Rating:  -
This story did not seem realistic to me, there were too many things in it that I could not believe would ever happen. While the artwork was good, I didn't like the way Venom was designed. For the most part it didn't feel like it belonged in the whole May being captured saga, but many graphic novel trilogies seem to do that.
As a side note, if Spiderman's so hated by the general public, where do these people get all the Spidey outfits from?
Rating:  -
The cool thing about Mark Millar is that he never gives you the same old thing the same way as everyone else has. In The Ultimates he gave us the Avengers, different and flawed. In Wanted, he gave us a group of super-villians, at war with each other. And in the second volume of Marvel Knights Spiderman, he gives us Venom. But this is a Venom that's vastly different and flawed and amazing.
Millar just keeps the story flowing and really knows how to knock your socks off.
Trust in Millar and all will be well.
Rating:  -
I am a HUGE venom fan. I have a shelf of nothing but venom comics. I have Venom Action Figures, Shirts, heck I even have a Mask of him!!!!!
So when I saw this storyline I was excited. However, the very first thing that turned me away was the artwork. I don't like the new way Venom is drawn, so that's not appealing. He just doesn't....feel right this way.
Next is the storyline. The REAL Venom, with the symbiote/eddie brock is no more. That right there is also another turn off for the story. When I say "VENOM" I mean Eddie Brock and the Venom Symbiote, not somebody else and the symbiote. Eddie/Venom just have one of the coolest combined minds ever, and they're so much fun to watch in action they way they act together.
Personally, the storyline, art, and characters I thought were all bad. The REAL Venom's gone, and I didn't enjoy watching him leave. 1 Star, and that's being GENEROUS.
Rating:  -
With the success of the "Spider-Man" movies there has been a marked increase in the number of Marvel comic books featuring the web-head. From "The Amazing Spider-Man" and "The Spectacular Spider-Man" in the main time stream and "Ultimate Spider-Man" going back to the beginning to start anew, we then had "Marvel Age Spider-Man" retelling the original Stan Lee & Steve Ditko stories, with "Marvel Knights Spider-Man" and "Spider-Man Unlimited" doubling the contemporary adventures of our hero. Now we can throw in "Marvel Adventures Spider-Man" and "Spider-Man/Human Torch," and that is without getting into all the mini-series, guest appearances, and team appearances. Although the artwork is not the most compelling I have seen, it is Mark Millar's writing on "Marvel Knights Spider-Man" that stands out among the new crop.
"Venomous" presents issues #5-8 for the second volume of the "Marvel Knights Spider-Man" trade paperback collections. The problem is that Aunt May is missing having been kidnapped by an old foe who has learned Spider-Man's secret identity and is out to get him and get him good. Following a wild goose chase engineered by the Owl that had him tangling with both the Vulture and Electro, Spider-Man ended up in the hospital where a picture of him with the lower half of his face exposed by his tattered mask is on the front page of the "Daily Bugle." Smelling blood in the water, J. Jonah Jameson is offering $5 million to anyone who identifies the man in the picture and reveals Spider-Man's secret identity. The Black Cat is helping Spider-Man, but Mary Jane does not like the Felicity Hardy hanging around her husband.
As you can tell from the title Venom is going to show up in this one, but first Spider-Man has to tangle with a drug-addled Doctor Octopus, a NYPD SWAT team, and Norman Osborn. This requires a visit to the Xavier Institute for some psychic help in finding Aunt May, but the news is not good. Add to that the Parkers's money problems and the fact that somebody is experimenting on his old foes, Spider-Man is about ready to crack (and this is before Venom actually shows up). Fortunately a coffee break can help clear the webs, but the next thing you know Peter Parker's old classmates are trying to give him a wedgie at his high school reunion and then things get really bad.
Millar and artists Frank Cho and Terry Dodson & Rachel Dodson are heaping a lot of bad times on Spider-Man but in an intricately structured way. Consequently, things do not start spiraling out of controlling but just keep pilling on Spider-Man. Aunt May's fate still being on the back burner is the only significant weakness, because he really would crack under all that pressure by the time we get to the end of this four-part story. But overall "Venomous" delivers a nice on-going nightmare for the web-head and a solid story. Plus, there is a nice punch-line as Peter Parker comes up with a way to get JJJ off of Spider-Man's back. Okay, it would not really work once JJJ stops to think about it, but it is still a nice little joke.
Rating: -
Collecting the four part storyarc, Venomous continues Mark Millar's run on the newly launched Marvel Knights Spider-Man, but for those looking for some sort of closure after the cliffhanger ending of the first storyarc (Down Among the Dead Men), you're going to be left hanging again. Picking up right after the end of the first arc, Peter Parker finds that a million dollar reward has been offered by J. Jonah Jameson to anyone who reveals the identity of Spider-Man. As if that weren't enough, Aunt May is still missing, and after paying a visit to X-Men telepath Rachel Summers, is feared dead. But, there is something else going on as well. What are the police doing working with Doctor Octopus? What is Norman Osborn hiding and why is he in danger? And just who is the mysterious assaillant who knows everything there is to know about Peter? In the thick of it all, Eddie "Venom" Brock has auctioned off his alien symbiote, and now there is a new, sadistic individual wearing the costume and pushing Spidey past his limits. Millar's writing is just plain awesome (is it me or is he having Spidey say "What?" a lot?) and his characterizations of the villains and various in-jokes are refreshing to longtime web heads. The art by Frank Cho (in issues 5 and 8) is superb, while the art by Terry and Rachel Dodson (issues 6 and 7) is as great as it was on the first arc. All in all, this is definitely worth picking up for longtime Spidey fans, and it will leave you salivating for the next chapter.
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