Venom Beyond goops toward it’s finale in Venom #30. Written by Donny Cates, penciled by Luke Ross, colored by Jesus Aburtov, and lettered by Clayton Cowles Venom #30 details the final battle between Eddie Brock, Anne Weying, and Dylan Brock and the forces of Codex on an alternate Earth. We open on our goopy proceedings already in progress…
Justin Partridge: We did it. We FREAKING did it. We finally made it to the end of “Venom Beyond”. What did it cost? Everything.
Forrest Hollingsworth: Justin there is so much going on, both good and bad, in this issue that we might need a second column to cover everything and hey, King In Black is getting a new tie-in every day so maybe Marvel will pick us up! Gotta get through this one first, though, so let’s THWIP our way into it!
JP: AW GOD KING IN BLACK! GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?!
(Ed. note: One day you will learn, but today is not that day)
“He’s…Like Me”
FH: So we open this issue with a kind of extended arms race. Both Codex and Dylan are now aware of each other, both have (through Alt-Ock and Alt-Richards respectively) discovered how to make gateways to the primary universe, and a scorned Mac Gargan has “promised” to help Eddie get home giving him a semblance of a chance in Codex’s world — they are evenly matched and everything comes down to who gets the edge, and to what end. (Ed. note: It usually comes down to the unforced errors as a masked man once said)
I actually think this is an interesting premise, and the entirety of ‘Beyond’ would’ve been better served focusing in on this narrative tension as compressing it (and all of the other events of this issue) into the limited space before King in Black starts proper next issue is a bit much. Justin?
JP: NO, I absolutely agree. And even now, having read this, I don’t understand why it took THIS many issues to get us here.
It has real teeth as a narrative. Not only do we have this push/pull of nature vs. nurture with the dual Dylans, but this has real emotional implications for everyone involved. Arguably Donny had to establish everybody on the alt-world, as well as sketching out their broad dynamics with the changes made to it’s timeline in the wake of their Eddie’s death.
But you can’t tell me this whole arc couldn’t have lost two issues and not been just as good, if not better. It’s maddening because Donny is REALLY GOOD at these kinda interpersonal dynamics and crunchy character details and instead he spent like most of his time just dicking around setting up his weird AU when he could have just been playing with the cast he’s already laid out.
“We’re Gonna Win”
FH: After a touching moment of reconciliation between Dylan and Alt-Annie (Can we call it that when he’s not really her son?) we find that Eddie and Dylan will get the edge up on Codex through one simple, but important and kind of genuinely new thing for this Venom run: Togetherness. It sounds rote, but the way it’s delivered feels both deserved and monumental I have to say. What do you think Justin, too much Symbiote saccharine or just right?
JP: I actually kinda love this denouement. Finally sussing out the connections between the Dylans and the differences between this Earth’s symbiotes and Earth-Prime’s symbiotes, Eddie and Anne have a plan. And that plan is focused squarely on the heart.
Taking the fight to Codex, Team Venom plans to allow the Dylans a moment of connection, sharing both of their sets of memories between the two to “give them each a life”. Codex being allowed to see what his life would be like with both parents and Dylan allowed the “time” that was stolen from him in the wake of Anne’s death. More than that, they both seem to have the inverse of each other’s powers. Codex’s being based on control and domination while Dylan’s are focused more on connecting.
It is a pretty touching scene and shows that Donny has more cards in his deck beyond “throw some fuckin’ goop on it” or “Make it Knull’s fault” which I am not taking for granted here. How about you, Forrest? Did you dig any of this at all or is it too little, too late?
FH: I have to say that quite a bit of this works for me too! Per our last column, I find these emotional threads and themes to be generally relevant to the idea of Venom as a character (rejecting the role that society expects of ex-criminals or the downtrodden) and more specifically to this story as well. Despite the fact that Alt-Annie and Alt-Eddie were together in this world, there’s a certain evocation of found familial bonds that I appreciate, and that Eddie desperately needs. The way it re-centers these characters around their new and renewed commitment to each other, seemingly across universes, also provides some interesting threads going to King In Black.
That being said, all of this resolution happens awfully quickly, as does the coinciding fight scene and defeat of Codex, and I can’t help but feel that allowing some of these beats a little more room than say, two issues, would’ve been more rewarding. Whether that be in restructuring Beyond to focus more on these elements and less on the alt-worldbuilding, or be it allowing some of the tension between Annie and Dylan specifically to trail into King In Black I can’t say, but some of the balance feels off, as has most of this arc.
JP: And like we said before, this sudden focus on the emotionality of the characters provides it a really unexpected and pathos filled finale issue. Of course, it largely devolves into more of Donny smashing his action figures together, but I feel like the whole heart of the matter gives it all far more texture and weight than this kind of stuff usually has.
That said, I could just be in shell-shock for finally having experienced the end of his languishing arc.
“Together”
FH: As I mentioned above, this entire issue (and by extension the entirety of Beyond) devolves into a convoluted, confused fight scene between Codex’s Symbiote Avengers and Agent Annie and Eddie’s forces with the goal of uniting the two Dylans so they can reach some sort of singular purpose and understanding. It’s a mess both narratively and visually, the only real saving grace being an intentionally or unintentionally hilarious scene featuring a toothy Venom bursting through the wall of Codex’s fortress accompanied by the line “I believe Daddy’s home”. Hey! It can’t all be Shakespearean depictions of individual and familial trauma.
The end result of all of this being a more understanding Codex and a better off alt-universe that Eddie and Dylan have to live in for another year for…reasons that will sound like more proper noun jargon than this column already does.
JP: But this is ALL in service of Donny’s overall thesis for ‘Venom Beyond”. Which I GUESS is togetherness and connection? It is super muddy and not particularly well laid out, but again, I can appreciate the large point. As well as an aim toward something more emotional.
All that said, I am not sure Donny sells it as well as he really should. What did you think, Forrest?
FH: Eddie and Dylan staying in the Beyond-verse feels pretty artificial and contrived, but it is in service of something that I think is interesting going into the creative team’s big event: creating a sense of normalcy and stability that is immediately shattered upon their return to the 616.
The almost completely black final page, featuring just Eddie saying “…where did all the stars go?” is effective! The implications, though, are somewhat confusing. Did time pass in the main universe while they were away? Have they jumped to a world that Knull already controls or just one where he’s finally arrived? Is time recursive? Am I supposed to care? Hard to tell!
JP: ABSOLUTELY! It somehow comes across as feeling both too long and also VERY rushed. Especially since he just kinda drops us in media res “A YEAR Later” after a black page and doesn’t even TRY to get into the actually INTERESTING stuff surrounding them actually living on an alternate Earth.
It’s immensely frustrating and totally undercuts the whole heart of the arc’s finale moments. And again, he spent SO MUCH TIME laying out the hierarchy and fussy details of the world and then right when he gets a chance to REALLY explore it, or to even add some explicit narrative detailing like just HOW much time as passed on “our” Earth with two characters that we are genuinely connected to, he doesn’t. Because he’s gotta get them back to Earth-Prime for his dumb, slimy event crossover.
It is like every time he takes a step forward with this, he has to jump out a fucking window right afterward. Bring back Mark Bagley. That was at least the FUN kinda nonsense.
Marvelous Musings
- JP: No more “kooky” Reeds, please. We as a culture have evolved beyond the need for “Alternate-Earth Comedy Reed Richardses”
- FH: Slime Fact! In the UK, Nickelodeon’s Slime is known as “Gunge” a word which I personally hate very much.
- FH: Eddie loses the laser arm introduced in the beginning of this arc after using it…maybe 2 times? Seems entirely arbitrary
- FH: A secondary disappointment for me here is the one panel resolution of the Gargan/Virus story – he finally had motivations and a genuine character arc dammit!
- JP: I dunno, man. Maybe we actually hate this book.
- JP: At least we have that Tony Stark/Doctor Doom Santa tie-in and Immortal Hulk Christmas Special coming up with King in Black.
Forrest is an experimental AI that writes and podcasts about comic books and wrestling coming to your area soon.
