Frank Castle tends to be perfect in his behavior. What makes it all work is the take that Venom is a more sci-fi, yet honest Punisher.

That gives it some much-needed stability, even if we get some bizarre storylines like Venom and Carnage duking it out inside the internet and Venom and Wolverine flying through space inside a silver football. If anything, it shows that we really need more Venom/Morbius team-ups.Įventually, Larry Hama starts penning the series and mostly remains on it until cancellation. The whole thing is very mixed bag, but there’s some fun stuff in there. Afterwards, the series becomes a revolving door of creative teams with each writer essentially turning it into “Venom Team-Up.” Soon the whole San Francisco concept is dropped completely and he returns to New York City to make these crossovers easier to handle. Co-creator David Michelinie starts this off with Lethal Protector, where he builds up a new status quo with supporting characters, villains, a more sympathetic rewrite of Eddie’s backstory, and a new home where he guards an underground society of squatters. As a prologue with the same creative team, it really makes for a perfect companion piece.Īnyway, Venom movies to San Francisco for a while to get in his own adventures. It’s just a shame that it’s part of the previously-mentioned omnibus and not part of the Venom: Lethal Protector trade. THE ORIGINAL ANTI-HERO RUNĪmazing Spider-Man #374-375 is this great two-parter that temporarily wraps up the Spider-Man/Venom rivalry and sets the stage for Venom to spinoff with his own solo run. It’s really expensive, but it’s an option. Venom Omnibus that will have pretty much every Venom appearance pre- Lethal Protector.

They’re releasing a hardcover called Spider-Man vs. Spider-Man: Birth of Venom has all of his origin appearances and Carnage Classic has that initial story arc, but you aren’t going to get that cool fight on the island or the other early Venom appearances.

In terms of trades, there are two ways to go about it. This culminates in the creation of Carnage, which not only means Spider-Man has to undo taking Venom off the table, but the two have to team up against the big, new villain. For these first couple of years, Venom gets increasingly interesting, especially in the ways Spider-Man has to deal with him.

Venom, Vol. 2 by Donny Cates