VENOMIZED #2: The Players

Writer: Cullen Bunn

Artist: Iban Coello

Colorist: Matt Yackey

Letterer: Joe Carmagna 

C. Artists: Nick Bradshaw & Jim Campbell

Design: Idette Winecoor

Editors: Nick Lowe & Devin Lewis & Tom Groneman

Editor-In-Chief: CB Cebulski

I Believe Ms. Pryde’s Point Is Final: Venomized #2 kicks off with a brief brawl between Peter and Eddie, that is broken up by Cyclops and Magneto. Cyclops and Eddie explain the Poisons to the others and they get to the X-Mansion so they can evacuate the Klyn’tar bonded mutants to Alchemax. Liz Allan, Doctor Steven, and Peter work together to try and remove the Klyn’tar, but they are unsuccessful. They bring Flash in to try Anti-Venom, but Eddie refuses to let them kill Klyn’tar to save human hosts.

At the same time, Demolition Man and Rage are evacuating civilians when the Poisons find them. They are led by Killer Thrill, who survived the events of Poison X. They force a fight against the heroes, dragging it out long enough to get the Avengers to respond. Then they start the Poison conversion process, claiming Thor, Demolition Man, and Rage in the opening salvo.

In Space, we learn that the Poison Death is actually the Poison Hive-Mind when it takes the form of Cynthia Von Doom. The Poison Doom tells her that Carnage is nearly fully bonded, despite continuing to resist hours into the process. He tells her that they soon to expect Kid Kaiju on their side, but back on Earth, Elsa Bloodstone is able to save him from the Poisons. She gives him Mordred’s Causeway, which allows him to teleport anywhere he wants. He chooses to travel to New York to aid Earth’s Mightiest Heroes against the Poisons.

The Klyn’tar Are Victims Here Too: My new working theory about Venomized is that it is not only the finale to multiple Cullen Bunn series (Carnage mini-series, X-Men: Blue, Monsters Unleashed, VenomVerse) but it is also an opportunity for him to use several heroes before they are gone. The Original Five X-Men are likely to return home this summer in X-Tinction, Kid Kaiju and Elsa Bloodstone will likely return to obscurity without Bunn’s Monster Unleashed series, Thor has departed in The Mighty Thor, and rumor has it that Flash Thompson may be dead before Dan Slott leaves Amazing Spider-Man. Unfortunately, he gets greedy. No-one is given much to do in this issue, since Bunn tries to balance such a large cast. And one of the greatest casualties of this decision to go big is Venom, who is once again a silent partner for Eddie. Peter Parker is your basic “hates symbiotes to an irrational point” which is him in character these days. Magneto and Eddie serve as the voices of reason, which is an odd choice but one that works. Flash is another causality this issue, since he should definitely be against killing Klyn’tar to save humans.

I’m also worried about the pacing of this thing, because it’s already suffering and we’re approaching the half way point. With only three heroes turned, and most of the key Poison players not even planet side, I worry how we’ll be able to get a proper resolution to this series. D-Man and Rage honestly might get the most screen time out of anyone this issue, which feels like wasted space. Over the next three issues, we also need to deal with Carnage’s conversion, Jean Grey’s return, the hunt for Kid Kaiju, Agent Anti-Venom’s role going forward, and the big battle against the Poisons. Several of these individual plots could be five issue series in themselves, especially given Bunn’s pacing in this story so far. The time for raising the stakes is also non-existent now, because we know they win the battle at the end of the day and they are just now learning what the real stakes of the fight are at the end of Venomized #2. 

Thankfully, Venomized still has the killer art team of Iban Coello, Matt Yackey, and Joe Carmagna. They literally open the book with a punch that ripples across Venom’s face, with a bold sound effect set over a bold background that has faded black splashes around the edges. From the very first panel, they are all hands on deck and delivering some beautiful art. Venomized #2 is in a constant state of motion. A filter of splotchy black grime helps to convey a sense of motion, as does fluid character designs like Magneto’s crackling magnetism, and physical interaction like dust kicking up around Venom as he slides through cement. This splotchy filter also works with the backdrops of locations to make them seem almost like they’re fading out of the panel. It’s a weird effect, but one I really like. 

Each location is distinguished by different sky lines, beautifully colored by Matt Yackey. Everything in New York has a muted sky-line, simple blue skies that mix well with the white presence the Poisons bring to the panel. The colors in space are dark, with a heavy dose of purple that seems to stem from our Poison Hive-Mind. And then during the Elsa Bloodstone sequence set on MU Island, the skies are multi-toned, giving it an exotic feel. There is also different weights and coloring for the various light sources in the world. This is especially successful during fight scenes where lightning strikes are distinctive from laser blasts. 

Joe Carmagna does an excellent job of using his letters to guide the eyes. This can be through the panel, but even from panel to panel. They consistently enhance the scenes in which they appear and he uses them to also convey a sense of impact during the fight scenes. There is no consistent style to his letters here, sometimes they color coordinate with a character or they may take a color commonly associated with something (such as green for poison). No matter the reason, he always seems to pick the right color; sometimes it contrasts against the rest of Yackey’s colors, sometimes it blends in perfectly. 

List of Poisons: Thor [Prime], Killer Thrill [Prime], Demolition Man [Prime], Rage [Prime], Wolverine, Domino, Cable, Feral, and Fantomex, Hawkeye (returning from VenomVerse), Taskmaster, Crossbones, The Punisher, Vulture, Iron Man (?), Grim Reaper, Scorpion, Shuma-Gorath, Thanos (returning from VenomVerse), Doom (returning from VenomVerse), Black Cat, Morbius, Lady Deathstrike, Sabertooth, Captain Marvel, Gamora, Thing, Hyperion, , Frankenstein’s Monster, Blade, Werewolf By Night, Spider-Woman [Killed by Elsa Bloodstone], Hurricane [Killed by Elsa Bloodstone], Groot [Killed by Elsa Bloodstone],

List of Venoms: Eye-Boy, Bling, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Old Man Logan, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Storm, Falcon, The Thing, Iron Heart, Nova, Demolition Man, Rage, Hercules, Thor [Poisoned], Demolition Man [Poisoned], Rage [Poisoned], Carnage

Verdict: Venomized #2 is a very weak script carried by an amazing art team. It’s basically twenty page of just moving the players around on the board, but not in meaningful ways that bring our plot threads together. Having one of the major Marvel heroes of the Prime universe being turned to a Poison should have a huge impact, but it lacks it as much as it did when Jean Grey was turned in Poison X. I have this sinking fear that Venomized is going to cement the VenomVerse trilogy as a poorly paced gimmick, rather than the epic finale of Cullen Bunn’s Marvel work. 

Pros: 

• Liquid Letters
• Fluid Figures in Wonderful Worlds
• Creative Colors

Cons: 

• Silent Venom
• Overabundance of Characters
• Poor Pacing
• Leaves you with the feeling the worst is yet to come

C