Venom Black, White & Blood # 1

 By Mark Rodriguez

Venom has been around since the 90's and has had many adventures (and hosts) along the way. From Spider-Man-obsessed maniac to a Lethal Protector, he had many stories to tell. Just like similarly named comics, 'Black, White & Blood' will feature random stories from different artists and writers from different points of the symbiote's life. They'll be black and white but with the added gimmick that the color red is thrown in there too. Let's check out the first issue!

 

"Force Majeure" opens in the Pennsylvania Woodlands several years ago. A scientist leads two armed gunmen, one named Al and the other named Jerry Clay. Al tells Jerry to catch up, and Jerry says they have a head start and they're after 'just one man'. The scientist asks Jerry if he saw what it did to the others. He says they're not after a man, but a monster.

Al tells Dr. Langston that he saw the guy on TV and he just looks like a big guy running around in and old Spider-Man costume and acting crazy. Langston tells him that he thinks he's not wearing a costume but is using a sentient alien being. The host can somehow control it, and he intends to find out how, which would be the crowning achievement of his career.

Suddenly they hear a branch snap and Jerry starts to shoot. Langston tells him to stop and says he just told the creature where they are. He says the woods are full of wild animals so the noise could have come from a deer or a bear. We see that Venom is currently swinging around without them noticing. He snaps another branch.

 

Al is worn out and need a break from their hike. Langston lets him rest up, but they have to hurry so they can stay one step ahead. Al washes his face in a nearby stream and suddenly the symbiote wraps itself around his face and pulls him into the air. Jerry is now allowed to shoot the symbiote.

Venom calls out around the area, and Al tries to shoot in the direction of his voice. Langston pulls out some sort of sound wave blaster and also fires. The men shoot around as one yells out that the symbiote can't be everywhere. Venom says he doesn't need to do so since he can be anywhere. He uses the symbiote to tie Jerry up. Langston aims the sonic cannon at them both and Jerry asks if that gun wasn't designed to work on regular people.

Langston fires off the sonic cannon and the impact is strong enough to make Al explode. Langston drops the gun and tells Venom to leave him alone. He says he only wanted to use his genius to make the world a better place and asks why he torments him. The man turns to see Venom walking towards him and the edge of a cliff right behind him. Venom says he slaughtered innocents and uses 'the good for all' as his excuse. Langston says he doesn't understand and Venom says he 'more than understands'.

At the time the connection between Eddie and Venom was still new, so they were careless and captured. They watched as Langston experimented on homeless  innocents that his men snatched off the streets. He injected them with incurable diseases. He said he wanted to end diseases and use the symbiote to control lethal pathogens. Even as people died, all Langston cared about what the fame this would bring him. The rage gave Venom the power to escape. Venom says Langston even used the old phrases 'one must break some eggs to make an omelette' and that 'the ends justify the means'. Now the means will justify Langston's end.

 

Langston backs up and stumbles over the edge of the cliff. Venom shoot a web, catching his leg and stopping his fall. Langston is surprised that Venom saved him and says he understands. Venom says he misunderstood his intention and says he just wanted to say goodbye. He cuts the web and walks off into the woods as Langston falls to his death.

"Sweet will be the Flower" opens with Venom thinking back to his earlier days when he encountered a kid named Derrick. The kid got into trouble and now lays dying as he was shot through the spine and bleeding out. As his life starts to fade, Derrick doesn't pray for peace, he prays for revenge. Venom approaches him and monologues that God works in mysterious ways. 

Derrick can barely speak, only whisper. He's heard of Venom and knows of its power. He says he could 'do it tonight' with whatever time he has left. He just needs the symbiote.

We flashback to Venom picking up Derrick and bonding with him. He explains he can give the kid an extra hour or two and heal his wounds so he can seek justice. Eddie wasn't around for the rest of the story and only found out the details after the symbiote returned to him.  

Derrick, now as Venom, found the boy that shot him. The kid had no parents and no siblings and there weren't any innocents around. Venom prepares to tear the kid apart... but is surprised to see that the kid welcomes his death.

The kid feels he deserves to die for what he's done The kid starts to attack Venom trying to provoke him. He's even younger than Derrick and has been threatening him with a gun for a while. He only meant for him to scare him, not for it to actually go off. He is now a murderer and nobody can forgive that.

As the symbiote prepares to kill the kid, Derrick stops. He realizes he doesn't want to die while taking someone with him. He realizes while fatal, the kid made a mistake. He swings off and waits to die. Despite the symbiote giving him extra time, Derrick was still on death's door. Eddie arrives to see them sitting on a park bench as the sun comes up. 

We see that Eddie is telling Cletus Cassidy this story as they're both in prison. Cletus doesn't believe the story and says a multiple murderer like Eddie wouldn't save a kid. He thinks he already found Derrick dead and killed the shooter since that's what a 'lethal protector' would do.

Cletus says Eddie is reading bibles and trying to rewrite his history to feel better about himself. He says they're both killers but Cletus likes who he is. Eddie says the story didn't happen the way Cletus thinks it did, as he holds onto the bible. 

 

We flashback to Eddie sitting on the park bench next to the Derrick symbiote. The symbiote moves from Derrick to Eddie, leaving the child to his fate. Eddie says he's a good person.

"Fathers & Sons" opens in the middle of Carnage's mass murder spree known as 'Maximum Carnage'. Carnage leads Shriek, Demogoblin and Carrion as they carry out their massacre. The only way to stop this was to take out the 'father' that leads the group, and Venom is just the guy to do it. Venom explains that while other heroes helped, including Captain America and Spider-Man, he was the one that took Carnage down and almost died doing so.

Now in the aftermath, Eddie walks down the city streets as everybody celebrates that the bloodbath was over. However nobody credits him for his role in ending the madness and think that Venom is as crazy as Carnage and his crew. He tells himself that he knows the truth, he's a hero.

Just then Eddie overhears a father grabbing his son, threatening to beat him for getting home late. Eddie steps up to the father. After a brief stare down, Eddie turns and leaves.

 

As Eddie walks down an alley, Venom asks him what that was about. Eddie says he doesn't know. Venom says for a moment, Eddie saw his father in that man. He says seeing a powerless kid with a bully of a father reminds him of someone else. Eddie says his father never hit him and wasn't a bully. Venom says one does have to hit someone to be a bully. They can make them feel frightened and small.

Venom says Carnage and Shriek formed their family of freaks and that got Eddie to think about his own family. Venom shows Eddie his memories and we see that his mother died giving birth to him. Eddie says you can't blame an infant for that. Venom says his father did. He didn't have to say it out loud, but it showed in the way he treated him. He might have put a roof over his head, but he loathed him since he saw Eddie as a reminder of his pain and loss. Eddie doesn't believe this and says his father loved him. Venom says Eddie feels like a major disappointment and is now a murderer. Eddie tells him to stop saying that.

Venom reminds him that they're bonded and their minds are one. If Venom is saying that Eddie feels responsible for his mother's death, it's because he believes it. The words are coming from Eddie's shame and guilt. He blames himself over his mother's death, his father's disappointed, even for all the innocent lives that Carnage took. Venom says that guilt is a terrible thing, a monster that will eat him alive.

Venom turns into a monstrous version of himself and swallows Eddie whole. He says guilt is a weakness and fatal flaw. Eddie is his weapon and he needs him to be strong for his work, so he must purge that guilt. Eddie punches his way out of the symbiote. He asks if the guilt is gone now. Venom says it won't be that easy but he's made progress. Venom says they sharpened the blade so now they should use it. They've taken out Carnage earlier that night, so maybe they can take another.

Venom smashes into the apartment of the father and child they saw earlier. The kid stands in front of his father and tells Venom not to hurt him. Venom sees them and envisions them as a young Eddie and his father. Venom tells the father to 'be better' or they'll be back.

 

As they leave, Venom says their mind is full of visions of death and guilt, fathers and sons, despair and hope. They gave the boy and his father a second chance. They hope they get a second chance someday as well.

My thoughts- 

Cool set of stories though I wish the second one was a tad longer since that one caught my interest the most. I'm not 100% familiar with all of the symbiote's abilities, especially since they might have changed over the years. I was under the impression that the symbiote heals of your injuries, but I guess it doesn't take pre-existing injuries into account. 

Derrick was still dying from the gunshot and bleeding out and the symbiote only healed him while they were Venom. But once the symbiote leaves, the kid will go right back to facing his fate. Sadly, Venom didn't have the option of walking into a hospital and stay on the kid long enough to take the bullet out and patch him up before leaving his body. Venom would cause a ruckus in a hospital in current day, I can't imagine how much worse it would have been during his earlier 'I want to eat your brain' days. 

As for the other two stories, though brief, I did enjoy the Predator movie vibes from the first story. It woulda been funny if one of Lasngston's men looked like Arnold. The third one takes place right after the end of Maximum Carnage and we learn a bit of Eddie's past. Venom is the perfect vehicle to show off Eddie's inner thoughts and emotions. 

The stories were alright, though due to trying to cram in three stories into a single issue does limit the page time. To limit it further, there are still huge half-page panels which makes for a faster read. Other than that, my only nitpick was a bit of confusion where the second story skipped to where Derrick-Venom tracked down the shooter, then to where Venom grabs Derrick and then back to when he finds the shooter.

Though brief, I did enjoy the Predator movie vibes from the first story. It woulda been funny if one of Lasngston's men looked like Arnold. 

The art is pretty cool across the stories, and of course the black and white works perfect with Venom. I liked the cameos of some of the characters involved during the Maximum Carnage story. 

 

We'll see what happens next issue as the tales include a fight against Spider-Man during his older days and another adventure when he was tied to Flash Thompson as Agent Venom. Sounds like fun. 

The comic also features a memorandum of the recently passed Peter David with quotes from fellow people in the comic industry Gary Frank and Kurt Busiek. Peter had a 12-year run on the Incredible Hulk, X-Factor and even some DC projects, Young Justice, Aquaman and Supergirl. On top of that, he actually created Spider-Man 2099. Rest in Peace, Peter David.