Welcome to the First Issue Bin, where Ethan Kaye randomly grab one of this week's comics that's just starting up and gives you the details on whether it should get added to your collection … or remain on the comic shop shelf.
All-New Venom #1
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Carlos Gómez
Colorist: Frank D'Armata
Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles
Editors: Jordan D. White and Emerald Bensadoun
Marvel's All-New Venom #1 was solicited as being a huge mystery: who's the new person wearing Eddie Brock's Venom symbiote? And instead of just being a tease in Previews that gets paid off at the end of the issue, it looks like figuring out the identity of the all-new Venom is going to be the focus of the first arc of this comic.
I'm going to admit that I like tightly constrained stories. I'd prefer a story that takes place within the confines of Gotham City to one that goes to space, and I'd prefer a tale that takes place just within the confines of Arkham Asylum to one that's all over Gotham City. To that end, All-New Venom #1 is perfect for me: it takes place in a Manhattan federal courthouse, and only in that courthouse. If we go outside of the courthouse, it's only because someone got thrown out of a window.
Two Spider-Man-based crossover events from the past year converge in this courthouse: Gang War and Venom War. New York City survived both, I don't know how. There's only so much NYC to get destroyed.
But anyway, Gang War was, as you can imagine from the name, a battle between every rival mob faction in the city struggling for territory in the absence of Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin. The trigger was the assassination of Madame Masque, who proved to be alive at the end.
Venom War was the culmination of the Ram V/Al Ewing run on Venom, a massive time-hopping odyssey with past and future Venoms converging for a big fight at Madison Square Garden and the Venom-ization of the populace of New York, alive and dead. Of the two, I preferred Gang War, as Venom War bounced around time a whole hell of a lot and left me kind of lost. It might read better in trade.
Anyway — All-New Venom shows the trial of Madame Masque for all her wicked deeds during Gang War. The prosecutor, Paul Delacourt (a Daredevil character whom I absolutely want to see in more stuff), tries to equate her actions with those of the symbiotes during Venom War, hinting that maaaaaybe she's got a little bit of the black goop in her.
We see NYC Mayor Luke Cage, newspaperman Robbie Robertson, and new Daily Bugle celebrity reporter Rick Jones watching the proceedings. Long story short, A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics) assassins in battle suits teleport in and try to bump off Madame Masque, but they're stopped by All-New Venom, now with gold highlights instead of the normal white ones.
The mystery is that while All-New Venom (I mean, that's what I'm calling him) was kicking ass, neither Cage, Robertson, nor Jones was in the room and Madame Masque had escaped. So the mystery continues to the next issues — or maybe through the whole first arc! WHO IS THE ALL-NEW VENOM???
To be honest, I was worried about this issue — that it was going to just be a continuation of the massive space-and-time-traveling epic that wrapped up in Venom War and it wouldn't be a good starting point for new readers. But Ewing surprised me by keeping this story action-packed but fairly contained. The mystery isn't,"Which future version of Eddie Brock will appear next to try and kill his son in the future?" It's, "Who is this new guy???" I can swallow that easier than another space-hopping saga.
The art is really nice. I'm going to give accolades to Carlos Gómez and Frank D'Armata for that. The action is frenetic and well framed, with extra motion blasting through the confines of panels. Big hits get big half splashes while dialogue-heavy panels still feel roomy. I liked the inclusion of Rick Jones wearing an old-school Marvel Comics t-shirt.
Another character who I'd like to see more of in the future is A.I.M. division head Harlan McNeill. He's a new addition to the Marvel Universe and he's a master of interpreting body language. He can recognize a person's tells just by looking at them, which is a cool skill. He identifies the Madame Masque in the courtroom as being the real one, but has trouble identifying All-New Venom through his body language — there's some Spider-Man in there but none of the other previous Venom suspects (both Brocks, Mac Gargan, Flash Thompson, or Lee Price). He reminds me of Clock King from DC Comics with this kind of all-knowing yet detached personality. I'm a fan.
Also, RICK JONES??? A blast from the past coming out of left field. Ewing wrote him back in his Immortal Hulk days and his inclusion just throws everything for a loop — in a seriously good "twist-the-plot-in-new-ways" way.
Overall, I'm interested in seeing where this goes. It feels less like what Ewing was doing before with the multiple symbiotes in Venom War and more like the classic vigilante-on-a-mission stories that marked the earlier Venom solo series. Good action, good mystery, goodnight Irene. This one's coming home with me.
Verdict: It's a keeper! Pick it up!
