Here's a comic I'm expecting a hell of a lot from, Venom. This issue begins the Savage Six storyline.
Venom #18:
Story Points:
-After his failed assassination attempt on Crime-Master, Venom is worried about his friends and loved ones, starting with his ex-girlfriend, Betty.
-Jack O' Lantern confronts Betty at a coffee shop and Venom luckily leaps in, spiriting Betty out of there.
-However, Betty thinks Venom is a super-villain and is terrified of him.
-Venom manages to hide Betty and avoids three of Crime-Master's goons, including the Eddie Brock version of Toxin.
-Betty runs for her life, terrified by the whole situation, so Venom corners her and reveals that he was really Flash(!!!), hoping that would calm Betty down, as well as explain his recent actions.
Thoughts: I have to say, this comic was ALMOST perfect... Almost... The only thing keeping it from perfection was how brief the Toxin/Venom confrontation was... I was expecting a bit more from that, and it was just so meh... Venom was like, “Oh, Toxin is Eddie Brock now, moving on...” It seemed like that meeting should have been more important... Besides that VERY little gripe? This was a great comic.
Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.
It makes sense that Flash would quickly realize that Brock was Toxin if you think about it, 1) Flash actually stole the Toxin for Crimemaster so he knows that those guys had it 2)after his heroic assasination attempt last issue he left Brock in CM's lair.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm thinking it's not gonna take hank pym to figure this one out
I think he meant more like, Flash was kinda okay with the fact Brock was Toxin and it didn't bother him, he just did what he did, webbed him up, and went on with his day, instead of a big fight, which is probably on the horizon.
ReplyDeleteYep, what JT said! It just seemed so anticlimactic to me. Flash figures out Toxin is Eddie and sort of continues with his day. I'd have preferred to see Toxin as the final member of the Six Flash bumped into, because you'd think that for Flash(and the dormant symbiote) Toxin is the biggest shock Crime-Master can throw Venom's way. Instead, Toxin/Eddie was the third member of the Six Flash came across.
ReplyDeleteI've absolutely loved this Venom series so far and there were several more great points here.The characterization of Flash's desperation, the dysfunctional Betty/Flash dynamic, the Parker/Brant interplay and how Peter supported Betty while still advocating Flash's case.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that disappoints me is how limited the characterization of the symbiotes has been. The Venom symbiote is more complex than just a plot device to turn Flash into a monster - anyone remember how the venom symbiote basically saved the world during the "Planet of the symbiotes" storyline and how he was a pariah in his own species because he preferred to bond with his hosts rather than destroying them?
And Toxin is a former hero himself, not a "I will eat your brains" trope as we saw here. I love Remender, but it seems to me that he's much more interested in Flash than caring a jot for the symbiotes themselves beyond devices for plot advancement.
I can appreciate what you're trying to say but Venom and Toxin aren't exactly #1 Avengers, i mean Venom's last host was Mac Gargan and that worked out great (although he was actually an avengers but it was dark reign so it doesnt count) and toxin wasn't as much a hero as the cop that was the host, the symbiotes seem to be more influenced by the negative emotions and personalities of whoever is their host.
Delete"the symbiotes seem to be more influenced by the negative emotions and personalities of whoever is their host." I was thinking along those same lines actually. Whenever Flash has really "Venomed out" it's usually been when he was extremely upset and you could reason that the symbiote was either feeding off of Flash's emotions or perhaps enhancing them. Or it could just be that there have been SO many different writers putting their own spin on the symbiote(s) that there really is no one set way to expect the symbiotes to act. I wouldn't really argue too strongly one way or the other, you both made some good points.
ReplyDeleteSo excited about the Betty reveal! I feel like it was perfect timing. In a couple of issues or so, it would've gotten unbearably annoying the lengths to which Remender was going to have to go to keep Betty in the dark. I mean, I didn't want her to become Flash's Lois Lane! By making the reveal here, Remender lets them move to the next level, whatever it'll be. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteYes exactly, JW! If Betty was going to remain in this comic, she REALLY needed to learn Flash was Venom. Now we can see how she reacts to the news(it does explain Flash's constant disappearances), and whether or not she'll take him back(if he was breaking dates to be a hero, is that really a bad thing?). But then again, everybody still seems to consider Venom a villain, so maybe she'll be thinking along the lines of, "Oh no, I've been dating a super-villain this whole time!!"
ReplyDeleteAgain! I mean, seriously, she's dated the Hobgoblin AND Venom! The girl is totally going to have a complex! (Though, did she actually know that Ned was the Hobgoblin? I have some gaps in my "Amazing Spider-Man" in the late 200s, so I'm not sure. Plus, I know it was all ret-conned to be Roderick Kingsley, so I'm not sure how that affected Betty and Ned.)
ReplyDelete