What the hell is going on with Venom? In Spectacular Spider-Man, Eddie Brock was dying and the Venom symbiote was looking for a new source of adrenaline to survive. In the Venom series, the suit was jumping from host to host, and according to one of the recent covers, there is more than one Venom at that. Here, we've got Venom behaving like he did back in the 1990s. I'm confused. Continuity doesn't seem to be a concern here, but I could forgive that if the story was compelling. Instead, Milligan mines into the title characters' Kewl appeal. Fortunately, the over-the-top plot is brought down to earth by involving an average guy in the extreme genetic dysfunction of Marvel's symbiotic Spidey villains.
Venom pursues Carnage across the Manhattan skyline. Venom is not playing the role of hero, though. He cares little about Carnage's psychotic bloodlust. It turns out that the Carnage symbiote is ready to reproduce asexually, and as Carnage's not-so proud papa, it's up to Venom to ensure that the new creature develops properly... especially since Carnage wants to slaughter the baby blob once it's born. The slimy family feud crashes into the home of a New York City cop and his pregnant wife, which spells disaster for the couple. Fortunately, a certain friendly neighborhood wall-crawler happens upon the scene.
Clayton Crain captures the grotesque and intimidating looks of the title characters quite well. Venom and Carnage look as fearsome and savage as they should; they're animals here and they look the part. There's a pleasing, painted look at play here. I can't tell if it's actual painted art or the result of some nice computer coloring. The art overall is rather dark, though, and sometimes, it's difficult to make out what the two creepshows are up to. I really enjoyed Crain's portrayal of the cop, though. It's the one real image in the middle of the super-villain chaos.
I like that Milligan is mirroring the reproductive conflict with the cop's impending fatherhood. It's far from the most subtle of themes, though. Something that strikes me as odd about this issue is how Milligan relies on the characters' appearances to establish what badasses they are. Carnage is a psychotic killer, but we're only told that. We don't see it, though. He murders as casually as the rest of us blow our noses, but here, he seems to pose no danger to anyone who's not directly involved in his reproductive business.
Milligan throws the characters and the reader in the deep end of the pool right away. There's no buildup here. The plot is in full swing (no pun intended) on the first page. I would have preferred if the writer eased us into the extreme plot. He takes no time to establish who Venom and Carnage are at this point. He doesn't get into their histories; the script seems to take it for granted that the readers will know what they need to know in order to follow along.
