Marvel Comics is celebrating Symbiotes this summer, and while it’s thanks to Venom reaching his 35th anniversary, most of the festivities seem more Carnage related. That is, until today, when Extreme Venomverse #1 kicks off an anthology series featuring different riffs on Venom. In the first issue, we get tales from Ryan North and Paulo Siquera, Mirka Andolfo and Nico Leon, and Leonardo Romero with inks by Roberto Poggi. All told, these tales reveal a larger story is afoot, which isn’t always the case with anthology comics.
North and Siqueira start this series with “The Best Part of Him” featuring Eddie Brock. This story is possibly one of the best at capturing why Venom works so well and how that’s largely because his origin started with Spider-Man. Through captions, North details how the Symbiote was not good or evil, but have felt the emotions of Peter Parker and his rejection, changing him forever. You clearly see how the Symbiote is a unique entity that has deep ties to Spider-Man, but now is off on his own to do good work. It does require a denser read in captions, but they get to the point.
After the introduction setting that up, we get to see Eddie take up the mantle of a hero as he fights Doc Ock. The art is fabulous in a classic Todd McFarlane style by Siqueira. Highly detailed, the Venom costume is a little different, with more white and more animated eyes. Oh, and fewer teeth. It’s a rendition of Venom that is more like Spider-Man than we’re accustomed to. This leads to a cliffhanger, which is a nice surprise as all these stories are building towards something.
Love the costume design.
Credit: Marvel
Next, Andolfo and Leon focus on Dylan Brock in “All in the Family.” This story features Eddie and Anne as what seems like regular suburban parents of Dylan, but all three have Symbiotes of their own. Andolfo captures the unique dynamic of a family that sometimes lets their Symbiote get the better of them. The dynamic is so strong it’s obvious it could sustain an ongoing series.
The use of a Lia is a little odd though. She’s the reader surrogate acting as the outsider that witnesses the amazing feats, and internal struggle, as we do. It’s a little hard to believe she’d stick around in the end and she also seems to exist simply to allow Dylan’s mom to self-loathe out loud.
The art is quite good, with epic punches and a nice exploration of space in each panel. There’s a cartoonish punch by Dylan that sends Venom fifty years bouncing which is quite cool. Overall it has an anime feel, which isn’t too big of a surprise given the creators have toyed with that.
The last story is titled “Tip of the Blade” by Romero featuring samurai Venom. This story takes the biggest swing as far as world building, introducing new takes on Scorpion and another villain. The character is being transported on a train with civilians, and their presence brings enemies in putting everyone in danger.
The pace of this tale is a bit off, though. It mostly features the protaganist standing around waiting. The story is unnecessarily slow, speeds up with action, then slows down again.
The action in this story has Venom mostly using a samurai sword, which is a different feel for the character. The design of the suit is interesting with a Japanese influence when the mask goes from mouthless to baring big teeth.
Extreme Venomverse #1 is an exciting start to a new way to celebrate Venom. It promises big swings with new takes on Venom and the start of a bigger story to keep coming back for.
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