Toxin #2

Background

Toxin is the duo of ex-police officer Pat Mulligan and the symbiotic spawn of Carnage. They're trying their hand at being a super-hero. So far they've brought in King Cobra, and now they're tracking down Razor-Fist...

Story 'Cut to the Chase'

Toxin is out hunting down Razor-Fist, tracking him from the bloodied bandage Spidey gave him lasy issue. He stops to break up a robbery in a convenience store, which leaves the store in shambles and the robbers on their way to the hospital.

Downtown, we meet Anton. He's 16, a smart kid with successful parents, and has a self-harming problem. He's being led off some dark into into a grungy cellar by a girl named Lulu, who also had a self-harming problem but says that she recently got over it. Inside Anton meets Razor-Fist, who is being fed some fast food by a couple of boys.

Pat's cop friend (Meadows) gets confronted by Pat's father to tell him where Pat's hiding, and to convince him to come home to Gina and the baby. Meadows refuses to tell and Pat's father takes a gun out on him, but Meadows knows he's just bluffing and walks off.

Back at Razor-Fist's hideout, Anton is going through his initiation. He has to take off his shirt and stand there where Razor-Fist slices into his chest with those hand blades of his. When he's done we see that Razor-Fist made no mark whatsoever with his cuts, and Anton gets assigned to washing bandages.

At home, Anton doesn't seem to have to urge to cut himself anymore. He starts washing the bandages, and gets jumped by Pat. The scent from the bloody bandage he got lead him to Anton instead of Razor-Fist. He tells Anton to bring him to Razor-Fist. Anton refuses at first, but agrees when Pat tells him that there's a monster inside of him, and that if he isn't brought to Razor-Fist he'll unleash it on Anton.

Anton brings Pat to Razor-Fist's hideout, where Pat falls into a trap Razor-Fist has set. He has to fight Razor-Fist on his own, because Toxin won't "suit up" for him. Anton jumps in to help Pat, but Razor-Fist says he'll just have to go right through him. This finally gets Toxin to change, except not quite into what Pat was hoping.....

General Comments

Personally, I just found this issue boring. I don't see Razor-Fist as being that much of a villain, especially for someone who was able to take on Venom and Carnage together. And his whole "cuts that don't bleed" thing was just weird.

And Pat now has no interaction with any of his supporting cast. Gina and the baby don't appear, and Meadows only shows up for a single page. Oh, and I made a slight mistake last issue. Meadows was given a name, Paul, but I misread it.

There are still a few good bits here and there, like the interactions between Pat and Toxin, and the surprise on the last page, but overall this issue was pretty disappointing.

Overall Rating

Only 2.5 webs, since it was a pretty boring issue without much going on. Hopefully next one will be better.