Who said Spider-Man and Venom get to have all the fun? Spinning off of his brief time as an anti-hero, Carnage is back and deadlier than ever in this new series! Today on Current Issues we talk about what's becoming one of my favorite comics of 2016, "Carnage".
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artist: Mike Perkins
Colorist: Andy Troy
Most Spider-Man fans are aware of Spidey's "dark mirror" Venom, right? Well after his time as a villain Venom became sort of an anti-hero, justifying his savage nature by killing those who deserved to die. Kind of like The Punisher, but scarier. Hmm, can't actually decide who's scarier. Anyway Venom in the 1990's was popular and not as evil as before so writer David Micheline decided to create a new character much like Venom, but worse. In the 1990's comic books focused more on violence, attitude and appearance more than cohesive story. No character personifies that simpler time than Carnage. The man who wore the Venom alien suit or "symbiot" was named Eddie Brock and after his defeat he was locked in prison with a serial killer named Cletus Kassidy. When the Venom suit returned to Eddie it gave birth to a new alien symbiot. This new red suit worked its way into Cletus' bloodstream and Cletus became Carnage, a Venom without a conscious. Ever since then Carnage as gone on major killing sprees in New York and down South, with every appearance he's more and more deadlier. The Sentry-a Superman type of character-ripped him apart in space and this crazy bastard still came back. Recently he tried at being a superhero, but obviously that didn't work. So it's back to square one in his new solo series.
In this story Cletus Kassidy finds out from the local news that one of the victims of his first murder spree-before he had become Carnage-had actually survived. Not wanting to tarnish his kill-count Cletus decides to finish what he started by going after this Manuela Calderon, who is now a veteran. But how did this get on the news right? Seems too coincidental. That's because US military agents Dixon and John Jameson got Manny on the news to lure Carnage to a mining plant in West Virginia. With Manny on sight, the three of them plan on trapping Carnage in the mine and using sonic devices to subdue him. The team has some secret weapons just in case, two to be exact. One is John Jameson himself, he's a former astronaut and the son of J. Jonah Jameson. If those two bouts of survival aren't impressive enough John has a magic gemstone in his chest called the Star Stone. The gem can turn John into a werewolf (or Man-Wolf) at the cost of his humanity. Big risk, bloody reward. The second tool is Eddie Brock, oddly enough. Eddie isn't Venom anymore, he had a brief time as Anti-Venom, but now he carries the Toxin symbiot. Toxin was the offspring of Carnage and is the strongest and most controllable symbiot so far, Eddie Brock though is a bit of a loose cannon. What's funny is that when Carnage confronts Toxin in this story he refers to him as "my father-son". The plan seems simple especially when Carnage falls for the bait and ventures into the mine, however our four heroes and their platoon of soldiers become trapped with them. What's more is that the man who runs the mine is part of a cult worshiping this evil book and Carnage may have a connection to the book.
The book is a straight-up horror thriller. Four people trapped underground with a superpowered serial killer. Pretty messed up. Becomes worse when that magic book gives Carnage the power to multiply himself. Of course Man-Wolf and Toxin get in there too, but the most fascinating factor of the book is Carnage's goals. At first he just wants to kill Manny, but when he sees what the book can do all he wants is more power. The current version of Carnage is a stupid redneck serial killer so he's not super deep in psychology, but to see him lust after "a silly book" is fun. He doesn't care about the prophecy or the history of the book, just the power it gives him. Carnage will escape at the end of this first arc and the magic book will be passed from victim-to-victim until Carnage has to go overseas to find the book again. With Manny and her team giving chase and a new shadowy organization seeking to destroy the book Carnage has some challenges ahead of him.
Like I said the book is swelled in horror, what helps the mood is Mike Perkins' art. It's dark, it's ugly, there's an unsettling feel to how everything looks. My only complaint is that with art so dark it's hard to tell some characters apart. Mainly Manny and Dixon. The color is most appreciated during the dark scenes because Carnage's red suit pops so well off the gloomy mine walls. Also Toxin has a new design in this book that sucks. Just saying. Gerry Conway is a fantastic writer who's been at both of the big two companies and has played around in the Spider-Man toy box before. His comedic and haunting portrayal of Carnage makes him a lot scarier than the "kill, blood, violence" simplification of his early years. Also full credit to Mike Del Mundo who does all the covers. The cover above really says a lot about the opening of the book and every other cover oozes with style, ominousness, and artistic enjoyment. Seriously I want my walls lined with this man's art.
"Carnage" is a really cool, really interesting book. This isn't the first book to follow the enemies of the title character, but it's the first I've read. Comic books have followed serial killers before and I'm sure they've done this movie-style slasher-flick setting too, but with Carnage it seems so obvious. Carnage really is the comic book version of a horror movie villain. Among guys like Ghostface and Freddy and Michael Myers, just in the context of a superhero world. I kind of hope Carnage's adventures take him back to New York to hunt the now rich Peter Parker, that could be fun. If you enjoy a good thriller or just want to see some epic Carnage writing in action I'd highly suggest checking out this title!
Thanks for reading!
Does this story sound interesting to you? Comment below!
Most Spider-Man fans are aware of Spidey's "dark mirror" Venom, right? Well after his time as a villain Venom became sort of an anti-hero, justifying his savage nature by killing those who deserved to die. Kind of like The Punisher, but scarier. Hmm, can't actually decide who's scarier. Anyway Venom in the 1990's was popular and not as evil as before so writer David Micheline decided to create a new character much like Venom, but worse. In the 1990's comic books focused more on violence, attitude and appearance more than cohesive story. No character personifies that simpler time than Carnage. The man who wore the Venom alien suit or "symbiot" was named Eddie Brock and after his defeat he was locked in prison with a serial killer named Cletus Kassidy. When the Venom suit returned to Eddie it gave birth to a new alien symbiot. This new red suit worked its way into Cletus' bloodstream and Cletus became Carnage, a Venom without a conscious. Ever since then Carnage as gone on major killing sprees in New York and down South, with every appearance he's more and more deadlier. The Sentry-a Superman type of character-ripped him apart in space and this crazy bastard still came back. Recently he tried at being a superhero, but obviously that didn't work. So it's back to square one in his new solo series.
In this story Cletus Kassidy finds out from the local news that one of the victims of his first murder spree-before he had become Carnage-had actually survived. Not wanting to tarnish his kill-count Cletus decides to finish what he started by going after this Manuela Calderon, who is now a veteran. But how did this get on the news right? Seems too coincidental. That's because US military agents Dixon and John Jameson got Manny on the news to lure Carnage to a mining plant in West Virginia. With Manny on sight, the three of them plan on trapping Carnage in the mine and using sonic devices to subdue him. The team has some secret weapons just in case, two to be exact. One is John Jameson himself, he's a former astronaut and the son of J. Jonah Jameson. If those two bouts of survival aren't impressive enough John has a magic gemstone in his chest called the Star Stone. The gem can turn John into a werewolf (or Man-Wolf) at the cost of his humanity. Big risk, bloody reward. The second tool is Eddie Brock, oddly enough. Eddie isn't Venom anymore, he had a brief time as Anti-Venom, but now he carries the Toxin symbiot. Toxin was the offspring of Carnage and is the strongest and most controllable symbiot so far, Eddie Brock though is a bit of a loose cannon. What's funny is that when Carnage confronts Toxin in this story he refers to him as "my father-son". The plan seems simple especially when Carnage falls for the bait and ventures into the mine, however our four heroes and their platoon of soldiers become trapped with them. What's more is that the man who runs the mine is part of a cult worshiping this evil book and Carnage may have a connection to the book.
The book is a straight-up horror thriller. Four people trapped underground with a superpowered serial killer. Pretty messed up. Becomes worse when that magic book gives Carnage the power to multiply himself. Of course Man-Wolf and Toxin get in there too, but the most fascinating factor of the book is Carnage's goals. At first he just wants to kill Manny, but when he sees what the book can do all he wants is more power. The current version of Carnage is a stupid redneck serial killer so he's not super deep in psychology, but to see him lust after "a silly book" is fun. He doesn't care about the prophecy or the history of the book, just the power it gives him. Carnage will escape at the end of this first arc and the magic book will be passed from victim-to-victim until Carnage has to go overseas to find the book again. With Manny and her team giving chase and a new shadowy organization seeking to destroy the book Carnage has some challenges ahead of him.
Like I said the book is swelled in horror, what helps the mood is Mike Perkins' art. It's dark, it's ugly, there's an unsettling feel to how everything looks. My only complaint is that with art so dark it's hard to tell some characters apart. Mainly Manny and Dixon. The color is most appreciated during the dark scenes because Carnage's red suit pops so well off the gloomy mine walls. Also Toxin has a new design in this book that sucks. Just saying. Gerry Conway is a fantastic writer who's been at both of the big two companies and has played around in the Spider-Man toy box before. His comedic and haunting portrayal of Carnage makes him a lot scarier than the "kill, blood, violence" simplification of his early years. Also full credit to Mike Del Mundo who does all the covers. The cover above really says a lot about the opening of the book and every other cover oozes with style, ominousness, and artistic enjoyment. Seriously I want my walls lined with this man's art.
"Carnage" is a really cool, really interesting book. This isn't the first book to follow the enemies of the title character, but it's the first I've read. Comic books have followed serial killers before and I'm sure they've done this movie-style slasher-flick setting too, but with Carnage it seems so obvious. Carnage really is the comic book version of a horror movie villain. Among guys like Ghostface and Freddy and Michael Myers, just in the context of a superhero world. I kind of hope Carnage's adventures take him back to New York to hunt the now rich Peter Parker, that could be fun. If you enjoy a good thriller or just want to see some epic Carnage writing in action I'd highly suggest checking out this title!
Thanks for reading!
Does this story sound interesting to you? Comment below!
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