Venom By Rick Remender Vol. 1

Venom by Rick Remender collects the first five issues of the 2011 relaunch of Venom, which presents a new host for the alien symbiote first introduced in Secret Wars and a completely new set of circumstances for it to function in. Art is mostly by The Walking Dead's Tony Moore. Before I get into the book's content, I'd like to throw a little context your way, if I may.Flash Thompson, and I truly mean this, is one of Stan Lee's greatest creations. Spider-Man's success is often attributed to the prominence in those early stories of the problems in his personal life - couldn't get a date: had too many dates and his girls got angry. Couldn't make any money: made money selling pictures to a man who used them to sully his public image. Struggles to find a true friend; true friend's father frequently tries to kill him and winds up throwing his girlfriend off a bridge. For every concern that would run its way across the foreheads of everyday teens, Stan would find a way to intensify and double it to torment the young hero. One of the most satisfying of all of Peter's interactions with his supporting cast, if not THE most satisfying, is the extent of his relationship with Flash Thompson, big man on campus. A bully and a jock, Flash was the antithesis of Peter Parker and made it his day's mission just about every day to make Pete's time at Midtown High unbearable, all the while singing the praises of his hero and idol, Spider-Man.I can't get enough of that. As good as it was having Flash deride and admire different sides of the same person, when the two later found a mutual respect it deepened their unrecognized bond. Flash and Peter, now pals, were connected by their innate goodness, and eventually Thompson enlisted (in no small part because of his wish to honour his hero) and became a war hero, eventually losing both his legs on a tour of Iraq. Unable to fully serve his country, and beset by recurring personal problems, Flash is left a shadow of the person he once was.This is round about where Rick Remender's Venom picks up. Flash is enrolled in a govt. op and joined with the Venom symbiote after it's separated from its previous host, The Scorpion. He's offered the opportunity to wage war on America's enemies once again, with the use of his legs restored thanks to the alien's unique abilities, with the catch that they can't perform more than 18 missions and each can't exceed 48 hours without the risk of permanent bonding. Because the whole deal is top level and hush-hush, he can't tell his friends, family or Betty Brant, his on-again off-again squeeze.Now that's what I call high concept. You could get plenty of material out of that alone, because to put it nerdily, the concept is so COOL. Venom is no longer the polarising brain-munching alien fiend of yore, instead working as a soldier with all the benefits of his shape-shifting living-weapon costume intact. He has a gun that can morph into just about any type of firearm required, all the while backed up by a team of specialists. Like I said, it's cool, a cool concept that you could run with on that face level for just about forever.What Remender does, though, is take it so much further in just about no time at all. By issue #2, Flash is left stranded in the Savage Land for well over those 48 hours, so rather than leaving us to wonder what the effects of that length of bonding are, Remender wrangles the story out of that very conceit. It is within this issue, too, that Flash realises that despite his orders and despite certain factors not being 'his problem', he's bound by responsibility to take care of business. For the kid who looked up to Spider-Man his whole life, becoming something on that level is enough to make him as much a hero without so much as a mis-step.What really sells this book, though, is Venom #4, which again owing to Remender's efficient pace offers us something less confident writers might have procrastinated over - the first showdown with Spider-Man. Now, even without the delicious hook that these men are best friends and don't know that they're battling each other, this issue can rock you from start to finish. Flash is finally on the same level as his one true icon, and because the suit's starting to take over (three days and counting...) he's unable to help the fact that he is literally forced to destroy half of New York because a misguided Spidey's stepped in his path. You have all kinds of layers at work here, with both striving to save Betty Brant but Peter thinking Venom's responsible and the suit obviously hating Spider-Man for rejecting it in the past and driving the fight without Flash either being able to hinder or even understand it. It's one of the most satisfying Marvel issues of the past ten years and justifies the series' creation in 21 pages, even packing in a discussion between Flash, Pete and Betty at the end without any of them really understanding the depth of the situation.Beyond that, there's great action, appearances by Kraven and Jack O'Lantern (who's given a hell of a makeover) and the ongoing drama of Flash's double life taking a toll on his relationship with Betty and the re-emergence of his alcoholic father. Flash having an abusive dad seems a little obvious, but the story's handled well and in the end (in  Spider-Island , unofficially the Volume 2 to this book's Volume 1) it serves to further enrich the character. It also creates a parallel with the original Venom, Eddie Brock, whose father was also kind of a jerk. A new Crime-Master also gets his hooks in Flash, which is sure to drive the book for some time to follow.Tony Moore provides most of the art, and has a great flair for facial expression and action. This is a typical modern Marvel comic, with rich colouring and a lot of detail. There's fill-in art from Tom Fowler on two of the issues which seems to fit the series less well, and covers are by a variety of artists including Joe Quesada and Mike Deodato. There's a variant cover in there and a couple of pencil and ink pages at the back to round things out.This is a great first volume, but it's also limited in that five issues is simply not enough and you'll likely want to read a great deal more of this series as soon as you're done. Firstly, the backdoor debut issue (if you will) actually appeared in Amazing Spider-Man, and can be found in  Spider-Man: Matters of Life and Death . The next three issues of Venom are collected in Spider-Island (as linked above), which is followed by  Circle of Four , The Savage Six  and  Minimum Carnage .

It's not deep or intricate, but it is a fun romp.

Great new take on the Venom character, gets right into the conflict you'd feel with the opportunity of the symbiotic gift

Venom has always been a tricky character for writers to make sense of. He was a big hit with the fans, so there was an editorial push to change him from a true villain into an anti-hero. Unfortunately, this did cause some inconsistencies with how he was portrayed in the books, ranging from full-out psychopath to a twisted reflection of Spider-Man himself. With this new volume, write Rick Remender hit upon a brilliant approach to the Venom character - by keeping the symbiote away from Eddie Brock and setting up a new host in existing Spider-Man supporting character, Flash Thompson.Flash had recently suffered a crippling injury in the Army, losing both of his legs. Frustrated by his disability and full of yearning to return to his days of being a hero, he accepts the job offer by a shadowy government agency to don the symbiote to become: Agent Venom. The government are under the belief that they can 'control' the symbiote's more destructive elements allowing Flash to remain in control and perform top secret government missions for them. Unfortunately, they over-estimate their abilities and it becomes quickly apparent that Flash is continually struggling for dominance over the symbiotic mind controlling his body. This is a wonderful twist and seems far more realistic than the previous attempts of making Venom into a flawed hero, because we have a true hero being poisoned by the corrupt nature of his symbiotic suit. Add to this the fact that he happens to be one of Spider-Man's oldest friends, then we have much more dramatic tension than ever before!This graphic novel collects the first five issues of the ongoing series, which is largely stand-alone tales which tie in with an over-arching theme of Flash getting to grips with his new abilities and the curse that comes with it. He struggles with his double-life with his girlfriend, Betty Brant, who is unaware of his web-swinging day job, and when he gets his very own rogue gallery in Jack O'Lantern and The Crimemaster, it sets up a long-running rivalry between them.I love the artwork on this by Tony Moore, who captures the grimy nature of the symbiote alongside some evocative scenes. His work on the first issue with Jack O'Lantern is a highlight and the level of detail is amazing, especially during the snowy scenes. There is also fantastic artwork during the Kraven the Hunter issue where Venom is poisoned by Kraven's 'jungle juice' and begins to hallucinate.This is a great introduction to a new take on Venom, which does a better job at showcasing a darker Spider-Man than any previous incarnation of the character. The similiarities between Flash Thompson and Peter Parker make it ideal reading for existing Spider-Man fans, and the differences between the two men make for compelling reading with Flash's decisions often causing greater problems for him in the long run.

I first came across this book in a shop and flicked through and was instantly drawn to it due to the amazing art work and the character design of the new venom .So i came online and ordered it and when it came i was over the moon because its my first comic book ever.Has issues 1-5 in and is very good shows alot of emotional depth especially towards flash and his father.Yes thats right Flash thompson is the new Venom and is a military operative who has to fight to keep control of the suit.Is a great place to start collecting comics as this is the first of the series.Cant wait for volume 2 in march.