When I learned that the premise of this new series was the transfer of the Venom suit from one host to another, I was immediately intrigued. It offered a fresh perspective on the property, one that would continue to renew itself with different characters and settings. Here, writer Daniel Way takes a modern monster movie approach with Venom, and it works quite well... until one comes to the artwork. Herrera's exaggerated style may suit the twisted title character, but the human, everyday players in this story -- the more interesting ones, truth be told -- are transformed into distorted figures that fail to maintain the quiet tension of the script.
A young woman finds herself posted at a radar station in the Arctic Circle, and as the lowest rung on the rank ladder, she's often the one chosen to make supply runs and errands. She heads out to pick up some entertainment from a neighboring station, only to find its staff complement shattered like mannequins. She finds a lone soul remaining alive, and terrified out of her mind, she rushes him back to her radar base, only to have her concerns dismissed by a condescending commander, who blows the whole incident off as an encounter with polar bears.
There's a strong air of edge-of-your-seat suspense at play here... and it's all but lost in the artwork. Herrera's figures are so exaggerated that it's difficult for the reader to take the characters seriously. Their fearful expressions look like Looney Tunes freakout moments. It's even a little difficult to make out all of the carnage in the Arctic base. The colors bring some of the tension back to the book, but it's not enough to overcome the penciller's over-the-top approach.
The writer has crafted a strong character in Robertson. She's out to prove herself, but fear overwhelms her, making it easy for the reader to relate to her. Unfortunately, her colleagues back at the radar station don't behave nearly as plausibly. Their dismissal of her concerns and fears comes far too quickly.
Way's elicits easy comparisons to such movies as Alien and John Carpenter's The Thing, and the alien monster riff works quite well with the Venom concept, since that's what it is, really. There's a real sense of mystery and inevitable disaster that looms over the story, and it keeps the reader engaged. I love that Venom has been taken out of his traditional super-hero genre trappings; this approach has breathed new life into the character/concept.
