It’s Death Spiral Part 2 of 9. Peter tries to repair his relationship with Aunt May but has to join up with Venom to fight Lady Octopus and Shocker. Peter learns that Mary Jane is Venom and they actually tell each other what’s going on in their lives. All of this, plus … a classic Lee/Romita villain dies???
(This cover is for those who read Spectacular Spider-Man #226 and thought “I want more of Peter hitting MJ”.)
CREDITS
Writer: Joe Kelly
Penciller: Ed McGuinness
Inkers: Mark Farmer & Cliff Rathburn
Colorist: Marcio Menyz
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
PREVIOUSLY IN AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
Peter tried to pick up the pieces of his life now that he was back on Earth – visited his friend/co-worker Brian at the hospital, went through his voicemails, and checked up on Raelith the Wretched, Glitch and Symbie (at the Fantastic Four headquarters). He learned from Eddie Brock that Carnage knows his secret identity. Meanwhile Eddie Brock/Carnage is looking for a serial killer named Torment but first visited his son Dylan, which did not go well. MJ and Flash have a heart to heart, and she learns from Paul that Eddie came to see Dylan. All the while a bunch of unrelated people are killed or die in “accidents”- all with last names similar to Parker, Reilly, Brock and Weylin- by a killer that the Carnage symbiote is in secret contact with, who gives him the name of Mary Jane Watson!
SUMMARY
Peter visits Aunt May and Ric trying to smooth things over with her. Her new boyfriend, Ric, does his best to get in the way.(1)
(Guess who’s already at dinner?)
Peter is worried about Aunt May’s safety now that Carnage knows his secret identity, but he’s distracted by Venom fighting Lady Octopus outside.
(Aunt May doesn’t hear this battle right behind her?)
Spider-Man joins the battle but then Shocker shows up, who helps Lady Octopus get away while Spider-Man learns that Venom is not Eddie Brock, it’s MJ!
(Oh, Peter is in trouble now!)
Meanwhile, at the Bronx Zoo, Eddie is investigating one of the deaths from the last issue when he realizes that his “control” of the Carnage symbiote may not be as strong as he thought.
(Eddie’s face says “I’ve made a huge mistake.”)
Herman Schultz (Shocker) is at his apartment when Torment shows up and cuts both his feet and his arm off (that’s what happens, right?) with his razor sharp lightning bolt/whip. He reveals that Herman’s cousin married someone named “Watson”, which makes him a target.
(Torment: “I have … disarmed you.”)
Peter and MJ talk about recent events – him being punched into outer space, and her ending up bonded to the Venom symbiote. He tells her – and the symbiote – that Eddie told him that Carnage knows his secret identity, and that all of his loved ones are in danger.
(The face that we have Peter, MJ and the Venom symbiote having a casual conversation like this is just wild.)
At the same time, the police are at Herman’s apartment, where they find his corpse with “CARNAGE RULED” (past tense) in blood on the wall around the Shocker’s mask.
(RIP Herman.)
TO BE CONTINUED!(2)
INITIAL RESPONSE
This is part 2 of this crossover, but this is my first chance to talk about this crossover. Well, at least this one makes sense, as we’re crossing over with Spider-Man characters – Venom and Carnage. They *are* related characters. It’s not like it’s Spider-Man, Moon Knight, and … Kid Omega.
We actually get some follow-up on Peter’s absence with Aunt May and MJ, which is good and was not expected by me. But so far the threat of Torment is still mostly off-panel – Peter doesn’t know anything about him yet. But it’s just part 2. We’ve got 7 more parts of this story. And with Shocker’s death it looks like things are ramping up.
WHAT I LIKED
Peter sits down and talks with Aunt May. He really should tell her that he’s Spider-Man, but since Marvel seems determined to never let that happen (again), it was nice to see them actually talking, with him trying to explain that he’s been away even though, from her perspective, he was still around, just avoiding her.
(It really feels like May knows, but she wants Peter to be the one to tell her.)
I liked the 4-way fight with Spidey, Venom, Lady Octopus and Shocker. Shocker actually comes across as a threat, and actually saves Lady Octopus.
(Shocker’s “powers” would actually be effective against symbiotes.)
Peter learns that MJ is Venom. We got this a few issues ago but then – surprise! – we realized it was Ben pretending to be Peter. So it was good for him to learn the truth, and the two of them sit down and actually talk about what’s been going on in their lives.
(I do love that the symbiote goes out of its way to tell Peter that MJ and Paul broke up. Symbiote as wingman?)
I don’t know how we got to a point where the Venom symbiote is making jokes and inappropriate comments to break the tension, but … I kind of like it? The Venom movies at work, I guess.
(The new Spider-Throuple?)
While Shocker was never a favorite villain or character (bring back Superior Foes!) of mine, but his death did … (wait for it) … shock me. Yes, the letters page confirms that he is indeed, dead.
(“This classic Spider-Man villain will be honored … in an issue of Venom.”)
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Enough with Aunt May getting a new man in her life and dropping hints about her getting some action. No one wants to hear this. Aunt May would not be saying this to Peter. It’s just wrong.
(Seriously, what woman talks like this to their family members?)
I should be on Ric’s side – he’s right about a lot of things about Peter based on the information he has. But he’s written to be so unlikable – it almost makes me miss Nathan Lubensky.
Peter’s reaction to learning that MJ is Venom almost seemed … childish? Taking off his mask and hyperventilating into it? This feels like something I’d see on a sitcom.
(Peter: “Whoops. Did I do that?”)
I really dislike the trope of heroes taking off their masks in public to talk to people, even if they’re on top of a building. We can literally see buildings nearby – someone could look out and take a picture of Spider-Man without his mask on. Please stop doing this.
(“Hey, I see Spider-Man sitting on a crane. Let me zoom in with my camera … he’s unmasked! Picture taken and … posted online.”)
The big threat of this story – at least from Peter’s perspective – is that Carnage knows his secret identity. Is this really that big of a deal? When is the last time Carnage was a threat to Spider-Man? Was it ASM #800? And then it was Norman controlling the Carnage symbiote to become the Red Goblin. Does Peter know that “Carnage” is no longer “the symbiote on Cletus Kassady”? It’s not like Carnage has been an arch-enemy of Spider-Man recently. It’s not good that that Carnage knows, but Peter is making it sound like it’s someone he fights regularly who just learned his secret. When is the last time Carnage went after Spidey? Tell me why I’m wrong in the comments.
Maybe I’m nitpicking but this one really annoyed me. Kelly tries to gaslight us with the very first narration of the issue, saying that while Peter was in space he thought about home all the time. But that’s not true. All the time he was in outer space, Peter *never* thought about home. Not in his dialogue to other characters, not in his internal monologue. He never thought about Aunt May, MJ, his friends, his job, his life at home. Nothing. I mentioned this more than once in my previous reviews – when he was in space he never thought about his life on Earth, his family, his friends, his job.
(I see what you’re doing, Kelly. Stop it.)
Absolutely nothing about Hellgate. Didn’t we spend a bunch of issues in outer space learning that he is a big threat for Spidey, and that Spidey has to save his planet from a catastrophe? Guess it wasn’t that important. Not that I want the Hellgate story to come back, but I just find it funny that it was such a big deal and now Peter (and the book) doesn’t care about it.
Same with Raelith the Wretched, Glitch and Symbie. The fact that they were all we had for so many issues, and we know they’re on Earth now, but for them not to be mentioned at all shows how inconsequential they really were.
(Part of this issue about Hellgate or any of the outer space characters.)
Pour one out for the Shocker. Before Superior Foes I wouldn’t have cared if he got killed. But for me he’ll always be the guy who took care of Silvermane’s head.
(Run, Shocker, run!)
WHAT THIS ISSUE MEANT OVERALL
Peter is working to fix his personal life, which is good. I fully expected him to return to Earth and we’d be told that he fixed everything between issues. I like that the book is taking the time to have Peter talk to Aunt May and MJ (although I guess his job, Shay, Randy, etc aren’t that important?). As for the overarching plot, the threat of Carnage knowing does not seem like that big of a deal to me (again, tell me why I’m wrong), and Torment does not interest me, but the crossover has my attention … for now.
GRADE
B-
This was a good issue. I have no interest in Torment – I get the feeling that he’ll be more of a Venom/Carnage villain than a Spider-Man villain. Still, the story has my interest so far. Like I said, if you have to do a crossover, do it with Spider-Man related characters where the crossover makes sense.
NEXT TIME, IN AN ALL-NEW ISSUE OF AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VENOM…
(I’ll be relying on the ASM recap page to tell me what happened in Venom)
FOOTNOTES
(1) Aunt May talks about Peter’s “Aunt Brenda” dying. I do not remember her ever being mentioned before, and the Marvel Wiki does not list her in Peter’s relatives. Could she be one of the people Torment killed with a Parker/Brock/Reilly/Weylin name? I went back and reread part 1 but didn’t see a Brenda in the victims.
(2) But not in this book. To be continued in Venom #255.
@Hornacek — I have a question: I may be missing something, because when I saw that you had written the name Weylin with Parker, Reilly, and Brock, I thought that was a mistake and you meant “Watson.” Then I saw that have the name Weylin in the endnotes as well, so it’s not likely that that was a mistake. So my question is who is Weylin? I don’t recall seeing that name in the issue at all and I don’t know of any characters with that name who had a symbiote.
I’m now questioning my ability to comprehend what I read.