Venom #255: An Awkward Reunion

The third installment of the Death Spiral crossover delivers a Spider-Man and Venom team-up of the likes we’ve never seen before. It doesn’t give off the Lethal Weapon mismatched action duo energy fans are used to from these two; this time around the vibes are more so that of a will-they-won’t-they romantic comedy. The fact that both of Peter Parker’s “exes” are now conjoined at the hip as the New York City’s new lethal protector will forever be funny, and Al Ewing knows how to get decent mileage out of that premise alone.

The awkward, uncomfortable way Peter and Mary Jane walk on eggshells around each other’s feelings while trying to maintain professionalism as crimefighters is the saving grace of the issue, making for consistently chuckle-worthy interactions. Throwing the Venom symbiote into the mix as a third wheel only elevates the messiness of the dynamic further. But Spider-Man doesn’t fall into the overly-snarky façade he often puts on in guest appearances. On the contrary, Ewing writes him incredibly sincere, demonstrating the lengths he’ll go to find the good in everyone.

In response to his classic foe The Shocker being murdered, Spidey and Venom roll up to the Bar with No Name and appeal to the humanity of the villains drinking there. Spider-Man acknowledges that even his most thuggish rogues are struggling New Yorkers at the end of the day, all worthy of second chances, and he vows to bring the killer who robbed Shocker of his to justice. His empathy is so effective that Boomerang can’t resist burying the hatchet and giving him the information he needs.

Sad to say that the comic’s charms stop short of these character beats, as the stakes of the duo’s mission feel so vague and unimpactful. Between Spider-Man stealing the spotlight and a sizable B-plot following Eddie Brock and Carnage, it never feels like Venom’s perspective on these serial killings is being explored. Nor does it feel like their perpetrator, the mysterious new villain Torment, is a legitimate or respectable threat. Whether he’s revealed to be another unclaimed child of Venom or another unaccounted-for clone of Peter, this whodunnit mystery surrounding his identity feels like territory that’s been visited a million times before. The decades-long emphasis on these characters being “loners” renders the gruesome killings of their extended families hollow, and in classic crossover fashion, the heroes spend more time fighting each other than this try-hard psychopath. Insisting in every solicit that Torment is a killer unlike any these heroes have faced before doesn’t make it true, nor does it make for a compelling narrative.