Comics Cornerstone: Carnage Comes For The Avengers

image courtesy of Marvel Comics

 

Hello again, everybody!  Happy Sunday to you all!  As promised, I’m back today with another review to make up for my absence the last 2 weeks.  Today we will be taking a look at issue #3 of 5 of “Absolute Carnage”.  Yes, I know, this issue has been out for a number of weeks.  But, as I said yesterday, you’ll have to give me a pass because school/life has been super busy lately.  Although I hope this review makes up for it.  Anyway, let’s get down to business.

 

So, “Absolute Carnage” has been a super solid event so far and this issue continues that trend.  Donny Cates continues to balance both wide scope with small, more personal moments in the best possible way.  That’s not something we often see in large event books that are intended to change the landscape of an entire universe or character.  Most of the time those books favor epic scale over smaller moments.  So, this is a nice change of pace.  It’s like having your cake and eating it too! But I digress.

 

Getting to the actual meat of the issue.  Issue #3 is the standard “downtime” issue where not much happens.  Every event has one.  Some have two.  That’s not a slight against the book because it’s still brilliantly written.  Although I will admit that this is the most predictable chapter thus far.  Why?  Well, that would be a spoiler.  All I will say is that, though it’s predictable, it’s super cool!

 

Again, there isn’t much action here.  We get a brief back and forth between Venom and Norman during which the Venom symbiote encourages Eddie to just kill Norman and end it right there.  Thankfully, Eddie has been spending a lot of time with Spider-Man lately and is able to withhold from killing him.  Naturally, the symbiote isn’t happy.  After the battle, Venom retreats to an undisclosed hideout where he is greeted by Spider-Man and some members of the Avengers.  Obviously this is a little awkward for Eddie because his actions as Venom have sort of made him a wanted supervillain.  Fortunately, Spidey has explained the situation to the team and they have all agreed to work together.

 

At this point, the story takes a brief respite.  We get a nice exchange between Eddie and Spidey where Spidey explains that he feels responsible for this whole thing since he was the one that first brought the Venom symbiote to earth all those years ago.  During the conversation, Venom gets in Eddie’s ear and basically encourages him to tell Spidey the truth about the symbiotes.  The next part is a little funny because Eddie does the opposite and agrees it’s Spider-Man’s fault.  It made me giggle a little.

 

Some time passes while the Avengers are asleep and having the remaining bits of symbiote extracted from their DNA.  Spider-Man notices Eddie standing over his sleeping son, who is also having the removal procedure done.  After a brief conversation, things rapidly go south.  It turns out that it actually wasn’t Eddie standing there at all!  It was Carnage disguised as Eddie!  We find this out when the real Eddie runs up during the conversation and urges Spidey to back away.  Carnage reveals himself and a brief battle ensues in the hideout.  As you can probably guess, things don’t go well for our heroes. During the fight, the Venom symbiote decides that  Eddie isn’t strong enough to do what’s necessary, so he leaves Eddie to find a stronger host.  I won’t tell you that is in case you haven’t read it.  But, here’s a hint: the host is in the hideout already.

 

Here’s what I’m thinking: don’t get me wrong, because I’m loving this book!  My only question is why Spider-Man wasn’t able to sense that Carnage was among them.  Sure, it makes sense that he wouldn’t register Venom as a threat because Spidey was once bonded to the Venom symbiote.  However, Venom and Carnage are two separate symbiotes and Spidey and Carnage have never been on the same side.  Therefore, it doesn’t quite make sense to me that Spidey’s “Spider-sense” wouldn’t go off in the presence of Carnage.  I know, I’m a nerd.  These are the things that go through my head on a daily basis.  Overall though, a great issue!

 

I think that’s a wrap for this one.  Hopefully, you enjoyed what I had to say.  Again, “Absolute Carnage” is one of the most thrilling books I’ve read in a long time!  I hope this review encouraged you to check it out and judge for yourself.  Now, I should be back fairly soon with some more great reviews from Spider-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, the conclusion to Hickman’s X-Men launch, and more!  Until then, stay comical!