All-New Venom #9: Free At Last, Free At Last!

It rings true that freedom is the theme of this month’s All-New Venom #9, a gaining of independence experienced by the comic’s main and supporting cast alike. Not only does Venom spring free from the trap set by Doctor Octopus, but Rick Jones finds freedom from both his incarceration and also his role as the auto-piloted host for the symbiote Sleeper. The duo proves much more capable and formidable as a consenting partnership, allowing them the strength necessary to spring their other symbiote friends and allies for the Octavious’s prison. Yet its not just the most literal, physical freedom being won here, as other characters like Flash Thompson manage to liberate their souls. Spider-Man’s former high school bully decides he’s done playing government stooge to the anti-alien task force, taking a stand to help his persecuted brethren. And perhaps most monumental of all, the revelation many readers anticipated yet dared not dream of, is the freedom Mary Jane Watson grants herself with one simple break-up.

Yes, it’s exactly as it sounds: her relationship with the infamous Paul Rabin has seemingly come to an end. This isn’t a shocking development to anyone as creative team Al Ewing and Carlos Gomez have made made minimal efforts to hide their awareness of fan’s feeling regarding the latter character. Since issue #1, Ewing has been tongue-in-check about the subject, using Dylan Brock as a vessel to echo the fandom’s popular opinions on the character. And Gomez makes his feelings very clear, ensuring that a heavenly glow from an apartment window highlights the room as MJ lets Paul down easy. Both artists have had their fun, but its incredibly admirable how seriously Al Ewing allows the scene to play out, rather than make it or Paul himself into a joke.

The series bid its time, sowing genuine seeds of conflict into their relationship. When MJ admits that she’s been going through the motions. compromising happiness in the hopes of working things out, it’s raw and believable. Even though he’s been the bane of Spider-Man fans’ existence for years now, one can’t help but feel sympathetic towards Paul’s heartbreak and pleading attempts to fix their romance, a testament to the comic’s stellar writing. And while the comic is not short on action and adventure written and drawn with equal care and skill, its cliff-hanger ending will undoubtedly and understandably overshadow it all.