CARNAGE #4 Review

CARNAGE #4 

Carnage Part Four

Writer: Zeb Wells

Artist: Clayton Crain

Cover Artist: Clayton Crain

Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles

Warning – SPOILERS below may make you scream… “VOLTRON!”

The Plot
We get a flash back that shows what happened to Carnage right after the Sentry rips him in half. The symbiote takes itself and Cletus into “hibernation” and started to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen which kept the two alive until they are woken up in a lab some time later. In the lab a few scientists remove the symbiote. Back in present day everyone is still baffled that Cletus Kasady is still alive and that now he’s coming after Michael Hall. The product crew goes after Carnage with no success as the symbiote takes control of their suits and absorbs each member into his body, becoming a mechanized symbiote monster.

Back in the secure holding cell at Hall Industries, Doctor Tanis Nieves is with Shriek and Doppelganger. Shriek believes that Tanis is trying to break up her and Cletus since she wore his symbiote but then realizes the good doctor is only special because she’s carrying the Carnage symbiote’s new offspring. Back in the streets Spidey and Iron Man are duking it out with Voltron Carnage (I’ll keep calling him that until further notice) and are getting their butts handed to them. Back inside Tanis cuts her symbiotic arm off with a shard of glass and Shriek picks it up. Finally when Spidey and Iron Man get the upper hand on Voltron Carnage they are blasted away by Shriek who has bonded the symbiotic arm to her body.

The Good
The art and writing are okay to say the least. The battle sequences were alright. That’s all I can really point out in this issue without going on a tantrum.  

The Bad
What the hell happened to the good stuff that I was reading before? I’ll just get to the point with Voltron Carnage. Seriously? Whoever has been reading this and thinking their turning Carnage into an Iron Man villain may be right. This whole absorbing trick that Carnage has been doing since the break out back in New Avengers is happening again. Since when was I reading a book on ULTIMATE Carnage?

I called it either in my last review or the review before that that the product crew was going to get controlled or most likely get killed off. It happened in this very issue to create this Voltron/Power Ranger giant robot wannabe. And the weird thing is he looks more like Venom then he does Carnage.

Carnage apparently will now have a new offspring. I don’t totally hate it yet I wish that they would acknowledge the existence of Toxin. The art and writing kind of take a step back in this issue. Almost half the panels in this issue end up looking dirty. And Spidey calling Voltron Carnage a “sick hillbilly”, really? Of all the things you could say you say that? Really??

Favorite Spidey Line
-While Spidey and Voltron Carnage are fighting-
Spidey: “Hall’s long gone by now Kasady and you’ve tried to take my city before, remember?”
Voltron Carnage: “You didn’t stop me. The tide just went out. But the moon’s full isn’t it. Tide’s comin’ back in.”
Spidey: “Are you rehearsing for a poetry slam?”

Rating
With this mini coming out every two months you’d think that the story would stay on the rails. Even though I didn’t like a few things in this issue it is important to pick it up since there is a plot development to it. 2.5 out of 5 webheads. That’s a 50% if you’re thinking as if it were a test in school. Expect my final review for Carnage… in two months!