Hey guys and gals, JT here with my last review of the week, Venom's .1 issue. After the Minimum Carnage storyline and the oddly confusing Hellstrom storyline, I don't know how long I'll be following this series, so hopefully this pushes it in the right direction. This will be a quick review since I've got a lot on my plate at the moment, so bear with me guys and gals.
Summary: This issue started with Flash beating the hell out of some thugs he needed info for, even when they gave up, he continues to beat them senseless. Afterwards, he visits Hellstrom at the Raft, who gloats about Flash still having a marked soul and Flash starts to get angry and is made to leave. From there he visits his Mom, as she now lives in a nursing home, then meets with a guy named AJ, who Flash bullied in High School and broke his arm because he was gay. Flash apologizes to AJ, and AJ says it's all right, but AJ's husband and AJ whisper in another room about how AJ still wakes up with nightmares of Flash attacking him, but AJ doesnt find him scary now, he just pities him. From there we see Flash sleeping that night when he wakes up with red eyes, obviously possessed, and phones for the suit. From there we see him (as a creepier, sleeker Venom, not quite Agent Venom) attack a thug he put in the hospital, then he visits Flash's mom, and creepily tells her he'll be watching her sleeping. The next day, Flash meets with Peter and they talk about how he bullied Pete, with Pete basically saying Flash had him afraid to go to school and such, but he had to move on, and Flash says he'll do the same, and announces he's leaving New York and not coming back, as this issue ends.
Thoughts: This issue was fine, I could've done without the whole "Venom possessed thing", especially since he's leaving New York now so he won't be watching over his mom as creepy Venom or whatever, but the stuff with Peter and AJ was pretty well written. I'm perplexed though because even though I liked this issue, I don't see myself following Flash to Philly, but time will tell I guess.
Score: 5.5/10
Venom: I'll watch you sleeping.
That cover art is fucking terrible, lmao
ReplyDeleteLmao, I wasn't gonna say anything....
ReplyDeleteI like superman better
ReplyDelete???
DeleteI'm totally done. I mean, I liked this issue, I guess, but I don't feel like Bunn is the strongest writer. After all, why did AJ contact Flash in the first place? I'm not exactly going to call up folks who bullied me in high school to say, "Hey, let's hang! Hopefully you're an alcoholic amputee so I can feel good about myself!" Weird. The demon thing is bizarre. It's like "Red Hood and the Outlaws," where I expected one type of story and kept getting another. (Look, by the way: I'm in December!)
ReplyDeleteCheck you out, JW! You're starting to catch up! ;)
Delete"It's like "Red Hood and the Outlaws," where I expected one type of story and kept getting another." EXACTLY!!! That describes the problem with this series perfectly! I should have made the connection myself! Why has a series about an alien symbiote dissolved into some sort of demon tale?! Demons and Venom really don't go together. I mean, the symbiote should be enough. Why did we need to add a demon to the mix as well? I'm still clinging to this series, hoping it'll get better, there actually was one issue that was pretty okay, but man, for the most part I'm starting to think this series is a lost cause...
I know! I'm getting there. I'm actually returning to Boston tomorrow, which means I'm going to be handed another six weeks of comics. Good times!
DeleteSeriously, it's just been bizarre. Remember all the espionage/can-only-be-in-the-suit-for-48-hours-and-only-for-20-missions stuff from the "Project: Rebirth" era? That stuff was interesting. Now, we have demons. Plus, I'm pretty convinced that we only got the demons and such because of that ridiculous cross-over event that wound up promoting two books that had been canceled. If they hadn't forced the cross-over, I wonder if demons would've ever been introduced to this book. I feel like a decent editor probably needs to step in here at some point and say, "Um, why's Flash Thompson part-demon?" But, for the $7 or so that this comic regularly costs a month, I just can't say I care that much anymore. I'd rather spend it on some of the new "Marvel NOW!s"
(Also, DC is seriously killing my will to live. Between the mediocrity of "Justice League" and the back-to-back "Night of the Owls"/"Death of the Family" events, I haven't really enjoyed anything other than "Earth 2." I think I'm going to have to reassess once all these cross-overs end. I think "Nightwing" and "RHatO" might unfortunately be on the block.
Oh man... SIX weeks of comics is going to be both really fun to see, but a hell of a drain on your money! But hey, that means you're getting closer to reading stuff like Young Avengers #1! I can't wait to see what you thought about that issue...
DeleteThe weirdest thing about the demonic aspect of this comic(besides the fact that there IS actually a demonic aspect to this series...) is that it EASILY could have been ignored! The way I took that crossover to be was that Mephisto(or Blackheart, I don't remember who) was going to call upon the four heroes at a later date... I'm not sure when/why Flash was suddenly bonded to a demon... He's already bonded to a symbiote!!! What's next, a ghost?! Let's just bond Flash to anything we can!!! It makes no sense... So yeah, I definitely can't blame you, or JT for that matter, for dumping this series... I'm thisclose to cutting ties with it until a new writer gets it as well.
Ugh, DC... That company has fallen SO far for me... I mean just three years ago I was collecting WAY more DC comics than Marvel books... Now I'm down to a handful of DC comics and a mess of Marvel books. Sadly, DC almost HAS to have event after event with Batman, because Batman is one of their only books that is still selling well, even with Marvel Now! dominating the sales charts. Tie in other books to Batman, and you'll usually see a 10-20% increase in sales. You have to think that strategy will hurt them down the road if Batman fans get tired of the non-stop tie-ins though. Oh, here's some good DC news! James Tynion will be taking over the writing for Red Hood with issue #19! I don't know much about Tynion(I think he's a Snyder disciple), but here's hoping he can pull that book out of the muck Scott Lobdell has put it in...
Ooo, that's excellent news, X. He's written a bunch of back-up stories, if I remember correctly, including the history of Thomas Wayne, Jr. that ran through the end of the "Night of the Owls." They were pretty decent, so that's awesome. Seriously, otherwise, I would've totally be done at the end of DotF.
DeleteHonestly, I'm really, really impressed with Marvel. I've always been predominantly a Marvel fan, which brings with it a certain level of loathing. Marvel NOW! has been totally awesome, though. Like, no complaints at all. Do you think DC is going to pull the plug on the DCnU? I actually more or less believe them that they intended it to be a permanent shift, but they so obviously gave themselves an out with the Pandora business that I wonder if they're not going to do it just to boost sales.
I'm glad you mention that about Venom (the Blackheart bit), because I had the same impression. At no point do I remember him getting bonded with a demon, but, since I wasn't a fan of that arc, I wasn't going to re-read it. Glad to know I'm not crazy.
Yup, I never go through the comic news sites, but JT does, and when he sent me an email with that news? It literally made my day! From what I read about Tynion, he DID do those back-ups, and he's also writing Talon, which I know nothing about. But yeah, knowing Lobdell's reign of terror is almost over means there is a silver lining on the horizon! I literally can't wait!
DeleteSAME HERE! I'm sure I mentioned it before, but I grew up SOLELY as a Marvel fan. I was loyal to Marvel to the extent that I didn't buy ANY DC books. Marvel was my company, period. It was only when I started reading again, when Marvel was at it's absolute worse(for me anyway), around Secret Invasion, when I branched out to DC... And loved it! Being older, I had money, so I was able to buy thousands of back issues(eBay was my best friend!). Then Brightest Day came around, Marvel went back to their Heroic Age, and I switched sides again. But yeah, Marvel Now! is genius! It took all of the mistakes the New 52 made and DIDN'T repeat them! It was so smart! They gave talented writers new books, and DIDN'T retcon their entire universe! Seriously, brilliant! As for DC, I think Didio and Johns are too stubborn to admit they messed up. Because going back IS admitting you messed up. However, I've been advocating a single comic series, a DCU Presents sort of deal where we get a story from the former DCU. The first storyarc, a Wally West story. Second? Stephanie Brown. Third? Cassandra Cain, and so on. That would go SUCH a long way in making me hate DC less. I mean, Earth 2 is selling great, imagine how well THAT book would do?! I'll always hope they go back, but until DC shakes up the top of their company, I sadly don't see it happening...
Good, then we both recall the same thing! Like you, I have zero interest in rereading that mess, so since we both remember it going that way, I'm gonna take that as what happened.