Venom: The Madness #1

Background

Venom fought the Punisher and a new villain called Pyre in Venom: Funeral Pyre.

Story Details

Eddie Brock woke from a dream, where a voice was explaining that there was no such thing as an equal partnership. As he cleared his head, he realized that someone was screaming. It was a man wandering outside, complaining that a company had poisoned him with radioactivity, nail polish, aerosol cans and "those little plastic things your burgers come in!" Those complaints turned to terror as the man was beaten by two thugs with baseball bats. Venom arrived and very quickly taught them the error of their ways. A woman arrived, introduced herself as Beck and Venom recognized her as the community's "above ground" connection. (At the time, Venom was living with homeless individuals in San Francisco.) Beck worked with the homeless and had been looking for the man that had been assaulted, whom she identified as Abby Rubin. Abby had worked for a company called Scarmore on the "Mercury Project." Abby explained that Scarmore had spliced liquid mercury with a virus that gave it a very basic sense of will. The project was scrapped when the workers got sick, including Abby. Beck added that several others had lost their minds. Venom offered to help and Beck was hesitant, aware of his reputation for extreme violence. Still, he seemed so...earnest. She agreed to meet with him and Brock was surprised that she wasn't afraid of him. He then went to torture the thugs to learn about their boss.

At Scarmore Industries, a middle man was told by his boss that he was being hit with so many lawsuits regarding "Mercury Project" that it could bankrupt him. He told his underling to take care of it, but to not tell him a single detail. He wanted plausible deniability. The underling made a phone call to Tom Cassidy, who told the Juggernaut that they'd just gotten a job.

In the underground city beneath San Francisco, Eddie explained to Beck how the community had created a safe haven for the rejects of society and were making it on their own. He had made himself the community's protector. Beck was impressed by how articulate he was and he answered that he had previously been a journalist. She assumed it was because of "Venom", and he told her that the symbiote had saved his life and they were bonded permanently. She asked if a woman had ever offered him the same thing and he reluctantly said that there had been but she was gone. She kissed him and was shocked when the alien caressed her hand. Eddie explained that sometimes he and the alien get excited...together. Abby then came to tell them that one of the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit against Scarmore had been injured by something more like a truck than a man. He'd pulled out of the lawsuit and Abby considered doing the same. Eddie disagreed, saying if they wanted to play rough, he'd be worse. Abby argued that fighting a corporation is different from fighting an individual and Beck agreed. There were more subtle ways to protect the innocent.

That night as Eddie slept, the symbiote spoke to him, annoyed that he hadn't asked it's permission to have a girl. It forgave him, as it liked her too, liked to touch her. It mocked him, saying he was always trapped in one prison or another. It told him to let go, she'll love him the more insane he is.

Elsewhere, a truckload of toxic chemicals were dumped into a water source. The dumper didn't care for it but needed to make a living and a thousand dollars per night was hard to pass up. At a corporate office, a man said to another that the cost of waste disposal was killing them. Toxic byproducts were an inevitable part of their product manufacturing and environmental laws were paranoid and overkill. They either had to cut waste or cut their salaries.

At Beck's tiny civil rights law office, she demanded over the phone that the summons be served tonight at "his" home during dinner, so he'd be embarrassed. Elsewhere, at "Tuxedo Park," a wealthy snobby woman demanded that her son get into the most prestigious school and money was no cost. Her husband scolded her for her overspending and said things were not financially secure at Scarmore. She sniffed that she'd no more talk about finances, it was rude to bring up such a topic in front of a woman. As the President of Scarmore spoke with his friends, he was served with the summons to appear in court. He chided his underling for not taking care of the lawyer and demanded that he try again.

At the law office, Eddie said he was proud of Beck for her courage. A very large man entered the room and shoved Eddie out of the way before he grabbed Beck. Becoming Venom, Eddie told Juggernaut that he was no ordinary guy. The fight went outside, with Juggernaut smacking Venom with a broken telephone pole. He then used the pole to smash Venom's head into the pavement, causing them to fall through the street and into an underground cave. As they fought, the symbiote noticed a "sympathetic presence," and called out to it. The symbiote feared for it's survival and wanted to bond with the presence. Eddie was distracted and confused by the one sided conversation, letting Juggernaut smack him into a red liquid on the cave floor. As he sank into the substance, Juggernaut left and the symbiote invited the substance to join them. As the symbiote and mercury virus mixed, it enjoyed it's new power.

General Comments

The back-and-forth tonal shift in this story is hard to not undersell. It begins with dialog like, "Let the pleasant visage of Eddie Brock be covered and let VENOM prowl the night!" Then it goes into a legal drama with social commentary on corporate ethics and classism. It ends with mindless violence.

It's a pretty common story for superhero comics, the hero against the evil mega-corporation. It did have a surprisingly nuanced moment, where the CEO was discussing the spot they were in: being caught between environmental laws and the reality of toxic byproducts created by making their products. It's a fair complaint but when you dump those byproducts into a public water system, you are in fact an evil corporation.

Beck is awfully trusting for a public servant. She just met Eddie and his parasitic alien partner and decided she was cool with it. Living on the edge.

I liked the symbiote's relationship with Eddie. It was predatory and controlling, which I prefer to the buddy system that they had in the movies. Venom is much more interesting when there is conflict and mistrust between them, as neither are especially stable.

The art is the weakest part of the story. It's like something from a fever dream, which would be more appropriate to appear as Venom slowly loses his mind.

Overall Rating

The bad dialog, ugly art and empty violence aside, I liked it.