If there’s one thing modern Venom and symbiote lore has brought in its weirdness, which is evident in Venom War: Spider-Man #3. So far, Spider-Man has faced a primordial Arachniote, a band of hobgoblins, and zombies, but the fun is just getting started. Tying directly into Venom War, the third issue gets very weird before it gets far more dangerous.
Venom War: Spider-Man #3 opens with a nice reminder of Venom’s predicament: He wishes to remove himself from Dylan and Eddie’s lives. Taking place after Venom War #3, Dylan is crying at his father’s dying body, while Bedlam is beating Spider-Man – now wearing Venom – to a pulp. Just as things start to get straight, Peter is transported to a different time and place thanks to a giant symbiote spider monster.
Things get quite weird, and this is the focus of most of this issue. To say it feels a bit like a filler story is an understatement, but it offers up action to dig into. It’s also a reminder of how strange symbiotes are in the modern era as they can transfer your consciousness into the past, the future, and into entirely other lives.
Yikes!
Credit: Marvel
Essentially, writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly take us into a new reality where Spider-Man is the King in Black. Greg Land’s design is pretty rad, complete with some familiar cosmic characters and new designs of their own. Much of this issue is devoted to this strange alternate reality with Spider-Man fighting the Avengers. It’s epic, albeit a bit confusing as far as whether any of it is real or an illusion. If you think of it as a What If…? tale, it’s a fun little side quest.
Outside of the fever dream Peter goes through, there are only about five pages devoted to current events. The fact that some of them are repeated scenes from Venom War is a bit disappointing, although if you aren’t reading the main event, it makes it easy to follow this story. A reader could easily skip this if they’re not up for the “What If Peter Parker was King in Black” story and wait for the next chapter.
Venom War: Spider-Man #3 is an epic cosmic side quest imagining Spider-Man as the King in Black! If that appeals to you, check this issue out, but if you’re interested in the threat of the primordial Arachniote and the fate of Mary Jane, you can definitely skip this for the next issue.
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