Venom (2018) #26 Review: The Bogenrieder Variety Hour

“Now, now… where are you off to, Eddie?”

So I guess I’m reviewing Venom now. Who knows, maybe it’ll last longer than me reviewing Avengers.

Venom (2018) #26

“Venom Beyond, Pt 1”

Writer: Donny Cates

Pencils: Iban Coello and Juan Gedeon

Colors: Jesus Aburtov

Letters: VC’s Clayton Cowles

Editor: Devin Lewis

Editor-in-Chief: CB Cebulski

Plot:

In the aftermath of Venom Island, Eddie knocks-knocks to let the devil in, to defeat Eminem from committing petty crime. Afterwards, he and his son Dylan go web-swinging, but are pursued by Not!War Machine with yellow-green paint. Eventually, Eddie and son arrive at the Maker’s warehouse, only to find out that the Maker has donned the Symbiote from the Ultimate Universe. (See: Venom #20, fun times!) Maker and Venom scuffle for a bit, only for Not!War Machine (also known as Virus from an as-of-yet unreleased FCBD issue) comes in on a Goblin Glider, with the portal in Maker’s lab sucking everybody in.

And as the Maker arrives in an Ultimate Universe where Spider-Man and the Ultimates are nowhere to be found, Eddie and Dylan awaken in a Batman Beyond/2099-esque future where Knull’s evil is law! (Now, he must escape the future that is…Knull! Gotta get back, back to the past, Symbiote Jack! Wha-chah!)

Thoughts:

Well, as my friendship with George collapses over my willing choice to review a Symbiote book, it’s good to be reviewing a book aside from ASM. I originally offered to take the title for Brad back in May, when Venom #25 came out, but as it was closing out I chose to wait for a fresh arc so that explanations weren’t in order.

To begin with a retrospective on my thoughts on the 2018 relaunch, I’ve had a relatively lovely relationship with Venom since it started in 2018. Cates and Stegman are one of the powerhouse creative teams at Marvel, and hearing them go back and forth on their creative process is fascinating. (Especially if you listen to Ryan Stegman’s podcast) That said, I think Marvel’s obsession with events dug a knife into the book, where Absolute Carnage was originally supposed to be just a Venom arc and it feels like that derailed the entire thing. That said, it hasn’t lessened the overall quality of the book; it’s just made me buy more of a title I didn’t feel I needed to.

To kick things off, Iban Coello is an artist who I’ve had a lot more experience with than I otherwise would have if I had not been reviewing ASM. His work there is… fine. But Venom is a book where he really gets to shine as an artist, where his jagged, yet fluid lines accentuate the quick motions of a creature like Venom perfectly. It helps that, aside from Stegman, he’s the only artist who can/ is willing to draw Eddie with the beard and short haircut, which is my favorite look for him so far, and it just feels right for this new era of Papa Venom. Consequently, his rendition of the Maker is also right on the spot, as is the Maker/Ultimate Symbiote hybrid. The only real complaint I have is Jesus Aburtov’s colors, which work with Coello’s pencils, but less so with Juan Geddon, who will apparently be handling the art for the upcoming art. It feels a little more cluttered, and it doesn’t really work when the arc is looking like a clear homage to Batman Beyond, which was incredibly clean with gritty elements.

In fairness to Cates, there’s probably stuff going on here that was supposed to follow-up on the FCBD issue, but there’s a lack of context about Virus and what/who he is, where he got the Goblin tech, and what he wants with Eddie. And while I’m certain there’s not a lot of explanation in the issue itself, but it feels like we’re in act two/three of an entirely different arc. There is a certain rush to move on from Venom Island, and I think that Cates didn’t really care how we got to NeoGotham but just wanted to get there and so he remembered the Maker and dimension thing. Ultimately, I think this will be a timeline that results from the absence of Eddie and illustrates Venom’s importance for the King in Black storyline, but again, the circumstances to get here (As well as the hook for the Ultimate Universe that the Maker finds himself returned to) feel very contrived.

So, for a first issue to review of Venom? It’s not… particularly bad, but it doesn’t give me the same spark that I needed to get completely invested like Venom Island and Absolute Carnage did. As is, it feels fairly decent, but none of the hooks needed to really rope me in are really feeling for what I’m looking for, both on an art front and a storytelling front. Here’s to hoping Cates gets a better feel for what I want (And frankly, I’m not sure I even know what I want out of this arc; typically, with this book, it just… clicks. This just didn’t.) in the future issues of this arc.

Stegman does do a banger cover, though, I’ll give the book that.

Final Grade: B