It was bound to happen (this is superhero comics, after all), but Carnage returns this week with Carnage #1. The character has had an incredible transformation over the last few years, becoming as powerful as a god but also shedding his human counterpart. You can’t keep old Cletus Kasady down, though, as Torunn Grønbekk and Pere Pérez prove in this intriguing opening issue.
Carnage #1 is a natural place for fans to pick up on the character, opening with the villain at the godly Omnipotence City. With his glowing eyes and mouth, the rampaging Symbiote cuts through guards like butter. This opening scene helps us understand there’s a grander purpose for the Symbiote, as well as prove he’s ultra-powerful.
This leads to a hop, skip, and a jump back to a Carnage and Cletus reunion. Pérez shows the return of Cletus in a gag-inducing scene, with violence that’s pretty hardcore for a Marvel comic. One might hope for a bit more explanation as to how Cletus could return, but this is comics, and I think an adequate amount of explanation is given.
From there, the story opens up to reveal its hero, Flash Thompson. Funny, he too was dead, but now he’s returned, acting as a kind of detective to stop Carnage. He’s still got the Anti-Venom costume as well as the heroic heart to tamp down pure evil.
The return of Cletus begins here.
Credit: Marvel
Pure evil is the name of the game with Carnage, who enacts a plan that is rather intriguing. He may be at god-level powers, but is he truly a god without believers? That seems to be where the narrative is going, complete with an act to draw attention that’s equally horrific and awful.
Pérez is a good fit for this book, rendering street-clothed characters well. I’d argue there’s too much talking and sitting around for a first issue, dragging things out. Pérez’s standard layout style mixes things up with diagonally cut panels to keep things moving along. The action in the opening is impeccable, and the violence is gruesome. It’s too bad we didn’t get more of it by the end.
If you like your villains sick and sadistic, Carnage is for you. This issue sets Carnage on a new path of discovery and growth as he attempts to find a following the only way he knows how: Killing with creativity. There’s a good setup here with Anti-Venom on Carnage’s trail, but the issue left me wanting more action and more confrontation in its opening salvo.
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