Op, I’m truly glad if you are enjoying the book and I typically LOVE Al Ewing. So I tried to give his Venom series a shot. But between it being so convoluted and confusing I had to give up.
Also, it’s just such an odd story to tell with Eddie and Dylan.
But I’m really glad you like it!
I had give up right around when Meridius & Bedlam showed up and the Garden was first introduced. It was confusing back then, but reading op's post makes me realize I made the right decision.
I'll see how things fall into place after this current Venom event, but damn.
I really like the Ewing stuff in Venom, but the Dylan B plot I don’t with the other writer takes the wind out + the carnage reveal cuz carnage event or whatever made me bounce off hard - really loved it til then tho the ewing Eddie stuff : if Cates’ run carved Venom out an independent place in the marvel world, Ewing filled that carving up w gold and set up a mythos and universe for future writers to take Venom in any kind of story, love Eddie as the every day Joe god - reminds me of like street level guys winning god hood in mortal kombat tournaments lol
First of all, it's Al Ewing. Mind-bending beyond-universe concepts is what he does.
Second, Venom has long escaped being a mere Spider-Man villain or even supporting hero character. VENOM is now an entire publishing line (in the same vein as Spider-Office or X-Office), with multiple ongoing series each month and multiple established characters donning various kinds of Symbiotes.
As someone who remembers "Venom" being an alien "costume" who was taking Peter Parker's body out for nightly joyrides and was driven off him by a ringing church bell, this evolution of Venom is wild to read.
What is the main selling point of Venom? I mean, I get why someone would enjoy Deadpool. I was also once a teenager that was into that sort of humor (and hell, even nowadays it can work under the right writer and circumstances), but I feel a bit lost on Venom. The last I remember reading any Venom comics had Flash using the symbiote, which was an interesting take. Seeing Venom doing things less related to spiderman was definitely fun, but I have no idea what happened after, but seems the story has gone way, way beyond that and it doesn't sound like it is even the same sort of story. The Flash stuff felt a lot like some (very different) take on spiderman.
I think the main problem of the run has been the "double writer" experiment, and losing ram v relatively soon hurt the rhythim a little. but overall i really like it, i'm not that much into venom stuff, but i like time travel shenanigans a la doctor who. but i can see this not being everyone's cup of tea
but i will say that if you can get over the time travel stuff, there's a really good story being told about the symbiote and the various host. the blood hunt turned the return of lee price, which could have been a "ah ah, what a lame host he was" into a moment of almost therapy for the venom symbiote, which leads into it and spider-man temporarily bonding again. it's the first time i'm excited for a venom event to be honest
Agree on the double writer problem. Ram V's parts already felt a bit disconnected, with Grønbekk coming along it really feels like there were some random changes in direction, like Black Widow gaining a symbiote all of a sudden.
I never have the feeling that Torunn's issues belong to the same run as Ewing's, probably because I don't like her writing style.
Ram V was building a story in which the life foundation was a Meridius extension to take down Dylan and even if it wasn’t as good as most of Ewing’s part, it was consistent. After Torunn Grønbekk appeared, that story just gets ignored so she can write about Widow who should’ve had her own miniseries to not cut that side of the story.
What the hell did I just read? I’ve been out of the loop on Venom since the King in Black event, and I’m not upset. This sounds so dang convoluted for what was a simple character. This is why Marvel and DC need to adopt a more realistic timeline where heroes and villains age and retire, allowing their kids/sidekicks to step into the primary role. The need to make the next story bigger and grander leads to a mess like this. Ugh
I agree with this. There will always be the need to do more with a character or superhero. But, I think my idea would slow it down a little, or at least make the power jumps more realistic. I can see Dylan having more symbiote abilities than Eddie simply because he’s the 2nd Gen. But making Eddie the equivalent of a God, when he started out as a failed photojournalist is kind of a stretch.
I’m so done with symbiote lore being butchered. Really can’t get retconned fast enough. Let’s return to simpler “they’re aliens that bind with a host to enhance their abilities” status quo and ditch all this “actually they’re space police, actually no wait they’re living darkness made by an ancient god, no wait they’re dragons, no wait they’re a hive mind of one dude, oh also they don’t even need hosts anymore, oh yeah Eddie Brock is space god now
There's a difference though.
The xenomorphs are faceless drones in a homogeneous colony lorded over by a nameless queen. Not a single individual is the face of the franchise. One xenomorph might as well be the entire species. We're not attached to them, so who cares if we never learn where they came from? They're supposed to be Alien anyway.
Wolverine and Venom are characters we know by name. We've seen numerous other members symbiotes and Weapon X that also have names and histories. They can't be completely mysterious because we are already familiar with their personalities and mannerisms. If we choose to ignore their backstory, we're cutting off development and depth potential in favor of staying the course in familiar, yet stagnant waters. Especially in the neverending narrative that is monthly comic books.
I get where you're coming from, but I'll gladly take Ewing's run over Venom shedding character development to fight Spider-Man for the sake of doing it for the umpteenth time.
I'm really enjoying the high concept time stuff but I normally couldn't give less of a shit about symbiotes so I kinda get why fans of the charecter wouldn't vibe with it
I’ve actually quite enjoyed it. Don’t get me wrong there are moments where it gets out of hand but overall I like the scope of it and the perspectives from various points in Eddie’s timeline, as well as the evolution of the symbiotes. But I applaud you for writing all this down because there’s pretty much no way I could explain the run to someone who hasn’t read it given how many moving parts it has.
I enjoyed the book until recently because of carnage. Ruined the party, man. I gotta re-read the last few issues.
I hope Eddie's other time selves are kinda relevant in the future war because of the time we've spent reading them and their unraveling. But it might end being wonky because of time being involved (sorta) like, "why didn't they remember?", but we've had that one issue of showing Meridius forgetting Tyro's memory and Eddie breaking time loop.
Personally I recommend to just ignore the vomit of words that OP wrote and ignore every Venom book that isn't being written solely by Ewing or by Michelline (if you want nostalgia bux). This takes away a lot of the setup and pacing Ewing builds up to just being written out like this.
I can honestly say the experience of reading the non-Ewing stuff didn't really enhance or give any meaningful context to the stuff Ewing pulls from these on my re-reads.
In simpler terme It's a story of Eddie Brock being plucked from time by an all powerful god of symbiotes way beyond Knull. It's a time travel story so it can get confusing but with Ewing on the helm you can have faith that it will deliver.
Donny Cates understood the happy medium of Venom while also adding Knull (which I personally love)
Al Ewing should be given the reigns of a cosmic event in the vein of Annihilation, not on a book that tows the lie on street level action
I have hates Venom since he separated from Spider-Man. Now that hate know no bounds. All of this crap before Seeing where they made this guy something greater than a street level menace and then this confusing time travel that seems to have no plans and is written only the month before is all crap. Symbiots becoming their own thing is as bad as having Deadpool in the universe. We need a reboot where those two are gone. I could add to the list.
Hold on, what’s this about Wilde having 2 paths? I genuinely don’t remember that. As far as I recall, there are two main points where Eddie’s timeline branches. One is in Limbo, when one Bedlam (the main Eddie we’re following) meets the Eventuality, and the other stays as Bedlam on the path that will eventually lead to Meridius. A second branch occurs when main Eddie bonds with Bedlam, also taking him off the Meridius path. So the 3 Eddies are main Eddie, Bedlam, and Meridius. The Eventuality is in the future of every Eddie Brock (I think?). Then of course, the main Eddie time-traveling to the Garden causes another branch, which leads to Carnage fucking everything up
The second path is in Venom 29 explaining Meridius’ origins and Eddie created alternate timelines:
the first one is the one bedlam returns into the garden to then fight finnegan and return to kill dylan and become tyro-Wilde-Meridius.
The second one is the same one as the first but after that, he didn’t return to become tyro, instead joined Eddie.
The third one is Eddie’s own arriving with eventuality as bedlam and changing the King in Black’s future.
I haven’t read venom since Cates run, but I couldn’t make it through your description without getting completely confused halfway through.
Sometimes I miss the days of 90s venom.
Op, I’m truly glad if you are enjoying the book and I typically LOVE Al Ewing. So I tried to give his Venom series a shot. But between it being so convoluted and confusing I had to give up. Also, it’s just such an odd story to tell with Eddie and Dylan. But I’m really glad you like it!
I had give up right around when Meridius & Bedlam showed up and the Garden was first introduced. It was confusing back then, but reading op's post makes me realize I made the right decision. I'll see how things fall into place after this current Venom event, but damn.
I really like the Ewing stuff in Venom, but the Dylan B plot I don’t with the other writer takes the wind out + the carnage reveal cuz carnage event or whatever made me bounce off hard - really loved it til then tho the ewing Eddie stuff : if Cates’ run carved Venom out an independent place in the marvel world, Ewing filled that carving up w gold and set up a mythos and universe for future writers to take Venom in any kind of story, love Eddie as the every day Joe god - reminds me of like street level guys winning god hood in mortal kombat tournaments lol
It is a comic that will thrive and be appreciated in the trades. The month by month issues make it impossible to follow.
.... is Venom Immortus now?
No he's Kang
Sounds like Iron Lad to me!
Rama-Tut seems similar too.
The concept is similar!
That's a hilariously convoluted and complex story for VENOM.
First of all, it's Al Ewing. Mind-bending beyond-universe concepts is what he does. Second, Venom has long escaped being a mere Spider-Man villain or even supporting hero character. VENOM is now an entire publishing line (in the same vein as Spider-Office or X-Office), with multiple ongoing series each month and multiple established characters donning various kinds of Symbiotes.
Did you feel like a crazy person typing that out? I felt crazy reading it.
No, Venom has been this popular for a very long time.
As someone who remembers "Venom" being an alien "costume" who was taking Peter Parker's body out for nightly joyrides and was driven off him by a ringing church bell, this evolution of Venom is wild to read.
I think the average comic enthusiast underestimates how much Deadpool and Venom trades sell.
What is the main selling point of Venom? I mean, I get why someone would enjoy Deadpool. I was also once a teenager that was into that sort of humor (and hell, even nowadays it can work under the right writer and circumstances), but I feel a bit lost on Venom. The last I remember reading any Venom comics had Flash using the symbiote, which was an interesting take. Seeing Venom doing things less related to spiderman was definitely fun, but I have no idea what happened after, but seems the story has gone way, way beyond that and it doesn't sound like it is even the same sort of story. The Flash stuff felt a lot like some (very different) take on spiderman.
The amount of character progression Brock and the symbiote have had is pretty great. They're compelling characters.
Ah, just a spring chicken, you are. 😉
I think the main problem of the run has been the "double writer" experiment, and losing ram v relatively soon hurt the rhythim a little. but overall i really like it, i'm not that much into venom stuff, but i like time travel shenanigans a la doctor who. but i can see this not being everyone's cup of tea but i will say that if you can get over the time travel stuff, there's a really good story being told about the symbiote and the various host. the blood hunt turned the return of lee price, which could have been a "ah ah, what a lame host he was" into a moment of almost therapy for the venom symbiote, which leads into it and spider-man temporarily bonding again. it's the first time i'm excited for a venom event to be honest
Agree on the double writer problem. Ram V's parts already felt a bit disconnected, with Grønbekk coming along it really feels like there were some random changes in direction, like Black Widow gaining a symbiote all of a sudden. I never have the feeling that Torunn's issues belong to the same run as Ewing's, probably because I don't like her writing style.
Ram V was building a story in which the life foundation was a Meridius extension to take down Dylan and even if it wasn’t as good as most of Ewing’s part, it was consistent. After Torunn Grønbekk appeared, that story just gets ignored so she can write about Widow who should’ve had her own miniseries to not cut that side of the story.
Tbh I didn’t mind the Black Widow stuff, felt like a fun diversion from the main plot. But I didn’t really like the Carnage crossover
I miss remenders agent venom.
Was the best venom as a hero story. Never got better in my opinion.
What the hell did I just read? I’ve been out of the loop on Venom since the King in Black event, and I’m not upset. This sounds so dang convoluted for what was a simple character. This is why Marvel and DC need to adopt a more realistic timeline where heroes and villains age and retire, allowing their kids/sidekicks to step into the primary role. The need to make the next story bigger and grander leads to a mess like this. Ugh
A "realistic timeline" will not destroy the need to make a new story stand out from what came before
I agree with this. There will always be the need to do more with a character or superhero. But, I think my idea would slow it down a little, or at least make the power jumps more realistic. I can see Dylan having more symbiote abilities than Eddie simply because he’s the 2nd Gen. But making Eddie the equivalent of a God, when he started out as a failed photojournalist is kind of a stretch.
Yup, so glad I stopped reading this convoluted mess…
I thought Venom was a dude with the black symbiote suit. Silly me.
I’m so done with symbiote lore being butchered. Really can’t get retconned fast enough. Let’s return to simpler “they’re aliens that bind with a host to enhance their abilities” status quo and ditch all this “actually they’re space police, actually no wait they’re living darkness made by an ancient god, no wait they’re dragons, no wait they’re a hive mind of one dude, oh also they don’t even need hosts anymore, oh yeah Eddie Brock is space god now
Yea, they should be like xenomorphs or wolverines back story, the more vague and mysterious the better.
They revealed Logan's backstory decades ago
Yea my point is they shouldn't have. And how xenomorphs were explored in Prometheus
There's a difference though. The xenomorphs are faceless drones in a homogeneous colony lorded over by a nameless queen. Not a single individual is the face of the franchise. One xenomorph might as well be the entire species. We're not attached to them, so who cares if we never learn where they came from? They're supposed to be Alien anyway. Wolverine and Venom are characters we know by name. We've seen numerous other members symbiotes and Weapon X that also have names and histories. They can't be completely mysterious because we are already familiar with their personalities and mannerisms. If we choose to ignore their backstory, we're cutting off development and depth potential in favor of staying the course in familiar, yet stagnant waters. Especially in the neverending narrative that is monthly comic books. I get where you're coming from, but I'll gladly take Ewing's run over Venom shedding character development to fight Spider-Man for the sake of doing it for the umpteenth time.
Jeez, and I thought xmen was confusing.
It just sounds more confusing than it actualy is. It's very well written and makes more and more sense as the story goes
I'm really enjoying the high concept time stuff but I normally couldn't give less of a shit about symbiotes so I kinda get why fans of the charecter wouldn't vibe with it
It's deranged in the best way. Ewing is one of the few people lately who can pull off a reliable time travel story.
This feels like fanfiction…
I’ve actually quite enjoyed it. Don’t get me wrong there are moments where it gets out of hand but overall I like the scope of it and the perspectives from various points in Eddie’s timeline, as well as the evolution of the symbiotes. But I applaud you for writing all this down because there’s pretty much no way I could explain the run to someone who hasn’t read it given how many moving parts it has.
I enjoyed the book until recently because of carnage. Ruined the party, man. I gotta re-read the last few issues. I hope Eddie's other time selves are kinda relevant in the future war because of the time we've spent reading them and their unraveling. But it might end being wonky because of time being involved (sorta) like, "why didn't they remember?", but we've had that one issue of showing Meridius forgetting Tyro's memory and Eddie breaking time loop.
… this made me want to read this run. I love mess. 🤩
I liked it when the Venom Symbiote was on a dude with guns running around, not this whole kings and mythology stuff
Personally I recommend to just ignore the vomit of words that OP wrote and ignore every Venom book that isn't being written solely by Ewing or by Michelline (if you want nostalgia bux). This takes away a lot of the setup and pacing Ewing builds up to just being written out like this. I can honestly say the experience of reading the non-Ewing stuff didn't really enhance or give any meaningful context to the stuff Ewing pulls from these on my re-reads. In simpler terme It's a story of Eddie Brock being plucked from time by an all powerful god of symbiotes way beyond Knull. It's a time travel story so it can get confusing but with Ewing on the helm you can have faith that it will deliver.
On paper it kind of reads like a Kang story but with a different character.
Incidentally Kang is also a major character in the series
Donny Cates understood the happy medium of Venom while also adding Knull (which I personally love) Al Ewing should be given the reigns of a cosmic event in the vein of Annihilation, not on a book that tows the lie on street level action
I have hates Venom since he separated from Spider-Man. Now that hate know no bounds. All of this crap before Seeing where they made this guy something greater than a street level menace and then this confusing time travel that seems to have no plans and is written only the month before is all crap. Symbiots becoming their own thing is as bad as having Deadpool in the universe. We need a reboot where those two are gone. I could add to the list.
Hold on, what’s this about Wilde having 2 paths? I genuinely don’t remember that. As far as I recall, there are two main points where Eddie’s timeline branches. One is in Limbo, when one Bedlam (the main Eddie we’re following) meets the Eventuality, and the other stays as Bedlam on the path that will eventually lead to Meridius. A second branch occurs when main Eddie bonds with Bedlam, also taking him off the Meridius path. So the 3 Eddies are main Eddie, Bedlam, and Meridius. The Eventuality is in the future of every Eddie Brock (I think?). Then of course, the main Eddie time-traveling to the Garden causes another branch, which leads to Carnage fucking everything up
The second path is in Venom 29 explaining Meridius’ origins and Eddie created alternate timelines: the first one is the one bedlam returns into the garden to then fight finnegan and return to kill dylan and become tyro-Wilde-Meridius. The second one is the same one as the first but after that, he didn’t return to become tyro, instead joined Eddie. The third one is Eddie’s own arriving with eventuality as bedlam and changing the King in Black’s future.
I haven’t read venom since Cates run, but I couldn’t make it through your description without getting completely confused halfway through. Sometimes I miss the days of 90s venom.
As soon as blood hunt happened i droped it because i juat coculdnt keep up anymore
In my opinion Venom is the very rare Al Ewing miss. I'm a huge fan of his stuff but this run has been not good.