Toxin Review: By Morbius

Toxin #6
Title: The Devil You Know Part 6: The Razor’s Edge
Writer: Peter Milligan
Penciler: Darick Robertson
Inker: Rodney Ramos

Plot: Pat’s father puts up a good fight against Razor Fist, but in the end he is bested. Pat walks in as Razor Fist is holding his dying body, and attacks him. Razor Fist runs away, and Pat tends to his dying father instead of giving chase.
            Pat hangs out on the outskirts of the funeral, but is still confronted by his wife, Gina. She is rather upset to see him, spits on him, and leaves.
            Surprisingly, we find Meadows is not dead. The “piranha tots” carved him up very badly and left him in a dumpster, but he is alive. Toxin wants to rip Razor Fist apart for this and feed him his razors. Pat is hoping he can reign him in a bit, but he’s not sure. To help with that, he asks Spider-Man to be there for the battle, just in case he needs to be taken down, too.
            Toxin bursts in on Razor Fist as he’s about to kill one of his young followers. Not only does he physically best Razor Fist, he degrades him as well. He explains that he must be a coward because he threw away his prosthetic arms for these razors, making sure he’d always need tending to. Then Toxin takes away the razors, and makes him fight without them. At the end, Razor Fist begs to be killed with his own razors, but Toxin decides it would be greater torture to put him in Ryker’s. Spidey gives him a big pat on the back once the whole thing is over, and tells him the piranha tots are still out there somewhere.
            As we end, Pat meets Gina at a diner to finally tell her why he left. He transforms into Toxin, and Gina screams. The End.

Likes:

- The art in this issue is way above par. Definitely the best we’ve seen from Robertson, with some great creepy images of Toxin.

- Razor Fist is painted as a coward from the beginning, even running away from Toxin after he kills his father. It’s great characterization to see him so smug when fighting the old man, but running away when he sees Toxin.

- We still get the same dialogue between Pat and Toxin, but Toxin is obviously maturing fast, and getting a little more set in what he wants to do. His affection for Pat and concern for his needs is also obvious.

- One of Razor Fist’s children is a girl named Samantha, who is fleshed out in this issue. She’s just a girl who carries around a video camera and wants to go to film school. She’s with Razor Fist because her father hurt her. She was the one Razor Fist was about to kill at the end, and that scene was absolutely heart-breaking. A very excellent piece of writing by Milligan, and indicative of the character detail he’s had throughout this series.

- It’s very good to see Meadows alive. He really is a good anchor to Pat’s world, and it would have been a mistake to kill him so soon.

- Once again, Spider-Man’s appearance is welcome and unobtrusive. Perfectly done.

- The final battle between Toxin and Razor Fist is brilliantly done. The way Toxin degrades him and proves him as a coward is excellent, and even the symbiote saw the benefit of torturing him with prison at the end.

- Gina’s presence is great. There’s no telling when and where Toxin’s story will continue, but it will be interesting to see where their relationship goes.

Dislikes:

- …

Favorite Quote: Toxin: “She spat on you. That’s so unhealthy.”

Rating: 5 webs out of 5. A worthy end to an excellent mini.

Overall Arc Rating: 5 webs out of 5. This has been an exceptional run, one of the absolute best arcs I’ve read in a long time. The Toxin character has been fleshed out to be a good one to hopefully last. Razor Fist was given sufficient development to be a worthy main villain, and the fight scenes with him were excellent. Most of all, this arc had a lot of depth to it. Especially issue 4 left you feeling like you really took something away from it. It was obvious that this meant something to Peter Milligan, and his exceptional writing made it mean something to the reader as well. A very, very highly recommended mini-series.

Reviewed by: Morbius

Toxin #5
Title: The Devil You Know Part 5: Good Luck, Mulligan, Thanks For The Formaldehyde
Writer: Peter Milligan
Penciler: Darick Robertson
Inker: Rodney Ramos

Plot: Pat’s geeky alter-ego Larry is getting along very nicely with Pat’s wife. Unfortunately, this means Toxin gets 2 hours a night to play while Pat is blacked out. Things are going along fine with this relationship until one night Pat wakes up in the middle of a bloody mess. He finds 28 bodies in a restaurant and assumes Toxin did it.
            Over in a police staff meeting, someone suggests they contact Toxin to help them out with this case, but Pat’s friend Meadows says he has it on good authority that Toxin likes his privacy. This is dually noted by Officer Perkins.
            In Razor-Fist’s lair, he is showing the video of this massacre, that he in fact committed. He has a rapt audience that he is teaching about striking fear, preparing them to kill. He has children around him constantly grooming him so Toxin can’t sniff him out. Officer Perkins stands up from the ranks and tells him he may have a solution to the Toxin problem.
            In the park, “Larry” has a run-in with Pat’s dad who is threatening him about getting too close to his own wife. Later, Pat sees a news report of Razor-Fist admitting to the murders and warning that if enough money doesn’t find its way into his bank account, he will turn a Saturday into a “Slasherday.” Pat decides it’s time to go look for Razor-Fist, but Toxin won’t allow it to cut into his play time.
            Meadows is now hanging upside down in Razor-Fist’s lair, being tortured. He eventually gives up Pat’s name and location, but begs to die. Razor-Fist allows some freaky school children with knives to do the honors.
            Toxin’s play time tonight includes reading Pat’s “Toxin Diary.” Toxin doesn’t take well to hearing himself called a monster, so he smashes the laptop accidentally. Not seeing a problem with stealing, he goes to pick up another one. He has a run in with Spidey on the way back, who webs him up until Pat retakes control. They have a chat, which consists of Spidey chiding Pat for not finding Razor-Fist and for allowing Toxin to roam unchecked. Pat decides it’s time to end the Larry/play time arrangement and work as a team to find Razor-Fist, lest they make an enemy of Spider-Man.
            Pat’s father stops in to tell Pat about Larry, but instead of Pat, he finds Razor-Fist, who is more than willing to kill the father as he waits for the son…

Likes:
- The cover is fantastic, definitely the best we’ve seen in this mini-series.

- The pained relationship between Larry and Pat’s family is not overstated, but present enough to help us remember how hard this is for Pat.

- It’s amusing to see this infantile symbiote who thinks he’d like to do good, but isn’t really sure what that means.

- It’s good to have Razor-Fist back in a big way. He is definitely THE villain of this story, and he is being built up again the way he should be.

- Spider-Man’s appearance is perfect. It’s nice that he hasn’t been the point of this mini-series, because it really does belong to Toxin and he is a worthy character to carry it by himself, but it’s nice to see the wall-crawler pop in to set things straight.

- It was a good idea to end Pat and Toxin’s arrangement fast, it really couldn’t have worked for long. Definitely wishful thinking on Pat’s part.

Dislikes:

- I wish they would’ve kept Meadows around longer. He was a good anchor for Pat’s world.

- The Toxin Diary that so beautifully narrated the last issue was sorely missed for most of this one.

Favorite Quote: Spidey to Toxin: “Seen any psychotic amputees around lately?”

Rating: 4 webs out of 5. Not as deep as last issue, but still packed full of great story.

Reviewed by: Morbius

Toxin #4
Title: The Devil You Know Part 4: Walking Man
Writer: Peter Milligan
Penciler: Darick Robertson
Inker: Rodney Ramos

Plot: We open with Toxin, full out symbiote form, “riding” the front of the subway train Pat jumped in front of last issue. Toxin decided to save Pat from suicide for ambiguous reasons. Toxin says he did it to save Pat, but Pat theorizes that Toxin isn’t sure he can survive if Pat dies. We now see that most of the narration for this issue comes from the Toxin Diary that Pat has just started. The main thing we must take away from it is that Pat has decided to keep thinking about suicide to keep Toxin on edge and ready to do what he wants. Toxin doesn’t know the plan because he gets kind of lulled to sleep or bored and zones out when Pat writes this.
            Cut over to the Wrecker and Driver robbing an art museum. But they don’t want the art, the Wrecker got a tip that his back up crow bar (which is super powered by the way) is being stored here. Across town, Pat’s cop friend Meadows finally gives in and gives Pat’s father Pat’s address. Then he gets called away on a matter of an art museum robbery. It’s turned into an art museum fire now, too. Pat’s father comes busting in Pat’s locked door, and Pat knows Meadows had to have been the one to tell him. So he goes to visit an art museum robbery/fire…
            Pat arrives on the scene just in time to see the commanding officer get impaled by a painting! Yeah, reread it, you heard me right. So he convinces Meadows to get all the cops pulled back so Toxin can take care of business. He does, in fact, take care of business. When he walks out, the police are cheering for him.
            Finally, Pat and Toxin come to an arrangement. Remember when Toxin turned Pat into a nerdy looking guy way back in issue 2? Toxin has agreed to do that regularly in the park so Pat can talk to his wife and son without them knowing it’s him. But Toxin will want something in return…

Likes:

- You walk away from this issue feeling like you’ve learned something. Feeling like you’ve just been a part of something really special. What was great about this issue couldn’t be contained in my plot summary, because it wasn’t the things that happened. It was the words. The entire issue was narrated by the Toxin Diary, and it was written in an emotionally effecting way. It had real insight and depth to it that raised this above the level of a normal comic. When you read this, you know it is more than a comic book, it’s a study of humanity, a study of all of us. And the results are excellent.

Dislikes:

- N/A

Favorite Quote: Toxin to Pat: “It takes more guts not to jump in front of a train.”
Rating: 5 webs out of 5. For the first time, I seriously considered giving a comic a 6/5.
Reviewed by: Morbius

Toxin #3
Title: The Devil You Know Part 3: The Answer, My Friend
Writer: Peter Milligan
Penciler: Darick Robertson
Inker: Rodney Ramos
Plot: This issue begins by showing us an extremely annoying villain know as The Answer robbing a bank so the Owl will know he’s back in town. Seems the only thing special about this guy is that he starts one sentence with the word “question,” and the next sentence with the word “answer.” Rinse, and repeat.

Then we go back to Pat and Toxin still fighting Razor-Fist. Our hero(s) still seems to be in the form of a “geeky nerd” so to speak, which Toxin has nick-named Larry. When Pat starts to get cut up pretty bad, Toxin finally goes all out. (He’s bloody huge this time, by the way.) Razor-Fist makes like a scaredy-cat and runs away, cutting Lulu (one of his young groupies) pretty bad. Toxin takes her to the hospital instead of tailing Razor-Fist.

Next we see a police officer talking to Razor-Fist in a sewer, telling him about the bloody bandage that Spider-Man acquired back in issue 1. The officer seems to be a bit of a masochist, seeing as Razor-Fist pays him with his…well...razor fists.

Back in the Mulligan apartment, Pat and Toxin are having another rousing discussion about right and wrong, when The Answer comes on the nightly news. Next assignment: check! O, wait. Still haven’t found Razor-Fist. Back on Razor-Fist’s trail it is! Which is what happens after A LOT of discussion between man and symbiote about who is bad and who isn’t and why. They come to an eventual agreement that Toxin will help Pat hunt down the evil men as long as Pat makes him understand why they are evil. So, yeah, Razor-Fist. Toxin is out patrolling and passes right over a grate that leads into a sewer. Pat doesn’t see him, but we get to see Razor-Fist under that sewer grate getting rubbed down with perfumes by some little girls so Toxin can’t smell his blood. Apparently, Toxin smells heavy perfume coming from the sewer all the time, so he doesn’t investigate.

Meanwhile, there’s a cop-killing in progress. The perp seems to be your standard unlikable bastard who pops a young cop for the heck of it. A young cop with a wife and two kids. Unfortunately for the shooter, a certain ex-cop with a good friend from another planet heard the shot. When Toxin catches up with the guy, Pat doesn’t even try and restrain him. This moment is an important one in Toxin’s history. It marks his first kill.

Though we aren’t told how, Toxin finds The Answer with no problem whatsoever. Instead of killing or beating him up, Pat asks him what “the answer” is to the problem that has become his life.

The final scene is inter-cut between The Answer in his new jail cell and Pat at a subway station. The Answer thinks to himself that the solution he gave Pat was probably worth going back to jail. Question: what solution was that? Answer: the last frame is Pat jumping in front of the subway train.

Likes:

- Razor-Fist still isn’t dead! He is the only really worthwhile villain that’s been in this series, so I’m glad to see him have some longevity.

- Toxin killed with no argument from Pat. Now that’s some character development.

- The tone of the whole issue just made me feel like I was reading something great.

Dislikes:

- I’ll admit there were a few holes (noted sarcastically in the Plot section) but they really weren’t serious.

Favorite Quote: Toxin: “The razor man is getting away! I can smell him…he’s going underground again…and I’d REALLY like to know how he goes to the bathroom!”

Rating: 4 webs out of 5. Great comic, lost one web for those 2 or 3 little holes.

Reviewed by: Morbius

Toxin #2

Title: The Devil You Know Part 2: Cut to the Chase
Writer: Peter Milligan

Penciler: Darick Robertson

Inker: Rodney Ramos

Plot: Start with a lot of Pat fighting with Toxin. The symbiote doesn’t understand why it can’t just kill people when it senses that Pat really would like to. Then we see a young boy and girl walking to a basement to meet “The Master,” or Razor-Fist. Razor-Fist is using teenage cutters to do his bidding, because he convinces him that he understands them.

Pat finds the young boy through the scent of Razor-Fist’s blood, and forces him to take him to Razor-Fist. While Pat fights Razor-Fist, Toxin takes the opportunity to be moody and not help. Obviously Pat gets the tar beaten out of him. At the last minute, Toxin agrees to help, but materializes as a very nerdy suit. Is Pat a dead man? It’s part 2 of 6, you tell me.

Likes:

- The dialogue between Pat and Toxin is even better in this issue than the last. The struggle is very real

- It really tugs at your heart that Razor-Fist actually gets these kids to stop cutting. There’s a great little scene where the young boy is about to do it as usual, but just doesn’t want to anymore. It seems Mr. Milligan has a real understanding and care for this culture.

Dislikes:

- No real dislikes specifically, it just wasn’t quite as good as I expected. It didn’t hit the level of the scenes featuring Razor-Fist in issue 1, which is what it should have been doing.

Favorite Quote: Razor-Fist about Pat: “Might have guessed, a guy who tucks his shirt into his underpants. I’m doing civilization a big favor by killing you.”

Rating: 3 webs out of 5. After the greatness of issue one, I’m really not impressed here. But the series is still more quality than say, Breakout. And it is definitely worth a read so far.

Reviewed by: Morbius

Toxin #1
Title: The Devil You Know Part One: The Strange Case of Pat Mulligan and Mr. Hyde
Writer: Peter Milligan
Penciler: Darick Robertson
Inker: Rodney Ramos
Background: In Venom and Carnage, Officer Pat Mulligan became host to Carnage’s offspring, Toxin. He decided to accept it and use it for good, but left the force and his family for fear of harming them. In New Avengers, there has been a massive super-villain breakout.

Plot: King Cobra breaks in on a criminal diamond buy, taking the diamonds (and the beautiful courier) with him. Over in Ryker’s, Pat and a cop friend of his named Paul are talking to Mr. Hyde, trying to find out about King Cobra. They have no luck. After wrestling with Toxin’s personality and reading some Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Pat goes to Paul and asks him for another shot with Mr. Hyde, alone. In the course of doing so, he tells Paul about being Toxin. Pat goes and has his discussion with Mr. Hyde, and it gets him a piece of skin that King Cobra shed. This is all Toxin needs to track him, so Pat changes clothes, as it were, and pursues him. He busts in on King Cobra and the courier, who have been - *cough* - talking. A battle ensues in which the courier slips away, and Toxin takes down King Cobra.
The next day, Pat is walking around, talking to the symbiotic voice in his head. Spider-Man gives him a bandage soaked with the blood of Razor-Fist, and asks him if he would want to track him down. Pat accepts gladly. In a parallel scene, Razor-Fist is introduced, and slices up a bunch of common thugs that challenge him in a surprisingly bloody scene.

Likes:
- The use of second string villains in the spotlight. King Cobra and Razor-Fist aren’t names most people would really even recognize. But in this comic, they are used in full sinister glory.

- The parallel between Toxin and Mr. Hyde. Pat reads the book a lot, and talks to the villain often as well. It is a well used parallel, and I wouldn’t mind seeing Toxin have more conversations with him.

- The dialogue between Pat and Toxin is well done.

- The art is exceptionally solid.

- The introduction of Razor-Fist is excellent. It is a dark, cool, and bloody scene that I wasn’t expecting. It does an excellent job of establishing a second stringer as a real threat, and a cool villain, too.

- There is the mandatory appearance by Spider-Man, but it’s very unobtrusive.

Dislikes:

- Honestly, the only one I could find is that the cover logo could be improved.

Favorite Quote: King Cobra quote and Toxin’s response: “Arghh!” “Arghh?”

Rating: 5 webs out of 5. Believe me, I don’t give perfect scores lightly. This issue was exceptional.

Reviewed by: Morbius