Hey Todd Squad, today we're gonna check out the first issue of Venom since Rick Remender's departure. I'm on the fence about Cullen Bunn after Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe and Spider-Man: Season One, but he's writing Venom, a favorite of mine, and even writers I don't like have been surprising me when it comes to a Spidey-based character. *cough* Chris Yost *cough* So let's see how Cullen Bunn fares with Corporal Flash Thompson, Agent Venom.
Summary: This issue starts off with Venom on a recon mission, after being told by Hawkeye that due to recent events that he's on probation and should not pursue anyone, he's strictly on recon missions. Venom's night starts off with him meeting up with a reporter by the name of Katy Kiernan, as she gives him info about the Department of Occult Armaments. Venom investigates but of course, things end up going haywire so he has to get involved. The Symbiotic Superhero has to do this one alone since for some reason his communication systems with the Secret Avengers are blocked while inside the building. Venom takes out a bunch of "Nazi demon-worshippers" and starts freeing their prisoners from containment pods when one attacks Venom. The seemingly possessed prisoner suddenly stops attacking when he see's the mark on Venom's soul left by Mephisto, and when Venom commands him to leave, a demon exits the prisoner's body, leaving him unconscious. Venom has no time for answers as Hellstrom appears and brings the fight to Venom. Venom somehow doesn't lose the symbiote when hit by Hellstrom's fire, which confuses Hellstrom as well, and he catches Hellstrom off guard, demanding to know his plan. Hellstrom says the D.O.A. are building him an army of volunteers and that Venom is just like Hellstrom in the sense that people are waiting for him to go rogue and come after him, just like they did to Hellstrom. He says Venom is marked by the beast and knocks Venom into the pods that house his volunteers, causing some of the liquid they are submerged in to waste onto Venom. Flash screams out in pain as the symbiote contorts his body into a giant, demonic version of Venom as the issue comes to a close.
Thoughts: Well this issue was odd... I'm not a big fan of the stuff with guys like Hellstrom and Mephisto, and I didn't care for the Circle of Four storyline, so this immediately put me off. I did like the stuff with Venom and Katy and I would like to see more of Venom and the Avengers, which I can assume will happen soon as Hawkeye finds out that Venom got involved instead of just gathering info. All in all, this was a normal average issue, I enjoyed it less that I would've liked but it's far from bad.
Score: 6/10
Katy: Anyone ever tell you that you look like Spider-Man?
Venom: I've heard that a few times. It goes in hand with "I thought you'd be bigger." Different guy, though.
Hey JT I noticed you haven't been reading as many DC comics as you used too, did you see that Judd Winick and Rob Liefeld both quit DC this week?
ReplyDeleteI actually did see that earlier, I was at work all day 7-6... ugh... but yeah, I was happy to see Liefeld leave cause I'm not a big fan but I'm a big fan of Winick for bringing back Jason, helping to make him interesting, and his great work, especially on The Outsiders.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest Anon, after I dropped my first few books from DC it became really easy, especially after I dropped Red Hood... plus Marvel is doing some pretty good books, but I'm saddened that Brubaker is leaving. I enjoyed his Captain America run and his take on Bucky.
Yeah Brubaker is one of my all-time modern favorites.
ReplyDeleteGenerally I've been seeing a lot of writes complaining about the new 52 and lack of creative freedom in their writing nowadays at DC, honestly I just wish they had stuck to how it was before or maybe go back to it, I was really starting to get into a bunch of series back then and was disappointed to lose all of them.
Exactly, I'm hoping they take this as a sign to just go back to the way it was, keep a few things normal, still have the Outlaws but have Roy as older and beefed up as he was, but with both arms and not a Junkie, make Babs Oracle again but retcon all the Batgirl stuff to fit or something, I don't care, just go back to how it was pre-Flashpoint.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen that It looks like an Outsiders team to me...
ReplyDeletehttp://i.newsarama.com/images/JLA_2013_02.jpg
Yeah... that... is a really crappy team. Katana? Vibe? Really? I like Catwoman but she doesn't belong on a JLA squad. You're right Alien, that is definitely more Outsiders than anything else...
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