I have been talking about it in every review since February and it’s finally here. This is the first issue of Venom by Donny Cates (Doctor Strange, Thanos, Babyteeth, and several other titles you should be reading) and Ryan Stegman (Amazing Spider-Man, Venom Inc). Is it everything I hoped? Yeah… pretty much.

Venom (2018) #1

Writer: Donny Cates

Artist: Ryan Stegman

Inker: JP Mayer

Colorist: Frank Martin

Letterer: Clayton Cowles

C.Artists: Ryan Stegman & Frank Martin

Editors: Nick Lowe & Devin Lewis & Tom Groneman & Emily Newcomen 

Editor-In-Chief: CB Cebulski 

Recap: The book opens with a new origin of the Klyn’tar on Earth. In ancient Norse times, something kills off an entire community. Eddie Brock sees this through a dream. It is not his dream but Venom’s. Venom seems aggressively terrified of the dream and Eddie is struggling with Venom’s new aggressive behavior, to the point he takes pills to drown out Venom’s presence in his mind. They suit up to take down a new Jack O’Lantern, but Venom tries to possess Eddie so he calls the cops in his stead, fearing what might happen. Jack O’Lantern escapes and the stress allows Venom to take control. He rips out Lantern’s eyes before the cops interfere. Venom tries to kill the cops, but an unknown soldier stops him.

This soldier is Rex Strickland, who is able to keep Venom and Eddie subdued. Strickland reveals that Project Rebirth 2.0 (the first of which was Captain America, the second of which bonded Flash to Venom) was actually Rebirth 3.0. The government had already been experimenting with soldiers and Klyn’tar before Flash, with Rex leading a team of symbiote soldiers. Strickland got out of the program, but his teammates didn’t. After the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D, Rex’s old teammates were rounded up and Rex wanted to enlist Flash Thompson’s help to save them; he settles for Eddie’s. He tells Eddie something terrible is coming and they will need all symbiote hands on deck to fight it; he promises further answers after they rescue his men.

Eddie ambushes the transport moving Strickland’s men, who are permanently bonded to their Klyn’tar. Eddie is shocked to find they have all become infected by something. Whatever the infection is, it scares off Venom, leaving Eddie alone against the soldiers. They gut Eddie and leave him to die, as an ancient Klyn’tar God awakens within the crust of the Earth.

Thoughts: After the disappointing conclusion to Cullen Bunn’s VenomVerse trilogy, I needed to take a break from Venom for a bit. I had been burnt one too many times and I had heard rumors that Donny Cates’ Venom took a lot of liberties with the history of the Klyn’tar on Earth. The last thing I wanted was another controversial change to a character I loved… but damn, did Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman deliver with Venom #1.

Starting with the story, Venom #1 has the best beats of recent Venom runs. We get a broken Venom like in Mike Costa’s run, but one who does not come off like a heart broken ex-lover. We get a host, struggling with addiction, much like Rick Remender’s run. And we get Venom’s involvement with a symbiotic paramilitary group, like Cullen Bunn’s VenomVerse trilogy. But it takes all these beats and creates a story that feels ultimately like none of them. The threat of ancient Kly’ntar God is exciting to me and I hope we get to see more of the Klyn’tar culture in this book. The fact it has ties to Norse culture makes me wonder if we’ll see Asgardian characters. Thor would be cool, but I hope we get Beowulf or Sigurd, who have been languishing in obscurity since Al Ewing’s Loki: Agent of Asgard ended.

What I do know is that we will be getting a lot more on Rex Strickland and his men, as we will see them being active in the Vietnam period during the upcoming Ve’Nam miniseries; some may hate that name, but I kind of like the wordplay. Strickland teases a lot of facts about the Klyn’tar, such as individualized names, the nature of symbiotic bonding, their culture, and how they affect their human hosts. I am a little worried about having more Venom miniseries after the various VenomVerse chapters ultimately added little to Venom’s story; Mike Costa is also teaming up with Mark Bagley to do a Venom: First Host mini. However, Donny Cates instilled a sense of hope in me, so we will see.

The best part of Venom #1 is the art team though. In Venom Inc, Ryan Stegman gave us a truly cinematic title that had an epic magnitude. This book is very different. It’s dark, it’s gritty, and it’s amazing. I think a lot of credit goes to inker JP Mayer, who gives the unnatural a strong presence. Together, they make shadows ooze and drip through the page in unsettling ways. The shadows are so thick, it obscures the frames between panels and it creates a visual style that Venom has needed for a long time. The symbiote and shadows leak out into the margins and it supports the central narrative of the symbiotes being out of control. Stegman and Mayer are a dream team.

Unsettling is the best description for Venom #1‘s art, and the letters also add to this. Cowles’ sound effects are thin and bend in unnatural ways, which is very off-putting. The Klyn’tar are given a language that wouldn’t look out of place in a Jonathan Hickman comic, and it pops on the page thanks to a shared coloring theme between Cowles and colorist, Frank Martin. Venom #1 is defined by a clash of red and black. The Klyn’tar language is alien text cast in red over black speech bubbles. The flashback scenes are washed over with a warm red while the symbiote oozes black from panel to panel. When the symbiotes are overridden by their God, they are given a red patterning; it reminds me a lot of Steve Dillon’s Venom redesign in Thunderbolts, but it looks much better here.

Verdict: There is so much more I could say, but we are already pushing a thousand words, so I will save it for future reviews. Venom #1 restored hope in me for the Venom character and I really think everyone should give it a try. Donny Cates’ has a pretty flawless track record and Ryan Stegman is doing something new and exciting with JP Mayer and Frank Martin. This book gives me all the beats I want from my Venom comics, even with Eddie Brock beneath the suit.

I would love to hear what you all think after you’ve read, because for the first time in a long time, I want to bond with people over a love of Venom.

Pros:

• Everything

Cons:

• None

A