Carnage U.S.A. #2

Background

In Doverton, Colorado, Cletus Kasady bonded Carnage to the entire town's population. After he declared a symbiotic nation, Spider-Man and other heroes were sent to Colorado to stop him but were consumed and controlled by the alien. Spidey escaped and the federal government sent it's contingency plan to Doverton.

Story 'Part Two: Red, White, and Die!'

As Spider-Man fled Carnage and the mind-controlled heroes, the government monitored the situation. The Thing was briefly free of the symbiote's influence after a fuel tank exploded but was immediately recaptured. While The Thing struggled with Carnage, Spider-Man was saved by unseen friends.

In a secure location, Doctor Tanis Nieves (aka, Scorn) was given a tour of a facility filled with high tech weaponry. The telecommunication voice explained that her symbiote was able to connect with the cyber-prosthetic. She realized that the weapons were built for war and allowed her to bond to the technology. General Brandon Duggan was pleased with her progress, rationalizing that Dr. Nieves was accustomed to being bonded to a symbiote, which gave her an edge against Carnage. She was his only option as Venom, Anti-Venom and Toxin were awol or missing. His assistant began to object that Scorn wasn't ready but was ignored. The general asked Scorn if she would kill Carnage if given the chance and when she agreed, he said she was ready.

She would be assisted by Mercury Team, a special forces team. They would be bonded to the symbiotes that had been taken from Scott Washington (aka, Hybrid). The blended symbiotes were separated back to their individual selves: Riot, Phage, Agony, and Lasher. When the general was asked what happened to Washington, he simply said he changed his mind. The symbiotes were then brought to the team and were bonded to them, with Lasher being bonded to a dog.

Outside of Doverton, locals were driving Spider-Man in a pickup truck back to their hideout. The owner of the meat packing plant liked animals so he had his own private zoo, which was fenced in. Eric, the father of Cole, explained to Spider-Man that people had been going missing at the packing plant and when he and others went to investigate, they found the plant flooded with human and cattle gore. The blood started to laugh at them, then grew a mouth and asked Eric where he lived. He shot at it but it laughed again and moved down the drains. He explained that the zoo had it's own well, preventing the symbiote from entering through the water system. A man asked Spider-Man if more Avengers were coming, he didn't have an answer.

In a mobile compound outside of town, General Duggan explained that stealth bombers with napalm were at the ready. If Mercury Team didn't have the situation under control by sunrise, the bombers would be used.

At a Doverton bar, Cletus was taunting Eric's children. He yelled at Cole for not liking his new pet Doppelganger and watched the controlled Avengers playing pool. Eric's wife begged him to give him her children back and he insisted that they were all one big happy family. He told her to bring him her husband's head and to bring the kids along to witness it. He asked if it was fair and she agreed to do it. He said he didn't ask if she'd do it, he asked if it was fair. She agreed and he bonded Carnage to her and the children.

General Comments

This was a decent issue but was mostly exposition. We spent a lot of time with Mercury Team, General Duggan and Scorn. That's not a bad thing. I did notice the trope of "you're going in alone." There were no more Avengers coming and Mercury Team didnt have backup.

Overall Rating

Not very exciting but I respect that they are building a story.