Venom #7 Review/SPOILERS

Donny Cates' Venom run ain't slowing down any time soon.

One might think with Ryan Stegman taking a couple of issues off that any big deal stuff might be on hold until his return but, nope, this is a must read.

The fallout from the series' first run begins to be dealt with as Eddie finds himself in a mysterious holding cell and being interrogated by a figure who we don't immediately see for ourselves.

This figure is grilling Eddie on the whereabouts of the sample this person's team took of the dead symbiotic dragon. Eddie doesn't know what this person is talking about. As far as he's concerned, after he passed out after roasting the dragon in a blast furnace, the next thing he knew, he was in this cell.

Eddie assumes he's being held by S.H.E.I.L.D. but his interrogator tells him that's not the case. We see that the person questioning Eddie is none other than the Reed Richards of the Ultimate universe, known as The Maker. The Maker is currently working with an organization calling itself Project Oversight and they believe Eddie knows where the sample went to.

When Eddie reiterates that he went from passing out by the blast furnace to waking up in custody, The Maker informs him that that isn't the case. The symbiote took over Eddie, fought The Maker's team (killing several members), and went on the run for three weeks.

They finally found him at Brock's father's house in San Francisco and took him in. Eddie remembers none of this, including seeing his father.

The Maker says the symboite has been protecting Eddie, shielding him from memories that it believes will upset Eddie.

When Eddie demands The Maker return the symboite to him, it's revealed that it's still attached to Eddie but is now silent. The damage it sustained in the battle with its god has silenced it and removed its personality. When Eddie tells The Maker to fix it, The Maker explains that the only way to restore its original makeup would be to reconnect it and restore it from the central hive itself. He notes that Flash Thompson was the only person to survive that experience and now that Flash is dead...

A shocked Eddie stops him. This is the first time he's learning that Flash has died.

TO BE CONTINUED.

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I really dug this issue. Rather than the slam-bang action of the first arc, this is more of a dramatic, psychological issue that lays down tracks for what's next.

After reading Immortal Hulk today, I didn't think anything else could out shock that issue but the reveal of the The Maker here floored me. Totally unexpected to see him pop up in this book. What he and Project Oversight are up to (and who else is in Project Oversight, for that matter) should make for some interesting reading, to say the least.

I also liked the brief glimpse of Eddie father here and am intrigued by the promise that we'll be getting an exploration of Eddie's relationship with his dad.

Damn, seeing Eddie wearing Venom sort of freaks me out now since Venom is effectively lobotimized. It's so creepy.

And I really liked the explanation on Venom's green spit lol

Considering what Cates as revealed the klyntar to actually be, the Maker being involved makes a ton of sense. Yes, Venom is often valued as a weapon, but look at how powerful All Black the Necrosword is. The last time we saw the Maker, he was trying to basically recreate his own reality or something. I loved that run but I wasn't sure what his actual endgame was. The guy is a liar and can't really be trusted.

This makes the entire situation with Eddie and Venom all that more frustruating/interesting. We can't trust anything Reed says, but then you have Venom messing with Eddie's memory. What makes his reaction to Flash's death so shocking is that we know Eddie and Venom attended his funeral. Venom watched Flash die. Eddie clearly knew that Flash was dead.

But why would Venom make him forget that? What does this mean? Does this mean the lobotimized symbiote just immediately erases any memory that is the least bit painful? Because while Flash's death was pretty traumatic, it doesn't seem like it would be particularly thay painful for Eddie.

It was, however, probably pretty bad for Venom. Could it thus be wondered if Venom is more aware than we know? I mean, what does Ultimate Reed know about 616 symbiotes?

I am shaken to the core by the revelation that Venom is just...constantly pooping. Pooping [I]out his mouth[/I].

[QUOTE=Rob London;3957326]I am shaken to the core by the revelation that Venom is just...constantly pooping. Pooping [I]out his mouth[/I].[/QUOTE]

He's a pretty gross dude!

[QUOTE=Rob London;3957326]I am shaken to the core by the revelation that Venom is just...constantly pooping. Pooping [I]out his mouth[/I].[/QUOTE]

It makes sense. The thing doesn't have a real digestive track as we know it.

[QUOTE=Rosebunse;3957216]Damn, seeing Eddie wearing Venom sort of freaks me out now since Venom is effectively lobotimized. It's so creepy.

And I really liked the explanation on Venom's green spit lol

Considering what Cates as revealed the klyntar to actually be, the Maker being involved makes a ton of sense. Yes, Venom is often valued as a weapon, but look at how powerful All Black the Necrosword is. The last time we saw the Maker, he was trying to basically recreate his own reality or something. I loved that run but I wasn't sure what his actual endgame was. The guy is a liar and can't really be trusted.

This makes the entire situation with Eddie and Venom all that more frustruating/interesting. We can't trust anything Reed says, but then you have Venom messing with Eddie's memory. What makes his reaction to Flash's death so shocking is that we know Eddie and Venom attended his funeral. Venom watched Flash die. Eddie clearly knew that Flash was dead.

But why would Venom make him forget that? What does this mean? Does this mean the lobotimized symbiote just immediately erases any memory that is the least bit painful? Because while Flash's death was pretty traumatic, it doesn't seem like it would be particularly thay painful for Eddie.[/QUOTE]

Not sure why Venom would make Eddie forget that Flash was dead. I supposed we'll find out but whatever the explanation, it's definitely unsettling to learn that the symboite has been screwing so hard with Eddie's mind.

Good issue. I never expected to see Ultimate Reed Richards as a main villain in a 616 Venom series. That was a big surprise and i am really curious to see where this is going. Only weird thing is the last page. Did we really need a full page spread of Eddies face learning something we the readers and Eddie already know?

[QUOTE=Scarlet-Spider;3957962]Good issue. I never expected to see Ultimate Reed Richards as a main villain in a 616 Venom series. That was a big surprise and i am really curious to see where this is going. Only weird thing is the last page. Did we really need a full page spread of Eddies face learning something we the readers and Eddie already know?[/QUOTE]

I think the impact is supposed to be in seeing Eddie react as though he's never heard this before, the question being why would that be?

[QUOTE=Scarlet-Spider;3957962]Good issue. I never expected to see Ultimate Reed Richards as a main villain in a 616 Venom series. That was a big surprise and i am really curious to see where this is going. Only weird thing is the last page. Did we really need a full page spread of Eddies face learning something we the readers and Eddie already know?[/QUOTE]

It's not a shock because we all know that Flash is dead, rather, it's a shock because we know that Eddie knows Flash is dead.

We know that the nonsentient Venom costume is removing memories that it deems harmful, which would imply that it is the reason Eddie can't remember.

Now, there are two different reasons this could be important: for one, if the symbiote removed a memory like that, what else does Eddie not remember? Let's remember that Eddie's life has objectively sucked. Think of all the other memories that could be considered harmful. Eddie probably went all the way to his father's home because he didn't remember all of the bad stuff between them. As we can see, this is actually pretty dangerous for Eddie and could lead him to trusting someone he shouldn't or getting into a dangerous situation.

This leads to the second reason why this is important: Why would Venom remove that memory? As I said before, Flash's death wouldn't be a particularly painful one for Eddie. I'm sure he liked and respected Flash as a hero, but would it really be that painful that the symbiote had to remove it? Who was Flash's death painful for? Venom, that's who. Venom was ready to eat Norman's brain and kill Carnage for them killing Flash. Venom really liked Flash.

Perhaps this means that some part of Venom is still alive and well inside of the symbiote? Or it means that Eddie is very bonded to Venom and it picked for him to forget what Venom would find painful? Or it's just making him forget any little painful thing.

You also need to remember just how manipulative Venom can be under normal circumstances. How much worse could that normal tampering be when the symbiote isn't even aware of what or why it's doing anything?

Wow, wow, wow!!! Once again Cates delivers a fantastic issue. Even without a lot of action it was still tense and exciting! This and ImmortL Hulk are my favorite series of the year!

I was generally susprised to see the Maker. And the set up for the arc is intresting. I wonder if this group that has eddie will also be involved in the returm of Carnage. Either way them having a pie e of Grendal is back enough ;)

[QUOTE=berserkerclaw;3962239]I was generally susprised to see the Maker. And the set up for the arc is intresting. I wonder if this group that has eddie will also be involved in the returm of Carnage. Either way them having a pie e of Grendal is back enough ;)[/QUOTE]

He seems more interested in Grendal than Carnage, but Reed is definitely someone who would try and use Carnage and make things worse.

Frankly, I feel like him being from the more realistic Ultimate universe is going to bite him in the ass again. Symbiotes in the 616 universe are a lot different than what he's used to.

I liked this issue, and there were a few clever nods to the movie during the action sequence. I'm not sure that I like the idea of the green slime being the symbiote's way of getting rid of waste. Personally, I always thought that they were toxins that Venom secreted in case he bit somebody, like when he nearly killed Sandman.

Another solid issue IMO.