Eddie Brock: Carnage #10: Artistic Collaboration

Chaos is the theme of the month as Eddie Brock and Carnage at last come face-to-face with the equally macabre, equally depraved serial killer known as Muse, and he may give them a good run for their money on who can prove the more ruthless. While describing the comic as having a “chaotic” nature can be interpreted positively in many ways, that is sadly not the intention here.

Issue #10 continues the book’s recently-acquired bad habit of directionless storytelling, where elements and characters introduced do not build upon one another so much as clumsily knock each other aside. This is exemplified when Muse swiftly kills Melina, the mysterious woman seeking to help Brock kill his parasite once and for all, within the first three pages. Melina’s arrival was long anticipated, foreshadowed in mysterious visions that implied a more important role in Eddie’s story. With all that hype, it is disappointing to see this new character amount to little more than a vessel for exposition.

She existed to introduce a Chekhov’s gun into the narrative, her syringe of conveniently lethal poison outlasting her to tempt Eddie from his coat pocket, always providing him a way out at the cost of losing his symbiote abilities forever. While her backstory last issue did its best to inject empathy into the reader, Melina is just not known well enough for her death to be shocking, nor is the scene brutal enough to be memorable. In all fairness, her demise happens entirely offscreen, taken at Muse’s word, so the door open for redemption here.

While the plot meanders, it doesn’t mean there’s not room for fun to be had here. Artist Jesus Saiz brings his consistent level of excellence to the interiors while introducing an element of visual of comedy to his renditions of these characters. Muse is a scary but odd fellow, and Eddie and Carnage are in a comically disadvantage position when they meet him, so there is a humorous undertone to interactions. Even funnier is seeing pretentious Carnage humbled for the first time in his life after Muse rejects an offer to become his new host, not enticed by his power. When Carnage eventually regains strength, Muse makes a tactical retreat, escaping to drag this rivalry out even longer. Eddie decides that his partnership with Carnage, while ultimately doomed to be downfall, is worthy means to an ends. But with Eddie Brock: Carnage spinning its wheels like this, it’s hard to agree with him.