Venom #257: An Incompatible Coupling

Jumping straight from Venom #256 to #257 makes for a whiplash-inducing anti-climax, as the partnership between Torment and Carnage, which seemed poised to give the heroes hell at the end of last issue, quickly falls apart before the readers’ eyes. While these villains joining forces seemed daunting in the moment, they’re never quite scary as they sneak their way into the local F.E.A.S.T. soup kitchen to assassinate Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson’s elderly aunts. In fact, the comic throws away all intention of making them intimidating in favor of leaning into the humor of their odd-couple dynamic.

Writer Charles Soule showcases through awkward banter and indecisiveness how truly chaotic of a pairing they are. The saying goes that two wrongs don’t make a right, and that’s proven true here as Carnage and his new host can’t get the simplest of assassinations done. Flash Thompson a.k.a. Anti-Venom breaks up the fun, buying the aunts enough time for Venom and Spider-Man to provide reinforcements, with this failure causing the antagonist duo to split…literally.

It all feels like intentional subversion of expectations from Soule, winking and nodding as he plays with the familiar trope of the villain getting a third-act symbiote upgrade. And while its played for laughs, its simultaneously the most three-dimensional Torment has felt since his introduction. Carnage has always held up bloodlust as a unifying instinct; meaningless murder as an act to set the monster inside anyone free. But Torment stands in opposition of his philosophy, showing that even within the act of killing there is a yin yang of chaos and order. Torment needs precision, pattern and purpose behind his acts of violence; senselessness is not freedom to him, but pain, proving why he and Carnage could never work. At last, this new villain demonstrates a glimmer of potential, a sense that he could fill some untapped niche in this overcrowded universe of characters.

By the issue’s end, Spider-Man has been left mortally wounded by Torment, with no choice but to bond with Carnage in order to save Aunty May and company. The tone spells doom, but with Peter Parker having succumbed to several evil alter egos throughout his history, one is left scratching their head wondering what could be different about this time.