Hey guys, catch up time as we head into 2018. Venom Inc and the VenomVerse sequel crossover with X:Men Blue will be my final reviews for Spider-Man Crawlspace. I have been slowly drifting away from Marvel for some time now and after a lot of behind the scenes decisions I do not agree with, I can no longer support Marvel. Here’s hoping that my final story lines are some solid ones, starting with Kraven vs. Venom. 

Venom 156-158: Rats and Ruins

Writer: Mike Costa

Artist: Mark Bagley

Inkers: John Dell & Scott Hanna (156/157) & Andrew Hennessy (158)

Colorist: Dono Sanchez-Almara

Letters: Clayton Cowles

C. Artists: Mark Bagley & Andrew Hennessy (156) & Paul Mounts (156) & John Dell (157-158) & John Rauch (157-158)

Editors: Nick Lowe & Devin Lewis & Allison Stock & Tom Groneman (158)

Editor-In-Chief: Axel Alonso

Recap: The arc begins with Kraven hunting one of the dinosaur people named Tana. She manages to evade him and tracks down Venom, the Saviour, to help deal with Kraven. The first tussle between Kraven and Venom goes poorly for both, since Kraven has turned the sewers into a maze of traps and has weapons that weakens the Venom symbiote. Eddie goes into shock after being shot through the chest, but Venom escapes to Alchemax. Doctor Steven patches Eddie up, but while this is going on, Mayor Wilson Fisk empowers Kraven and the NYPD with all the jurisdictional leeway they need to round up the dino-people. Doctor Steven explains they have run out of Venom-serum so Eddie has only a single dose left before Venom starts to corrupt his brain and die.

Venom infiltrates the NYPD and slowly takes some out before coming face to face with Kraven again. This time, Kraven has an ally in the form of Shriek, who kicks Eddie’s ass. Her powers grow out of control and she ends up collapsing part of the sewers, which causes massive property damage up top; Eddie sacrifices himself to save several lives and ends up pinned under a fallen building. While trapped under the building, Venom begins to warp his mind. Tana discovers him and inspires the Moloids to help free him, while Kraven goes on a dino-people killing spree against the wishes of the NYPD. Once Eddie is free, he loses himself to Venom’s rage. Venom overpowers Shriek and Kraven, but Tana arrives with the last dose of Venom’s serum, which allows Eddie to stop Venom from killing them. The NYPD turn against Kraven and bring him in, while the Dino-People protect Venom. 

During the entire arc, Lee Price’s trial goes to court and he is found innocent of Venom’s crimes and released. 

A Quick Side-Note: Marvel is cancelling titles because of poor sales across the board; as I write this, common belief is that eleven titles will be canned come March (because why would Marvel tell us if the book is cancelled). And yet despite this, THERE IS FOUR EDITORS on this title starting with 158. When there is not enough sales to support your top-end as is, why are you hiring more people to make your top-end more expensive? I’m a cultural theorist, not a business guy, so if someone can explain this to me, I would appreciate it. 

Thoughts: Just up front, I think I should admit that I am not a Kraven fan; my favourite Kraven storyline is the original Ultimate Spider-Man appearance where he gets one-punched. So just like when they announced Lunella Layfayette’s guest spot, I did not have much excitement going into this arc. But, Kraven is pretty well used here. He has a sophisticated manner of speaking, he’s condescending as all hell (especially to his underlings), and he seems to be one step ahead of Venom at all times, who only wins through sheer force of will. There is also an odd fascination with rats in the storyline, which I feel like references an old Kraven storyline? 

Costa has an odd obsession with random sidebars with characters and that continues into this arc. The sidebars here follow Tana, a pterodactyl-human, and the NYPD; unlike most Costa sidebars, these actually tie back into Venom’s story in strong ways. While the NYPD sidebars add humour to the arc, Tana is actually a really interesting characters; she was once a vegan named Julia Fontaine who has had her entire identity rewritten. An interesting wrinkle she adds to the on-going dino-people arc is she was one of the people doing research on the project, which means Alchemax used the project not only on test subjects but also the creators; Liz Allan is up to some shady things. Tana also has the best moment when she rallies the Moloids, which is a sequence that should not work since we are told rather than shown; Eddie’s cynical commentary overtop of the inspirational art makes the sequence though. 

The symbiotes fare the poorest here, but even they fare okay. Shriek bothers me; she is literally called Shriek, yet produces sonic blasts from her hands? She is given practically nothing to do, but Bagley and the art team do a great job illustrating her powers. I feel like there is storytelling inconsistencies in how Venom is deteriorating between this arc, the previous ones, and Venom Inc. Despite this, there are some cool moments like Venom pulling a bullet out of Eddie and a fun sequence of Venom using a variety of powers to deal with the NYPD in non-lethal ways.

I never thought I would say this but…. Lee Price’s story was actually great. His court trial ties into Charles Soule’s stellar Daredevil run in fun ways and there is actually some fun concepts at play in the argument between lawyers. I can not even fault the judge for letting Price go after the demonizing of Venom in the media and how that relates to Price’s military career. His trial will probably be better than the entirety of Venom Inc. 

Turning now to the art team, this book starts off strong. Mark Bagley draws intricate backgrounds that often have flow, like water moving through the panel. Scott Hanna and John Dell are the best inkers Bagley has this arc and they do a great job of giving detail to the fur and scales and tendrils of Bagley’s various characters. Bagley has a lot of interesting single page characters with strong or bizarre designs, which fits Costa’s sidebar characters really well. Unfortunately, as the story continues the art consistently weakens from issue to issue. Bagley has a lot of unique individual panels, but his page layouts are rather generic. Bagley’s figures begin to loses their dimensions and less and less detail is put into the art on his end; even the layout of their anatomy seems off in the final issue. 

Outside of the final issue, his character work is great. There are nice little touches like Eddie’s eyes leaking black or his pupil expanding as Venom begins to take control. Eddie seems to force his way through Venom’s jaw in these issues when he emerges, which is a fascinating form of de-Venoming. Shriek’s redesign is very Black Widow-esqe, but looks nice. Kraven cuts his way through the page with ease but it is Tana who actually has some of the best action scenes, against the NYPD. I feel like even when Bagley had less time for the main battles, he put a lot of time into Tana who is visually distinctive from other characters. 

Unsurprisingly, series mainstay Dono Sanchez-Almara carries the art team through any weak moments. He uses a lot of interesting colour choices for the dino-people’s blood so that it stands out in the dim palette of the sewer scenes. Kraven’s world is filled with warm hues that really emphasize how different his world is from the sewers but also Eddie’s personal life. Another great touch is red slowly seeping into the page as Eddie begins to go into shock after being shot. Clayton Cowles also does a good job with how the sound effects rebound around the sources; Kraven and Eddie’s fights are full of sound effects that never crowd the scene. 

Verdict: This is a well paced Venom story with a lot of fun word-play that is short on interesting ideas. The art starts off really strong but slowly deteriorates through the arc. Costa’s sideline characters outshine the main characters and his Lee Price B-plot is so good I am bumping the arc up a full grade. Venom is becoming a solid book, starring characters I do not give a damn about, so people should give it a shot. 

Pros: 

• Strong colour choices
• Interesting side characters
• Lee Price’s Trial

Cons: 

• Deterioration of art
• Side characters outshine the main cast

Issue 156: B+

Issue 157: C+

Issue 158: B

B