Is Venom a truly interesting character or just an icon?

[Mutant 77]

Please, don't get me wrong. I don't like the character too much, I found it as being derivative a lot.

Anyway, I respect those who love him, and I ask:

Do you find VENOM interesting as character or just "iconic" and visually striking?

[SuperiorIronman]

Venom is visually striking but more often than not his stories just aren't very good. The character does have a few good stories under its belt but it's a character that largely survived under its aesthetic prior to relaunches with Mac Garagan and Flash Thompson. There is good reason that much of his media appearances are "Birth of Venom" arcs as it's usually a crapshoot following that if they are any good or not.

Venom is an interesting character but you do kind of have to dig for it. The average fan can't tell you why he's deeper than a puddle and that's a problem. It's something these days that's resolved, and also unfortunately backtracked on. Venom kind of has a problem of throwing out things or redefining characters for no reason. Sometimes it works, but it usually results in creative teams cleaning up messes, sometimes for messes that aren't even real.

[Snoop Dogg]

Venom, conceptually and outside of Spider-Man, is an interesting concept in general.

Eddie Brock, the character associated with Venom, was not interesting or layered until Dark Origin and BND.

Venom, as an independent comic book franchise, has been interesting and consistently high quality since Agent Venom started. Well, Venomverse and Venomized kinda suck, but the ongoings have all been good.

Venom, the single by Eminem, is a pretty shallow but really catchy song accompanied by a fun music video.

Venom, referring to the various beverages that I drink in the middle of the night, is pretty interesting, but not healthy.

[Aura Blaize]

He's gone through phases. When he was introduced, he was a character with potential. Then he became flat. Only around for a quick buck. Agent Venom breathed new life into things and now with Eddie back, it seems like Marvel is actually focusing on all that potential he has. The movie was a hit and the current ongoing is being called the best yet.

[Celgress]

Historically speaking Eddie Brock hasn't been that interesting a character beyond the concept of Venom. Otto, Kaine and arguably even Ben have each proven themselves a better dark Spider-Man than has Eddie's Venom. Also, Flash wore the suit well in his role as a straight up hero with a military edge. With that said, however, the Venom concept itself is an endlessly fascinating one. I've read many What If? takes on Venom with a different host, including some fanfics (for example, I'm currently reading a new ongoing story in which Gwen became Venom after she ended up in a coma for several years rather than died at the hands of Green Goblin https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1309622...om-is-the-Cure), which are top notch.

[Mister Mets]

I thought the alien costume was a cool idea, but Eddie Brock was less interesting than most comics characters who suddenly become popular (Deadpool, Cable, Elektra, Punisher, Moon Knight, etc.)

[Mutant 77]

He's gone through phases. When he was introduced, he was a character with potential. Then he became flat. Only around for a quick buck. Agent Venom breathed new life into things and now with Eddie back, it seems like Marvel is actually focusing on all that potential he has. The movie was a hit and the current ongoing is being called the best yet.

Agent Venom looks and sounds infinitely more cool IMHO.

[Snoop Dogg]

The problem with Agent Venom was that everything that made him cool had nothing to do with symbiotes or having an other or bonding with an alien. The general concepts of Venom. So while I would rather read a Venom book about Flash, I agree with the decision to make Eddie the lead again. Don't bring Flash back to life. Signed, Flash fan.