PREVIOUSLY IN MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN: After Aunt May is taken by a mysterious kidnapper who knows his secret identity, Spider-Man's quest to find her lead him to being played by the Owl and hospitalized after a battle with Electro. Vulture would then steal Peter from his hospital room, only to be thwarted by the Black Cat, who returns Peter to his apartment afterwards. While at the hospital though, someone got a photo of Peter in the hospital unmasked, and it's now in the hands of J. Jonah Jameson.
"Venomous" begins in issue five with Eddie Brock being picked up at the airport, with the guy waiting for him holding up a sign that says "VENOM", which Eddie gives him crap for. Brock tells him to tell his boss (who I assume is later revealed to be the Tinkerer) to set up a bunch of extravagancies at his hotel room, saying he doesn't want his "last few days on Earth to be any more unpleasant than they have to be". At this point in the comics, Eddie had been battling cancer, and the symbiote was the only thing keeping him alive. However, the two had been on the outs, with the symbiote growing tired of a diseased host and Eddie of its bloodlust.
We then cut to Peter's apartment, where he awakes after being incapacitated for two and a half days. Mary Jane and Felicia tell him there's been no word from the kidnapper in that time and no new leads to go off of. To make matters worse, they show Peter a Daily Bugle with his hospital picture as the headline, and here's where the cliffhanger from the previous story makes no sense. It's not a picture of Peter unmasked, rather it shows Peter with a damaged Spider-Man mask on, with his bloody mouth shown and the lens over his right eye shattered. Considering Peter's actual face is barely visible, why did Jameson think he saw a familiar face? There definitely must have been a miscommunication between writer and artist. Anyway, Peter's freaking out that his identity may be out, but Felicia assures him his face is too busted up for anyone to tell who it is (not that the picture in the paper gives anything away to begin with). In addition, the paper is also offering five million dollars to anyone who can bring forth Spider-Man's identity.
After Felicia leaves to track down more leads, Mary Jane informs Peter that Nick Fury finally got back to him, saying he set up a meeting between him and one of the X-Men's psychics. Other messages include Daredevil saying he'll try to help and that Doctor Strange has tried everything he can but is unable to find a trace on Aunt May. You know, it's amazing how useless Doctor Strange is made out to be in stories that aren't his own. I know he's not a god, but he can't track down a little old lady? Mary Jane suggests maybe they should involve the police and have Peter go public, but Peter points out that May's kidnapping is what happens when one psychopath figures out his identity, so just imagine when everyone knows. Man, the more I reread pre-Civil War Spider-Man comics, the more I remember how out of character it was for him to reveal his identity.
The two start to think about everyone who knows Peter is Spider-Man when a phone call interrupts them. Peter answers and its their credit card company telling them they're three months behind in payments due to insufficient funds in their bank accounts. Peter is irate saying they have an automatic payment plan. This forces Mary Jane to come clean, saying that she had been using her own money to help keep production on a movie she's acting in afloat after they lost funding. Adding in them buying May's new apartment and it kind of spiraled, with Mary Jane hiding all this from Peter since she didn't want him to worry any more than he had to in addition to all the villains he deals with constantly. Peter takes all this pretty well considering, though I guess since he's been constantly broke before, it's nothing he can't deal with. Still, he decides to get his camera out to take some Spider-Man pictures to sell to the Bugle to get some extra cash.
Peter suits up and goes on patrol, but all he finds so far is a guy who flags him down to help him change a tire. Spidey begrudgingly holds up the car, but then he sees Doctor Octopus' tentacles go by. Spidey tells the guy he has to go, but the guys tells him that he's almost done. A frustrated Spidey then just flips the car over, leaving the scene and the guy angry. And honestly, I don't blame him. They imply Doc Ock is in another area, meaning Spidey didn't have to flip the car over. What would have helped this scene is if Ock attacked Spidey and that he had to use the car as a shield. Spidey would then get the guy to safety, and while he still would have been mad about his car getting trashed, it would have made Spidey look less like a dick.
So Ock is tearing things up for apparently no reason, which is very unlike him, making Spidey think he's having some kind of mental breakdown. Spidey pounds on Ock until he finally goes down, but his tentacles crash down on a bus. While nobody is hurt, Peter chastises himself that someone could have been if he had strategized better. Spidey checks out Ock and gets some pictures when he notices tranquilizers on his back. The two are then surrounded by a large SWAT team, revealing that they had been transferring Ock somewhere secret. He broke free and got shot with tranquilizers, which lead to his rampage. The cops also make it look like they want to take Spidey in for the property damage, but it's obvious to Spidey they just want to unmask him for the five million from the Bugle. The issue ends with the cops piling up on Spidey.
Issue six picks right back up with Spidey's thought boxes saying that even with his current injuries, he's still able to fight off a group of cops that big. He also questions why Ock was being transported around midnight, but that makes my head tilt. Not about what they were doing with Ock, but that the art makes it clear the sun is still out, so it's at least sunset when all this is going down. Spidey is able to fight his way out of the crowd and flings himself away from the area.
The next day, Peter (whose facial injuries have already seemed to heal) tells MJ about what happened, feeling that the Bugle reward is going to cause a lot of trouble. MJ then tells Peter that Felicia called her to let her know that a supervillain gathering is happening with Eddie Brock auctioning something off. This makes Peter worry and wish MJ had remained out of New York, but Mary Jane tells him that while he wishes their life was less complicated, that she loves him more than she's ever loved anyone and that he's not doing this on his own. That line was a bit of a gut punch for me considering how "One More Day" devalued their relationship. Again, Nick Spencer seems to be rectifying this in his current run, but getting reminded of how strong their relationship was pre-One More Day just makes me hate that story more and more.
Mary Jane then shows Peter her gun, saying she doesn't want to end up like Gwen. Peter wants to comfort her, but realizes she has every reason to defend herself.
Later on, Peter meets with Jameson about both the reward, where we learn an anonymous billionaire put up the money, and about the pictures he sent from the Doc Ock fight. Jameson tells Peter the photos were amateurish, but still gives him five hundred dollars since his and Mary Jane's money troubles are making the news, given her celebrity status as a model and actress.
After that, Spidey infiltrates the prison to talk with Osborn again, asking for any help he can give him. Osborn then tells him a story about how recently, a security guard buddied up to him and wanted help for his wife, who had been dealing with a serious illness for years. Osborn gives him the recipe for a homemade concoction that initially works, but soon enough, she was even worse than before, now in a coma and needing a machine to breathe. The point Osborn is making is if he'll do this to someone he barely knew, what made Peter think he would get help from his worst enemy? While that's definitely some dark stuff and shows how evil Osborn is, it's didn't really accomplish anything and felt like padding.
Spidey then heads to the X-Mansion to meet up with Rachel Summers, the alternate timeline daughter of Cyclops and Jean Grey. I've mentioned comics are weird, right? Anyway, Spidey gives May's engagement ring to Rachel so she can use her psychic powers to try and track down May. She receives flashes of May's violent abduction, saying how the person who took her is someone both her and Peter knew, but that he was different from how he was before. While she doesn't get an exact answer, her thought process leaves her to believe May is dead as she sees a vision of a tombstone. Dang, and no Mephisto to make a deal with in sight. In all seriousness though, even when this story was first coming out, I don't think anybody really believed May was dead. Without spoiling anything yet for the last act of the run, it's nothing more than a red herring; admittedly it's a clever one, but we'll get there.
The final scene of the issue is the underground auction talked about before, being hosted by the Tinkerer with some of the attendees including Sandman, Hydro-Man, Shocker, Mysterio, and Owl. It's revealed that the item Eddie is auctioning off is the Venom symbiote itself. Apparently, Eddie had been inspired by "The Passion of the Christ", wanting to face the consequences of his actions as Venom by letting his illness run its course. To balance out giving away a dangerous symbiote, Eddie also plans to donate all the money to charity. In terms of a character exit, this isn't a bad method in theory. Using the Passion as a catalyst is another instance of this run being dated, but given the impact the film had on people, it works. Eddie wants to leave the darkness behind in hopes of some sort of redemption. This also left the Venom character open to returning to his villainous roots, which is what Marvel seemed to be going for.
As issue seven begins with Spider-Man operating like it's been business as usual (including fighting Lizard, Rhino, Hydro-Man, the Enforcers and Sandman in separate circumstances), and it's apparently been over a month since May has been kidnapped, with no word from the kidnapper and no new leads. The only intel Black Cat has been able to gather is the Venom symbiote was auctioned off to mob boss Don Fortunato, who spent one hundred million so that his wimp of a son Angelo can make something of himself. I guess this time skip was something I missed or forgot about, but jeez, a month?! I think that kind of hurts the ticking clock I thought they were going for. I mean, what's the kidnapper been doing all this time? What's he waiting for? Furthermore, Peter and MJ concocted the story they sent May on a vacation so her friends wouldn't be suspicious. Are they still going with that story? I guess people do go on vacation for that long, but I doubt they'd go that long without contacting someone.
One night on patrol, Spidey uses the bathroom at a diner, but the waitress on duty, named Ramona, says he needs to buy something since the bathroom's for paying customers only. Spidey orders a coffee and the two get to talking. In what seems like astronomical odds, the waitress turns out to be the mother of Vulture's grandson. Ramona then puts Spidey through a major guilt trip talking about what a good grandfather Adrian was and how he said he'd get the money for the boy's leukemia treatment, but hadn't heard from him in nearly a month. Those who remember the last review know that Vulture's attempt to get the money had been thwarted by Spider-Man and he was then taken captive by the Owl for revenge in stealing from him.
Spidey's then saved by the siren as the police go by the diner, and Ramona lets him have the coffee on the house. Spidey follows the police to the scene of a man in a Spider-Man costume had fallen to his death. This is part of the reward subplot, where people tried to pretend to be and convince Jameson they were the real Spider-Man in hopes of getting the five million.
Later on, Mary Jane convinces Peter to attend his high school reunion in hopes of taking his mind off things and have some fun. While Peter laments that high school wasn't his favorite time, he does take some joy in showing off his supermodel wife to the guys who bullied him. Said bullies are of course jealous of Peter and lure him away from the main party with the intent of reliving the old days by humiliating Peter and taking pictures. Let's be honest, I think we all know someone in our lives who never really left high school, so this should be relatable to some degree. Hell, even Peter berates them for how immature they're being.
The party is cut short though when Angelo Fortunato, now using the symbiote as the new Venom and its knowledge of Spider-Man's identity, crashes into the building. This knocks out most of the men present and Venom goes on to murder one of them. The story later confirms only one of them died, but based on the art, that's very surprising. Some guys have large puddles of blood under them, and there's a guy whose eyes are wide open as he lays on the ground, and it isn't the one he apparently killed.
It's also in this scene where we are given a new look for Venom, with the major change being that he has human eye slits in the middle of the white sections of the mask that obviously functioned as eyes before. It gives him an appearance similar to Spawn or the Batman villain Orca.
Issue eight picks up from where seven left off with Venom fighting Peter, who transitions into his Spidey outfit. As the two battle through the school and eventually make it to the reunion room, Mary Jane helps evacuate everyone, knowing the drill when it comes to these things. Eventually, the two take their battle outside. There's a cool shot of Venom throwing a delivery van at Spidey, who then crashes through the windshield to save the driver, leaving out the backdoor before it crashes into a building. As Spidey lays the driver on the ground, the crowd around them includes a surprising cameo by Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons. Unfortunately they don't take advantage of this by having him say something snarky.
Spidey then chases Venom between and atop the buildings, only to lose him when he uses the symbiote's camouflage ability. Venom then sneaks up behind Spider-Man and punches him through the chest Dragon Ball Z style. As it turns out though, this was another impostor trying to get the Bugle reward as we see the victim's friend holding a camera nearby, saying that no one was supposed to get hurt. The real Spidey then pounces on Venom, not holding anything back. Up until this point, Peter sympathized with Angelo, who had been bullied like Peter used to be. He knew Angelo wanted to make his father proud as well as make a name for himself, but Peter still tried to bring him to the side of angels. With two people dead now, Peter's run out of patience. As the beating continues, Angelo and the symbiote begin arguing. Angelo decides to run while the symbiote says they should stay and fight. Disgusted with his performance, the symbiote abandons Angelo in midair, sneaking away to find a better host. As Angelo falls, Spidey tries to catch with a webline, but misses. Unfortunately, that was the last of his webfluid and Angelo dies on impact with the ground.
In the aftermath, Don Fortunato and his men clean up the scene of his son's death, and in a sick way, takes solace that his son finally made him proud of him. Elsewhere, hearing about what happened with Angelo and the symbiote, a guilt-ridden Eddie Brock slits his wrists. I'm guessing this moment didn't sit well with readers as Eddie would return a few years later, and by 2017, he would eventually return to the Venom identity.
Seeing another person die because of the Bugle reward pushes Peter to put an end to it once and for all. He convinces Jameson with pictures that his son John is and always has been Spider-Man, and that any instance of the two seen together was John using a stand-in. While Peter technically won the competition, Jameson only gives him $500,000 since he doesn't plan to publish the pictures and "out" his son. As far as I can tell, I don't believe this "Jameson believes his son is Spider-Man" thing is ever brought up again outside this run before Peter reveals himself in Civil War.
Peter contemplates using the money to pay off his and Mary Jane's debts, but he doesn't feel he earned it, not to mention he's figured out that it was Aunt May's kidnapper that put up the money to begin with. So Peter does the responsible thing and leaves the money for Ramona to use for her son's leukemia treatment. It's another instance of how much of a good guy Peter is. As he says in the comic, he was just too well raised.
The issue and story end with Peter finally receiving a call from May's kidnapper, who confirms that he gave Jameson the money and that he's still been watching him, knowing he gave his share to Ramona. The kidnapper tells Peter there's more going on than just May's kidnapping, and that it ties in with Osborn and what the cops were doing with Doc Ock, offering to meet Peter for lunch the next day and tell him the whole story. The final panel shows the kidnapper sticking to the top of a skyscraper antennae. I guess he got tired of hanging upside down and wanted to stick to higher places. Seriously though, back when this was originally coming out, this seemed like a genuine clue to the kidnapper's identity.
While "Down Among the Dead Men" was a decent first act to this overall story, "Venomous" really seems to drag its feet. The central problem of Aunt May's kidnapping doesn't really go anywhere, as the kidnapper doesn't appear until the very end, Spidey's meeting with Osborn seemed there just to kill time, and the fact she's been gone for over a month somewhat lessens the tension. Even the money given to the Bugle for the competition seemed to serve more as a distraction than being part of the masterplan. And unlike the first act, "Venomous" brings about more questions, specifically what's going on with Doc Ock. The story may be ongoing, but if it's going to be split up into separate stories/trades, they should be contained to some degree like the first volume was.
The story also includes elements that seem to go nowhere. The debt subplot doesn't add anything to the overall story, only for one more problem for Peter to have. If it was for him to have some internal conflict between using the Bugle reward money for himself or giving it to Ramona, it was unnecessary. Even if Peter wasn't having money problems (but let's be honest, that's a perpetual problem for the character), he wouldn't have hesitated giving the money away.
It's worth noting that issues five and eight are drawn by Frank Cho rather than Terry Dodson. It's possible Dodson may have needed more time to get issues done and so the book can meet its monthly schedule. And while Cho's art is similar to Dodson's and he's good in his own right, there does seem to be a disconnect present. I already touched upon the "unmasked" photo of Peter in the hospital and how his facial injuries cleared up between issues five and six, but there's also some difference in character models present; the notable example is Eddie Brock, who Cho drew with a buzzcut while Dodson drew him with slightly longer slicked back hair. Lastly and honestly, Dodson's style is a lot more dynamic to me while Cho's seems a little stiff.
What I do give this story credit for is the Venom storyline. It was an interesting direction to go with both Eddie and the symbiote, and I'm at least glad they backpedaled on Eddie's attempted suicide. It would have been an unceremonious end to one of Spidey's top three villains. And don't worry, we'll see where the symbiote ends up next time.
Admittedly, reading this run one trade at a time may not be the best way to enjoy the overall story. Nonetheless, maybe everything will come together and some of these plot points will make sense next month (and I really do plan for it to come next month) when we wrap up this look back at Mark Millar's Spider-Man run with the third and final act, "The Last Stand."
