By now, all the solicits and the previews have probably shown off Venom’s new Spider-Man-inspired threads, but whether by design or by careful machinations, Venom #252 being the debut issue for the new Spider-Man-ified Venom suit funnily enough lines up with the legendary debut of the black suit back in…you guessed it, The Amazing Spider-Man #252. Time truly is a flat circle sometimes. And of course, while this story continues the symbiotes fighting against Doctor Octopus’s new hostilities with humor and hurt, there’s also a couple of small, little bonus stories for eager viewers to get their symbiotic fill of as well.
Sure, as we’ve mentioned previously, while the length of this filler arc continues to grow ever wider—Al Ewing and co. still manage to bring the quips and the thwips in new, fun, and sometimes unexpected ways that are a ton of fun to keep reading as we go. And the novelty of Venom’s all new, all Amazing threads seems to go more than just skin deep, turning this special issue into not just a Venom story, but one that brings back those ever-present parallels he has with Spider-Man.
It's All about the Puns and the Parallels
This week’s issue picks up immediately where things were left off—Toxin on the verge of capture (and potential dissection) by Doc Ock and his S.C.A.R. brigade, with Venom swinging in to the rescue, decked out in a new suit that’s suspiciously Spider-Man-colored. What proceeds is a complete comedy of errors as everyone seems to be in on the joke that the hulking symbiote monstrosity is actually the OG Spider-Man. EVERYONE except Doc Ock, that is, who is truly wrung out at his wit’s end when civilians and Luke Cage (who joins the fray) and even his own S.C.A.R. agents all seem to concede that it’s really Spider-Man and not a brain-eating symbiote they’re fighting.
Eventually, though, after some much-awaited mutiny from his minions, a staggering number of OSHA violations, and the timely arrival of one Flash Thompson—better known as Agent Anti-Venom these days—does Doctor Octopus finally find himself defeated, and more importantly, humiliated as his public antics end up costing him his funding and his position as head of S.C.A.R. (which Flash summarily takes over). But despite these happy tidings (and even happier ones for some when Flash and MJ agree to meet for a symbiote-flavored coffee date in the near future), his nefarious schemes are far from over, because by the end of the book, he finds himself teaming up with someone who might just hate Venom more than he does at the moment.
But that’s not all, folks! Venom #252 also includes two supplementary short stories that dredge a little deeper into the wacky and terrifying world of the all-new Spider-Venom! In the first story, we’re introduced to the sensationally salacious Eddie Parker—a paparazzi with no power and even less responsibility—hustling whoever he can, whenever he can, to get ahead in life. But when one of his scoops brings him in contact with an alien symbiote named Pete who brings a much-needed dose of heroism and humor into Eddie’s life. Together, Eddie Parker and Pete get into their own hijinks: Eddie wants to continue grifting his way to money with the symbiote’s powers while Pete wants them to help those who need it—a tug of war that comes with mixed, but always hilarious results.
In the second story, we see the mirrored lives of the symbiote and Eddie Brock from our world—long before they both met each other in the inky embrace of Venom. The symbiote is still posing as Peter’s black suit, taking his bodies out for nightly crime-fighting excursions—often with dire results for the crooks he encounters on those trips. At the same time, Eddie is trying to get the perfect scoop on Spider-Man’s new mean streak any way he can, much to the dismay of his then-wife, Anne Weying. Over the course of the short, we see both symbiote and Eddie fearing the loss of their respective “others”: Peter for the symbiote, and Anne for Eddie. But by the end, their more darker impulses take over, culminating in the first time the symbiote and Eddie meet face to face—an encounter that would change their lives forever, though neither knew it just yet.
Spectacularly Symbiotic Storytelling
Al Ewing wraps up this blissfully short arc with the kind of levity this run has characterized itself with. The real hilarity in this issue comes from Doctor Octopus’s sheer bewilderment that no one seems to get that he’s fighting Venom, not Spider-Man. Ewing plays this up to a ludicrous degree, with old ladies accosting him mid-fight for compensation of destroyed property, Luke Cage acknowledging that “Spider-Man” looks like he’d been hitting the gym, and even his own minions being unsure of everything going on. There’s a nice little throwback to the famous “This is New York: You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us” sequence from the Spider-Man 1 movie, complete with bottle tossing from a local drunken bum (QUEENS SOLIDARITY!). Not to be left out of the collective joke, MJ and Venom play up the act: making quips and shooting webs that would probably make Peter himself proud. Ewing uses this moment to showcase the kind of collective synergy that MJ and Venom have now found with each other, using Peter’s influence as a guiding force to both fight crime in a friendly neighborhood fashion.
Though this seems to be a bit of a far cry from the more Lethal Protector antics that Venom is so adored for, there is still scope for the fangs and claws to rear again when you least expect it (with both Hela’s impending arrival and the upcoming Death Spiral event in a few short months). Until then, Ewing makes the best of the hand he’s been dealt by editorial by making the filler more…fun (is that even a word? Well, it is now). Add to that some interesting little nuggets for readers to chew on—MJ and Flash’s potential lovey-doveyness, Doctor Octopus teaming up with a regular villain from the series, or the Toxin symbiote’s constantly referring to Rick Jones as “Pat” (Toxin’s first host)—and you can see the seeds planted for things to come in an otherwise fun conclusion.
However, Ewing isn’t the only one on script duty this issue, as two more story bites come courtesy of a couple of shorts. Jordan Morris pens the quirky tale of “Eddie-Parker: Your Friendly Neighborhood Symbiote,” showcasing the less-than-scrupulous life of the titular Eddie Parker as he grifts his way through life, always looking for the next hustle to line his pockets. In the most wacky and absurd inverse of both the Spider-Man and Venom mythos, Eddie-Parker finds himself hooked up to a symbiote that goes by the name “Pete”—with all the heroics and fun that name entails.
It’s a genuinely fun little short that has Eddie and Pete coming to some middle ground—some light thievery here, some heroics there, no eating brains, the usual—as both try to find a common place for their own brand of operating. It’s still funny as all hell to me that Eddie Parker’s entire ethos of being a scumbag scam artist is because he wanted to honor his late uncle’s legacy, a completely left-field flip of Peter Parker’s legendary ethos. Paired with “Pete’s” constant attempts to get Eddie on the straight and narrow (while also nudging him towards Indian food and magic tricks) makes for a wildly fun dynamic that never feels like it overstays its welcome.
While the first short story focused on the funnies, Tom Defalco and Ron Perez present a more sober story with “Parallel Lies,” a story that takes us back to a time when the symbiote was still Peter Parker’s black suit and Eddie Brock was still a reporter at the Daily Globe. In mirrored synergy, both the symbiote and Eddie find themselves wondering if their own personal goals are hurting the ones they love the most—Peter and Anne, respectively. And though these concerns are tiny little specks of light, they’re not great enough to remove the darkness of both the symbiote and Eddie’s darker, more selfish impulses. While the symbiote joyrides around in Peter’s sleeping body, doling out vicious justice to anyone who crosses his path (even the unfortunate homeless fellow here and there), Eddie orchestrates a trap for Spidey so that he can catch the more murderous web-head on film and further his own career at the Globe.
Naturally, Defalco and Perez play into older 80s Spidey tropes—which means this kind of setup goes horribly wrong for Eddie and the goons he paid, leaving Eddie humiliated and swearing revenge on Spider-Man for the first time in his career. But more than that, the writers end up bringing Eddie and the symbiote face to face for the first time ever, with the symbiote seeing potential in Eddie’s passion and rage. Of course, it would still be a few more years later before this dark union would come to fruition, but the parallels between Eddie and the symbiote are established well enough to give more context for the lore we already know.
Something Similar, Something Sinister, Something Old School
Paco Medina brings his usual flair to Al Ewing’s main story with the kind of art we’ve come to expect from the series: smooth line work, kinetically fun action that looks visually punchy even when it lacks weight sometimes, and of course, expressions that punctuate the humor oh so well. Medina takes this first foray of Spider-Venom in his stride, marrying both Spidey’s and Venom’s aesthetics into both movement and visual representation that just feels more than a simple palette swap. Similarly, Doctor Octopus is drawn with comical glee, his tentacles splaying and splitting with mechanical fury here and there. In particular, all the tentacular chaos is given some great hues of steel gray and varying shades of sickening green by Frank D’Armata on colors, whose work just seems to mesh perfectly with Medina’s. And even though there’s a distinct lack of symbiotic gooey art in this issue because this is “Spider-Man” after all, not that monster Venom (wink wink), Medina and D’Armata definitely liven up the action-adventure vibe to the fullest.
For the Eddie-Parker story, we have Jesus Saiz—fresh off his impeccable work in Eddie Brock: Carnage—picking up the story beats. Having already shown his flair for symbiotic slaughter in that book, Saiz continues with more of the same here—albeit less murdery, but more maddeningly. Using visual gags galore, Saiz plays up the comedic rift between Eddie and Pete, with the symbiote nudging him towards acts of altruism by literally being the angel on his shoulder. And of course, you have the hulking monster frame, drawn in an appropriately intimidating yet heroic manner to boot, perfectly melding both the more sinister sensibilities Saiz has done in his art so far, coupled with a more lighthearted approach he’s been given here. Jesus Aburtov’s colors accentuate this divide with enough dark hues, sinister shades, and colorfully heroic palettes to convey the light and dark of the story.
Finally, Ron Frenz, Brett Breeding, and Marcio Menyz go for a more retro 80s look with their symbiote Spider-Man story. A nice little time capsule that takes you back to the fond days of the original black suit saga—complete with a legendary homage to the two suits fighting over Peter’s dream montage—the art’s nostalgic quality cannot be understated. There’s a certain brutality to all of the black suit Spider-Man’s movements that capture every bone-crunching punch in the most unfriendly neighborhood fashion possible. Paired with this is the unnerving alien movements and response of the symbiote-operated Spider-Man, showcased in almost jump-scare levels of twitchy glory. It’s really quite something, and the colors and inks add to this eerily dark story, with the appropriate shadows, nighttime shading, and mix of alien and human fury being highlighted in equal measure.
A Lot More For Less
Venom #252 seemingly completes another arc of Al Ewing’s story, filler though it may be, in a satisfyingly fun manner. It’s understandable that fans looking to have their mind changed about the MJ-Venom pairing will be left wanting, but there is definitely more to latch onto here. Small incremental values of development have always been the goal for Ewing’s development of MJ and Venom’s journey, with the promise of greater character leaps when the story picks up, but that’s neither here nor there.
But as an issue that wanted to live up to the whole #252 parallels (Peter got an alien symbiote suit in ASM #252, so here’s Venom with a Spider-Man suit in Venom #252), it succeeds in more than set dressing. The two short stories, though completely independent from the mainline book, bring their own little charms and context to the greater story in completely unique ways. And one only hopes that there’s a bit more to this line of parallels that Ewing and co. are aiming for with their Venom narrative, before the jokes start to get stale and the stories start to become rushed. But for now, at least, that’s not the case.
Final Verdict: An issue of standard action fun fare with a couple of symbiotic side-stories that play up the parallels, the laughs, and the potential perils of storylines to come.