Venom’s Limited Reign Part 1: Villain or Antihero?
Preparing to take a look back at all of Venom’s ‘90s limited series
Let’s take a moment to travel back in time to the magical year of 1988 and the publication of Amazing Spider-Man #299. David Michelinie was still relatively new to the series having taken over as writer with issue #290. Todd McFarlane was even newer to the book having just come aboard as the penciler the previous issue. The comic is a pretty standard Spider-Man adventure as it serves as the second part of a two issue story where he first fights and then teams up with a character named Chance. Nothing terribly out of the ordinary. Until you get to the very last page and see this.
That last page spread introduces the character called Venom, and the following issue would be a double-sized anniversary issue composed entirely of Spider-Man’s first fight with this brand new villain.
I’ve written extensively on Venom at this point, so I won’t bore you with rehashing his origin story. Instead I’d like to take a look at his meteoric explosion in popularity. Following his initial defeat in Amazing Spider-Man #300, Venom would quickly reappear in a three issue story (once again from Michelinie and McFarlane) that would span Amazing Spider-Man #315-317 published in 1989.
Though McFarlane would leave the title after issue #328 (and be replaced with Erik Larsen), Michelinie would remain on the title all the way until Amazing Spider-Man #388. During that time, he would return to the Venom well frequently. He and Larsen featured the villain prominently in two separate stories in Amazing Spider-Man #331-333 in 1990 and #345-347 in 1991. These stories introduced the idea that while Venom hated Spider-Man, he also viewed himself as a hero and protector of the innocent. This character trait would put him on the course to becoming more of an antihero.
Michelinie first tested the antihero waters with Venom in 1992 in Amazing Spider-Man #361-363 with artist Mark Bagley, Jr. This story arc featured the introduction of Carnage, the offspring of the Venom symbiote bonded to deranged serial killer Cletus Kasady. While Venom had been given a code of honor, Carnage had no sense of morality whatsoever. He happily murdered any man, woman, or child he came across simply because it was fun. Spider-Man would appeal to Venom’s own sense of responsibility to put their differences aside and go fight Carnage together.
The team-up was successful, but Venom still maintained his hatred of Spider-Man and remained a villain for the time being. He would go on to appear in the “Spirits of Venom” crossover story later that same year in Web of Spider-Man #95-96 and Ghost Rider & Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance #5-6 written by Howard Mackie with Alex Saviuk and Adam Kubert on art for each book respectively wherein he teams up with the eponymous Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch edition) and Johnny Blaze to fight some demons (and hopefully murder Spider-Man in the process).
Venom’s last gasp as a villain before becoming full fledged antihero took place in 1993’s Amazing Spider-Man #374-375 (once again by Michelinie and Bagley). For those keeping track at home, Venom was just introduced in 1988 and had already become such a fixture in Amazing Spider-Man by 1993 that he was considered by many fans to have replaced Norman Osborn’s Green Goblin (dead since 1973 at this point) as Spider-Man’s archenemy. He was so incredibly popular that he was making guest appearances in other titles as both villain and antihero. When I said Venom had a meteoric rise in popularity, this is what I meant.
The story in Amazing Spider-Man #374-375 revolved around Venom kidnapping Spider-Man’s parents which were actually robot imposters unbeknownst to him (don’t worry about it) to lure him out into a final confrontation. To make matters worse, Silver Sable and her Wild Pack band of mercenaries get caught up in the action while hunting for Venom themselves. After a lengthy and violent battle, Venom’s ex-wife shows up to try and talk some sense into him only to be nearly killed in the process. Spider-Man saves her life, and this is the moment that finally convinces Venom that maybe Spider-Man isn’t that bad after all. The two call a truce, and Venom heads off into the night to begin his new life as a hero.
That new life of heroism would kick off later that same year in Venom’s first ever solo limited series titled Venom: Lethal Protector. What does a limited series starring Venom as the protagonist look like, and what kind of creative team would get to take the first crack at it? We’ll take a deep dive into exactly that next week.