All-New Venom # 5

 By Mark Rodriguez

There's a new Venom running around and there are four possible suspects. Luke Cage was a possible candidate, but Venom was shot in the face with the bullet going through instead of bouncing off him. Madam Masque was another suspect but she has been seen fighting against Venom directly on two separate occasions. Rick Jones might have been Venom, but turned out to be another symbiote named Sleeper. That only leaves Robbie. Is Robbie Robertson really the All-New Venom? Venom's host will be revealed!!

The issue opens with Robbie paying MJ and Paul a visit. Paul wasn't expecting Robbie and asks if he's here for Dylan. Paul explains that Dylan should be in school, and they discuss that he made a list of possible suspects for Venom's new host. Robbie says he actually came to see MJ. Paul says that she currently has an appointment. Robbie asks if she's running around as herself or as Jackpot, which surprises Paul.

Robbie says he's covered every part of Jackpot's career, including blurry early photos before she started wearing a mask (very sloppy, MJ) . He's known MJ for years so he can piece it together. Robbie says since MJ is Jackpot, he must be her 'man in the chair', so between the three of them, they should know who this new Venom is.

Over at Midtown, Sleeper attacks Madam Masque with tear gas as he dodges her bullets. Rick explains that Sleeper is in full control and he will forget everything he did afterwards. He says it reminds him of when he was a Hulk and he would wake up with vague memories afterwards. MODOK says if he has brain fog, he can clear his head... right off his shoulders. MODOK blasts Sleeper from behind.

 

Venom thanks Sleeper for buying him time (he was down after taking a huge energy blast from MODOK) but says he should go. Venom stretches his arms and they both go into MODOK's nose. He then starts swinging the living murder machine around. Venom tells Sleeper if he's seen in public, it'll be known that he can control hosts remotely. Sleeper says he should have broken him out of prison soon. He says Flash is the only one keeping him fed in there, everyone else wants the symbiotes dead. He says he should gone for Plan A and used Dylan instead. Venom says to leave his brother out of this.

MODOK sneezes, which make him fire off nose blasts which sets him free. MODOK is now enraged and in a 'kill everyone in the area' mood. Masque says they can still turn this around. MODOK says her plain failed and somebody has to take the fall. MODOK fires a huge energy blast that destroys the high rise balcony they were on, sending all the people there falling. Venom and Sleeper try to rescue the hostages.

Venom and Sleeper work together to form a huge web across buildings to catch all the people falling. Venom says that no one will die today. MODOK flies nearby and blasts Venom out of the sky. Sleeper is worried, but Venom says his father is made of stronger stuff and to focus on finishing the web. MODOK comments on their family bond, something he lacks since he is a clone of the original George Tarleton. He fires a blast at Sleeper. As Sleeper falls, he tells his father that he finished the web.

Venom dives down, turning his feet into thrusters. MODOK comments that he's shooting off his own essence like a water cannon to reach terminal velocity to save his spawn, which is weakening him. Venom catches up to Sleeper and tells him he is weaker than he used to so they'll have to brace themselves for impact.

Venom lands with a huge stomp onto the ground, Sleeper in hand. Venom remarks that his host broke nothing and asks if Rick is OK. Sleeper says he's fine. Venom says they need to have a talk about controlling human brains and ethical boundaries. Just then MODOK arrives, using his powers to create huge telekinetic fists. Venom says MODOK is a big brain in a big skull, but all they see when they look at him is a big target. Suddenly Sleeper shoot off of Rick and flies towards MODOK.

Sleeper wraps itself around MODOK as the villain struggles to maintain control of his mind. Sleeper says his mind is very powerful, but he can switch it off, putting him to sleep. Sleeper will leave MODOK in a catatonic state for the authorities and use his abilities to wipe everyone's mind around them that he was even here. Sleeper gets off MODOK, retaining a cat-like form, and attaches itself back to Rick. He tells Venom that he blanked everyone's mind except for Madam Masque since she got away during the confusion. He says it's one less mind he tampered with, so Venom would be happy.

As Venom swings off, he talks to his host. He says the 'goo jet' stunt from earlier severely weakened him and he can barely make a web. They need to return to base before they both fall apart. At this point, Venom can't change form, so they will sneak in the back door and eat some emergency chocolate. Just then they hear voices.

Robbie confirms with Paul that the first time this new Venom appeared was during Madam Masque's trial when AIM showed up to kill her. Paul said that Dylan made a list of four suspects, which were Luke, Rick, Masque and Robbie himself. Robbie says the trial was televised and it literally could have been anyone there, but it would look suspicious that all four of them were gone when Venom arrived. He says it looked like the biggest clue but it was always the biggest red herring.

Robbie said he suspected the truth while letting Luke and Rick think Venom was one of them. He asks Paul why Venom would involve itself in non-symbiote matters. Venom would continue to do so, like if he was on patrol, like a superhero with experience. Robbie points out that during the trial Judge Suzanne Phillips was within earshot of Andrew Forson and his body language expert McNeill. McNeill said he recognized the new Venom and had seen the new host recently, but he has been in custody since the Super Villain Gang War. He asks what superheroes would he have seen during the Super Villain Gang War.

The next witness was Slice, one of the members of SCAR. During the fight, Slice heard Venom saying he was late for a meeting as he was getting away. Paul asked if that was Thursday, in regards to the meeting. The third witness was Chance, who placed Dylan at the warehouse and says Venom and he acted like father and son. Robbie asks why Venom was at the warehouse. Was he tracking down Madam Masque or its former host. He also asks how Venom would know that Dylan was alone.

 

Paul says maybe Venom has some sort of psychic link to Dylan. Robbie says Dylan is Eddie's son and there' a familiar connection to the symbiote, so he asks why Venom would let someone else raise his child. Paul blurts out that he doesn't know and that Dylan was living on the streets and needed a loving home. He says this was Flash Thompson's idea and he also used the Venom symbiote once. Flash would trust MJ. 

Robbie says it works out if Flash came to him. He asks if he went to Flash instead. Paul says he didn't. Robbie says he didn't know, which means he chose not to tell him. Venom steps in, revealing the host to be none other than Mary Jane herself. MJ tells Robbie that he just hit the jackpot.

My thoughts-

I tried to avoid this spoiled the most I could. People posted blurred photos on social media, but after enough time passed, it was assumed that everybody had already read the book and knew who it was. Robbie was right about the red herring. The book had people looking at four different suspects, with Rick acting the most sus, and it turned out to be an extra fifth person.

I am not sure what clues there were to clue people in that Venom was MJ, as some readers were predicting this a few books back. I only found it odd in one issue where MJ didn't get until after Dylan did after the fight at the warehouse. What gets me, I thought Dylan was supposed to be able to detect symbiotes. How can he not detect Venom in his own house, right under his nose?

I am confused why MJ, who is already a superhero named Jackpot, is now also Venom. They did mention in a previous issue that they're both stuck together for some reason, so we still need to find out more about this.

I've heard all the complaints about MJ being Venom (as well as Jackpot) and Marvel not knowing what to do with her. It does kinda feel like like Marvel wants its cake and eat it too in regards to MJ and her non-relationship with Peter Parker. They don't want them together, but at the same time they seem to like the character enough to find weird ways to keep her in the story and even give the redhead her own series.

I mean for all intents and purposes, MJ is a secondary background character in Spider-Man's life, and like most supporting characters, they're around as long as the main character is around. Take one of Spider-Man's less popular exes for example, Carlie Cooper. She might still make appearances here and there but she's no longer a constant character after the break up with the title character. If Spider-Mean were to head to LA for example for an arc or so, it's even less likely we'd see her for a good while. 

In the world of cape comics, the only way we'd see a supporting character stay in the story when they are no longer tied to the main character is to either become another superhero or a super villain and maybe get a spin off. Hence why we now got Mary Jane running around as Jackpot and the All-New Venom. Marvel doesn't want her with Peter, but they don't want to let her go either.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, we'll see what happens next. Everyone is out to expose, capture, arrest or flat out kill the new Venom, and that includes Robbie. What does he intend to do now that he confirmed his suspicions?