Venom Dark Origin #4

Background

Eddie was fired for believing an imposter was the real Sin-Eater. When Spider- Man exposed his lies, Eddie was fired from his job and nearly committed suicide. The rejected symbiote of Spider-Man came to Eddie at a church and together they are Venom.

Story Details

Eddie's landlord demands to know what he is doing in his apartment. Black ooze seeps out from Eddie's door. Eddie ignores the persistent landlord with a tentacle and reminisces about the symbiote's prior life to meeting him.

The symbiote's life on its home planet was rough. Little life existed on its world. Eddie connects his life circumstances with the symbiote. They are meant for each other.

The symbiote wants to help Eddie recover his life. In order to do this it needs to bond with Eddie completely. Eddie readily agrees seeing the symbiote as a means of revenge against Spider-Man.

Later, Eddie stalks Peter in New York City. He has the distinct advantage of not being able to set off Peter's Spider Sense thanks to the symbiote. He pushes Peter into the path of an onrushing train remaining unseen. Fortunately, Peter's fast reflexes allow him to escape unscathed.

Next, Eddie goes to Peter's apartment where Mary Jane has just come from the grocery store. Mary Jane catches a glimpse of what she thinks is Peter's alternate black costume but instead finds it alive. Venom threatens Mary Jane and tells her they will kill Peter. Venom claims he is a hero. Mary Jane agrees with him in fear of her own life. With that, Venom leaves Mary Jane to be discovered by Peter.

General Comments

Remember how I said this mini-series was unnecessary? Well this issue cemented my case. Eddie now bonded to the Venom symbiote sets out on his quest of revenge against Spider-Man. The only problem? All of this was adequately covered in the original issues. That is right folks, if you've read the original stories you will learn nothing new at all.

Not even a rare glimpse of the symbiote's home planet is enough to save this from eternal residence in the dollar bin at a comic book shop near you. In fact, the glimpse of the home planet is just that. Nothing more than a teaser. Here would have been an opportunity to find out what exactly the symbiote did and how exactly it came into Peter's hands during Secret Wars. But instead we get another wasted opportunity. At this point, I am beginning to question whether it was Zeb Wells's intention to ever write this or it was editorial mandate on the cusp of the Spider-Man 3 movie and the New Ways to Die arc over in Amazing Spider-Man.

I also take bit of an issue with the reaction of Mary Jane. At this point in their relationship shouldn't Peter and MJ have a system in place dealing with supervillains? I would be scared too if a gigantic perversion of Spider-Man threatened my life but her reaction seems a bit cliche akin to the damsel in distress. This is a rather minor critique in the grand scheme of things as there are more pressing problems to consider such as nonexistent characterization, a rehashed plot, and little to actually care about. Still, the cover is awfully nice featuring a suitably frightening Venom.

Overall Rating

I think my words above express all that I need to say about Venom: Dark Origin. I know Wells can do better than this too.