Tuesday, September 1, 2009

The Return Of Eddie Brock In "Spider-Man: New Ways To Die"

For those of you that don't keep up to date with the comics world, stories featuring the Eddie Brock version of Venom have been pretty naff since the two original story lines that were illustrated by Todd McFarlane and written by David Michelinie. There was the whole "Maximum Carnage" thing, and whilst impressive, it focused more on Carnage rather than Eddie Brock.
In the 2000s, Eddie Brock has willingly shredded his symbiote, after finding out he had cancer. The suit ends up with a new host- none other than Mac Gargan, formally known as "The Scorpion"- and things have pretty much been that way since. Hoping to redeem himself, Eddie Brock started working at a F.E.A.S.T. Center in NYC- a local charity that has refuge centers for the homeless. However, the leader is also the evil Mr. Negative, and when he destroyed the cancer cells in Brock's body simply by touching him, Eddie feels like he has a new lease on life. But not for long.
As Norman Osborn, who is viewed as a hero after the "Secret Invasion" storyline, and his team of Thunderbolts (Radiation Man, Bullseye, Song Bird, and Venom) clean the streets of non-registered superheroes (see "Civil War"), he becomes obbsessed with Spider-Man once again. He doesn't know who he is (see "One More Day" and "Brand New Day"), and all he knows is that Parker takes photos of him. He sends the Thunderbolts out to look for Spidey- Venom goes AWOL, thinking he has found Spidey (he senses a host) but instead has found Eddie. Something happens, and suddenly Eddie Brock turns into Anti-Venom, a Negative Symbiote that repels the original. Using his powers, he's destined to become a hero!
"New Ways To Die" is the only Venom storyarc I've read since the "Venom Returns" storyarc that I feel has portrayed Eddie Brock- and Venom- in a really good light. 90's era Venom was always portrayed as this tortured, sobbing man, and he was so mushy you couldn't stand him. However, with "New Ways To Die", he's portrayed as the ultimate evil he once was.
I'd reccommend anybody and everybody this storyline. It's pretty cool!

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