference to Brock questioning when he will ever appear. Brock, for the time being, does not seem to be as critical to this book as he is in the current Carnage series. It's not just Eddie Brock fans that are being deceived, fans of Flash Thompson's Venom are being left in the dark over how he is no longer bonded to the Venom symbiote after the happy ending in the final issue of Venom: Space Knight. Flash has become one of Venom's most popular hosts, and it's at the very least insulting that he did not get a proper send off as Venom that Brock and Gargan received. Venom: Space Knight might not have been the best received or best selling Venom series, but the fans deserve to know what happen in between these two series, assuming this new Venom series lasts that long to tell us. Which leads me to our new protagonist, Lee Price, thus far he does not seem like a character that people would be able to connect with or enjoy. This new series is all about Venom becoming a monster again in the vein of Mac Gargan's Venom, but therein lies the problem. Mac Gargan's Venom has been if not the worst received version of the Venom character to date, though he did have his fans. People liked that Venom was an anti-hero with a twisted moral code and hated seeing him reduced to a monstrous and unlikeable cannibal in the hands of Gargan. So it saddens me that they've decided to take notes from Gargan's Venom instead of imitating either Brock or Thompson. Lee Price himself seems like a poor attempt to touch bases with fans of the three major Venoms. He has a look similar to Brock's Venom, he's pure evil like Gargan, and he's an amputee that served in the military like Thompson. At the moment, Lee to me is very unlikable and incapable of caring this book by himself. I suspect that the only thing keeping this book afloat will be the guest appearances from characters in the Venom mythos and all the variant covers that are sure to come. I apologize for this long and incoherent rambling, but I'm very passionate about Venom and am starting to feel wary with all the ways Marvel has been trying to recreate Venom. What do you guys think? Is this series something you'll still have in your pull list? Either way, I'll be sure to keep you updated!
Eddie Brock/Venom/Anti-Venom loves to impersonate men in uniform, a sequel to Venom loves to sing.
From The Amazing Spider-Man #317, #332, #323 Venom: Lethal Protector #2 Venom: Carnage Unleashed #2 and The Amazing Spider-Man #664
In the 2003 Ultimate Spider-Man Venom story arc (issues #33-39), Venom is depicted on the issue covers as having a white spider symbol similar to his 616 counterpart. However, when Eddie Brock Jr. became Venom, Venom is missing his spider symbol. Mark Bagley’s original pages for the story show that it was originally intended for Venom to have his classic spider symbol, but one did manage to slip through in a panel in issue 38 (shown above). Venom is most likely missing his spider symbol in the final pages to differentiate Ultimate Venom from 616 Venom or it’s more likely because the sample of the Venom suit that Eddie Brock Jr. bonded with was never bonded to Peter Parker, who had destroyed the sample he used.
In the 2009 series, Venom: Dark Origin, Eddie Brock’s ex-wife, Ann Weying, and later She-Venom, was black in the single issues. When the series was collected into a trade paper back, she was “fixed” into being colored white.
I never understood the point of this change when Ann has always been a minor character who’s last appearance was nine years prior to the release of this series, and given that this series already retconned most of Eddie Brock’s past, early interactions as Venom, and his personality, this change seems mute in comparison.