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reillykid7's review against another edition
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
nomadtla's review
4.0
The best arc of this new Venom series so far. Rick Remender ends his run with the character with a bang and the final issue in this book is great. This book finally felt like the character was it's own not leaning on where it came from or some other big name in the Marvel Universe but just a damaged character fighting for those he loved.
jenghs's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
trike's review
1.0
I was disappointed with how this ended. For a moment there I thought maybe Remender would stop pussyfooting around with the whole “will Venom actually kill multiple murderers and serial killers or go full Comics Code good guy” conundrum he’d set for himself, but instead he tried to have his cake and eat it too.
I just don’t understand using characters like this in such a sanitized way with inconsistent morality. Flash Thompson is a soldier who has killed people in war. Here he kills many faceless goons without hesitation. He even kills one of these Savage Six guys. But then he won’t kill guys who have literally murdered dozens of people, some of them horribly, all of them innocent bystanders. Because… reasons?
I don’t buy into the childhood trauma of being abused and the shame of being an alcoholic causing Flash to suddenly “make better choices” by not killing a serial killer and mass murderer. It rings false to me. The problem here is that the bad guys are so evil, so monstrous, that there would be no guilt in putting them down. That’s where the writing goes off the rails for me. The Human Fly was snatching people off the street and eating them alive by dissolving their bodies with his vomit. Jack O’Lantern was terrorizing random people and murdering nurses and cops just to make a point. Why not kill these monsters? Flash’s soul is apparently already irredeemable according to him, even with his phony attempt at redemption toward the end, but how does taking these guys out of the equation confer any further stain upon your conscience? There’s literally no moral gray area here.
Worse, the reveal about Crime Master’s identity undercuts the message. His identity doesn’t clarify anything, it merely clouds the water by giving the story this weird 5-page sidebar about his life, but doesn’t really explain why he’s terrorizing Betty, nor does it illuminate whatever muddled theme about redemption that Remender is shooting for.
It’s hard to sympathize with Flash or respect his decisions when he’ll gun down hirelings without a thought yet let the orchestrators of all this mayhem and murder get off with imprisonment. He tortures Human Fly horribly, which one could argue that dude has it coming, but leaves him alive. The guy will just recover to kill again. Given the constant drumbeat about how Flash’s dad abused him and his mom and sister, Flash abusing Human Fly this way could be seen as commentary about how abused kids become adult abusers, but Remender doesn’t do anything with it. It doesn’t even work as commentary about our judicial system, where CEOs get off with a slap on the wrist but underlings do hard time, because it’s so scattershot.
No, all in all this is a big miss for me.
As I write all of that, it occurs to me the far more interesting path would be for Flash to go full Punisher. These guys killed kids. They brutally murdered bystanders. At one point when Flash joins the Secret Avengers, Goliath and Beast get the Venom symbiote under control, and it never really raises its head again to fight Flash for control. Seems to me there’s the story. Flash unleashes justified wrath on these monsters, first disfiguring and then destroying them mercilessly, horrifying everyone who sees it, cementing the notion that Venom is a truly bad guy.
When he gets to the final big bad after killing all of his pawns, henchmen and lieutenants, Crime Master says, “I knew if I unleashed the symbiote we would see the true Venom dominate you.” And have Flash shed the quiescent alien goo, leaving it in a puddle, declaring, “The symbiote has been asleep this whole time. This? This was all me.” And have him go to town on this murdering asshole while the symbiote watches quietly.
Because if you aren’t going to have the same consideration for the lives of all the bad guys, you shouldn’t give special dispensation to the guy in charge. Otherwise this needs to be rewritten from page one to be more like Die Hard 3 where it turns out the criminals were never endangering kids, they were just making people *think* that, as we see time and again where they go out of their way to make sure no innocent lives are lost.
But these dudes that Remender has reimagined? They’re straight up eating people or carving their brains out of their heads. If Flash had consistently tried to redeem himself throughout I might’ve bought into his choices about the ringleaders of the crime wave, but that very inconsistency destroys the throughline. Either do it or not, don’t do this halfway bullshit.
I just don’t understand using characters like this in such a sanitized way with inconsistent morality. Flash Thompson is a soldier who has killed people in war. Here he kills many faceless goons without hesitation. He even kills one of these Savage Six guys. But then he won’t kill guys who have literally murdered dozens of people, some of them horribly, all of them innocent bystanders. Because… reasons?
I don’t buy into the childhood trauma of being abused and the shame of being an alcoholic causing Flash to suddenly “make better choices” by not killing a serial killer and mass murderer. It rings false to me. The problem here is that the bad guys are so evil, so monstrous, that there would be no guilt in putting them down. That’s where the writing goes off the rails for me. The Human Fly was snatching people off the street and eating them alive by dissolving their bodies with his vomit. Jack O’Lantern was terrorizing random people and murdering nurses and cops just to make a point. Why not kill these monsters? Flash’s soul is apparently already irredeemable according to him, even with his phony attempt at redemption toward the end, but how does taking these guys out of the equation confer any further stain upon your conscience? There’s literally no moral gray area here.
Worse, the reveal about Crime Master’s identity undercuts the message.
Spoiler
He’s Betty Brant’s brother, killed way back in 1964 in Amazing Spider-Man #11. Does no one stay dead in comics, ever? I guess after they brought back Gwen Stacy and Uncle Ben and Bucky, everyone gets resurrected. It’s stupid.It’s hard to sympathize with Flash or respect his decisions when he’ll gun down hirelings without a thought yet let the orchestrators of all this mayhem and murder get off with imprisonment. He tortures Human Fly horribly, which one could argue that dude has it coming, but leaves him alive. The guy will just recover to kill again. Given the constant drumbeat about how Flash’s dad abused him and his mom and sister, Flash abusing Human Fly this way could be seen as commentary about how abused kids become adult abusers, but Remender doesn’t do anything with it. It doesn’t even work as commentary about our judicial system, where CEOs get off with a slap on the wrist but underlings do hard time, because it’s so scattershot.
No, all in all this is a big miss for me.
As I write all of that, it occurs to me the far more interesting path would be for Flash to go full Punisher. These guys killed kids. They brutally murdered bystanders. At one point when Flash joins the Secret Avengers, Goliath and Beast get the Venom symbiote under control, and it never really raises its head again to fight Flash for control. Seems to me there’s the story. Flash unleashes justified wrath on these monsters, first disfiguring and then destroying them mercilessly, horrifying everyone who sees it, cementing the notion that Venom is a truly bad guy.
When he gets to the final big bad after killing all of his pawns, henchmen and lieutenants, Crime Master says, “I knew if I unleashed the symbiote we would see the true Venom dominate you.” And have Flash shed the quiescent alien goo, leaving it in a puddle, declaring, “The symbiote has been asleep this whole time. This? This was all me.” And have him go to town on this murdering asshole while the symbiote watches quietly.
Because if you aren’t going to have the same consideration for the lives of all the bad guys, you shouldn’t give special dispensation to the guy in charge. Otherwise this needs to be rewritten from page one to be more like Die Hard 3 where it turns out the criminals were never endangering kids, they were just making people *think* that, as we see time and again where they go out of their way to make sure no innocent lives are lost.
But these dudes that Remender has reimagined? They’re straight up eating people or carving their brains out of their heads. If Flash had consistently tried to redeem himself throughout I might’ve bought into his choices about the ringleaders of the crime wave, but that very inconsistency destroys the throughline. Either do it or not, don’t do this halfway bullshit.
angelwolf45's review
4.0
I enjoyed this book.
This continues Agent Venom's story. It is about him trying to deal with the Savage Six and their leader who has it out for Venom.
I really like where the story is going. I am not one who likes Venom normally but I have to say this has been a really good story so far. I have enjoyed where it is going and that I am excited to continue the story.
The writing is very good and I am liking the art for it as well. It has really good characters and I like how Venom is being used for good.
I am looking forward to seeing where this story goes.
This continues Agent Venom's story. It is about him trying to deal with the Savage Six and their leader who has it out for Venom.
I really like where the story is going. I am not one who likes Venom normally but I have to say this has been a really good story so far. I have enjoyed where it is going and that I am excited to continue the story.
The writing is very good and I am liking the art for it as well. It has really good characters and I like how Venom is being used for good.
I am looking forward to seeing where this story goes.
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