Venom #22 – Review

By: Rick Remender (writer), Declan Shalvey (art), Lee Loughridge (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: What better way for series mastermind Rick Remender to say farewell than one final fight between Venom and Jack O’ Lantern and on Father’s Day, no less?

The Review:  This issue is a true swansong for Rick Remender’s fantastic run on Venom; it showcases so much of what Remender has managed to accomplish over the course of these 22 issues.

As such, it’s a character-driven issue and one that’s incredibly  heavy as a result.  It focuses on the humanity that Remender imbued Flash Thompson with and the lasting scars of his abuse as a child.  In this sense, the issue is as much a polemic against child abuse as it is an introverted character study of Flash.  It’s an extremely sincere issues, when that punches you in the gut, making it impossible not to empathize with Flash.  Again, that this issue has so much weight is a testament to and a reminder of how much Remender has accomplished in this series; we’ve grown so invested in Flash over the course of the series that all of these painful flashbacks feel truly, well, painful.  Despite this being the last issue of his run, Remender is still letting us enter deep into the mind of Flash Thompson, showing what makes the character tick, and it’s still excellent.

Venom #18 – Review

By: Rick Remender & Cullen Bunn (writers), Lan Medina (pencils), Nelson Decastro (inks), Chris Sotomayor (colors), and Clayton Cowles (letters)

The Story: Flash races to get to Betty before Jack and the Savage Six.

The Review:  With co-writer in tow, it’s another solid outing for Venom.  Aside from the brief Circle of Six crossover, it’s pretty remarkable how consistent this book has been in both quality and style.  For instance, once again, Flash’s narration is strong this month.  Remender and Bunn manage to once again strike the balance between a clipped, efficient use of words representative of Flash’s military background and training and narration that is rife with emotion, tension, and desperation.  In other words, as Flash desperately tries to get to Betty, the narration does exactly what it should: it lets you step into the mind of the character, while I also pulling you into the story.

I’m also enjoying what Remender and Bunn are doing with the Rogue’s Gallery here.  As always, Jack is written wonderfully.  He’s cunning and creepy and having him get to Betty sans costume, playing up his old “Flash’s friend” identity under a guise of friendliness was a really great turn that’s perfect for the character.

Venom #17 – Review

By: Rick Remender & Cullen Bunn (writers), Kev Walker (pencils), Terry Pallot (inks), Chris Sotomayor (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: Flash attempts to kill Crime-Master to extricate himself from his situation once and for all.

The Review:  The first thing to address with this issue are the two big additions to the creative team.  Honestly, co-writer Cullen  Bunn’s impact doesn’t at all change the issue and were it not for the credits page, this issue might as well have been written by Remender alone.  That’s a very good thing, as it means this issue follows the winning formula that’s fueled it for 16 issues or so and Bunn’s input only keeps that going, rather than changing anything up.  The desperate, gritty, and tragic narration by Flash, for instance, is still very much in play and as solid as ever.

The other big addition is Kev Walker on art.  Walker is a natural pick for a series like this, but he actually seems to tone down some of his idiosyncrasies.  For instance, his trademark blocky anatomy only shows up, slightly, in his take on Megatak (which ends up looking really cool).  Otherwise, Walker holds pretty true to the aesthetic and look established for the series by Tony Moore.  Much like Bunn, he doesn’t upset the formula.  As such, what we get is a comic that looks like one of those badass cartoons that played in the wee hours of the night on Cartoon Network (or Teletoon, for my fellow Canadians).  The highest praise I can give Walker’s art,  however, is that he is the only artist to draw an issue of Remender’s Venom that I truly felt did not fall short of Tony Moore’s work on the book.