All-New Venom #8: The Octopus’s Garden

Al Ewing and Carlos Gomez deserve much acclaim for keeping the pacing of All-New Venom so steadfast, ensuring there’s never a dull moment to be found. Issue #8 is no different in this regard: while last month’s cliffhanger battle wraps up rather quickly, its not long at all before Venom and Mary Jane find themselves thrust into another perilous situation. It’s out of the frying pan and into the fire for these two as their plan to get the anti-symbiote task force of their back has indirectly created a deadly hostage situation.

Rick Jones, unknowingly being piloted by the symbiote Sleeper, attempted to take advantage of the chaos to stage a prison break and has wound up a prisoner himself. Doctor Octopus is the mad scientist warden of this jail, and he intends to make Rick his next test subject. Flash Thompson a.k.a. Anti-Venom is in his own heap of trouble, having been seriously wounded and weakened for nothing as the hunters remain hot on Venom’s trail. Suffice to say, the All-New Venom’s secret identity has never been this close to slipping out, and the threat of exposure feels almost unavoidable now.

However high the level of dangers has risen, Ewing and Gomez still find ways to inject genuine fun into the narrative without undermining its seriousness. The use of Venom’s shapeshifting ability has never been more inventive, and his monumental feat of the day being transforming into a living submarine to torpedo Mary Jane beneath the ocean. Their new nemesis Doc Ock looks despicably rejuvenated under Gomez’s pencil, with an ever-growing toothy grin and a wonderfully cartoonish quality to his rotund proportions.

The chemistry between the comic’s dual protagonists continues to evolve, with a growing sense that, despite all the misfortune they’ve run into, Mary Jane and Venom are indeed learning how to work together. Their skills aren’t adapting fast enough to save them from Otto Octavius trickery though, as his surprise attack leaves them stunned and defenseless. As the issue ends, it seems the anonymous hero may finally be unmasked to the public.