Written by Dan Slott
Illustrated by Humberto RamosSTART READING with this Point One issue to learn the new meaning for great power and great responsibility! Witness the birth of a new Spider-Man in the start of a brand-new story arc! Bonded to the dangerous and powerful Venom symbiote, this new webslinger is showing Peter Parker up in the hero department! Plus, who will Spider-Man turn to in his darkest hour? Believe us, it’s not who you think!
An issue about Venom! Yes! With Remender and Moore’s series on the way (and honestly – who in their right mind isn’t excited about that?), Slott and Ramos give us our first official look at what the suit will be like in action, from the good all the way to the bad.
Click behind the cut for some thoughts on the issue.
Without editorializing too much, Venom is a personal favorite. When I was a kid, I mostly read random comics at random intervals, but the one comic I followed prominently was the story of Eddie Brock/Venom when he went solo as the Lethal Protector (released February 1st, 1993, when I was 6 years old!). That being said, Venom stories have always been important to me, and he is the one character who I allowed myself to buy books of “just because he appeared in them.” When Mark Millar changed that in 2004 (when I was 17) and ultimately gave Mac Gargan the suit, yours truly was rather disappointed in the way things played out, and my love of Venom dissipated. Queue Dan Slott, who has been writing a truly great Spider-Man run, giving Venom not only to Flash Thompson but also to Rick Remender and Tony Moore, two fantastic creators. Interest restored!
And now we have the first official story of Venom/Flash in action. Re-imagined now as a spy story, Venom is now a black ops character centering around one of the most deserved characters in Spidey’s group of friends. Flash started his career in Amazing Spider-Man as an antagonist, but seeing the character grow with his time in Iraq, which reflected heavily on his love of Spider-Man and what he does, has been incredibly redeeming for the character. To allow a character who himself has gone through a lot of redemption being the catalyst to redeeming Venom as a legitimate anti-hero type character is a very fun thing to watch, and while Remender promises even bigger and more insane stories (Venom vs. a dinosaur riding Kraven?) than this one, this one does set a rather good standard and pace to the “new” character.
Venom is no longer a villain, but is here much more of a hero, with the twist being that ultimately, this could lead Flash down a very dark path. This is a great element to introduce, as Slott works in a “break down” element for the character, that not only offers up two succinct twists to the tale, but also sets more rules. See, the story begins with a set amount of rules: no prolonged exposure to the suit and only 20 missions per tour of duty. And what’s ultimately exciting is that with the additional things Slott puts into the story via Flash’s solo off-the-grid reactions to the suit changes some of these rules, and if there was ever a creator to break the rules, it’s Rick Remender – and having this wild card so clearly displayed for all to see is essentially the ultimate enticement to a title that already is a surefire hit.
Suffice it to say, Slott allows a great way to deviate from the main story of Spider-Man and get in with this issue. There are slight waves felt from the previous issue (i.e. the death of Jonah’s wife), but they ultimately don’t impact the story heavily. What they do show is very minimal, but should be an interesting preview of the story to come with the #655 (at least, I can hope we see the fleshed out version of these scenes). Of course, what’s notable here is that as good of an issue this is, it’s not inherently the best entry point to Spidey, but rather the best entry point to the new Venom ongoing. Venom admittedly will only be slightly related to the main Spidey ongoing as Spidey joins the Fantastic Four and his adventures increase tenfold (if the teaser at the end of the issue is any indication), and while the end of the issue does do a good job of saying “Hey, here’s what to expect!”, not a lot of this issue has anything to do at all with Peter Parker. A good issue is a good issue regardless, but this would’ve made just as much sense as Venom #0.1.
Continued belowHumberto Ramos also offers up an interesting set of art for the book. While it’s not entirely wise to compare him to the work of Tony Moore (especially when Venom #1 isn’t out yet) as the two have rather different styles, the preview art for Venom does leave expectations rather high, and Ramos has a definitive style that is a tad bit “cartoonish” in comparison. This isn’t to say Ramos is bad – it’s not. Ramos does a great job of showing Flash’s freakout, as well as some of the sleeker spy-centric sequences of the book in a style that’s much more rounded out than his average issue (such as his work in the first arc of Big Time). However, excitement over Moore’s work does inadvertently effect the perception of this issue, albeit mildly.
Either way, the issue as a stand alone preview of what’s to come in Venom is a great start. While it’s Spider-Man connection is minimal at best, the issue succeeds in making the excitement for the Venom title rampart upwards exponentially, and you’d be hard pressed to find anyone not willing to give this idea an issue or two now. The future Spidey teases are frosting on the cake as well, and this further goes to prove that in the hands of Dan Slott, Spidey’s universe couldn’t be in better shape.
Final Verdict: 9.2 – Buy
