I have already reviewed a couple of the Edge of Venomverse books that have led up to this issue, a series which started slow and picked up pace to give us some really good, entertaining comic books with an interesting twist on lots of your favourite characters. I'm not usually fond of 'prelude' runs in comics; they often add little that couldn't be explained in the main story and end up as a cynical attempt to boost sales by having 2 #1 issues in what is essentially the same run. But this one has really got my attention.
In the 'Edge' comics, we got to see various Venomised versions of established Marvel heroes. In issue #1 of the series proper, we finally get the man himself, Eddie Brock. It turns out there is a war raging in a parallel universe (nothing new there) and the Venom symbiotes are the target. Venom is taken, much like the characters in the preceding issues, from his own reality to the battlefront; however while this happened at the end of the other books, here it happens right at the start, which leaves plenty of room to explain what is going on.
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| Secret Empire could have been over months ago if they just went and got this dude... |
Writer Cullen Bunn relies little on exposition, and manages to set the scene without too much hand-holding of the reader, allowing us to get into some entertaining action pretty quickly. As first issues go, this is a great book and makes use of the work already done in the Edge series. The enemy they have set up is a good one, and gives the Venoms a real struggle to get over that you may not see them being able to get past. That's a huge tick in the 'Yes' box for any new book I read, so they had me on board with that alone. Add to that Iban Coello's artwork is detailed in a way that befits Venom's gnarled, dripping form, but not so much that you can't pick up what is going on, and it just makes for a really enjoyable read. The translation of the Venom symbiote onto lots of different characters is done really well and every one of them is interesting to look at. It's great to pick out which parts are Venom and which parts are another character. The colour pallette from Matt Yackey is a bit muted but that fits the tone of the book, they are at war after all.
Overall, Venomverse is shaping into one of the best Marvel books out there right now. I make no secret of the fact that I am largely disillusioned with Marvel, but comics like this remind me why I was such a fanboy in the first place. More please!
P.S. I see that they are also releasing a 'War Stories' complimentary series to this event, which features 3 short stories per issue. Marvel do this for most of their big events and they are usually a really good read, sometimes better than the main title itself. It should be worth checking out as well.
4.5 / 5
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