Pursued by the villainous Virus, Eddie and Dylan Brock are now on their own in a far off alternate universe ruled by mysterious masters and friends turned foe in Venom #27 by Donny Cates, Juan Gedeon, Jesus Aburtov, and Clayton Cowles.
Justin Partridge: It is the 41st Millennium. For more than a hundred centuries The Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the Master of Mankind by the will of the gods, and master of a million worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing…wait, Iâm sorry Iâve just been handed a note…oh VENOM! Right, right, right, that goopy idiot Donny Cates is obsessed with. Got it got it got it, I can totally do that just give me a second.
*ahem*
Salutations, Slime Lovers! Iâm Justin, that dork who canât stop yelling about Warhammer 40k and Doctor Who on Twitter, welcoming you to Goop Troupe! Xavier Filesâ newest and grossest column, not counting all the rankings. This started as almost a dare on the off-line channels we all share and itâs one both me and Forrest (fellow 40k person and lover of all the slime boyes, so much so he has a FULL ACTION FIGURE SHRINE) were more than happy to make into a reality. Introduce yourself, Forrest.
Forrest Hollingsworth: Hi! Iâm Forrest, Forrest With Two Rs if you know me from elsewhere, I do in fact have a Symbiote shrine, and Iâve finally brought my spider senses and goth heart to the Xavier Files media empire for this, one of the weirdest issues of Venom yet. Thereâs a lot going on, and yet not much at all – letâs get into it!
Far-Flung Futures
Justin: So we open Venom #27 on a bit of an Elseworlds set up. Flung into the âfar futureâ by the activation of The Makerâs âUniverse Hopperâ, Eddie Brock, his young, superpowered son Dylan, and Virus (current baddie du jour of this arc) now basically are living in a Batman Beyond episode, having been deposited in a future that looks a bit like the 2099 universe, but Symbiote themed.
Visually, it is WONDERFUL. Juan Gedeon and colorist Jesus Arburtov (one of my personal favorite colorists) are really showing out here, encasing this opening fight scene (because of COURSE it opens with a fight) between Eddie and the armored Virus in heady, powerful, and searingly colored panels, which then spills into the larger cityscape allowing for a bit more world-building. Narratively, however, it is a bit busy. Thankfully Donny spices it up a bit, making more great uses of the fun interplay in the caption boxes between Eddie and Venom to seed a bit more details about this ânewâ future, but still it is a LOT of information to take in just on itâs own as well as a whole other cast of characters (Venomized Avengers! Cameos from Earlier âClassicâ Runs!). I canât imagine it could read anything other than overstuffed to the casual reader. Hell, it reads overstuffed to ME, and Iâve been largely pretty into this run! How did this opening grab you, Forrest?
Forrest: Iâd like to start my part of the discussion here by first saying that if I had a Symbiote, I would absolutely make it look like a cool leather jacket at all times and second, that I found this issue difficult to parse on both a macro and micro level. With King In Black on the way, introducing alternative universes and alter-characters doesnât seem to serve any purpose other than hamfisted narrative obfuscation at best, and treading water at worst.
On a micro level, too, this issue is really densely packed with inconsequential (but vibrant) action, poor panel design, and superfluous dialogue. Thereâs one panel where Virus is about to kick Venom in the head and the next heâs just gone – neat trick! It just doesnât seem to have the same level of intentionality Iâm used to with Venom, but that doesnât mean itâs bereft of interesting ideas or talking points.
Justin: Absolutely agree. And I will say, for as âinside baseballâ as a lot of this stuff reads, I am still VERY impressed with the amount of gleeful ambition Cates seems to be tackling this run with. He is all about injecting as many of his own ideas and contributions to Venom (the Codexes, the Hive Minding of Symbiotes, and just Knull in general) while always really swinging hard and now, on the verge of a full-tilt freaking EVENT, heâs introducing yet ANOTHER Venomized AU into his already pretty packed with lore volume. I canât help but be charmed by that.
There is also the matter of him again recontextualizing elements from earlier runs to fit better into his own world(s), which is also something I canât completely be mad at. This time it comes in the form of Agent Venom, who is now ANOTHER Face from Eddieâs Past (Dylanâs Dead Mom and Eddieâs Kinda Dead Wife Annie!). Again, itâs all VERY busy and very expository throughout the issue, but I canât deny the wild and goopy ambition of this. What did you think, Forrest?
Forrest: I think itâs fair to say that the entire issue is shaped around the idea of transuniversal recursion. In the parlance of Bioshockâs âthereâs always a lighthouse,â thereâs always a Symbiote, thereâs always a Symbiote hivemind (which in this case might just be an imprisoned or evil Klyntar — âcageâ), thereâs always a Codex, and perhaps most importantly, thereâs always a Knull. The question is, in this context of universe hopping, whether or not we think that recursion adds narrative weight or significance to the larger Venom story, especially in an abnormally fast-paced and messy issue.
Justin: Totally agree. And I think this being only the second issue of âVenom Beyondâ bears a lot of the blame for how messy it feels. Here we have JUST âarrivedâ in this new future and Cates has to hit the ground basically in a sprint in order to deliver a metric ton of exposition while ALSO trying to hit these recursitive touchstones of Knull and the symbiote invasion. But since itâs all still technically ânewâ, there is no real ability to gain purchase with…really ANY of it beyond âoh, this looks coolâ or âthatâs a neat layout for the fightingâ (which is a thought I found myself thinking more than a few times throughout).
This might sound like a bit of flippy-flopping from what I had said before, but itâs like you said, itâs all too messy to really matter too terribly much beyond the surface levels. I feel like had this exposition and the reveals of the world been spread out across two issues maybe, it would have gone down a bit smoother or hit a bit harder in terms of AU details, but for me, for now, itâs just a lot of sizzle and not a lot of steak, right? Am I just projecting here? My therapist says Iâm really bad about that.
Forrest: I want to see an attempt at making these recursions important, but youâre right that, as of right now, itâs marginal. For example, there can be something interesting about Knull – essentially the father of all Symbiotes — taking the name âCodexâ, already established as the shared DNA of all Symbiotes and their hosts as a moniker – becoming the end game, the Alpha and the Omega. But the other side of that same coin is that in this issue it seems to be there almost entirely to make the reader say âOh! I know that wordâ which isnât narrative significance, so much as itâs Whereâs Waldo?
Justin: I absolutely hear that, which WEIRDLY ENOUGH, brings us into the next section of discussion! FUNNY THAT, HUH? Itâs almost like we are WRITERS.
Friends and Foes
Justin: So as we said above, not only is this WORLD âVenomizedâ, but itâs CHARACTERS are too! Culminating in the above reveal of the Venom Avengers! Not the most novel of takes as itâs been the subject of at least two (that I can remember) variant comic themes and numerous other âaccidentalâ symbiotic takeovers of heroes in events (like just recently in Absolute Carnage). So we get a bit more âworld-buildingâ here from Cates, trying to figure out how institutionalized heroism can translate into a post-Knull world. What say you, Forrest?
Forrest: While an Alter-Knull, or âCodexâ — here in the form of a kind of mash-up of main Knull and spacefaring gunslinger Wraith — was expected after last issueâs cliffhanger I donât know that I expected alternate takes on Earthâs mightiest heroes. Certainly not Symbiote takes on them, anyways. Weâve got a thicc Judge Dredd-esuqe Captain America, a slick Goth Thor, Black Widow whose name works better here than ever, and more. Itâs cool, but also a little confusing as Venomverse and Venomized have been here, and recently! I donât think these are meant to be any of those characters. Maybe the real point is that the end game is always goop: from primordial ooze back to it, etc etc.
Justin: Yeah, absolutely. The scowling, almost Carlos Ezquerra-esque Cap is a real high point for me. And you also nailed it. Catesâ Venom has been all about finding the absolute âcoolestâ or âbiggestâ way to present the ideas and narrative. Weâve seen it basically in every arc thus far, so it shouldnât be too shocking here to see.
What I WILL say is shocking (or at least really surprising to me) is the cliffhanger reveal of Annie Weying as the new Agent Venom! This might be a deeper cut than the casual reader is used to, but to see him diving that deep for a callback character, even one with explicit ties to Dylan, is a pretty big gambit for this early in the run. We touched on it a bit above, but Forrest, was this something that you HAD expected? Or at least suspected would be touched on eventually?
Forrest: On that front, my money was on Annie, or some resurrected/AI form of Annie, being Virus, given the characterâs supposed history with Eddie and Dylan. I wouldnât say thatâs entirely off the table, but Alter-Annieâs appearance here makes that seem significantly less likely for a number of reasons.
One: Alter-Knull, in a groan inducing bit of Saturday-morning- cartoon-comedy, says that he doesnât recognize âthis manâ at all. He definitely knows Agent Venom Annie, the de facto leader of the rebellion in this universe.
Two: Revisiting the incredibly rich beats of Eddieâs guilt and unrequited feelings about Annie, and Venomâs similar feelings about Flash Thompson in the future would be really lessened by the precursor here. In either event, Iâm glad sheâs getting some focus, and a kind of badass upgrade given this runâs general avoidance of female characters. (My Venom masculinity? Toxic).
That also likely means Virus is some other friend or family member turned foe. Interesting!
Justin: VERY interesting. And again, this sort of âreusing of toysâ that Cates has done since the jump gives the run overall a nice sense of history and internal continuity that I am always happy to see monthly comics lean into. Again, I worry that this might be a touch too dense for the casual readers, but Iâm interested all the same to see how Donny tries to play this out. Especially since The King in Black crossover is still looming on the horizon. But we SHALL SEE where this grimy grimoire gets us…
Finding the Plot
Justin: So all and all, a pretty busy, but easy to read issue, right? It looks tremendous undeniably, but the crash course in the âbeyondâ of âVenom Beyondâ was a bit too dense while also not giving us enough to emotionally invest in. The very picture of a âmixed bagâ. Even though Iâve been largely pretty into this craziness, the expository elements of this second installment of the arc left me kinda cold. I know thatâs not the most auspicious of starts for this new column, but we can only work with the slime we are given.
What about you, Forrest? Whatâs your assessment?
Forrest: Ultimately, I wanted to like this issue a lot more than I did. I like the idea on paper, especially if weâre to see Eddie and Dylan jumping through all manner of universes where Knull has already won, or setting up the Maker as some sort of diabolical messianic figure across universes (he wishes) but the execution is off both artistically and narratively. Better luck next âverse!
Justin: God, now I just want this to be Enter the Venom-Verse and Iâm surely going to be disappointed once this reveals itself to be…not that. ANYWAY, thatâs Venom #27 and it was just Okay! Maybe it just needs more X-Men…
Marvelous Musings
- We got through an entire issue without mentioning the buckwild Tater Tots scene from the movie! Well, almost. (Heâs HUNGRRRYYY, EDDDIIIEEEEE. God, that movie ruled)
- Venom Beyond more like letâs get...beyond this arc.
- Itâs canon that the green bile Venom secretes is bodily, uh, waste and man thereâs a lot of it here. Eddie needs a dietician.
- Justin here building on that, itâs nice to see various art teams throughout this run just committing to making Venom look straight up gross again. I feel like a lot of runs before this were too concerned about making Venom and the symbiotes âpalatableâ and âvisually appealingâ broadly so itâs cool seeing them be monsters again.
- Eddie developing dad skills is cute in his âI wonât kill people in front of my sonâ kind of way.
- I (Justin) am way into this too. Another odd thread of the previous runs (at least in my reading) hinted at this inner softness to Eddie that gave him a nice, but underserved new facet so itâs nice seeing Cates making that far more explicit in his characterization
- Laser arm.
- LASER ARM, YâALL. If anything, itâs just preamble for our eventual coverage of Gillenâs 40k comic (that we are absolutely stumping for covering here because we all need more cybernetic death-machines furthering the agenda of a stagnant theocracy around here).
- 40k yâall. Wait…we got off topic again.
Justin Partridge has loved comics all his life. He hasn't quite gotten them to love him back just yet. But that hasn't stopped him from trying as he has been writing about them now for a little over a decade. With bylines at Newsarama, Shelfdust, PanelXPanel, and more, Justin has been doing the work and putting in the time! Comics have yet to return his calls. Usually he can be found on Twitter screaming about Doctor Who.
Forrest is an experimental AI that writes and podcasts about comic books and wrestling coming to your area soon.
