Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Venom #12


Now this is serious. When did Rick Remender get this good? I sampled his Punisher work a few years ago and thought it was only OK. But these last three issues of Venom have been fantastic; so good that I just picked up a run of Uncanny X-Force on Comixology. And to think I only gave this a shot because I liked his interviews on Secret Avengers!

As for this issue, it checks off every box a Venom fan could want. Eddie Brock is long gone, but there are numerous pages featuring the huge, brain-eating Venom as he chases Jack O Lantern through Vegas. This is classic Venom the way we remember him, with some added features like extra mouths and spikes.

Jack O Lantern is a fantastic villain, and I adore his look. When he first appears, it honestly looks like he's just hanging out, chilling on his hovering, flaming broomstick. Only in comics!

Flash Thompson does get a few moments as GI Venom, the coolest being the scene where he pretends to be a drunk. Note the fantastic spider-symbols on his shirt.

I'm going to need to do a little research on Toxin, I remember enjoying his limited series a few years ago, but what has he been up to since? Didn't he fight Razorfist?

Lan Medina's art is solid, and many of the nice moments I mentioned above work because of his pencils. Geez, the scene where the symbiote overpowers Thompson is one of the scariest panels I can remember. There is a tightness to a lot of the backgrounds and surrounding characters that I recognized too, Medina is ably assisted by Nelson DeCastro.

Good

1 comment:

Decker said...

Remender is probably one of the best things about Marvel right now for me. His Uncanny X-Force has dropped off a bit with the fascination or requirement to link to the interminable AoA but his early stories with Fantomex and all of The World and Weapon X (Ten) stuff Morrison did in NXM was a personal fave.

Venom is no exception. I felt like Marvel really did a disservice to Mac Gargan by removing The Scorpion as a Spidey foe and not using the symbiote for something/one new. Having Flash in the Venom role has opened up something new for me for the character and the execution is pleasing to me also.