Monday, June 26, 2017

Venom #151 Review - Marvel Monday


Venom #151

 
Writer: Mike Costa
Art Team: Gerardo Sandoval, Dono Sanchez-Almara
Marvel Comics
Release Date: June 14, 2017
Cover Price: $3.99

Dino-Man’s Back and You’re Gonna Be in Trouble

If you’ve been out of the comics game for a few months and wonder how the Venom title jumped from issue #6 to #150 don’t sweat it … just one of those quirky Marvel numbering things.  However you did miss our favorite symbiote back up to some old shenanigans, with Eddie Brock behind the controls to boot, despite recently being ‘cured’ of its madness.  So what’s up with all this new drama, what new adventures will Eddie as Venom get into, and will Flash came back around trying to get his buddy back? Let’s find out the answer to some of the questions and more inside in my week late review for Venom #151.


Things start out in the New York City underground as some film students attempt to shoot a scene under the lead of a pushy director.  As the actress heads off to investigate a strange sound we see signs of something lurking in the shadows, not unlike a Venom smile, leading to screams from our actress and not the good variety, much to the director’s chagrin.


From here we check on Eddie, who has brought the priest he hurt at the end of the previous issue to the hospital, as he struggles to get the symbiote to agree with him about anything. On his walk out of the hospital he overhears one of the film crew from the beginning of the book talking about what he just went through and what attacked him in the sewers.

Venom travels to investigate the situation and quickly runs into a giant humanoid Alligator in the sewers under the city.  After a pretty cool fight between the two, which saw Venom get his tongue bitten by the monster, our anti-hero gets the upper hand while noticing a clue on the beast’s armor directing Venom to Alchemax but of course.


Venom drags the monster back to where it came from, dropping it right on Liz Allen’s office floor, as the two dance around each other verbally.  Venom, familiar with the business Alchemax runs, attempts to bribe Liz into determining what is wrong with the symbiote. However, after some clever maneuvering by Liz where she figures Venom is a wanted man, she manages to get ‘the pair’ to agree to do some bidding for her as well.

Here’s where we discover the clever twist of the story which is Liz is trying to cover up and get ahead of some convoluted business practices between Alchemax, government contracts, and Stegron (aka Dinosaur Man). Since Venom was successful in bringing back one of Stegron’s monsters Liz wants him to do the same for the rest of them out there including Stegron himself.


The issue concludes as Venom heads off on his mini-quest realizing he has possibly bitten off way more than he can chew at this point in time.  He stumbles into a giant underground Dinosaur Men world he is unprepared to do battle with as the issue concludes with Venom being taken into custody to Stegron himself after taking a giant L.     

Overall the Venom title has been a guilty pleasure of mine from the Marvel lineup for a long while now.  Although I was a bit unsettled at all the sudden changes happening to the symbiote after such a strong period of development the answers are starting to trickle out getting me back onboard with what’s going on here. The story, albeit a touch on the crazy side featuring Stegron the Dinosaur Man, seems like its going to be a fun action filled arc, which is always alright by me in my books of choice.  The art still has a very computer generated look to it, almost like it’s a Telltale video game, which makes it a little stiff at times, but still enjoyable over all.

Bits and Pieces

Venom continues to answer some questions about why the symbiote is acting the way it is while throwing Venom into a new adventure versus Stegron.  The book remains an action heavy title anybody who enjoys the Spider family lineup of books will undoubtedly enjoy.


7.0/10 

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