Venom was a surprise hit in the fall of 2018 with a global box office haul of over $856M USD despite less than stellar reviews from critics. I’ve written before about my love of the character, and I figured now was as good a time as any to convey my ten favorite stories featuring the character (with Eddie Brock as the host, no Gargan or Flash) before the sequel hits cinemas this weekend and the new comic book series from Al Ewing, Ram V, and Bryan Hitch hits comic shops this October. I’m arranging these in chronological order by release date for those of you who would like to experience these stories in the same order as those who read them as they were released.
Venom’s Debut (Amazing Spider-Man #299-300; 315-317)
The most obvious starting point is the beginning. Though these issues are separated into two short chunks, they ultimately read as one story. The first chunk is the introduction of the character and his origin as he fights Spider-Man for the first time. The second chunk is his escape from prison and subsequent rematch with Spider-Man. All of these issues are written by David Michelinie with art by Todd McFarlane. Everything you need to know about the character is here: his origin, his powers, his motivations, and his personality are all on display. It’s the template that every writer and artist would follow going forward with the character.
Venom Returns (Amazing Spider-Man #330-333; 344-347)
Much like the previous story, these issues are also broken up into two chunks but essentially tell one continuous story. David Michelinie is the writer once more, and art duties are principally handled by Erik Larsen with Mark Bagley stepping in to draw issues 344 and 345. Venom escapes from prison not once but twice in this story (the Vault prison for supervillains might want to beef up security) as he seeks revenge on Spider-Man. This story introduces two elements that would go on to become staples of the character going forward. First, Michelinie begins to write Venom as less of a pure villain and more of a twisted anti-hero. He is still hellbent on killing Spider-Man, but now he also goes out of his way to rescue civilians (or “innocents” as he calls them). It’s still very surface level at this point, but you can see where the character is heading in future stories. The second element is an artistic one: Larsen begins drawing Venom with a massive wriggling tongue with drool spurting out every which way. While the drool is colored as normal saliva on the interior pages, it is colored bright green on the cover of issues 346 and 347. Future colorists would go on to frequently use green. This is now something you cannot unlearn. Sorry.
Carnage (Amazing Spider-Man #361-363)
This is a big one. Written once again by Michelinie with art by Mark Bagley, these issues tell the story of Venom’s “son” Carnage. Venom’s symbiote has reproduced, and the offspring has bonded to deranged serial killer Cletus Kasady. He’s stronger and more powerful than Venom while also lacking any sort of moral code. This story is the first time Venom and Spider-Man have put aside their differences and teamed up to fight a common foe. This story essentially serves as a test run to see how fans would react to a more heroic Venom. Spoiler alert: they reacted extremely positively. The evolution of Venom from villain to anti-hero really begins here.
Spirits of Venom (Web of Spider-Man #95-96; Ghost Rider and Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance #5-6)
This one is more of a guilty pleasure than the previous stories for me. It doesn’t really cover any new ground or add anything to Venom’s legacy. It’s just a fun story where Venom gets to fight Ghost Rider a bit before teaming up to fight a bigger threat. All four issues are written by Howard Mackie with Alex Saviuk handling the art for the Web of Spider-Man issues and Adam Kubert drawing the Spirits of Vengeance issues. Kubert steals the show here. His Venom looks terrifying with an impossible amount of razor sharp teeth filling his mouth. It’s also the first time a bunch of popular ‘90s heroes and villains would have a huge battle royale that would serve as a bit of a template for a future story on this list.
Let’s Make a Deal (Amazing Spider-Man #374-375)
Once again written by Michelinie with art by Bagley, this two-part story serves to retire Venom as a villain and make him a full-fledged anti-hero. It functions as a launchpad for what would go on to be years of limited series with Venom as the lead character. It opens with Venom kidnapping Spider-Man’s fake parents (long story, don’t worry about it), but it ultimately ends with Spider-Man saving Eddie’s ex-wife and proving to Venom that he’s not so bad after all. Venom agrees to a truce with Spider-Man, and thus begins Venom’s solo career as an anti-hero.
Maximum Carnage (Amazing Spider-Man #378-380; Spectacular Spider-Man #201-203; Spider-Man 35-37; Spider-Man Unlimited #1-2; Web of Spider-Man #101-103)
You knew this was coming. This absolute behemoth of a story (fourteen parts!) was co-written by Tom DeFalco, J.M. DeMatteis, Terry Kavanagh, and David Michelinie with art by Mark Bagley, Sal Buscema, Ron Lim, Tom Lyle, and Alex Saviuk. My first foray into comics was right smack dab in the middle of this event, so it holds a special place in my heart. The story is pretty straightforward: Carnage is on a rampage through New York killing as many people as possible with his adopted “family” of Shriek, Demogoblin, Doppelgänger, and Carrion. Standing in his way is a group of heroes and anti-heroes including Spider-Man, Venom, Black Cat, Morbius, Cloak, Dagger, Nightwatch, Captain America, Iron Fist, Firestar, and Deathlok. The story ultimately serves as a philosophical debate on whether or not the rules and morals of traditional heroes from the past (Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Fist, etc.) are capable of dealing with ultra violent villains of the ‘90s or if the world needs equally violent anti-heroes (Venom, Morbius, Deathlok, etc.) to stop them. This event also crossed over into the pop culture zeitgeist with a popular video game adaptation of the same name for Super Nintendo. While the event stretches on a bit long (again, fourteen parts!), it probably did more than any comic before or since to elevate Venom into pop culture relevance.
The Exile Returns (Web of Spider-Man #118-119; Spider-Man #52-53)
This four issue story features the first solo adventure of the Scarlet Spider, Ben Reilly (I wonder what that guy is up to these days). Who his adversary in this story? That would be none other than Venom. The Web of Spider-Man issues are written by Terry Kavanagh with art by Steven Butler, and the Spider-Man issues are written by Howard Mackie with art by Tom Lyle. It’s a story built on a simple misunderstanding: Reilly thinks Venom is a villain and wants to bring him in unaware of the truce between him and Peter. Caught in the middle is another symbiote by the name of Scream who wants to recruit Venom to help her control her own symbiote. Venom is, how shall we say, uninterested. What we have is a three way fight with Venom trying to kill Scream and Scarlet Spider, Scarlet Spider trying to apprehend Venom, and Scream trying to kill Scarlet Spider and negotiate with Venom. It’s a fun little arc with great action, and I’m especially fond of Tom Lyle’s art in the Spider-Man issues. It paves the way for future stories like Venom: Separation Anxiety (also adapted into a video game) and “Planet of the Symbiotes” that would crossover with the various Spider-Man and Venom titles later.
Rex (Venom #1-6)
Once the ‘90s came to an end, so did the time of Eddie Brock as Venom. The symbiote spent time with Mac Gargan and Flash Thompson as hosts donning the Venom mantle throughout the 2000s and the majority of the 2010s. Eddie Brock would first become the anti-hero Anti-Venom and later Toxin during this time. These were dark times for those of us who grew up loving Eddie Brock as Venom. Eddie and the symbiote were eventually reunited in Venom (2016) #6 written by Mike Costa with art by Gerardo Sandoval before rolling into a new Venom series in 2018 written by Donny Cates with art by Ryan Stegman. The first six issues of this new series completely upend everything we know about Venom and the symbiotes, and it retcons Venom’s origin to be less tied to Spider-Man to allow the character to thrive more on his own. Venom battles symbiote dragons and dark elder gods as he comes to grips with who he really is and the purpose he serves within the larger Marvel Universe. It’s a must-read for any fans of the character.
Absolute Carnage (Absolute Carnage #1-5; Venom #16-20; Web of Venom: Carnage Born #1; Web of Venom: Venom Unleashed #1; Web of Venom: Cult of Carnage #1)
“Absolute Carnage” is a massive event spreading across multiple titles with even more tie-ins than what I’ve listed; however, the prologue and meat of the story can all be found in the issues called out above. Donny Cates is the writer for all of the aforementioned issues aside from Venom Unleashed (written by Ryan Stegman) and Cult of Carnage (written by Frank Tieri). Artists for these issues include Ryan Stegman, Iban Coello, Juan Gedeon, Kyle Hotz, and Danilo S. Beyruth with Stegman drawing all of the main Absolute Carnage title. This event is a spiritual successor to “Maximum Carnage” and a direct continuation of the story Donny Cates had started writing in his Venom series. Cletus Kasady has returned as a new incarnation of Carnage that is hellbent on killing every character who has ever worn a symbiote and consuming their spinal fluid which contains a codex (essentially a tiny piece of genetic code the symbiote has left behind). Once Carnage collects every codex he’ll be able to unleash the dark elder god known as Knull who is the god of the symbiotes and wishes to bathe the universe in darkness. To make matters worse, Venom has just recently found out that he has a son who now also needs protected from these new threats in Venom’s life. Much like “Maximum Carnage,” Venom teams up with other heroes including Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America, Hulk, and others while Carnage enlists the help of Norman Osborn, Shriek (now the host of Demagoblin), Doppelgänger, and dozens if not hundreds of symbiote infected zombified civilians. It’s an incredibly dark and violent comic that gives fans the biggest and baddest fight between Venom and Carnage that has ever been put to page.
King in Black (King in Black #1-5; Venom #31-35/200LGY)
This is it. “King in Black” is the final storyline you need to read to fully understand Venom and what to expect in the new series launching in October. Much like the previous arc, this event is massive in scale with numerous tie-ins that touch virtually every comic published by Marvel during this time. To keep things simple I’m only going to discuss the comics that directly impact Venom himself. All of the above comics are written by Donny Cates with art by Ryan Stegman and Iban Coello. Stegman draws the King in Black title while Coello draws the Venom issues. This story centers around the heroes of the Marvel Universe banding together to stop Knull from taking over Earth and the rest of the galaxy. Venom is the central figure as he tries to become the hero and father he needs to be to protect those he loves.
The final issue of Venom is written by Donny Cates and Philip Kennedy Johnson with art by Ryan Stegman, Kev Walker, Danilo S. Beyruth, Ron Lim, Guiu Vilanova, Gerardo Sandoval, and Mark Bagley (note that this issue is listed as both 35 and “legacy” 200 for those of you looking to acquire it). It’s both a love letter to the character and a recap of the new status quo for the new series that is on its way in October. It’s a fitting end to the most critically acclaimed and beloved Venom series ever written.
I will likely end up covering both the upcoming new series as well as the new film at some point in this space depending on how well this piece is received, so please feel free to leave comments on what you’d like to see me cover going forward. Also, all of the comics covered here are available on Marvel Unlimited, ComiXology, and in collected trade paperbacks. I’ve tried to use the actual story titles for each segment where applicable to make them easier to search for, but some I’ve used my own descriptions where no one title was used by the writer(s).