All-New Venom # 1

 By Mark Rodriguez

This seems to be the new title after the Venom War ended. It might not be a mystery anymore with several issues already out, but that time the mystery of the first issue of this all new series is the identity of the Venom Symbiote. One thing for sure, it's not Eddie Brock.

 

We get a much needed recap that goes over how Spider-Man first got the symbiote and brought it to Earth. Once he discovered it was alive, he got rid of it, and it would eventually bond with Eddie Brock, turning him into Venom. Eddie eventually had a son with his ex wife Anne Weying named Dylan. Eventually Brock and Dylan would fight over control over the Venom symbiote, but the symbiote would choose neither. It went off to parts unknown, but the fall out of the Venom War left the city shaken and fearful over anything relating to symbiotes. 

The story opens with guards watching over New York's latest symbiote. The woman is named Madame Masque and she is restrained and locked inside a specialized containment unit. The caption considers her Suspect # 1. We see she is on trial as the judge says that Masque is many things, but she is not an alien from space. The prosecutor says that Madame Masque did come to New York from her own world of crime to feed off of innocent people. 

 

The defense attorney calls an objection stating that the prosecutor is trying to equate the super villain war from the previous with the more recent Venom war. The judge agrees and says that Masque is on trial for one of New York's disasters, not all of them.

Luke Cage, the current mayor of New York doesn't like how federal trials are being televised now. He is Suspect # 2. Joe 'Robbie' Robertson, editor in chief for the Daily Bugle, says this trial is for closure of the affected families. He is Suspect # 3. Luke says it's for the money and media circuses. He feels this will further twist and already broken justice system. Robbie says he appreciates Luke's commitment to his principles but he is more worried about who might be denied justice tomorrow when he should worry about what the trial might cause today.

Robbie says that Delacourt, the prosecutor, has always been into grandstanding and now he's performing to an audience. He's afraid he will be able to help Madame Masque go free. Robbie says he can't just watch that, not without doing what's in his power to stop it. As Luke asks what he means, a youngster shows up, wearing a Marvel Comics shirt no less. 

Robbie explains that the kid is Rick Jones, the Bugle's new celebrity columnist. Now that vigilantes are back, he'll be covering the 'threat or menace' angle. Rick says he'll be more of a 'greatest person or total sweetheart' angle, like an anti-Jonah. Luke says they've probably met before. Rick says it would be weird if they haven't, though he has been dead for a while, and also green. Luke says Rick was a Hulk for a while. Rick says he's been a Hulk, and Abomination and a Bucky Barnes wannabe. He wonders what he'll be next. The caption considers him to be Suspect # 4.

The prosecutor, Delacourt, questions Dr. Harlan McNeill, head division of AIM on if he worked for Masque. McNeill says that in a sense, he still works for AIM and in the battle at Central Park, AIM was allied with MAGGIA, so he did take orders from her on that day. Delacourt asks if the masked woman he worked for is in the court today. McNeill adjusts his glasses and confirms that the woman is Madam Masque. He says this farce of a trial is no longer necessary. He communicates with someone via his glasses telling the person to  'translocate on his signal'.

Just then a person in a battle suit teleports into the court room. He introduces himself as Andrew Forson, AIM's leader. He says AIM has fallen and has become the plaything of small-time hoods. He intends to send a message about the penalty for improper use.

Luke tells Rick to get Robbie out of there. Andrew says that nobody will be leaving. This theater requires a live audience. A second AIM soldier teleports and starts to re-materialize  in front of Rick and Robbie. Rick decides to take the chance and they both right through the AIM soldier before he could fully re-materialize. Now that they're running out of the courtroom, Rick says they can split up since he can't chase them both. Rick tells Robbie to find a cop, a phone or something. Robbie says he'll find something.

The second man, named Maddox, asks Andrew if he should chase them. Andrew says to let the random civilians go and to focus on taking out the authority figures. Luke Cage lands a flying punch right on Andrew's helmet. Maddox is concerned but his boss tells him his battle suit was stress tested for this. It can also absorb the kinetic energy of any blow and dish it back out. He throws a powerful punch that sends Luke flying back despite him bracing himself for it. Luke is sent flying out the window as he says it's time for him to really get to work.

 

Andrew tells Maddox to watch the window and make sure that nobody jumps out. He wants them to witness as they execute Madame Masque. Masque was gone, a hole seen at the bottom of her containment unit. Andrew asks 'how?' and a voice calls out that 'how' isn't the question, rather it's 'who'. Venom shows up through the window, brandishing a golden spider emblem across his body. The current host is unknown.

Andrew tells his other subordinate, Fowler, that under the gold foil is just another symbiote monster. He tells him to kill it. Venom leaps over the battle suit and says it's not 'kill it' but rather 'kill them'. He says they're not a monster and they're not just another symbiote. He tells Fowler that he's the All-New Venom as he kicks him from behind. 

Andrew is surprised that Fowler seemed to have felt the kick. Fowler says he's just rattled. His battle suit is working great and that kick just boosted him with raw kinetic energy. He says he's going to use it to take Brock's head off, as he charges towards him. McNeill says that person isn't Brock. 

Andrew tells Maddox to go help Fowler and asks the judge if he can question the witness. The judge agrees. McNeill says he is a specialist in superhuman body language. He knows the fighting style of everyone that used the Venom symbiote. This include both Brocks, Mac Gargan, Flash Thompson, and Lee Price. He would advised them accordingly if it was any of them. However in this case, whoever is under that symbiote is someone who has never used it before.

Venom continues to fight against Maddox and Fowler. He puffs one of his arms up as a ball, which takes the impact of Fowler's punch. Venom says it's a symbiote airbag, which absorbs the kinetic energy so he doesn't take the hit. Venom taunts the men as they try to hit them but he's too fast for them.

McNeill says there's a bit of Spider-Man in the body language, but that is true of all Venoms and it always throws him off. He swears he's seen whoever is under there recently. Andrew asks where. McNeill says he's been in custody since the gang war. Andrew realizes the only place he would have seen anyone was at the trial and asks if it's someone in the room.

Andrew calls for a third man, Stevens to join the fight (how many henchmen are there?). Stevens asks about the hostages. Andrew says to let them go as their main concern now is to kill Venom. Venom webs the floor, leaving a pile of goop that Steven steps on and trips over. As he falls face first, Venom webs up his back, leaving him stuck in a big web cocoon. 

 

McNeill notes that Venom's webbing was always stronger than Spider-Man's when he first got his black suit, but now it seems even stronger. Fowler grabs Venom from behind, leaving him open for Maddox to hit him. Venom shoots webbing on Maddox's suit. Maddox says the special webbing is just a mess on his suit. As he prepares to punch him, he asks Venom what he's got when his webbing isn't enough. Venom flips Fowler over his shoulder, tossing him into Maddox. Maddox and Fowler are now stuck together.

Andrew prepares to teleport away with his men and McNeill. He warns that he knows all sorts of alien life and he knows Venom. He says getting on AIM's radar is a big mistake. As they leave, Venom says that them running away really sells their threats. He says they have made his list, which is a big mistake. He shoots some webbing and uses it to swing away, saying that he's an all-new Venom.

Delacourt says that Venom needs to be destroyed. The judge says Venom just saved all their lives. The judge asks if he trusts AIM more. Delacourt says he trusts them more than alien invaders and vigilantes. He's sure once the superhero mayor finds out there's a new Venom running around he'll see things from his side.

Luke, Rick and Robbie come back in, asking what happened to Madame Masque and this new Venom. Rick says it was horrible timing to miss out since he's supposed to be the Bugle's superhero columnist. Robbie tells Rick to grab Luke when he's free so they can talk in private.

Once alone, Robbie asks Rick why he came back alone when he was supposed to be looking for a cop. Rick says there's never one around when you need one. Robbie got lost in a stairwell. Luke says he got punched out of the building. Robbie says none of them were there when Venom showed up and they can't vouch for their own whereabouts or each other's. Luke says they can't vouch for Madame Masque's whereabouts either. Rick says it was Colonel Mustard in the study with the candlestick. Luke tells him to shut up.

For the epilogue, Mary Jane, who is currently the superhero Jackpot, returns home to Paul. Paul was concerned since his software hasn't linked properly with the Jackpot suit after Mary Jane bonded with the Arachniote during the Venom War. Mary Jane doesn't want to think about symbiotes anymore and asks how their little trouble-maker is doing.

Paul says he's been obsessed with his laptop research. MJ says he's a homeless kid that's been through hell and they know what that's like. Paul says it might be too soon as the wounds are still fresh when they lost Owen and Romy. The kid hears MJ's voice and says she's finally someone useful. He is studying the news footage and says that there were four people in the room when AIM came for Madame Masque, but weren't there when Venom arrived. MJ is surprised to hear Venom's name.

The kid points out that these four people were Luke Cage, Rick Jones, Robbie Robertson and Madame Masque herself. One of them has the Venom symbiote. We see that this kid is Dylan Brock. He says that's his symbiote and he's not going to stop until he gets it back. 

My Thoughts- 

I was expecting to find out who Venom was whenever he got back to wherever he lives and took off his mask. Looks like his identity will be the main focus for this story arc. 

So we got four suspects, and they all had flimsy alibis and acted kinda shady. I think of the four options, I'd immediately rule out Masque. As a villain, I'd imagine her going for full on lethal force against the AIM agents. I also don't see her wisecracking unless it was a bit to redirect everyone. 

The other three are harder to guess. Rick mentioned all the other heroes he's been through his life and gave a cocky grin as he asked who he'll be next. Rick is an old character that has been around since the early days of the Hulk. I guess, based on his shirt, that Marvel Comics exist within Marvel Comics?

Luke Cage was punches out the window and said it was now 'really time to get to work' and we saw Venom come in.  

Probably the most suspicious one was Robbie. Before the AIM people even busted in, Robbie was already acting like he was going to do something if Madame Masque got off scott free. When the AIM guys showed up, Luke Cage stepped up as you would assume, but Robbie acted like he would be able to do something. Then of course when Rick told him to find a cop 'or something', Robbie suspiciously said he'll find something.

So far my bet is on Robbie. Luke and Rick has one throwaway line to make them seem sus, but Robbie had several. 

Now we go into MJ and Paul. Brief summary, nobody likes these two. There was a story a year back or so (cause it's been long enough by now) where Peter and MJ were stuck in some other dimension. Spidey had no choice but to leave MJ behind but he vowed to get her back. However time moves differently in this other dimension so even though it didn't take that long for Peter to finally save her, MJ had settled with a man named Paul and they had adopted kids. It seems in a later story, their kids Romy and Owen were fakes created by The Emissary. 

The Jackpot thing confused. I heard about MJ becoming a superhero and I know she has her own Jackpot series, but with all this multiverse stuff, I honestly thought that was another MJ in another universe. I had no idea MJ was Jackpot in the main 616 until now. I haven't been reading the main Spider-Man comics since I didn't really want to see Peter deal with all that depressing drama. He seems much more happier and carefree, relatively speaking, in the Spectacular Spider-Men series, and I'll stick to those.

So now we're going to have AIM going after Venom, as well as Dylan trying to get the symbiote back as well. For all we know, Masque could cause some trouble on her own since she escaped. As a suspect, AIM and Dylan might go after her too. 

The race has begun to find out who this new Venom is. As of now there are four issues out and I'm placing my bets on Robbie. I mean he's one of the few Spider-Man related people to not become some sort of superhero or super villain, so hey, why not? 

 I guess my only nitpick is how it wasn't clear exactly how many AIM agents there were. Every time I thought 'oh there's two of them, no wait there's three of them' Andrew would call out some new name and yet another agent would appear. A nice pan out shot of all four or five guys at once would have been nice.