Venom: The Enemy Within #1

Background

In Venom: The Madness, Venom helped defeat the Scarmore Corporation, who hired the Juggernaut to silence witnesses to Scarmore's illegal dumping of toxic chemicals in San Francisco.

Story Details

On Halloween in San Francisco, a group of kids dressed as Wolverine, Captain America and Spider-Man were trick or treating. A fourth kid tagged along, dressed as a demon. This kid was watched by a couple of men that assumed his dad was rich, as they saw him come out of a big house. They attempted to kidnap him for ransom but one of them, Sid, was suddenly webbed up high on a wall. Venom grabbed the other guy, saying he'd write the ransom note in his blood. (The kid, meanwhile, told Venom he liked how shiny his costume was. Venom said he should feel it breathe.) The guy stammered that they'd just been playing a Halloween prank on the kid, a harmless fling. Venom then flung him across town. He handed the demon mask back to the kid, who said he thought he just messed himself. Venom corrected him, saying it was the other guy that did that. It was then he noticed that Sid had torn off his shirt and escaped.

A shirtless Sid ran through the subway, hoping to hide from the monster that had stopped the kidnapping. He hid in a subway train, planning to get off at the next stop when the lights went out. In the dark, he heard what sounded like giggling and assumed it was kids playing a prank. Using a lighter to see, he found a body and was ripped apart by small green monsters with red eyes.

Above ground, Venom changed back to Eddie just in time to see someone in a Spider-Man costume running at him. Initially surprised, he was relieved when he saw it was a party goer running to meet friends. Eddie pondered the uneasy truce that he had with Spider-Man but seeing the costume still was unpleasant. Walking home, he came across a political rally where a mayoral candidate was heckled by someone in the crowd. Other people got rough with him and Eddie considered intervening but changed his mind after realizing that policing the city put the safety of his friends at risk.

Walking home, he saw newly delivered newspapers and the photo of Sid torn apart on the front page. The headline claimed that he had been ripped apart by "goblins." As he sat in a subway car, Eddie doubted that goblins had anything to do with it, more likely rabid rats. The lights in the subway went dark and other passengers were attacked by the green monsters. Eddie was stunned by what he saw and changed to Venom, saying they looked supernatural but died just like anything else. Wading into the fray, he found them to have plenty of teeth and claws but no leadership or purpose. That's when they hit him with a sonic blast, knocking him out of the car and onto the tracks. Watching the train speed away, he said to himself, "N-never felt such a staggering force of pure energy. They've got a weapon all right...and Venom just may be helpless against it!"

At the election headquarters of Charles Palentine, the mayor-elect vowed to improve on the work done by the previous administration. As he toasted, a noise shattered his glass and the windows around the group. He looked out over San Francisco Bay at Alcatraz. The noise also caused damage in the underground city beneath San Francisco, putting panic into the homeless residents. In frustration, Eddie admitted that he was helpless as a baby.

In New York, Michael Morbius attacked a gang unloading drugs from a boat. As he was about to kill one of them, a shrill noise pierced his brain. He suddenly disappeared.

Upon seeing a couple being attacked in their home by the goblins, Venom smashed through their window to save them. The creatures melted into the walls before he got anywhere near them.

Back in New York, a cult spoke unholy incantations in the Library of Rhan. They were surprised to see Demogoblin smash through a window, screaming at them to die. He tore through the cultists, explaining that he'd sworn to murder all that transgress, profane and walk in sacrilege. After wiping them out, the same shrill wailing made him disappear.

In San Fran, the city was in lock down as the population feared the nightly attacks from the goblins. Martial law had been declared and no one was allowed to leave or enter the city. Venom's attempts to kill them all with brute force were useless, as twenty more took the place of the ones he exterminated. Meanwhile, the current mayor called on citizens to obey the quarantine and prevent the horde to spread outside of the city. The newly elected mayor Palentine, however, demanded that San Franciscans be allowed to leave, even calling the event Biblical retribution.

Venom sought to end the plague by rooting it out at it's source and searched the subway tunnels. The goblins found him before he found them and soon their sonic attack knocked him out. They carried his barely conscious body deeper underground to a stone chamber with a granite throne. They screamed their shrill scream again and a figure appeared on the throne. He was stunned to see Morbius, who told him that he was the last thing he'd ever see and prepare to die.

General Comments

Well, I'd say that speaks for itself. Venom was always a "violence first, thinking never" kind of character. He found that the goblin creatures emitted a noise that his symbiote couldn't handle...then went looking for their nest without any kind of protection or help. The dialogue is bad and the story is non-existent. I did like the brief scene of the two mayors disagreeing on what to do with the quarantine. That certainly felt familiar.

Overall Rating

The art wasn't bad. It wasnt great either. That's all I can say.