Venom Black, White & Blood # 2

 By Mark Rodriguez

Venom has been around for several decades with all sorts of adventures and different hosts. This series goes into different parts of his life as told by different artists and writers. The main gimmick is everything is in black and white, and an extra color. Blood red. 

 

"Convergence" opens several years ago as Eddie Brock runs into his old friend, Mindy. Elsewhere, Peter Parker is surprised to see MJ all dolled up as she has a meet-and-greet with the cast of Secret Hospital. She says that Sybil Shane, the character she plays, has a reputation to live up to. 

Mindy offers to buy Eddie lunch and says she can't believe he left without saying goodbye back then. Later on they have lunch and Mindy asks if Eddie's been working out since it looks he went from Topher Grace to Tom Hardy (ha ha). She tells him she quit the Daily Globe shortly after Eddie was fired. She's also a big fan of Secret Hospital and tells Brock the cast is meeting outside of Mortimer's.

Mindy heads off and gives Eddie a hug. She hopes he's not seeing anyone, which he isn't, and gives him her number. She really wants him to call her and he says he'd be crazy not to.

Meanwhile Parker tells MJ to tell Dr. Redford to keep his hands to himself. MJ says she wouldn't be much of a seductive mistress if she did, since that's part of Sybil's character. MJ realizes her watch stopped and she only has 15 minutes to get to the event. Peter offers to give her a lift as Spider-Man. Eddie catches sight of the web-slinger and asks why he can never leave him alone.

 

Spider-Man, presumably heading back after dropping MJ off, is attacked by Venom who declares he'll end their rivalry today. Spider-Man thought Eddie was in jail and the symbiote was dead. He asked if he missed an issue since he's so confused. Venom accuses Spider-Man of tracking him down and following him. Spider-Man says that's not true at all, as he dodges his attacks.

Venom says Parker ruined his life and everything that happened was due to him catching the Sin-Eater. Parker tells him to hold on a second and Venom says he won't let him talk his way out of this one. Venom says Spider-Man ruins innocent lives while he cherishes them. Spider-Man has had enough and calls him out.

 

Spider-Man says he caught the Sin-Eater, a murderer that was taking innocent lives. Eddie was fired because he reported on a liar claiming to the Sin-Eater. Spider-Man says if he expected Venom to let a murderer run free. He says if the police has detained the guy Eddie was covering, the real Sin-Eater would have continued to kill and Eddie would have been fired anyway. He asks who would he angry at then, the police, the Sin-Eater, or that compulsive liar. He says Eddie ruined his own life by not doing research to uncover the fact that the guy he was covering had a habit of confessing to crimes he didn't commit.

Venom is blocking out most of the conversation and only cares about killing Spider-Man. He tosses a big chunk at building at the wall-crawler, which breaks apart another building dropping huge pieces of debris on the crowd below, which includes Mary Jane. Spider-Man tries to stop it but his web shooters are empty.

Spider-Man's only chance is to bounce off several buildings and in one mighty leap, shove as many people out of the way of the debris as he can. Almost everyone is saved... except for one person.

Later on, Peter Parker and MJ part ways for a bit since she is danger if Eddie Brock is now lurking around. He can't watch his back while also protecting her. Meanwhile the Medical Examiner tells Eddie that the casualty was Mindy Newman. Eddie blames Spider-Man and determines that he must die. Peter also determines that he will have to settle things with Venom, once and for all. This would continue in Amazing Spider-Man # 346.

"Venom Vice" opens explaining that some time ago, Eddie Brock was framed for a murder he didn't commit and had to use his abilities to help a secret government agency. Even though his days as Secret Agent Venom are long over, his past is catching up to him. He's currently driving a speedboat as people behind him are shooting at him, killing the guy in the passenger seat.

 

Some time earlier, Eddie is briefed on a mission to protect witnesses and find out who is the leader of Los Malos, someone so secret even his own men don't know who's running the show. Eddie says he's done with the secret agent stuff, but he isn't given much choice. He's given a listening device that can explode with the push of a button if he messes up the mission. He's also told to do his best to keep Venom out of sight. 

One of the witnesses is said to be Ulysses X Lugman, AKA the Slug. The Malos are currently shooting at the Slug and his heavily armed henchwomen. Eddie's partner Gary was caught in the crossfire. The Slug's crew tell him they have to go, but he says he won't run like some coward. Venom suddenly stomps on his back and says he will. 

Venom tries to get the Slug to safety, but he thinks the symbiote is with The Malos. A member of The Malos is looking for Eddie since he is undercover as one of them and is surprised to see Venom. Venom quickly punches him so hard his neck snaps, and he also tosses Slug overboard. He tells the government guys to pick up Slug. 

The rest of the Malos show up and Eddie says he took care of Ulysses though they got Ramon (the guy he just killed). He also says Gary was in the boat when he last saw him and the girls probably took him along with the boat. Eddie asks when he gets to meet their boss, and the others tell him they have to get to the 'Crabapple place' before they knows The Malos are coming for them. 

Later on at Crabbie's Fish and Strip, Eddie is introduced to Agent Smith. They tell him that Hortense Crapapple is one of the biggest traffickers in Miami and has dirt on The Malos that they want. They got a vehicle coming in behind the club so Eddie has to take her there before she gets killed. Eddie says he's the new guy so she won't recognize him. He says he can tell her he has a hot new asset to sell which will lead her outside. The men agree it's a good idea but warn him about her swords.

Later on, Eddie meets with a woman and asks where he can find Hortense. Hortense asks what he wants with her. Eddie tells her they should go outside as The Malos will be busting in at any moment looking for her. She plays along until he pulls out her sword and swings it at his back. The symbiote catches the sword and them slams her through the wall, taking them both outside. They crash into the windshield of the car of the government agents. One of the agents wants to push the button to detonate Eddie's earpiece. Eddie says not to do it as The Malos still don't suspect him.

Just then one of The Malos sees Venom unmasked and draws his gun. Venom grabs the guy and slams his head repeatedly into a dumpster until he dies. Venom leaves the guy, Jimmy, in the dumpster as he walks off with Hortense.

Later on it seems all the people Eddie was sent to protect have all been killed either by the Malos or himself. The agents are ready to push the button. Eddie tells them to wait as The Malos trust him now and Carl finally took them to meet the boss. Just then Carl catches them and the symbiote instinctively lashes out a blade and kills him.

 

Eddie tells Venom to be on the lookout for guards, and the symbiote says they're most likely all dead now. As they look around an empty room, Venom's head slinks off of Eddie to look around independently. Eddie finds all the files on the targets and says the boss should be here. Venom found something. They find a wall with several photos of the same guy hanging out with the crime bosses in each one. There is also a trophy that reads 'World's Best Boss, Gary Maloskowitz'. It turns out that the guy running around with Eddie that was gunned down in the shoot out with the Slug was the boss all along, and The Malos never even knew. Eddie radios Agent Smith and tells him he has good news.. and other news... but he wants him to keep Miss Jones away from the button first.

"Hard Choices, Heavy Burdens" opens with Flash Thompson feeling nervous about giving a speech at the grand opening at a new Veterans Hall. Before he can start, an explosion rocks the hall. Flash is down and finds that Commander Willis is still alive, but jut barely if he stays buried under the debris. Flash turns into Agent Venom and says he'll get Willis out of here. Agent Venom tells everyone to run and help those that can't. He gets the debris off of the Commander when suddenly Jack-O-Lantern and all his minions show up.

 

Flash thought the villain is dead, but here he is. Jack-O-Lantern causes a big explosion but Agent Venom grabs him and pulls him over. Flash says this is enough, and Jack asks if it really is as he knocks him back with his burning broom. Jack taunts him about not wrecking this brand new Veterans Hall. One of the demons goes after Willis, but Agent Venom webs him up and swings him right back into Jack. Agent Venom pulls out a gun and opens fire, and Jack taunts him about watching out for the friendly fire.

Agent Venom agrees and webs up Jack-O-Lantern and swings him outside where he crashes into a car. The villains taunts Venom as he says he hopes the car owner's insurance isn't M.I.A. Agent Venom notes that Jack's sickle is sonically charged, which is one of the symbiote's weakness, but they must do what they can to keep Commander Willis safe.

Jack-O-Lantern hacks Agent Venom's arm off as he is still angry over being dropped into a chemical vat during their last encounter. Agent Venom webs up the sickle and tosses it away from the villain. The police arrive and Jack-O-Lantern takes his leave, saying he was just dropping by for a visit but they will finish their dance later.

As the police arrive, Agent Venom runs back to Commander Willis and tells him to hang on. Flash thinks back to a medal of honor he won, but also of the all people he was too late too save. He remembers what Captain America once told hm when he wanted to join the Avengers. Cap tells hm that their costumes are also burdens and all their powers and abilities won't guarantee that they'll always succeed. There will be times where they have to make difficult choices and fight-or-flight decisions that they'll have to live with for the rest of their lives.

 

Flash monologues that he let a bad guy get away so that a good guy wouldn't die, and he can live with that choice. As the police arrive, Flash is holding Commander Willis and tells him he made it just in time.

My Thoughts- 

Very cool stories. The first one is a blast from the past showing Venom and Eddie's early portrayal where they blamed everything bad that happens to them on Spider-Man and had the one-track mind of wanting to kill him. In the comics there was a mass-murderer running around called the Sin-Eater, and when a random liar named Emil Gregg said he did it, Eddie took him at his word. After Spider-Man captured the real Sin-Eater, Brock was fired for giving out false information. As most of us know, the symbiote hates Parker after he got rid of him. The combination of two entities hating both Peter Parker and Spider-Man formed Venom. 

The cartoons and movies left out the Sin-Eater part and made things quicker to explain by having Brock try to frame Spider-Man for crimes but getting fired when it was revealed the photos were fake. Speaking of movies, I loved the line where Mindy said that Eddie went from looking like Topher Grace to being Tom Hardy. Yes. Grace played Eddie and Venom in the Toby McGuire Spider-Man 3 and Hardy played Eddie and Venom in Venom's own movie trilogy. The joke also works because Hardy is a much larger individual when compared to a blonde Eric Forman.

It is a tragedy that Mindy was a casualty but Eddie is too blind to see that his own fight with Spider-Man caused it. During the fight, Spidey kept reminding Venom that there were innocent people in the area as more and more debris was flying around. I mean Spider-Man is just swinging around, living his life and Eddie is like 'why can't he leave me alone?'. Dude, he's literally doing nothing to you. leave him be. It just shows how far as a character both Eddie and Venom have grown from their first couple appearances.

Despite working under duress, Eddie and Venom are a bit more comical and actually try to save lives in the next story. It was funny how the big boss was literally killed in the first panel we saw and The Malos kept operating as if he were alive since no one has ever seen who they work for. It was a fun story that I wouldn't have minded being a full issue, at least so we can see more of Hortense. 

I wasn't expecting to see The Slug in this one. I used to collect Marvel cards back in the early 90's and first saw The Slug in one of the cards from Topps. I have never seen him in an actual comic though, but I guess now I finally did. Apparently he also made an appearance in the Ironheart show.

 

The final line was a bit odd as Venom wanted to make sure 'Miss Jones' was away from the button before telling the crew that Gary was the boss. Assuming Miss Jones was the female agent we saw in some panels, she was probably the only one from the agency that did not threaten to push the explosive button, so that was weird.

The final story was a real change of pace as it follows Flash Thompson as Agent Venom. While he started out picking on Peter Parker, Flash always admired Spider-Man's heroics. He served in the military but sadly lost his legs in action. 

One thing of note with Agent Venom is the symbiote grows new legs when Flash becomes Venom, but that only lasts as long as he's like that. Seeing that Jack-O-Lantern hacked off one of Venom's arms and it just grew back, it looks like the symbiote can only permanently regrow any lost limbs during the time they're Venom, but not anything that was lost from before they met the symbiote. This is why that kid that was dying the last issue only got his life extended while being Venom but returned to his fate once the symbiote left him.

 

The third story was a real change of pace as I was wondering if the comics would deal with Agent Venom. It dealt with the tough choices heroes have to make. I'm not sure if Agent Venom actually joined the Avengers, but I know he was a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy for a while there.

We'll see what happens in the next issue as we get more stories on Venom during different parts of his life.