Originally Posted by
Gwen Parker
I've been reading through this thread and have seen a lot of dislike for Donny Cates' run on Venom. Being myself, I can't sit idly by while people are trashing the best two years Venom has ever had. Hence my monologue below.
Let's just break down the story of Eddie Brock throughout this run and his character development.
Arc 1 (#1-#6): Eddie is essentially a loser, living in a terribly shabby apartment. Venom is seeming to go crazy and is screaming vile in his mind. He is barely making a living, running the same photographer scam that Peter Parker did. Then BAM there's a super powerful elder god waking up that could destroy everything. This seems to be out of Eddie's league so far but he has nothing to lose, so he fights a dragon that woke up under NY. During this he has a conversation will Knull himself and manages to break his connection. This arc was action packed with awesome art and foreshadowed more things to come. An awesome opener.
Arc 2 (#7-#12): Now that the glammy opener arc is over, the story delves deep into Eddie. What's his past? Why is he like he is? This arc explains it all with a good emotional tone. Venom's voice is out of commission for this arc, so we see Eddie dealing with his past essentially alone, which is pretty powerful. Towards the end a bombshell is revealed- Dylan Brock is Eddie's son and the symbiote has been lying to him about many things. Eddie rejects the symbiote which he has basically become co-dependent on and takes Dylan with him though he allows him to keep believing that they're brothers. This is a very personal story arc about Eddie, and it gets deep enough to allow you to really feel the character.
Arc 3 (#13-#15): This is mostly just a War of the Realms tie in, but there's some good stuff in it too. We see Eddie thinking about how to protect his newfound son and how he copes without the alien he had bonded with for so long. Eddie faces a hard question: Was it possible he was the one who turned the symbiote bad? Not alot in these three, but still some things for the reader to think about.
Issue #16: This is a single issue that shows Eddie trying to take care of his son, Dylan. It shows how he is still a pretty ruthless guy, but really cares for his son. Eddie isn't alone without the symbiote anymore, and actually has something to lose. It also foreshadows Absolute Carnage.
Arc 4 (#17-#20): These were Absolute Carnage tie ins that focused on Dylan and Normie (Harry Osborn's kid) trying to survive an attack from Hybrid. We begin learning some secrets about Dylan, and some possible power he might have. At the last issue, (after Dylan had learned Eddie was his father in Absolute Carnage) Eddie and Dylan have a tough family conversation, which ends in Dylan asking to know about his mother.
Absolute Carnage: This was a climatic event that involved a semi-undead Cletus Casady wearing the Grendel as a symbiote. His mission was to collect enough codices to reawaken Knull so he could come and kill everything. The art is terrifyingly fantastic and the story is very much action-packed like I mentioned about the opening arc. The symbiote reunites with Eddie, saving him and Dylan from Carnage. Written in dramatic tense, we see Eddie having to reach out to other heroes to help, something he doesn't do often. We see a demonstration of Dylan's possible power as well. In the end Eddie has to make a terrible choice: save his son, or allow Knull to be awakened. Let his son die, or kill the world. Eddie makes the choice any good father would. Eddie saves his son by killing Carnage but absorbed all the codices the evil being had previously collected, consequently awakening Knull. Now, as has been repeated throughout the series, the god of the symbiotes really is coming. In the events of this Dylan learns the shocking truth that he is Eddie's son.
Arc 5 (#21-#25): Knull really is coming and Eddie has to prepare. He needs to burn the last remnants of Carnage out of his symbiote. Returning to "Venom Island" as it is called, this arc has a focus on the past, and what trials Eddie has to face to finally be rid of Carnage. Getting detatched from his alien, Eddie has to go through great physical abuse to survive a one on one against the Carnage symbiote... and a few Carnagized animals as well. In the end, Carnage takes Eddie's body over. But Dylan, who has been experimenting with his new abilities, contacts Venom from a distance. Using the strange connection to symbiotes he has, he becomes Venom's host from afar and fights Carnage to save Eddie. In the end Carnage is finally defeated and Eddie and Dylan are reunited. The father and son now seem to have fully bonded as family now, and Dylan even called Eddie his dad. At the end, Eddie reaches out to the Avengers and finally explains to them about Knull, and now more heroes than just himself are getting prepared for the King in Black's arrival. This arc had nods to the past while also looking to the future.
(At the time of writing "Venom Beyond" isn't finished, so I won't write about that yet. In a future post, perhaps.)
The story so far seems really well created, with a dramatic inter-connecting story arc, strongly developed characters, and a great narrative. I personally can't wait to see what becomes of "Venom Beyond" and the upcoming event "King in Black." These are my thoughts on the current Venom saga, and I hope it goes down in Marvel history.