I've been keeping up with Donny Cates' run on Venom and it feels like he's done a major job in divorcing Venom from being a Spider-Man property within the Marvel Universe, and instead feels like an independent entity. This shows in multiple ways, such as presence of The Maker, the Symbiotes tying heavily into Cosmic Marvel such as Asgard and the Silver Surfer, and the Absolute Carnage event being Marvel-wide instead of a Spider-crossover. The general feel did not make me think "I'm reading a Spider-title", as much as it was that I was reading an independent hero altogether.
Though it's true it features Venom teaming up with Miles Morales in the first arc, that honestly feels less to do with the Spider mythos and more to do with one hero teaming up with another, especially since Cates is a major fan of Ultimate Marvel and integrated those elements in (Miles and the aforementioned Maker). I really like it, and this is coming from someone who never was a big fan of Venom, mainly because the art and storytelling popped out to me and I've stayed on it.
Of course, legally speaking, Venom will always be tied to Spider-Man hence Sony owns the film rights. But from a story and presentation standpoint, does Venom feel more like his own entity than a Spider-Man sub-franchise?
Discuss.