Venomverse Reborn #1 dives back into the well of worlds within the Multiverse, presenting different versions of Venom in the process. Even though last year saw a massive symbiote slaughter in the form of Death of the Venomverse, we have the upcoming Venom War storyline and Venom: The Last Dance, meaning that symbiotes will never truly die. But in all honesty I think this first issue could have used a bit more fine tuning – especially when it comes to the major draw.
The issue features three stories:
- “Five Questions” is written by Al Ewing, illustrated by Danilo S. Beyruth, and colored by Ceci de la Cruz.
- “Kiss The Ring” is written by Christos Gage, penciled by Greg Land, inked by Jay Leisten, and colored by Frank D’Armata.
- “Host” is written by Benjamin Percy, illustrated by Brian Level, and colored by Ruth Redmond.
It’s “Kiss the Ring” that acts as the major draw of Venomverse Reborn #1; the Venom from Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is drawn to Earth-616 during the events of King in Black, as Knull wishes to learn more about this strange new symbiote. This isn’t the first time the world of Insomniac’s Spider-Man games has crashed headfirst into the world of Marvel Comics, but this feels rather pieced together. All Gage does is show how different the Insomniac Venom is from Knull, and their fight ends up being rather anticlimactic. That’s not even getting into Land’s art; despite all these years I still cannot get into it, and his static movements make Venom feel less scary and more like an action figure.
Coincidentally, I hooked from start to finish on “Host”. Anyone who’s read Percy’s work on Wolverine or Ghost Rider knows that he excels in horror (and gore), and he presents a chilling new version of the symbiote that’s able to burrow into its host…and leaves them a mangled mass of flesh and bone. Depicted by Level, this is a horrific enough process, but it gains an extra layer of horror once the Avengers get involved. These are Earth’s Mightiest Heroes; to see them fall one by one is a dagger in the heart, especially as Captain America is the first victim. Percy also makes the right decision in choosing to explore this story through the eyes of the Hulk, since Bruce Banner is no stranger to dealing with monstrous impulses.
“Five Questions” makes for an intriguing framing device, especially with how Ewing sets it up. The entire story features a future version of Eddie that’s embraced the King in Black mantle; Beyruth even draws him clad in the same red and black armor as Knull once wore, which is…rather unsettling. But the kicker is that Eddie addresses the audience as if he knows they’re reading the story, telling them they have five questions they can ask. It’s something only Ewing would be able to cook up, and it helps power past a rocky first half. I’ll just have to save my questions for future issues of Venomverse Reborn.
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