Stillanerd Reviews: Venom #150 review

Eddie Brock is back as Venom, and back to his “original numbering” in this extra-sized comic. But is his donning the symbiote again such a good idea?

Venom #150

“Heart of Darkness”

Writer: Mike Costa

Artist: Tradd Moore

Color Artist: Felipe Sobreiro

Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles

“Dependence Day”

Writer: Robbie Thompson

Artist: Gerardo Sandoval

Color Artist: Dono Sánchez-Almara

“Malled”

Writer: David Micheline

Penciler: Rom Lim

Inker: John Livesay

Colorist: Lee Loughridge

Cover Gallery Design: Nick Russell

Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles

Cover: Gerado Sandoval

Variant Covers: Mark Bagley and Richard Isanvoe (Remastered); Clayton Train; Gabriele Dell’Otto; Adam Kubert and Dean White; James Stokoe; and Skottie Young

As Spider-Man villains go, Venom seems out of place. One-half is a sentient, parasitic, shape-shifting alien oil slick, (kind of like the creature who killed Tasha Yar in Star Trek: The Next Generation) that was once upon a time Spidey’s literal costume.

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The other half is a disgraced ex-journalist seeking revenge after Spidey unintentionally exposed said journalist for falsifying a news story about a serial killer. Not exactly a character who fits with the street-level, comedy-of-errors settings of your average Spider-Man comic.

That said, Venom also has one the best character designs, making the already iconic black costume all the more so just by adding a mouth with razor-sharp teeth. This, of course, perfectly symbolizes how he’s a twisted, insane version of Spider-Man himself, and a scary one at that.

Even after almost 30 years, Spider-Man and Venom’s first battle in Amazing Spider-Man #300 still creates a sense of dread. After all, Peter is up against an opponent with all his powers, who knows every dark secret about him, and who’s immune to his spider-sense.

Credit: Tradd Moore (Marvel Comics); from Venom #150

….if there’s a recurring theme with this comic, it’s…how you can’t move forward by going backward. Right now, I’m thinking of a word that starts with “I” and ends in “Y.”

Since then, Venom has become a popular member of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery, often placed in the same prestige as the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. But as the recap page also points out, both Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote have undergone numerous changes, alterations, and retcons. For the past decade, they’ve also remained separate, the symbiote bonding itself to different hosts, while Eddie bonded with different symbiotes.

But by the end of Venom vol. 3 #6, Eddie and the Venom symbiote got back together again. Thus, in Mike Costa’s first story in Venom #150 (a number arrived at when counting the different miniseries and volumes together), we see the aftermath of their reunion. And if there’s a recurring theme, it’s “be careful what you wish for.” That and how you can’t move forward by going backward. Right now, I’m thinking of a word that starts with “I” and ends in “Y.”

After the traumatic experience of having the amoral Lee Price as a host, the symbiote has regressed into a “lethal protector” again. The comic even opens with Venom using excessive force on a group of high-tech suit-wearing bank robbers armed only with tasers. The symbiote has also developed skewed ideas when it comes to protecting Eddie as well, and what it considers threats. So much for it being “cleansed” after Bendis’ Guardians of the Galaxy.

Except Eddie isn’t the same person the symbiote once knew. This Eddie finds himself appalled by the symbiote’s tendency towards violence, an attitude the Eddie Brock of old never would’ve had. Moreover, becoming Venom again has made him question his own identity and purpose. As he explains to a Catholic priest—in the same church where he and the symbiote first bonded—Eddie “doesn’t know who [he and the symbiote] are together” anymore.

Credit: Tradd Moore (Marvel Comics); from Venom #150

Previous Venom stories have always had this undercurrent with equating Eddie and the symbiote as a romantic couple. Costa, however, makes this metaphor more explicit. Eddie openly calls the symbiote his “love,” while the symbiote compares their bond to a “marriage.” But, however one describes their relationship, it’s a toxic one that is built on mutual codependency. That Eddie is aware of this, yet can’t forego this “love” for the symbiote, gives his character some welcomed depth and pathos.

It also makes Eddie, for Costa, a symbol for Venom’s own fans, the ones who longed for the very reunification Eddie himself craved. This becomes more apparent once Eddie gets accosted by the Scorpion, Mac Gargan, another of the symbiote’s previous hosts. Never mind the accuracy of Eddie’s statement when he says, “As if [the symbiote] would ever leave me for you.” After years of putting up with Gargan Venom for as long as fans could stomach, it feels right.

Robbie Thompson’s contribution also shows the price bonding with the symbiote can have by finally explaining how it left Flash Thompson. The answer is underwhelming, even as it does also bridge Venom: Space Knight and the previous volume. But we see that, without each other for support, both Flash and the symbiote relapse back into self-destructive habits. For Flash, he hits a bar after losing and failing to find his friend; for the symbiote (as we saw in Venom vol. 3 #1) it’s taking a defenseless life to survive.

The final flashback story by Venom’s co-creator, David Micheline, depicting Eddie and the symbiote in their “prime,” serves as a fitting bookend. In both its writing style and art, it’s definitely more 1991 than 2017. Even so, it’s a darkly comedic reminder why Venom saw themselves as both a victim and a hero, and how their determination of who was “guilty” and “innocent” wasn’t so rigid at all.

Credit: Tradd Moore (Marvel Comics); from Venom #150

[Venom #150] embraces nostalgia by showing us its consequences, how wanting something back isn’t always for the best. Is that a contradiction? Of course. But if we’re honest, so, too, is Venom.

The art in all three stories is particularly strong, too, though not without some drawbacks. Tradd Moore’s rendition of Eddie Brock seems inspired by Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star, a small-sized head with over-sized eyes resting on top of an even more oversized, over-muscled body. But his, and other figures, looking off-kilter and exaggerated, enhances the surrealistic, dream-like atmosphere of Moore’s style.

This same surrealism permeates throughout the comic. We see this when Eddie’s shadow appears as his own white spider emblem: in the opening two-page spread where the symbiote “infects” the panels recapping Eddie’s life; and with the final splash page with its own morbid, sorrowful take on Michelangelo’s Pietà. But it’s especially apparent during Eddie’s transformations into Venom. A particular panel showing Eddie “bleeding” and “vomiting” the symbiote on himself is both imaginative and disgusting in equal measure.

Gerardo Sandoval’s art, like his work on the past six issues, also fits tonally. Whereas Moore’s work appears polished, Sandoval favors a more chaotic, rougher edge. His inking techniques remind me of some of Ryan Stegman’s work on Superior Spider-Man and Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows. Only Ron Lim in the final story does what could be described as “conventional comic book art.”

It can be argued that Venom #150, by bringing the character closer to his original roots, undoes all the development, good and bad. Not only is this valid criticism, it’s precisely the point the comic makes. It embraces nostalgia by showing us its consequences, how wanting something back isn’t always for the best. Is that a contradiction? Of course. But if we’re honest, so too is Venom.

Stillanerd’s Score: 4 out of 5

Next: Stillanerd Reviews: X-Men: Gold vol. 2 #4 review

Credit: Tradd Moore (Marvel Comics); from Venom #150

Stillanerd’s Nerdy Nitpicks (possible spoilers)

Quoting a work of classic literature, in this case Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” during a series of silent, symbolic panels? Guess someone’s been reading Alan Moore’s Watchmen recently.
Yep, Eddie Brock used to be married to one Anne Weying. What the recap didn’t tell you is that she was also one of Venom’s former hosts.
So the spread shows Carnage, Scream, Lasher, Phage, Riot, Agony, Scorpion from “New Ways to Die,” Eddie as Venom, Anti-Venom, and Toxin … sheesh, Marvel really went overboard on their symbiotes, didn’t they?
“That’s … absurd.” You know what’s even more absurd? Venom. It’s an anti-gravity tomato. Or is it an anti-gravity container?
Quick bit of trivia: the name of the fictional church Eddie visits (where he first became Venom, and where Spider-Man also discarded the costume) is called Our Lady of Saints. Surprised the issue didn’t actually mention it by name.
Anyone else notice the patch on Eddie’s jacket? Not as though you can really miss it.
Yep, the symbiote can take control of its host even while they’re asleep, which also happened with Spider-Man when he wore the suit.
Hmm … so Wambaugh has been after the symbiote for much longer than we thought.
Hey, Nick Russell? I believe Venom: The Hunted came out before Venom: The Hunger. And Venom On Trial came out before Venom: License to Kill. Both of which also preceded Venom Finale. And you forgot Venom: Sign of the Boss, too. So this comic should be Venom #152.
So there’s still no explanation for how Venom makes a coherent sentence with this tongue sticking out of his mouth?

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