Venom #7(Spider-Island tie-in):
Summary: This issue ties in VERY closely with Amazing Spider-Man #670 fyi. Anti-Venom is curing people of the spider-plague in a church, so the Queen sends the Spider-King, actually Venom in disguise, to kill Anti-Venom... Which actually doesn't make all that much sense if you REALLY think about it... I mean couldn't Anti-Venom simply cure Spider-King and turn him back into Steve Rogers(which is who the Queen thinks the Spider-King is)? Eh, no biggie... Venom asks his handlers how to tackle this, and they tell him to capture Anti-Venom and deliver him to Horizon Labs and Reed Richards, so Reed could hopefully fashion a cure. Flash Thompson changes his look into that of a normal person and begins to make his way through the crowd at the church to apprehend Anti-Venom. Flash tries to keep control as the symbiote reacts like a jilted lover at the site of it's former host. The symbiote reassures Flash that it liked him more and hated Eddie... HA! Anti-Venom immediately realizes that his old symbiote was present and attacks Flash, burning the symbiote with his touch. The two battle, and Anti-Venom tells Flash that the symbiote wasn't an alien, but was actually a demon that was slowly devouring Flash's soul. Anti-Venom goes on to say that Flash probably missed the symbiote when he was away from it, and looked forward to bonding with it when they were apart, things that Flash HAD been thinking to himself. Flash is horrified when he concludes that Eddie was right and forces the symbiote off of himself, at which time it races over to Eddie and begins to bond with him. Eddie panics, not wanting the “demon” to sully his soul again, and Flash realizes that he couldn't let the symbiote bond with Eddie, since doing so would destroy the Anti-Venom suit, and the potential spider-plague cure. Flash pleads with the symbiote to rejoin him, telling it that he needed it while Eddie would always fight it. The symbiote leaves Eddie and rebonds with Flash, which allows Flash to capture the unconscious Eddie and take him to Reed at the Lab. From there, Flash heads to his dying father's hospital bed just in time to make peace with his old man before he died.
Thoughts: Ooo, this comic was WAY better than I expected it to be! See, since I knew that Venom defeats Anti-Venom, I figured this comic wouldn't have anything worthwhile to say due to me already knowing what the end result was... But getting to that ending was a whole load of fun! Eddie's words to Flash, and Flash's doubts were perfectly portrayed here. I mean here was Eddie Brock, the man who wore the Venom symbiote longer than anybody, telling Flash everything that he had already been thinking about the symbiote. How he enjoyed the power it gave him. How he hated giving it up. How he looked forward to the next mission where he'd be wearing it. And Flash's reaction was great, to force the symbiote off of himself. I loved the symbiote's reaction after that point too. It made a beeline for it's real “love”, Eddie, and tried to force itself onto him. Finally there was Flash's awesome reaction to THAT, telling the symbiote that he needed it, since he did need it to complete the mission. Flash pleading with the symbiote makes you ask yourself, did Flash really beg the symbiote to come back because he wanted to complete the mission, or was he actually afraid of losing the power the symbiote gave him? Rick Remender did a wonderful job of blurring the line between Flash being a dutiful soldier doing anything to complete his mission, as well as showing Flash as a junkie afraid that he wasn't going to get that next fix. This issue did a fantastic job of further developing the characters of Flash Thompson, Eddie Brock AND the symbiote! And here I thought this was going to be a simple throwaway comic!
Score: 9 out of 10.
That's right Flash, you're addicted to Venom! Kind of like me...
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