Venom, Vol. 2: Circle of Four

Venom (2011) (Collected Editions)

by Rick Remender (Writer), Jeff Parker, Rob Williams

Hell is spreading across the Earth from out of Las Vegas. Ghost Rider is responsible but what price is she willing to pay to save mankind?! X-23, Venom & Hulk must defeat their worst enemies, buying Ghost Rider time to stop hell's march across the globe! As a clone, X-23 has often wondered if she has a soul. This is where she gets her answer! Who is Ichor and why has he targeted Venom for Death?!

Collecting: Venom 10-13, 13.1-13.4, 14

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Spider Man, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

286 pages, Hardcover

First published June 6, 2012

About the author

Rick Remender is an American comic book writer and artist who resides in Los Angeles, California. He is the writer/co-creator of many independent comic books like Black Science, Deadly Class, LOW, Fear Agent and Seven to Eternity. Previously, he wrote The Punisher, Uncanny X-Force, Captain America and Uncanny Avengers for Marvel Comics.

Reviews

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a fun read, almost took me an hour to finish it but so worth it!

We get to see how Flash and Jack have teamed up and then them going and doing some missions for Crime-master and getting the toxin symbiote which will become imp later on, and going against Cap and then teaming up with Red hulk, Laura, GR and how they go against Blackheart and whatever his plans are and I love the focus on other characters and their own struggles, introducing some other villains and then testing them and what happens to be an epic moment vs the villain and how that ends and then the Avengers coming in and what the new status quo for Flash is!

One of the most fun reads you will have and I love the art, its big and bombastic and how character driven it is and makes for a fun read for real and also the payoff here is good. I am excited to read the next volumes of this run.

[Nicolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This hardcover collection contains two story arcs that seamlessly segue into each other since the first one is a Venom three-parter that lead in to the Circle of Four crossover event.

This collection is a great example of Rick Remender making beautiful music with the toys Marvel editorial gave him. He did a phenomenal job in recreating the symbiotic Venom into Agent Venom the super-soldier by bonding Spider-Man's former symbiote with a Lee/Ditko creation in Flash Thompson. This merger added a classic lineage to a 90's comic staple.

Remender also re-imagined Spider-Man villain, Jack-O-Lantern as more than the cheap Hobgoblin knock-off he once was by giving him a killer origin, in more ways than one. I liked how the writer turned the Circle of Four crossover into a great lead-in for his farewell arc on the title. Crossover events could easily put a series writer off track but Remender managed to make it work for his story. It also helped the the cancellations of the titles Venom was originally going to cross into got cancelled, thus making those issues point 1, point 2, and point 3 in the Venom series numbering.

I have no complaints on the art side. Remender and the other writers got themselves some pretty capable artists. In fact, Remeder got both Walkind Dead co-creator Tony Moore and Eisner awardee Lan Medina on his issues. I would not have minded though if the cover artist, Stefano Caselli go to do some interior pages.

Overall, this is a great collection to add to my library.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

This sucker starts off with a bang-up irrevocable conflict: Flash gets blackmailed into doing a job for Jack-O-Lantern's daddy-o, some weird crime boss who might go by the name of CrimeMaster. (God I don't know, this shit sometimes goes over my head. I'm a simple guy just trying to have fun reading comics - is that so wrong?)

Watching Flash writhe under the restraints of his predicament is awesome - wanting to murder every bad guy connected to this job, wanting to smash in the face of Jack-O-Lantern (wait - if you try to smash in the face of a guy who has no discernible face left, and your fist passes straight through thin air to the back of his skull, is it still murder or does it qualify as a mercy killing?), and even wanting to deck Captain America (c'mon, raise your hand if you've ever wanted to punch that sanctimonious asshole's lights out).

Remender's Jack-O-Lantern reminds me of Aaron's Bullseye from his Punisher Max run, or pretty much any a Ennis villain - sociopathic, in-your-face confrontational, ridiculously outspoken about their opponent's behaviours - wait, isn't that Deadpool under the uglier-than-Deadpool mask? Maybe - just letting off a little steam.

However, this sucker is actually structured as a form of punishment for Remender fans: a series of "point something" issues written by a bunch of non-Remender people, all trying to get their take on one of these ridiculously unrelated characters on a few pages and make a name for themselves (and maybe even come up with a plausible premise for why the hell these characters belong on the same pages except in a Beyonder S&M scenario). (Can you imagine the Beyonder in - instead of his 80's white jumpsuit - a leather-and-latex hoop skirt/bustier/horse-bodied outfit? And then just walking around nonchalantly and ignoring his outfit completely? Cause I can.)

Our four anti-heroes go to battle with their antitheses, a gimmick as bad here as it was in Justice League's Forever Evil. Instead of Evil Supes snorting crushed kryptonite, we get a hulking brain matter...hulk with a speech impediment, among the half-baked pitch meeting ideas that fall flat as soon as they open their mouths. Stupid "facing your fears". Stupid "temptation is greater when you have something to lose". Stupid dumb demon antagonist.

The whole series of "point" issues suck - even Remender's, the momentum was so bad. It wasn't until the last issue - when his Fear Agent artist Tony Moore came on - that this became ridiculous and outrageous enough to be fun again. Moore+Remender is a salve against mediocre creativity.

Did Flash learn a valuable lesson here? Does he have more suffering in his futures, courtesy of his own failings? Tune in next time kids! Despite some serious misgivings (what was the name of that farm animal they have photos of you with, Rick, to get talked into this pointless fiasco?), I'll keep following the tale of Flash's torture. It seems Remender has a lot more flaying yet to do.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one didn't seem to live up to its potential. I thought it was a great concept, but the execution fell flat.

Blackheart, the son of the devil, is attempting to literally bring Hell to Earth. Standing in his way is the "Circle of Four", consisting of Venom, Red Hulk, Ghost Rider, and X-23. Sounds like a great idea, but then things start to fall apart.

I think the biggest flaw was just the story length; it was too long. It dragged in the middle and seemed to be treading water. If it had been an issue or two shorter I think it would have been much stronger. First the heroes have to fight twisted reflections of themselves, then they are tricked into thinking things are over and they won, and then Hell invades Earth..so forth and so on, just a little too much going on.

Overall the story did have its moments, and it wasn't all bad. The art itself was good, we got to see some cameos by Dr. Strange and Damion Hellstrom. Overall though, just fell a little flat. I think the idea of those four heroes teaming up may have raised my expectations too high, so it may have just been me.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was a lot of fun, even though I don't usually go for/enjoy stories like this (involving Hell and whatnot). It was much better than Venom by Rick Remender - Volume 1. I like how Remender blends humor with high-stakes action. 4 unlikely allies team-up to stop Blackheart from spreading Hell on Earth: Red Hulk, Venom, X-23, & Ghost Rider. That's one team-up I did not see coming.

* * *
From my review of volume 1:
Interesting concept: using the symbiote as a secret weapon and using a soldier to wear it and carry out special missions. That's a new take on the played-out Venom character, and it could work. But the soldier being Flash Thompson? Really? I had a hard time getting behind that. I'm sure there are at least a good dozen existing characters that could've made this work better.
* * *

We get a good example of this in this book when Red Hulk not only "wears" the symbiote, but also [temporarily] absorbs Ghost Rider's Spirit of Vengeance. The result is one bad MoFo, and we'll probably never see that again in comics. Too bad.

Anyway, the heroes initially FAIL and it's only by making a pact with Mephisto that they can come back, get a second chance, and finally save the day. This pact with the Devil goes something like this: the heroes get to come back, but when Mephisto needs them for something, they must answer the call, no matter what he needs them to do. It goes without saying that this could lead to very interesting developments for our 4 protagonists, if this story thread is followed up on by another creative team.

And, um, since when is Ghost Rider a woman?

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man, I really wanted to love this one. I know Venom received a lot of critical acclaim when it first debuted, with a lot of people praising it for its "highly original take on Venom," but I never really felt like this original take was anything more than just a new idea done fairly poorly. Gradually, though, Remender has allowed his unique style to seep onto the Venom pages, and the beginning of this book finally saw him break all the way through.

The first quarter or so is great! At the end of volume 1 of Venom, Flash Thompson/Venom has seen himself allied with the Crime Master, a shadowy, evil figure who seems to love committing crimes just because he is, well, the master of them. It's a little ridiculous, but in a fun way. Anyway, at the beginning of Circle of Four, Flash is stuck on a road trip with Jack-O-Lantern, one of the most horrific and downright evil villains around. He's basically a sadistic serial killer who loves flaunting Flash's situation right in his face, and the tension between the two is palpable, gritty stuff.

But then that all goes away. After this short storyline, we're treated to an extremely random team-up between Venom, Red Hulk, X-23 and the Ghost Rider as they fight off the expansion of hell on earth. There's some decently fun moments in this, but overall it just feels like a big stretch in this otherwise fairly grounded, human series about Flash's struggle to keep the Venom symbiote in check.

Additionally, it seems that the various writers who pick up some of the middle issues (Jeff Parker & Rob Williams), have no idea what the difference between Venom and Spider-Man is. After going from a brooding, professional soldier in Remender's hands, he suddenly turns into a quippy idiot in theirs. He makes a bunch of jokes about how many guns he has (one of the most tired jokes in comics at this point) and some other nonsense, destroying the character a little bit every time, before finally getting returned to Remender's more serious guy at the end of the book. It's very inconsistent and jarring. You'd think these writers would've maybe read up on the character before just doing whatever the hell they wanted with him, but I guess not.

In any case, the Hell storyline wraps up a little too neatly for my taste, and becomes pretty rote by the end. I wasn't anywhere near as big a fan of it as I was Remender's smaller-scale stuff, which I'm hoping continues in the final volume. So far, though, I'd say there's no real reason to read this Venom unless you really, really just want to see a "different take" on Venom. Just being different isn't enough for me, though.

[Trike · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mini crossover event as Venom teams up with Red Hulk, X-23, Ghost Rider and ex-Ghost Rider Johnny Blaze, featuring Dr. Strange and Daimon Hellstrom, as they battle the forces of evil when hell comes to Earth. Specifically in Las Vegas.

I thought this was fairly interesting primarily due to the dynamics of this group. Laura only wants to work alone, Ross is there to bring in the AWOL Thompson, while Alejandra and Johnny have their own agendas. Johnny is the pure hero type, while Alejandra is working both ends against each other. That makes for constantly shifting alliances and twists, with a couple double-crosses just for fun.

I do think some of the turns could’ve been better executed, particularly the final one that seals the victory. (You didn’t think they’d lose, didya?) When Flash gives Red Hulk the symbiont and he also takes on the Spirit of Vengeance to become a hulked-out Ghost Venom riding a monster trike (heh), that is a Crowning Moment of Awesome if I’ve ever seen one, but it falls kind of flat. It needed a bit more set-up to sell the reveal, I think. Overall a decent story hamstrung by less-than-perfect execution.

[Paul · Rating 1 out of 5]

This started off fine, but the second half was just not good. It probably didn’t help that there were like 4 other writers in this. The plot seemed like it was going somewhere at first and then we got to Las Vegas and it all went down hill from there.

The only part of this that was good was X-23 everything else was just meh. I also don’t particularly like Marvel comics when they get involved with Hell. To me it is best to avoid it.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably a few issues too long, but wacky fun nonetheless.

[Saravanan Mani · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun adventure that has a great deal of fun with its characters. Only negative is that venom was going at a break neck speed and its main story was put on hold for this. But very enjoyable nevertheless.

[Arlomisty · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was OK.... not my favorite characters... I was more interested in the new Venom character....

[boofykins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite liked the first arc titled "Road Trip" (issues #10-12) and I wish this book had more of this version of Jack-O-Lantern. He's pretty gnarly. Nasty S.O.B.

The "Circle of Four" arc isn't quite as good. It was a fun little arc but it is a far cry from great. It's one of those arcs that happen in between issues and is assigned point-suffixes to the issue numbers (i.e. #13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.4) that Marvel loved doing in the early 2010s, and features writers other than Rick Remender. It's a fun idea having a "New" New Fantastic Four that features legacy heroes in homage to the ultra-1990s team of Spidey, Hulk, Wolvie, and Ghost Rider. The storyline feels like a proto-"Damnation" by Donny Cates but not done as well as Cates would end up doing.

All-in-all, its a fun, quick little read. Come for the "Road Trip," stay for "Circle of Four."

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this is how a crossover should be done. Tight, fast, and fluid. Not a hundred tie-ins. Rick Remender, Rob Williams, and Jeff Parker do a great job of showcasing a ton of characters while keeping the books focused on the story at hand. The story here starts off great and loses quite a bit of steam towards the end. Alejandra Blaze is annoyingly one-note and drags the rest of the four down. I can't help but think that a more developed Ghost Rider would have improved the book. The villains were perfectly villainous but the book did over extend itself. Two less issues would have served it better. The status quo changes of a few characters is a good way to see if a story actually has sticking power and there are some here. The ending felt too tidy and Captain America is made to look too inept. The art was good and creepy. Overall, a pretty good book that lasted too long.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story covered in this volume of the series feels like a major effort to figure out where Agent Venom fits in the larger Marvel Universe. They clearly didn't want him too tied to Spider-Man for stories save for his involvement in Spider-Island, so now they opted to experiment with him crossing paths with the supernatural side of the fence with a Ghost Rider adventure complete with Hell coming to Earth. Why we keep using Las Vegas as a gateway between Earth and Hell is a little beyond me but this trope comes up a lot. Most of the story is subsumed by the need to juggle so many characters, but the end result is still pretty entertaining even if not necessarily emotionally satisfying or comprehensive in moving character development forward.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collects Venom (2011) issues #10-14, and issues #13.1-#13.4

In this collection, Agent Venom teams up with X-23, Red Hulk, and the Alejandra Jones version of Ghost Rider.

I thought this was a little better than some of the stuff that came before it in this series, but it still isn't a favorite of mine.

[Silver · Rating 4 out of 5]

you should read the previous graphic novels which i believe includes the spider island storyline BUT i heard venom, Ghost Rider and Red Hulk all combined and i dived in, i LOVED this even though the action was short lived. worth a read but maybe do the back up reading

[James Atkison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hell is for losers

Interesting take with an all-star B cast list. Blackheart never catches a break and these anti- heroes are the antithesis of the Fantastic Four and the Frightful Four, which included Ghost rider and Wolverine. Good read.

[Ryan Woodroof · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed!

Red Ghost Venom Hulk Rider is pretty nifty. Good story. Would recommend to anyone looking for something entertaining to read.

[Andrea Papadopoulou · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5*

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Also Reading:
Venom vOl. #1 ( Read - *** 3 stars)
Venom Vol. #2 ( this one) ****
Venom Vol #3 **
I feel like all three are the equivalent of reading one novel so I didn't want them listed seperate and count as a book read each volume. I guess it's not a big deal and yet that's how I'm doing it :0)

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

First half readable second half crap

[Shyam Marvel]

Superb

[Jeff Lanter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very disappointing volume in the Venom series. The first three issues are strong and show all of the same qualities that has made Venom great. Him being unable to catch a break and being blackmailed by Jack O' Lantern is gripping and awful (in a good way). Then we're suddenly forced into an "event" where Venom, X-23, Red Hulk, and Ghost Rider have to prevent Hell from taking over the Earth. The whole thing feels very forced. Venom and Red Hulk have little to no reason to be there (well there is a reason, but it isn't compelling at all) and it feels like the whole point is actually about Ghost Rider and not the other characters. To make matters worse, Remender doesn't write very many of the issues and even when he does, there is no snappiness to the dialogue or cleverness to the plot. This is a very generic event where heroes team up, lose for awhile, and eventually win against all odds. Chances are good you've read that before. To make matters worse, the artist changes every issue and the styles don't mesh well. Some of the art is good, but most of it is just serviceable. I have to admit, I read through the 13.whatever issues as fast as I could so I could review this book and move on to the next volume. I hope that they get Venom back on track or this series is one of the most promising ones I've seen to be derailed by the combination of losing the writer and forced events.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like Venom and I think Flash Thompson makes a great host. I've been jumping all over while reading this series. I just got a hold of this volume from the library. I wasn't sure what to except, I know something went down considering I'd read volumes past this one. The first three issues we learn a little bit about crimemaster and jack o'lantern. That part of the story was good, but the circle of four part was awesome! I really loved the team up. Maybe because it was a new version of the new fantastic four. That was such a cool idea that I'm glad that this story totally stole the character for it. You have Venom in Spider-man spot; X-23 in Wolverine's spot; Red hulk in for grey Hulk; and a new Ghost Rider for the old Ghost Rider. I really want these heroes to become a superteam. The cross over was so much fun. They're in Vegas battling hell! A crazy story that was fun. I live fun comics and this one was a lot of fun. Plus the new new fantastic four, although they were never called that. That's who they are in my mind.

[Joe Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rick Remender - writer
Jeff Parker - illustrator

Flash Thompson is blackmailed by the Crime-Master into running off with the Venom symbiote to Las Vegas to steal something for him. Captain America sends Red Hulk after the wayward soldier. Meanwhile, Johnny Blaze is on the road and trying to mentor the new Ghost Rider but she is all like "forget you, old man." X-23 is also in Vegas, tracking down somebody who stole her DNA.

Then, literally all Hell breaks loose. Blackheart, the wayward son of Mephisto, is on Earth in human disguise running a casino. He casts a spell using elements from the heroes and opens a portal to Hell on earth. Now it's up to our ragtag group of anti-heroes to defeat Blackheart and send the demons rampaging on the Vegas strip back to their rightful home down below.

Great art from Jeff Parker and some pretty nifty writing from Rick Remender. Enjoyable, but not recommended.

4/5

[Silas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a weird left turn for all the characters involved. Flash as Venom goes to a really dark place in an interesting, compelling story, and then Hell takes over... and it gets weird in an '80s punk comic sort of way and a bunch of other characters show up. I guess something else happens with them later (or will, I haven't heard anything about it), since it is foreshadowed here, but the story is... weird. It's well done, but not at all in keeping with the tone of the characters involved, or the direction that the story seemed to be headed. It's also kind of unclear how much of what happened here is going to stay the way it seemed. I guess things will be a bit different in the future.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Flash goes AWOL to save the symbiote from being caged. Also to save Betty. While in Las Vegas he meets up with Ghostrider, Red Hulk, and X23 who are all on their own missions, until hell comes to Earth. This is quite a fun team up, and even if you're not familiar with the other characters they are introduced very well. This weird mix actually works. A good read.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stupid. Overly complicated. And much of the time drawn badly. But perhaps Venom is always bad? Boring when it should have been exciting. I did kind of like Dr. Strange's bits. But the Ghost Riders were all annoying. X-23 just didn't ring true though she was written better than she was drawn. Won't be going out of my way to read more of this. Red Hulk was also as is typical pretty awful.

[Albert Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out okay then turned stupid and confusing. It was like they had no where else to go, or a way to end it.

[Mark J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

First couple of issues in the collection are great, but the main story is probably the least interesting story involving Red Hulk I've ever read.