All-New Venom # 2

 By Mark Rodriguez

Madam Masque was on trial when members of AIM broke into the court room in battle suits with the intention of killing her. An All-New version of Venom came in and fought them off, making them retreat. It was noted that Luke Cage, Robbie Robertson and Rick Jones ran out during the fight and conveniently returned after Venom had left. Likewise, Madam Masque escaped during the commotion. Now Dylan Brock says Masque, Cage, Robertson or Jones has the Venom symbiote and he wants it back. Who is the All-New Venom?

The issue opens at Times Square as Venom is standing in front of several huge ads, all conveniently showing Robertson advertising the Daily Bugle, Rick Jones promoting his book 'Sidekick', a wanted poster on Madame Masque and a poster showing how the mayor, Luke Cage keeps the city clean. A voice off-panel says that there are four possibilities here.

The leader of the Death-Throws, Ringleader, says the first two options are they can beat him into paste, or he can beat them, but they are only one symbiote against eight of them. Ringleader says they got three eager villains wanting to replace their former member, Oddball. Venom is surprised people actually want to join those goofballs. Ringleader says they have legal aid, profit sharing and membership cards. Tenpin says they're like the Avengers of Crime but a lot more fun.

Ringleader says option three is for Venom to just walk away. Venom asks why he would do that. Ringleader points out the tourists in the area, and despite the fact that they just robbed them, they're still more scared of Venom than they are of the Death-Throws. Venom says they shouldn't be afraid since he's changed. Ringleader says option four is him joining them and asks how good he is at juggling.

A pirate themed villain named Heave-Ho says it's not fair they choose Venom when they haven't had their chance to shine. Venom is surprised that Heave-Ho is tossing actual cannonballs at him and asks what her work out routine is. A Philly sports-mascot guy called Chuck Stuff and a London themed guy named Tosser who is armed with bricks, charge at Venom. Venom is surprised that Chuck Stuff threw a Philly cheese-steak at him. Chuck Stuff says it's a hoagie.

Venom says with guys like that, the Death-Throws do need a star of their caliber. However he doesn't just throw webs, he also throws hands. Venom's symbiote tendril swings around in the form of small fists, socking all the villains back.

Bombshell asks her teammates what she thinks of the newcomers and states that she likes Heave-Ho. Tenpin asks if her gimmick is a bit much. Ringleader calls the whole thing a wash and says they'll try again next week but for now he calls for Escape Plan C. Bombshell tosses several bombs at the crowd and says all of them are duds except for one. Even she doesn't know which one is the real bomb.

The villains get away and Venom wants to go after them but finding the bomb is more important. Venom tells his host if he picked up an science while studying with someone. Venom surmises that gunpower is mostly saltpeter that has a very particular taste. Venom lashes out his tongue and grabs onto the real bomb and reels it back in, swallowing it. The bomb goes off in Venom's mouth, which doesn't really hurt him, and he excuses himself.

Just then three individuals in green armor arrive to take Venom down. Their leader, Ripcord uses energy whips and tells the other two, Heater and Slice to use short range weaponry since there are civilians around. Venom asks if they are a new Jury since they're using modified Guardsman armor. Ripcord says the Jury were vigilantes with a grudge. This squad is working for the federal government and tasked with symbiote containment and relocation. Slice says they do hold a grudge though, mostly due to all the family and loved ones lost in the Zombiote attack that took place during the Venom War.

 

Ripcord says her grudge is the oldest. She mentioned Jack Carson, also known as Spearhead. He almost killed Venom but he chose to follow orders rather than finish the job. Spearhead was Ripcord's brother. She adds that her brother died when a symbiote got to him. She says even now humans are stupid enough to work with brain-eating aliens. Ripcord asks Venom if he really thinks he's the hero and can replace Eddie Brock. She asks if he thinks he's anything other than the symbiote's next meal.

Venom says she's right. He says it's not like with Eddie, they're not family or even friends. He says they're stuck together and they're 'together' enough to stop them. He catches Ripcord's whip in his hand as he knew she was trying to get him to talk and drop his guard. He swings the whipe around, hitting the squad members. Slice calls to their faction, S.C.A.R, for back up. 

Venom flings his webs and swings off, saying he has a meeting. Heater changes her weapon to long-range and powers up a blast. Slice tells her to stop since they're in the city and they have to follow protocol. Ripcord wonders what meeting Venom was talking about.

Moments later, across town at the offices of the Daily Bugle, Robertson just arrives at the meeting, apologizing for being late. Luke Cage says he just got there himself. Rick Jones says he also doesn't have an alibi for the last half hour. Rick pulls out his phone saying Venom was just at Times Square and again neither of them can verify their whereabouts during that time. Robertson tells Rick to at least let him shut the door first. The newsroom thinks the cape columnist Rick Jones is currently interviewing former cape Luke Cage, while Robertson shows him the ropes. He doesn't need a room full of reporters to know the three of them are trying to find out which one of the three is Venom. Luke also reminds them about Madam Masque, and they'll regret the time they wasted on each other if turns out that she was Venom all along.

Rick asks if that's why they sent the former cape-killers after him. Luke says they're federal, but when the paperwork landed on his desk he didn't fight too hard. He says S.C.A.R is meant to return the symbiote to space, not to kill it or turn it into a weapon. Rick says it would look suspicious if Luke did make a fuss. Luke says they shouldn't forget about Madam Masque and also says Rick looks suspicious since he's too chill about this. Rick says he's chill because he knows he's not Venom. Luke says he's here to clear his name off the list but also to help good people if they're making a mistake. If he has to save them from themselves, he won't be too gentle.

Robbie suggests they work together to track down Madame Mask. Luke says he's a little old for the vigilante lifestyle. Robbie says he's not Venom but he was a reporter before he became editor. Luke Cage was also a former private eye and Rick Jones has followed the super folks for a lifetime. He's sure if they work together they can find Madame Masque, but they will have to hurry since they're not the only ones on the hunt.

Later that evening with MJ, Paul and Dylan, Paul tells Dylan to not use his phone at the dinner table. Dylan tells him to 'cram it' and calls him a weirdo. MJ pulls Paul aside as they argue. MJ reminds Paul that Dylan was bonded to a violent alien for months, was homeless and stabbed his father on live TV. MJ says Dylan has trauma. Paul reminds MJ that they also have trauma and it shouldn't be an excuse for Dylan to do whatever he wants.

Dylan checks his phone for where he would hide if he were Madam Masque. He tries to look for something owned by one of her many aliases like Guiletta Nefaaria, AKA Whitney Frost who was raised by Byron Frost. He finds an abandoned warehouse owned by Bryon's Storage Company.

Dylan calls out to Paul, who is still arguing with MJ, Dylan asks Paul how stupid he had to be to be fooled by a pair of imaginary children. Dude... I don't think even Paul deserves that one. Dylan is sent to his room, as he predicted, which has a fire escape right outside it. Dylan leaves the house.

Paul comes with ice cream to talk with Dylan and realizes that he ran away. He asks MJ if the Jackpot suit is out of the dryer yet. 

Later on at Long Island City, Dylan is creeping around the warehouse. After he gets Venom back, he'll go after Sleeper and Thompson and anyone else that betrayed him. Inside several AIM agents are saying that Madame Masque has betrayed both organizations so working together will be an advantage. Doctor Fortissimo, decked out in bulkier AIM armor, is working with Chance, who is currently working for Tombstone.

Fortissimo says they plan to get the word out that the Maggia wants a meeting with Madame Masque, which she won't be able to resist. Chance says she won't fall for going to an abandoned warehouse her fake father used to own. He says he hopes someone brought a deck of cards because it's going to be a long boring night. Just then Venom arrives, saying that their night just got a lot less boring.

Dylan is happy to see Venom again and that he guessed correctly. Chance aims his weapon at Venom saying he heard that Madame Masque might be under there. He tells the AIM agents to place their bets. Chance fires a blast that goes right through Venom's head. Dylan watches and determines that it's not Luke Cage, presumably because even without a symbiote, he would have been able to take that shot.

My Thoughts- 

So the mystery continues as not only are AIM and Dylan after Venom, but so are S.C.A.R, the Symbiote Containment and Relocation squad. Of course, while we don't know exactly what Robbie, Cage and Rick are doing right this second, the fact that Venom showed up at would could possibly be Madame Masque's hideout should lead us to believe that Masque is Venom, but that's too easy. I also don't think Masque would have wasted time playing around with the Death-Throws and would have just killed them. Plus this Venom seems slightly saddened that regular people fear him rather than see him as a hero. I doubt Masque would have given a damn.

All of this makes things more curious as to why exactly the Venom symbiote bonded to... whoever is under there. It makes me wonder what they're after. While the story wants us to think it's one of these four individuals, I wouldn't mind it shocking everyone to find out it was a mystery fifth person.

One thing worth pointing out is all the trash Dylan unloads all over Paul. Paul is severely hated by the fanbase since he is pretty much a plot device to keep Peter and Mary Jane apart. I did like MJ actually mentioning 'with great power comes great responsibility'  as Paul yells to leave her ex out of this. I can imagine the comic book fans smiling with glee and rooting for Dylan every time to talks smack towards Paul.

I liked the cheesiness of the Dark-Throws, especially their overly cheesy auditioning members. A team sports mascot dude tossing Philly cheese-steaks? While Venom isn't Spider-Man he's still kinda-sorta part of the Spider-Man brand, and Spider-Man does run into completely stupid and silly villains. I like that Spider-Man/Venom comics throw in totally goofy Saturday Morning level villains into the mix and not overly serious mass murderers all the time.

I am a bit confused with how Venom figured out which one of Bombshell's bombs was real. Sure he mentioned the unique taste of gunpowder... but wouldn't he have to eat all the bombs to make sure he got the right one? How did he randomly guess the right bomb right off the bat?

I still have a few more issues to catch up on before I'm current with this series but I am enjoying it so far. I wonder if once the host is revealed the series will end, or if this can continue on to be an on-going series, at least for a while. Currently Eddie is with... another symbiote... so this mystery host can keep being Venom for a good while.