Venom #32: Necrosis

The rollercoaster that is Venom continues this month as writing duties switch back to the illustrious Al Ewing. Issue #32 seeks to re-establish the continuity between Dylan Brock’s fight for survival on Earth with his father’s exploits at the end of all existence. Picking up from the previous comic’s tense cliffhanger, Dylan’s body hangs suspended from a web of black tendrils in an abandoned corpse-laden church. The Venom symbiote rushes to save its teenage host’s life, pushes its abilities beyond normal limits to repair the gaping hole where his heart once was.

It is during this sequence that Ewing provides the most intriguing and in-depth exploration of Venom as a character. With the symbiote often being a silent protector or comedic relief, it’s incredibly engaging to witness its more vulnerable side as it critiques the nature of its own power and questions its relationship to Dylan. Venom even draws an insightful parallel between the boy and Carnage, both being its offspring in a way.

Speaking of Venom’s murderous byproduct, Carnage engages in combat with the multiple Eddie Brocks inhabiting the Garden of Time, using the bag of godly tricks he’s acquired to take them out one by one. The major shortcoming of Venom #32 is how quickly and easily Carnage displaces Meridius as the major threat, deflating months of build up towards this final battle. In the span of a few pages, Meridius goes from being a seemingly unstoppable figure to watching helplessly from the sidelines as his realm is destroyed with the tap of a spear.

The destruction is undeniably crowd-pleasing though, as artist Ken Lashley embraces the challenge of an all-out brawl between symbiotes as the world crumbles around them. The sort of absurdist, almost psychedelic visuals that comic with the territory of cosmic storytelling are on full display, making Eddie and Carnage’s battle a decently entertaining spectacle.