Eddie Brock wants to be a hero. New York would first like him to stop looking like he eats heroes.
Eddie Brock and Venom are back together.
Again.
But this time, they’ve made a promise: do better.
No eating people. No terrifying innocent civilians. No starting unnecessary wars with superheroes. Generally attempt to become the sort of heroes New York might actually be happy to see coming.
Seems reasonable.
Unfortunately, they still look like an eight-foot wall of teeth capable of swallowing a taxi.
Venom #1 reunites Eddie and his symbiote with a genuinely fun mission statement: they want to bring out the best in each other and finally become good guys New York can trust.
Their biggest obstacle?
Pretty much everyone remembers the old Venom.
PROS
Charles Soule immediately understands what makes this setup interesting.
Venom isn’t trying to discover whether he can be heroic.
He’s trying to convince everybody else that he already is.
Spider-Man appears early to check on Eddie, and their interaction sets the tone beautifully. Peter knows Eddie has been through an absurd amount—Carnage, prison, Knull, Dylan, assorted cosmic nightmare nonsense—and essentially tells him:
Take it one day at a time.
Eddie agrees.
Then jumps off a cathedral as Venom.
Therapy!
What follows is almost a Venom public-relations campaign conducted by someone who has never taken a PR class.
Eddie helps civilians downtown.
People scream.
He enters the subway.
Passengers stare.
A kid wearing a Spider-Man shirt points at him.
Venom’s contribution to improving community relations?
“Spider-Man hates you.”
Fantastic.
Eddie and the symbiote’s internal dialogue is probably the strongest element of the issue. They’re actually communicating. Sometimes badly, sometimes sarcastically, but there’s a real sense that these two have survived enough together to finally understand what partnership is supposed to mean.
That becomes especially important during the fight with Hazmat.
Hazmat weaponizes chemicals against Venom, trapping him in a strange adhesive substance and forcing Eddie and the symbiote to solve the problem together. Instead of simply punching harder—which, historically, is a very Venom solution—they analyze the material, synthesize a countermeasure and transform the dangerous substance into something harmless.
Basically:
Venom defeats chemistry with more chemistry.
Peter Parker would be proud.
Possibly annoyed he didn’t think of it first.
The sequence also showcases Tommaso Bianchi’s artwork wonderfully. This Venom feels enormous, liquid and constantly in motion. Tendrils curl outside panels, Eddie’s face emerges from the symbiote at unexpected moments, and the Hazmat battle becomes this bizarre explosion of black, green and purple biological chaos.
Yen Nitro’s colors make the action pop without cleaning up Bianchi’s rough, monstrous energy.
And then comes the really interesting conflict.
Mayor Luke Cage isn’t exactly thrilled that Venom has returned to Manhattan and started operating without permission.
Eddie’s response?
Approximately:
I’m helping people. Stay out of my way.
Luke responds by bringing in Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Man and Sue Storm.
Ah.
The Avengers-level equivalent of:
“We need to talk.”
CONS
There’s a lot being established here.
Spider-Man.
Public distrust.
The police.
Luke Cage.
Hazmat.
The Avengers.
Yelena.
A mysterious countdown that moves from 100 days to 99.
The issue handles it surprisingly well, but by the final pages you can definitely feel Soule placing pieces onto a very large chessboard.
The Hazmat confrontation also resolves almost too neatly once Eddie and Venom figure out the chemistry trick. It’s visually great, and it demonstrates their new cooperative dynamic, but the solution arrives quickly after a fairly dramatic buildup.
And while Spider-Man’s appearance is welcome—especially for me!—he exits fairly early before returning as part of Luke’s superhero intervention.
More Spidey/Venom banter is rarely a bad thing.
Give me twenty pages of Peter and Venom arguing on the subway.
I’d read it.
FINAL THOUGHTS
What makes Venom #1 work is that it doesn’t pretend Eddie’s history disappeared just because he wants a fresh start.
People remember.
Spider-Man remembers.
Luke Cage remembers.
Even Eddie remembers.
That’s the point.
The old Venom solved problems through rage, violence, blood, and guts.
This Venom is trying to choose something different.
So when Eddie essentially tells Luke, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Man and Sue Storm that he intends to keep protecting New York whether they approve or not…
Well.
Progress has limits.
Then we get that mysterious shift from 100 days to 99, followed by Eddie meeting Yelena and quietly admitting that maybe they started something meaningful today.
That’s a surprisingly hopeful ending for a book where the main character has approximately seventy-six visible teeth.
Charles Soule writes the issue, with Tommaso Bianchi on art and Yen Nitro on colors.
The new Venom wants to be better.
The question isn’t whether Eddie believes it.
It’s whether New York ever will.
And judging by that countdown?
They may not have much time to decide.
This series is already amazing! 🖤🕷️
FINAL GRADE: A-
“A sharp, surprisingly warm fresh start for Eddie Brock that turns Venom’s biggest fight into something harder than any supervillain: earning back everyone’s trust. Big teeth, bigger heart—and just enough menace to remind us why New York is still nervous.”
