Peter Parker. Mary Jane Watson. Eddie Brock. These are three characters who have all had some tumultuous years and have somehow drifted so far from where they were when they debuted to where they are now. But for some reason, they have always somehow found their stories intertwined. Now, with Peter back as Spidey on Earth, Eddie playing host to a blood-crazed Carnage, and MJ doing her own heroics as the new Venom, it is safe to say that it is a hell of a tangled web they are weaving.
Because each of them was caught up in their own shenanigans of cancelled series, meandering cosmic wanderings, or groan-inducing gag-filled filler punch-ups, these three never really got to resolve their shared baggage and new status quos with each other. That is, until now. Until Death Spiral. They teased it for months. They have even practically spoiled it. But now that it is here, Death Spiral #1 is the first bloody launching point for the Spidey, Venom, and Carnage event of the year.
With a truly heavyweight writing team of pretty much everyone who has written each of the main books for the titular stars, there is always a bit of worry about too many cooks ruining the sauce. But for what it is worth, this is an excellent start to the event. It is a unified character vision centered around a new, seemingly symbiotic serial killer in town, but it is also rooted in the spiraling mess of baggage that Eddie, MJ, and Peter share in their lives. For a first issue hook, it has the right mix of 90s edge, a grim, almost foreboding aesthetic, and genuine mystery at its heart which the main characters might not find out about until it is too late.
What a Tangled Web We Weave
eath Spiral #1 is split across three major acts, with each focusing on our three main characters trying to navigate the respective dookie piles that are their lives right now. First off, we have Peter Parker. He is the friendly recently-returned-from-space-to-the-neighborhood Spider-Man now trying to pick up the pieces left behind by Ben Reilly impersonating him during his absence. Weeks of letters, unanswered mails, and missed phone calls have all piled up. Peter is left floundering at the sheer weight of his absence.
If all it took was him not responding to anyone for his life to fall apart, then was it a life worth having? These are questions that torment him as he tries to get back into the groove of things as the one and only Spider-Man of NYC. In between checking in on his alien companions, who are in quarantine at the Baxter Building, and following up on the lab accident of his friend Brian, he also has the cherry on the crap sundae to deal with. Carnage now knows the secret identity of Peter again. Did he not already know it from the time he was bonded to Norman Osborn? Or did he forget during the bazillionth time the symbiote died and was reborn? It is too much of a headache. Let us pretend none of that happened for the sake of tension.
And speaking of Carnage, Eddie Brock and the crimson killer symbiote are in town as well, seemingly tracking down a serial killer of their own. This whole Dexter routine has been going on for a while. You should read the short-lived Eddie Brock: Carnage for more of that. Eddie is trying to keep the murderous urges of Carnage at bay through the whole kill other killers thing. While Carnage promises not to do anything to Peter Parker, Eddie is not entirely convinced.
But before they can do that, there is the small matter of a family reunion between Eddie and Dylan which goes less than swimmingly. Carnage is thoroughly amused by all this, and by the fact that Venom is now MJ. It really does not get more Freudian than that with this family. So, with all that angst and drama on the table, Eddie still thinks finding Venom will somehow help him sort out the serial killer situation that they have been tracking.
Now onto the Venom segment of this show. MJ and Flash Thompson are having their own little catch-up about the current state of their non-relationship and, of course, about the superhero woes of MJ. There is a small bit about Venom and MJ being shaken about the reaction of Peter to finding out about their new identity. It was not Peter, but rather it was Ben Reilly.
Before things can get any sappier than they are, MJ and Venom both find out that Eddie Brock is alive and looking for them. While the symbiote is elated at Eddie being back and alive, MJ is less so. This is more for the sake of Dylan than anything else.
While all this soap opera drama is going on across the book, at the bottom of every page, readers also notice a pattern consisting of seemingly random deaths across the country. There is no pattern at first, but as more pages go by, some names start to look more and more familiar. By the time we reach the last few pages, we see that all roads have been leading to Torment. This is the serial killer that Eddie and Carnage have been chasing. It is also someone whom Carnage seems to have a particularly special interest in beyond just killing them.
Steadying the Ship
With such a heavyweight collection of writers on this train, the fear of a derailment or clashing egos was always at the top of my mind. Granted, this is a crossover series spanning both Spider-Man and Venom titles, but for the main event book, we have Al Ewing, Joe Kelly, and Charles Soule. While all three writers do seem to write the segments for their own respective characters, the narrative throughline for Death Spiral #1 is so strong that it really does not feel chaotic or discordant in the slightest.
It is an incredible feat, unifying an event storyline that is focused on Eddie, Peter, and MJ after the kind of wildly different tones each of their respective books has had of late. This team manages to seamlessly do that. But most admirable of all is the fact that this book does what I have been begging the current Venom and Amazing Spider-Man runs to rectify with their respective characters, while also bringing back the family drama of the messy life of Eddie Brock into the fray. It is like it is Christmas and my birthday on the same day! Just one teeny-tiny question: where was all this character work when I was reading all of their individual books?
To start things off, we have Joe Kelly finally and actually addressing some of the larger issues of the return of Peter to Earth and the genuinely shredded state of his relationships since his absence. It was a frustrating thing to see in the last issue of Amazing Spider-Man how the actual gravity of the situation truly mattered to Peter. While it personally made sense to me for him to both lash out at Ben Reilly first and foremost while also maniacally trying to rectify things with Aunt May, this first issue of Death Spiral allows Peter to really stew in the mess that his life is right now.
It fits thematically with everything that is about to come, and the monologue for Peter is appropriately morose, even as he is going through the motions of checking up on his alien friends or colleagues. While I was hoping for more of this in his main Spider-Man title, there is a method to the madness here. It is no accident that the narrative of Peter is what opens Death Spiral #1. At the root of it all, Peter Parker is where all of this really starts. Eventually, all the horrors of the things he can and cannot control are going to come back to haunt him, as is true in Spider-Man fashion. In the short span, it does not really get much worse than Carnage knowing his secret identity, even though Peter is yet to find out that Carnage and Eddie Brock are one and the same.
Part two is where things get even spicier, and we get to the real meat of the story with Charles Soule returning to writing duties with the favorite himbo Frankenstein of everyone, Eddie Brock. Oh, and Carnage is here too. The return of Soule feels like he never left, picking up right where he left off at the end of the painfully short run of Eddie Brock: Carnage.
Genuinely one of the strongest parts of the book, the version of Eddie written by Soule is still tormented by having to keep Carnage in check. He now has the added headache of having to deal with the crimson psycho knowing the true identity of Peter. Carnage himself is written as gleefully evil and manipulative, acting as the blood-soaked angel on the shoulder of Eddie reminding them of their arrangement. It is great watching this dynamic again, and fans of the series will get more than their share of it in this issue.
If you wanted things to get even better, or worse in the context of the story, Soule also finally reunites Eddie with Dylan. It is a tough moment emotionally to watch, and a lot of feelings need to be hashed out, but it all just feels so raw and realistic. Watching Eddie evolve from a dumb jock anti-hero to a troubled, well-meaning screwup of a single dad has been a breathtaking thing to watch in recent years. His relationship with Dylan has always been the most pivotal part of the Venom mythos in my opinion. To see that revisited here with real emotional weight is something I am very grateful for. Seeing Dylan go from elation at having his dad back to pure, justified rage when he finds out that Eddie is seemingly only there to see Venom is heartbreaking for readers. It is a tough balancing act, but Soule does it with the added caveat of Eddie already tracking down a potential serial killer as well.
Finally, we have the Venom chapter by Al Ewing. This is the one that does the most heavy lifting in trying to rehabilitate the absolute slop that has been the mainline run for the last few months. For months now, Venom has been a comic book that dramatically missed the mark while trying to harken back to the 90s style goofy symbiote hijinks of Michelinie. It turned into issues of dragged-out, repetitive humor and glacially paced plots that only seemed to be buying time for the next event.
The next event is here. I am starting to get the kind of material I have been begging for since MJ became Venom, which is some actual character work. I completely get that editorial and respective storylines have had Peter, Eddie, and MJ separated for a long time, but that is no reason for MJ as Venom to not have even the smallest shred of character growth. In this event issue, we start to see Al Ewing actually work those concepts in. The burgeoning relationship of MJ with Flash is actually done very sweetly here. It features the kind of humor that feels positively diabetic but adorably in character for two people who have known each other as long as these two have.
It is also a very well-executed and completely understandable icebreaker for all the doom and gloom the readers and even MJ, are dealing with at the moment. Having MJ finally confront the idea of how Peter reacted to her telling him that she is Venom is something long overdue. There is another continuing thread of our three leading event characters knowing smaller things about each other but not having a full picture. This reinforces the idea of the spiraling sense of confusion everyone is dealing with. Peter knows Carnage is aware of his identity, but does not know that Eddie is Carnage. Eddie knows that Venom is still out there, but did not know until this issue that MJ is Venom. MJ thinks that Peter knows she is Venom, but does not know that he really does not know the truth at all. It is a riveting conceit and one that is sure to have some truly mouthwatering consequences for everyone.
Also, seeing MJ get upset about the fact that Eddie is back in town, more for the sake of Dylan than for anyone else, is a great dynamic. The symbiote is literally giddy like a child to see Eddie again, and I cannot wait to see these two perspectives come head-to-head.
Of course, with three very character-led chapters by their respective writers taking up the book, it is actually the main throughline where things get the most interesting. In almost every page, we see a winding series of strange deaths and murders. Some are seemingly mundane accidents, others are more outlandish, and some are utterly grotesque. The writers work their magic here, slowly unraveling the mystery. The names of each victim are random at first, then they start to look familiar, until readers with some sense of dread start to see a pattern emerge.
This narrative throughline across the book is what holds every chapter and the vision of each writer together seamlessly and coherently. This allows everyone to tell their own stories while also telling the bigger story at the same time. It is done slowly, with just the right kind of pacing, and it leads us to the latest symbiotic serial killer: Torment.
Torment himself, while not showing up until the very end, has his presence infect the entire book from start to finish. For those looking for a bombastic, earth-shattering debut for this new foe, you will probably be disappointed. But in terms of the slow burn, this works perfectly to introduce the character. So far, all you know is his look and his patterns. Once again, it is very 90s coded, harkening back to the debut of Carnage in terms of style and substance. While Carnage was pure, chaotic slaughter, Torment is measured and macabre in his killing art. That is clearly by design, because the links between Torment and Carnage really do come full circle with a genuinely great twist that is sure to light a real fire for everyone.
The Art That Brings it All Together
With so many creative narrative visions working together on Death Spiral, building a unified tone and aesthetic is a daunting challenge which the writers have risen to meet. But if we’re really going to talk about what truly brings this book together it’s the absolute tour de force art and coloring by Jesus Saiz and Matt Hollingsworth respectively. Having one artist and colorist be the connective tissue for three different writers might sound strange at first, but it's exactly this decision and the strength of the art team’s work that really bring the grimy, gritty and dread filled aesthetic this book needed.
Jesus Saiz has already shown his penchant for spectacularly grim artwork alongside Charles Soule during the Eddie Brock: Carnage run. He brings that same energy to this project, but it is far more precise and focused to match the other characters in this event. The de-stylized approach of Saiz really works in telling a more grounded and morose narrative of the titular characters and their respective suffering. Everyone is depicted in varying degrees of dourness, as you would expect.
It is a book featuring heroes, but it is not a heroic book and it shows. This is evident in the framing done by Saiz. The bottom panel of every page focuses on a murder that is building up piece by piece to an even greater horror to come. Just like with the writing, it is this pacing and framing that really infects the book with the implacable presence of Torment right up until you see him and understand why he is on a collision course with everyone.
Even while Spidey tries to do his heroics, Eddie is grappling with the bloodlust of Carnage, and MJ and Venom are caught up in the feelings of their own dynamic. The art style of Saiz gives each character chapter its own unique identity while also slowly bringing everyone to the same grim point of pain as the book progresses towards Torment himself. The new antagonist looks as mysterious as he is intimidating.
Matthew Hollingsworth on colors is also fundamental in this dark and brooding visual aesthetic. For each character chapter, there is so much great intentional playing with shadows and color washes to firmly frame the mindset of each player.
The segment for Peter is tinted in colorful, sky blue hues and sunny skies that eventually fade into blood red as his chapter clashes with the revelations of Eddie. The chapter for Eddie has him skulking on rooftops, tinted by shadow and red ink. This mirrors the inner conflict of his battle to keep Carnage on a leash. This slowly gives way to a blacker shade as the chapter for MJ starts, with her framed partially in shadow and partially in the light. This showcases the duality of her human, light-hearted side with the darker nature of Venom itself.
Of course, every murder at the bottom of the page is sepia-toned and set, like the colors on a newsreel or a murder board you would use to track patterns. Again, these coloring choices really do make the book the visually visceral feast it is. I am looking forward to seeing more of this momentum going forward.
The Cherry on the Bloody Sundae
To say Death Spiral #1 has a gripping start would be an understatement. It manages to achieve an exemplary target of not just telling its own story, but also managing to somehow combine and even correct three strong character visions into a compelling narrative. What uneven storytelling the likes of Venom and Spider-Man have suffered through in their own respective books has seemingly been wiped clean in service of a razor-sharp and precise thriller storyline. This plot slowly but methodically ratchets up the tension until the twist on its last page.
I am really hoping the creative team can carry on the pacing and standard of momentum. The art and narrative are truly a match made in heaven for the kind of story they seem to be telling. The book contains genuine moments of levity, emotional heaviness, and overbearing dread. All of these elements are mixed together with the kind of measured art that knows when to hold and when to fold in service of telling the best story it possibly can. Death Spiral starts off with a hell of a debut, an irresistible hook, and the promise of more to come. Plus, there is more Eddie Brock. What is not to love?
Final Verdict: Amazing Spider-Man/Venom: Death Spiral #1 is a much-needed course correction for both title characters, a return to form for fan favorite Eddie Brock, and a 90s style grim and grotesque mystery all wrapped up together in a deliciously dark, bloody and character-driven debut event issue.