blogging by Andrew Wickliffe


Venom 5 (October 2011)


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Wow.

The comic opens, unfortunately, with Tony Moore. He handles the Venom part, Tom Fowler handles the Flash Thompson part. My complaints about Remender waiting on establishing Flash are, it turns out, ill-founded. At least they appear to be after this issue.

It’s a depressing look at Flash’s family life, with occasional callbacks to his origins in Amazing, without going so far as to flashback (though Fowler’s Peter Parker is definitely Ditko influenced). Fowler’s lush work turns a regular kitchen conversation between Flash and Betty into the most exciting action in the comic. Fowler drawing someone cutting carrots is more visually engaging than Moore showing Venom webbing a falling chrch bell.

While Flash’s vet stuff makes it topical, Remender and Fowler transcend it (I wonder if Remender realized how edgy it was to make the homeless vet young). They make a comic about Venom as a secret agent timeless.


One response to “Venom 5 (October 2011)”

  1. Thompson here is a genuinely sad, less than perfect lead in a “superhero” comic. Plus, his superheroic deeds don’t seem to effect much other that himself for the most part. Maybe it’s the idea that he doesn’t have any higher goals for himself that sets him apart from the average do gooder. Also, we’ll keep our fingers crossed that Fowler gets some time on this book…Venom remains one of the better soap operas on the stands.

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