Legacy, what is a Legacy? In Venom #2

VENOM #2 Written by Ram V, art by Bryan Hitch, inks by Andrew Currie, colors by Alex Sinclair, letters by Clayton Cowles

Forrest Hollingsworth: Knock knock let the…Forrest in. Vishal, after I was away on assignment for the first issue of Al Ewing and Ram V’s Venom reboot, I’m finally here where I belong in the shadow of CXF’s ooey, gooey Black Throne and ready to go absolutely rabid on some symbiote stuff. Including, but not limited to, the high highs and low lows of this sophomore issue. You in?

Vishal Gullapalli: Forrest, to quote Eminem, one of the most iconic Venom writers, “I think it’s time to go get em/they ain’t gonna know what hit em/when they get hit with that Venom.” I’m always in.

What Would Eddie Brock Do?

Forrest: We open with Dylan, bonded with Venom, having killed dozens of the paramilitary from the end of the previous issue. We know they’re from the same outfit because artist Bryan Hitch has opted to do the artistic equivalent of copy and paste, and the scene lacks almost any artistic merit aside from moving the narrative along in Eddie’s absence … but I digress for now.

The main takeaway here is that Eddie has prepared for his early demise. He’s left Dylan a kind of touching, unwieldy voicemail about the future and he’s also put Sleeper and Venom in a position to help protect his now parentless son. This is the kind of growth that I enjoy seeing for characters, after years and years of cataclysmic events and near-misses, Eddie is aware that this grim end has become an inevitability and has taken measures within his means to protect his legacy (something the book is very much about in a textual and also metatextual way). It’s just more natural than the hard switch to his kingly presence in the first issue. I think it’s ultimately very sweet and sorrowful, and Dylan’s simmering frustrations with his dad being further painted by the tragedy work for me — Eddie’s newfound idealism meeting his historical failures.

That said, Vishal, you mentioned to me offline that you took issue with some of the syntactical decisions here. Now’s the time to let them out like a verse from this column’s hit theme song, “Venom” by Eminem.

Vishal: Eddie Brock isn’t uneducated – he was a journalist at one point in his life. But he’s definitely blue collar, and far from what I would call an academic. Unfortunately, while Ram V is an excellent writer, he suffers from an issue plaguing the newer generation of smart, forward-thinking writers – he writes most if not all of his characters as eloquent to an unrealistic degree. This is a really jarring opening to the issue as a result, because Eddie’s message for Dylan comes across as uncharacteristically lyrical, like the words of someone who’s had extensive secondary education in the arts. And that’s not how Eddie talks. We mentioned this in the first issue’s writeup (specifically bringing in complaints you’d had, Forrest) that Ewing’s voice for Eddie felt off, and that’s frustratingly remained the case as Ram V takes over full writing duties this issue.

What’s good about this message is that it does still come out as meaningful. The words Eddie chooses are out of character (to the point if someone else was writing I’d think this was a plot point and not actually Eddie’s words), but the message is real. Eddie Brock is one of the worst screwups in Marvel, but raising Dylan for the short amount of time he did was one of the best things he’s ever done. Establishing this side of Eddie after the more aloof version of him we saw in #1 was a good choice. But I just wish it was more true to Eddie himself.

Forrest: You’re right. It might read more like Eddie if there was some fumbling and some “aw shit, aw fuck” etc. mixed in. I like the idea of it more than the execution and hey, that’s just being a Venom fan.

Observe the Plans Within Plans Within Plans

Forrest: The middle of the issue is a bit of a weird digression from the immediacy of Dylan’s situation, but I’ll also award some leniency for its earnest attempt at setting up the book’s overarching plot.

Here the Life Foundation, a villainous corporate body with a long time interest in Venom dating back to the creation of the “Life Foundation Symbiotes” (Phage, Lasher, Agony, Riot, and Scream) in Venom’s first solo title Lethal Protector as well as being central to the first Venom movie, are revealed to still be led by generally unlikeable man in suit, Carlton Drake.

Drake is joined by more recent Venom adversary, Arthur Krane, a senator who co-hosted the Carnage Symbiote in Extreme Carnage with Cletus Kasady. He’s a typical politician, by which I mean he’s a serial killer.

Vishal, did you read Extreme Carnage? Immediate follow-up question assuming you, like a normal person, didn’t, did this scene make a lot of sense to you without that context?

Vishal: Haha, I read the alpha issue to Extreme Carnage and immediately noped out. This scene made sense to me as a setup for Dylan’s antagonists, and as someone who recognizes the name “Life Foundation”, but I sure didn’t pick up any of the specifics. With the delays this book’s had, I honestly forgot this was supposed to be taking place pretty soon after Extreme Carnage.

Forrest: I did read that book and found this a natural and satisfyingly intriguing continuation of those threads, but admittedly find it a little weird that Phillip Kennedy Johnson, the author of that series, set up a bunch of things that he doesn’t necessarily get to execute. Such is the nature of Big Two editorial, I guess.

Also, I named this header after an early scene in Frank Herbert’s Dune where the Harkonnens discuss their evil plans in excruciating detail, a tendency way too many Marvel villains share with them. Who does that?

Vishal: It ain’t a superhero comic if there isn’t at least one scene of overwrought exposition, almost always brought about by the burden of prior continuity. And let me make this clear – Extreme Carnage is a burden on this book so far. But hey, at least we got a clear antagonist!

Secret Agent Archer (Not That One)

Forrest: I tried to look up if Eminem had any songs specifically about secret agents for this bit because I thought that was a better use of time than the “climactic” fight scene here, but I didn’t find any.

The general emotional weight of the first act and the political intrigue of the second melt away into a poorly paced, absolutely nonsensical fight scene in the final pages that I have to say I didn’t care for at all. The writing is painfully dry, Hitch’s art is stiff and repetitive, and most importantly the big reveal that our new character, Archer Lyle, briefly takes control of the Sleeper Symbiote is too easily missed in the visual density and blandness (I actually didn’t see it until my second read). Much like the first issue, it’s an obligatory fight scene awkwardly stapled onto an otherwise kind of compelling narrative that doesn’t make the case for its existence. Dylan is in and out of the Symbiote at random intervals, the character design is totally inconsistent, the body language is samey, and the general geography and sense of place is just … nonexistent.

If the point were that Venom and Dylan were not as symbiotic a pair as they thought yet, or if it was that Sleeper has tendencies that lead it elsewhere, or really anything to emphasize I think it might work better, but here it’s just rote. Even at their worst (which is more often than a devout Venom fan like me likes to admit), Venom comics usually look good. This, very unfortunately because it’s undercutting a story that hasn’t really begun in earnest, does not.

You might think I’m joking but at times Hitch renders things with such weird focus or weight that I honestly thought the Archer Lyle character had some sort of mirror or glass powers given the weird trailing sequence. And hey, in fairness to the art and evening it out with the missteps of the narrative, even their name is a little unbelievable – something like “Marshall Mathers” might work better.

All in, You can say I do not “Stan.”

Vishal: With Bryan Hitch, it really does feel like the Same Song And Dance… especially with Sinclair’s colors. Half of the issue is this really drab shade of blue that’s clearly supposed to be “realistic” but lemme tell you, I’ve lived near New York for most of my life and it’s not nearly that drab. I’m gonna be honest, I started skimming when the Superhero Fight Scene started, because I legitimately couldn’t parse whatever Hitch and Sinclair were trying to get across.

Forrest: Sigh. Considering that’s just kind of the unfortunate reality of the book for now we’ll probably have to do a better job of reigning in discussion around it, but I wanted to get a word in edgewise at least once (knock knock let the devil in).

Anyways, that leaves only one, cosmic-sized thing unremarked upon. While Al Ewing no doubt consulted on the general direction of this arc, he didn’t write this issue. Leaving Eddie, save for the opening scene, almost completely absent from the story. He’s out there in space, or stuck in in a cosmic kaleidoscope, or dead, or whatever happened to him at the end of the previous issue.

Vishal, did you miss him? On average, how many times a day do you think of Eddie Brock? For my sake, let’s assume that 10-15 times is normal and anything more or less is an extreme (carnage).

Vishal: Look, I have no problem with the fact that Eddie is Space Bound, but I am a little disappointed that they’re not continuing the splitting of each issue the way the first one worked. I think that did a better job covering up the decompression of the stories, because honestly nothing that happened this issue couldn’t be shortened by up to half the pages. I’m worried by the time we get back to the Eddie plot it’ll feel like it’s derailing Dylan’s story.

Forrest: I thought throughout the first issue the split narrative was an interesting proposition, but I recognize it more immediately here as an inherent risk, too. We’ll have to wait until next time to really hash out our feelings on it.

Venom boys out.