Venom #1

Today Ladies and Gentlemen we take a look at Venom #1 written by Rick Remender and art by Tony Moore. But before we look at the issue and its awesomeness. Let's...if you will...turn back the clock. The year is 1995 and a 5 year old Big G is sitting in front of the TV watching Saturday Morning Cartoons. And during the mid-90s the king of SMCs was Fox Kids. Home of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, X-Men the Animated Series, Super Human Cyber Squad, and Spider-Man The Animated Series. It wad during this year that I was introduced to the fusion of Eddie Brock and Spider-Man's discarded Alien Costume known to the world as Venom. Venom quickly became my favorite villain in the Spidey universe and remains so to this day.But the Venom of my childhood is not the Venom of today. 

 

Today Eddie Brock is hanging out with a teenage heroin junkie named  Jenna Cole and is currently going under the alias of Anti-Venom. Today Corporal Eugene "Flash" Thompson, former Peter Parker tormentor turned good friend turned War Hero who lost his legs in Iraq ,is now wearing the Symbiote and is now Agent Venom. After the events of Siege Mac Gargan the third and most recent Venom was captured by the US Government and stripped of the Symbiote. And now its apart of Project Rebirth 2.0. Now they're are some restrictions about being a goverment sponsored Venom: 1) To prevent bonding with the symbiote Flash can only wear the suit for a maximun of 48 hours at a time, 2) Flash has a 20 mission limit at Venom, 3) his Superior has a Kill Switch should Flash loose control of the Symbiote.

Now let's get to the issue. The issue opens up smack dab in the middle of a War Zone in Eastern Europe. The UN peace keeping squad (decked out in Iron Man rip-off suits that I can only guess are left overs from Tony Stark's time as the Director of SHIELD) are trying to protect the people but are quickly gunned down by an unknown source. One of the UN Peacekeepers promises to protect two civilians but they end up getting killed by the new and crazy Jack O'Lantern. 

Jack mocks the UN Peacekeeper for failing to full-fill his promise and then uses some acid candy to melt his face. Jack then gets a call from his unknown Boss to find Doctor Ekmecic. Ekmecic found a way to weaponize Antarctic Vibranium and ran off with the tech to make a crap ton of money. Needles to say this did not please the Big Bad, which is why he sent Jack after him. As Jack flies around the war-zone on his broomstick he comments on how the Doc is making them a free marketing video. Jack then finds the Doc in a tank made out Vibranium. 

 

This is where Venom shows up jumping out of Chopper and web slinging around looking for the Doc as well as saving a Mother and her young child from the bad guys. During these pages Flash narrates his opinion of America and why he's doing what he's doing. During his fight with the bad guys he uses his suit to not only pick up a live grenade to store for later...but to create about half a dozen tendrils to fire about half a dozen guns back at the bad guys. Pretty Bad Ass if you ask me. 

 

During this fight he runs right into the Doc's Tank. The Doc asks one of his men what's going on and Venom rips off the hatch on the Tank and says "He caught a dose of Venom, Doctor Ekmecic."  Flash then admits he's embarrassed as soon as he says this. Leave the witty remarks to Deadpool and Spider-Man Flash. 

But as soon as Venom thinks his mission is done, he get's ambushed by Jack and buried under the Tank. Venom then uses his tendrils to use the Tank's cannon to shoot down Jack who was flying away with the Doc. Also during this time Flash is starting to get a wee bit agitated and his handlers tell him to calm down or they'll hit the kill swithc. Flash calms down and then tells them he's going to get the civilians out of there and in the process pisses off the brass. During their escape Jack attacks again this time with a sickle and starts wailing on Venom. 

You can see Venom's suit change from his comabt armor too somehting simialar to the old school Brock and Gargan Venom monstrisity. He then uses the grenade he stored earlier and puts it in Jack's mouth and blows off his jaw.  Jack staggers away, jumps on his broom and tries to fly away. Not wanting to loose his target Venom uses his webbing to snap the Doc's neck. His handlers tell him the mission is a scrub as Flash regains control and tell them that there are two civilains who woudl disagree with them. 

Back at HQ Flash's CO has the suit removed and has a private chit-chat with Flash. Flash assumes he's going to get chewed out and called a Maggot. The CO tells him that's now how he works and says that Flash dosen't quite grasp that he was moments away from dying from the Commander pressing the Kill Switch. The Commander tells him to ditch the High School Jock and bring back the War Hero. He then says if the Jock ever comes back...he'll cut Flash off the program. 

Flash arrives back in Brooklyn to meet his girl-firend Betty Brant who is in tears because Flash forgot they were supposed to got a VA benefit dinner. Having delt with lying boyfriends/husbands she accuses Flash of hdiing somehting and she automatically thinks Flash was off drinking. FYI Flash is an alcholoic who compelted AA. Betty in tears slams the door in his face. Flash then wheels through Brooklyn thinking about how he and his Old Man arer Alcholics and how his Old Man had a saying of "Where God Wants You, He'll Make A Way". Flahs then pauses as he passes a bar with a wheel chair ramp. He then goes past a church with a sign for an AA meeting...but the're no wheel chair ramp. Flash thinks about his  Old Man must be laughing. Then the issue ends with the following quote from Charles Buxton an English brewer, and philantropist "Bad temper is its own scourge. Few things are more bitter than to feel bitter. A man's venom poisons himself more than his victims" and as Flash wheels past the church we can see his Spider logo in his shadow a lot like how we see Peter's at the end of an issue of Spider-Man. 

Like I said before this issue was phenomnal. It has everything a launching issue needs to be successful. It has action, great dialogue, great art and for me personally in the last two pages of Flash with Betty and him wheeling around Brooklyn...its hits home on some issues that have affected friends/family. Having lost a Grandfather to alcohol abuse and having several family mebers go through AA, I'm glad that Rick brought this aspect of Flash's character into the book. And while it was very admirable that Flash didn't go get a pint, hving an additicve persoanlity will be a problem going forward. The Symbiote is just like a drug, and for Flash it also gives him the ability to walk againn. Also Flash now has deal with the double life that has ruined so many of Peter's relationships. I'd love to see them in a future issue and just talk about what having a double life means for them and their loved ones.

Moore's art goes fantastic with Remender's story and to me if art can complement the story and dialogue then that's the bee's knees. Venom's solider deisgn is kick ass, Jack O'Lantern's design is kick ass. Hell everthing is kick ass!

 

It's hard for me to give an issue a perfect 10/10 because on some level regardless of how good it was (AoX Chapter 3 being the prime example), there's somethign I can knicpick about. But this issues I can't. It has everything that I deem for a perfect issue. So to Rick and Tony...congrats Venom #1 get the first and coveted 10 Gs out 10.