Whatever happened to the Symbiote of Tomorrow?
Written by Sym B. Ote.
Venom and his symbiote hordes battling on an alien planet to help the native against an invading army… while also repairing the damages caused by Knull, meeting with Asgardians, and realising other good deed! According to my interview with Mr. Brock, it turns out he is now capable of remote piloting symbiotes thanks to the spire -that was apparently relocated in his basement! However, doing so many things at once is strenuous for a normal human, and Eddie looked visibly aged.
During our interview His son Dylan was preparing to leave for school. As he triesd to talk to Dylan, who seems to be having a hard time going through high-school the Venom symbiote volunteered to walks him to school (in the guise of a dog) while Sleeper (in the guise of a cat) reminds Eddie Spider-man called him a few times before going back to sleep. On the way to school, the symbiote and Dylan bond (not that way), and the symbiote tells him his true name – which is shared as an emotion rather than a word!
I then accompany Brock to a meeting with Spider-man at their usual dining place. Spider-man lament the fact that everything that happens was his fault and apologies to Brock… who reveals the whole history of the symbiote on Earth and that Spidey’s involvement in it was marginal at best! Robbers come in and Brock handles them before shaking hands with Spidey, revealing he was never there to begin with as a flock of bat symbiotes fly away.
According to a source at Krakoa, while Brock was being interviewed and talking to the Web-head, he was also communicating with different groups and individuals (Avengers, Guardians of the galaxy, Silver Surfer, Mutants etc…) to warn them of the threat of the Maker, whom he believes plans on invading our universe. Cap invited Venom to join the avengers, but he refuses, instead suggesting… Agent Anti-Venom!
Last we heard of Flash Thompson, he was walking into a restaurant, musing how he came back to life and considering who he should warn when a kid tending the cash ended up being shot in the head by the guardsman. Believing they were here for him and that the kid was a casualty, he morphed into Anti-Venom and started to lay the beat down on them until it is revealed the kid was indeed the true target -as he was bonded to a symbiote! The guardsmen new role after the invasion is to neutralize stray symbiotes, as the general population has grown to fear and hate them.
However all isn’t great for the Brocks. While at school, Dylan is the victim of bullying. Even though he fantasies about beating the other kids into a bloody pulp, he holds back, ending up in the principal office once again and again. However, a follow up conversation with Edward Brock revealed that recently on the way back home with the Venom symbiote, Dylan heard a woman pleas while being robbed by Jack-O-Lantern! While trying to help, Dylan was shot and the symbiote bonded to him (Yes, in that way) to save him. As Venom, they made quick work of the Lantern.
Once Dylan got home, Eddie confronted his son on the rooftop, but rather than being mad, he told Dylan that he understood him and gave him his blessing to become the new Venom!
How was it?
Well, that was worth the wait! At 80 pages, this anniversary issue is basically a trade paperback; and it shows. A ton of story is crammed in these pages -I would say enough for an entire arc in the regular comic!
All of it was not only relevant, but incredibly fun. The first part gives use an idea of the good Eddie can do with these powers – but also how hard on him it will be.
His meeting with Peter was, as usual, very in character. Both Spider-man and Eddie are written perfectly, from Pete’s guilt to Brock’s snarky attitude.
Then there is the agent Anti-Venom stuff, which is basically a lead into Extreme Carnage. It was fun, and I cannot convey how happy I am with this resurrection. I felt like there was so much more things to mine from Agent anti-Venom and that Slott killed him in a last-ditch effort to make his mark (or rather his stain) on Amazing Spider-man. With this return, as well as upcoming 
reunion with Andy (as Scream) and Toxin (whose host is the son of the Guardsmen leader) we have a very solid foundation to build on. Hopefully, it will be as good as the early agent Venom run.
Finally, we have the bits with Dylan. It is a clear passing of the torch here, between an Eddie that has matured and accepted his inner darkness, and a young man that needs purpose and a way to control his anger. And with a now cleansed symbiote, whom he trusts with his own life (and that is, accessorily also his father) he can have the peace of mind to help the cosmos, knowing his son is in good hand! Also the Venom redesign, while keeping things classic, do bring a nice, different feel with the chest logo and chains. I<m also looking forward for the inevitable meeting of the new Venom and his “uncle Spider-man”
While there was many different artist, they all fit their parts very, except maybe the Flash part. It was a little too… grotesque for my taste. Like the proportions are off
All in all, this issue was fantastic. It is a great send off to the character and concludes Cate’s run brilliantly, while setting up a fun new statue quo, and correcting the mistakes of the past. A+ for me!
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Oh, so it DID post my comment! Glad it worked.
Yep, that’s true, characters’ stupidity is quite common and is a cheap way for writers to push forward their story despite everything.
Mmh, hard question.
It may seem I hated Cates’s run, but I probably have mixed feeling about it. Just yesterday I stumbled upon some pages from the Beyond arc and it reminded me I actually liked part of that story. I’m starting to think I don’t like the endings. LOL He probably raises the stakes too much for a satisfying ending.
As a continuation of the Venom epic, I think it’s clear by now I didn’t like many choices he made, however I feel I’d need to re-read the whole run from start to finish to be completely fair in its judgement, especially as a standalone series. (re-reading entire runs is something I’d like to do for many characters, but with new comics coming out every day I fear I’ll never be able to do it…)
Always a pleasure to discuss with you, thank you!
@Aqu@: agree with you on all counts. Although to be fair characters in comic book are very trusting… I mean no way would Otto in Peter body make it past day one. Especially in a world full of shapeshifters, clones, mind control… Yet in universe it works for month. So the hero accepting Eddie was just another episode of stupidity on their part to me.
Now that it’s over, what are your thoughts on the run as whole? Both as a standalone series and a continuation of venom? Very curious to hear your opinion on that!
Since the last comment went through, let’s try again:
I mean, that’s the point. Eddie has been written in so many ways (but rarely as a good man, instead he comes out as a weak twisted man) that he appears rather unstable. If anything, the people around him, especially the heroes, should never trust him right away just because of this.
Take Cap, for example: he witnessed how the symbiote in the hand of a better man (Flash) could become something else. It’s not hard to imagine then that he would put the blame of Venom’s psycopathic behaviour on Eddie’s character.
To me this is quite like what some writers (*cough*Bendis*cough*) do, ignoring something from the past just to push their own story…
To be fair Spaceknight wasn’t Bendis’s fault (or merit, if you liked it), it was written by R. Thompson. Bendis just threw the words “Agent of the cosmos” in there, without any explanation. What he did, was estabilishing that the symbiote species (now named Klyntar) wasn’t actually bad, and the ones that invaded other planets were just a rogue batch. Nothing that separates the Venom character from Spider-man, it just gives depth to the symbiotes backstory, providing further fuel to Venom as a heroic character (not that was needed, since the symbiote was with Flash, but it put them on the same page).
What rubs me isn’t the name for the association host-symbiote, but what they do. MacGargan and Agent Venom were both tied to Spider-man in motives and power-set (one of the focal point is that the symbiote copied Spider-man’s power). They were simply a different take on the character, but still part of the Spider-mythos. (I always thought Pryce was just a temporary host to reintroduce Eddie, given how it played out, like Fortunato’s son, so it doesn’t count).
As per the symbol, yeah, it was inspired by Spiderwoman’s suit, but why did it choose that specifically, instead of Peter’s? The coincidental likeness to Knull’s symbol is a nice explanation that works for me. But using that NOW for Venom implies a detachment from the Spiderverse I don’t like.
I can’t seem to post my long-thought reply, I don’t know why… Oh, well.
I mean, that’s the point. Eddie has been written in so many ways (but rarely as a good man, instead he comes out as a weak twisted man) that he appears rather unstable. If anything, the people around him, especially the heroes, should never trust him right away just because of this.
Take Cap, for example: he witnessed how the symbiote in the hand of a better man (Flash) could become something else. It’s not hard to imagine then that he would put the blame of Venom’s psycopathic behaviour on Eddie’s character.
To me this is quite like what some writers (*cough*Bendis*cough*) do, ignoring something from the past just to push their own story…
To be fair Spaceknight wasn’t Bendis’s fault (or merit, if you liked it), it was written by R. Thompson. Bendis just threw the words “Agent of the cosmos” in there, without any explanation. What he did, was estabilishing that the symbiote species (now named Klyntar) wasn’t actually bad, and the ones that invaded other planets were just a rogue batch. Nothing that separates the Venom character from Spider-man, it just gives depth to the symbiotes backstory, providing further fuel to Venom as a heroic character (not that was needed, since the symbiote was with Flash, but it put them on the same page).
What rubs me isn’t the name for the association host-symbiote, but what they do. MacGargan and Agent Venom were both tied to Spider-man in motives and power-set (one of the focal point is that the symbiote copied Spider-man’s power). They were simply a different take on the character, but still part of the Spider-mythos. (I always thought Pryce was just a temporary host to reintroduce Eddie, given how it played out, like Fortunato’s son, so it doesn’t count).
As per the symbol, yeah, it was inspired by Spiderwoman’s suit, but why did it choose that specifically, instead of Peter’s? The coincidental likeness to Knull’s symbol is a nice explanation that works for me. But using that NOW for Venom implies a detachment from the Spiderverse I don’t like.
I mean, that’s the point. Eddie has been written in so many ways (but rarely as a good man, instead he comes out as a weak twisted man) that he appears rather unstable. If anything, the people around him, especially the heroes, should never trust him right away just because of this.
Take Cap, for example: he witnessed how the symbiote in the hand of a better man (Flash) could become something else. It’s not hard to imagine then that he would put the blame of Venom’s psycopathic behaviour on Eddie’s character.
To me this is quite like what some writers (*cough*Bendis*cough*) do, ignoring something from the past just to push their own story…
To be fair Spaceknight wasn’t Bendis’s fault (or merit, if you liked it), it was written by R. Thompson. Bendis just threw the words “Agent of the cosmos” in there, without any explanation. What he did, was estabilishing that the symbiote species (now named Klyntar) wasn’t actually bad, and the ones that invaded other planets were just a rogue batch. Nothing that separates the Venom character from Spider-man, it just gives depth to the symbiotes backstory, providing further fuel to Venom as a heroic character (not that was needed, since the symbiote was with Flash, but it put them on the same page).
What rubs me isn’t the name for the association host-symbiote, but what they do. MacGargan and Agent Venom were both tied to Spider-man in motives and power-set (one of the focal point is that the symbiote copied Spider-man’s power). They were simply a different take on the character, but still part of the Spider-mythos. (I always thought Pryce was just a temporary host to reintroduce Eddie, given how it played out, like Fortunato’s son, so it doesn’t count).
As per the symbol, yeah, it was inspired by Spiderwoman’s suit, but why did it choose that specifically, instead of Peter’s? The coincidental likeness to Knull’s symbol is a nice explanation that works for me. But using that NOW for Venom implies a detachment from the Spiderverse I don’t like.
I mean, that’s the point. Eddie has been written in so many ways (but rarely as a good man, instead he comes out as a weak twisted man) that he appears rather unstable. If anything, the people around him, especially the heroes, should never trust him right away just because of this.
Take Cap, for example: he witnessed how the symbiote in the hand of a better man (Flash) could become something else. It’s not hard to imagine then that he would put the blame of Venom’s psycopathic behaviour on Eddie’s character.
To me this is quite like what some writers (*cough*Bendis*cough*) do, ignoring something from the past just to push their own story…
To be fair Spaceknight wasn’t Bendis’s fault (or merit, if you liked it), it was written by R. Thompson. Bendis just threw the words “Agent of the cosmos” in there, without any explanation. What he did, was estabilishing that the symbiote species (now named Klyntar) wasn’t actually bad, and the ones that invaded other planets were just a rogue batch. Nothing that separates the Venom character from Spider-man, it just gives depth to the symbiotes backstory, providing further fuel to Venom as a heroic character (not that was needed, since the symbiote was with Flash, but it put them on the same page).
What rubs me isn’t the name for the association host-symbiote, but what they do. MacGargan and Agent Venom were both tied to Spider-man in motives and power-set (one of the focal point is that the symbiote copied Spider-man’s power). They were simply a different take on the character, but still part of the Spider-mythos. (I always thought Pryce was just a temporary host to reintroduce Eddie, given how it played out, like Fortunato’s son, so it doesn’t count).
As per the symbol, yeah, it was inspired by Spiderwoman’s suit, but why did it choose that specifically, instead of Peter’s? The coincidental likeness to Knull’s symbol is a nice explanation that works for me. But using that NOW for Venom implies a detachment from the Spiderverse I don’t like.
Hey aqu@!
I do agree with you on most points, although I think it’s a little unfair to lay the blame entirely at cates’ feet.
Eddie (and his symbiote) have been written very inconsistently for the past 3 decades. Eddie has been in turn a decent man turned into a sociopath by the symbiote’s corrupted influence, to a scared puppet manipulated by his symbiote, to born again kinda man who auctioned the symbiote and attempted suicide, to a nutjob again when bounded to the toxin symbiote (proving he corrupted the symbiote and not the other way around), to kind of a lovesick puppy when he reunited with his symbiote…
Hell even the symbiote went from evil corrupting influence to poor psychic victim and everything in the between!
I agree with you on the spire usage and premature aging is a weird choice. Especially since we know marvel won’t dare kill the golden goose anytime soon…
I agree that marvel is removing venom from the Spidey mythos a bit too much for my taste. But to be fair that started with Bendis Spaceknight BS. Also the symbol never made sense as a knull thing, since it was inspired by Julia carpenter’s Arachne costume during the secret war… Completely unrelated to knull! And while I agree with you (to me venom is Eddie AND his symbiote) marvel has passed the mantle often enough that the name doesn’t really carry its weight anymore. Between scorpion, flash, price and now Dylan… They really diluted who (or what) venom is!
Agh! I can’t believe I slipped this! Sorry for not commenting before!
Well, all in all it’s not a bad issue, but as I already wrote, I didn’t like what Cates did and HOW he did it. I’m not against character progression, and I would have liked this kind of situation as an ending of sorts for Eddie in the (far?) future. But today, I think he went from unstable villain and sociopath to acclaimed hero (and god!) too fast. It makes no sense to me.
Also here it happened what I feared: when King in Black ended I sighed in relief and thought to myself “well, at least Eddie is still Venom”. Fast forward to issue 200 and the mantle is passed on to his son Dylan. Ugh, there it is. Of course it was inevitable, as Eddie himself says, however not only it happened too fast, but it’s also a little worrysome that Eddie would leave its symbiote, who lied to him so many times, who even led Eddie to believe he had cancer, who is as unstable as he is, to his precious son. Well, at least that (and Dylan’s anger) should prove some interesting drama for the next volume (written by Ewing, so I have faith).
To conclude, some nitpicks that ruined the reading for me:
– if Eddie aged so much using the Spire in just a few months, he’ll die in less than a year! Maybe they went too far with that, unless…
– there’s a page with a couple of panel where Old Man Eddie is blonde again. As usual noone double checks the issues before going to print. Or maybe it’s the rest of the comic that’s wrong and he really didn’t age so much so to have grey hair.
– Eddie brags about himself being a journalist, but makes a terrible mistake when he corrects Spidey: omnipotent doesn’t mean knowing everything, it means being all-powerful (and that doesn’t necessarily include being knowledgeable). Knowing everything is omniscient.
– the new Venom has a different symbol, Knull’s dragon… While at the beginning of this volume I liked the idea that the symbiote subconsciously adapted its creator’s symbol to Spider-man’s spider when they first met, this change now has a deeper meaning I don’t like. It’s confirming in a sense the new direction Marvel seemed to take Venom toward with this last volume, separating it completely from Spider-man as a character: he is now just a guy in an alien symbiote suit (exactly like the movie, unfortunately). Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against the idea in itself, but they could have done it with any one of the myriad of symbiotes out there. Venom (i.e. the unique combination of Eddie Brock and this specific symbiote) IS and always will be tied to Spider-man by origin. Take that away and it’s just not Venom anymore (see the movie, if you dare).