Venom Modern Era Epic Collection, Vol. 5: The Savage Six

Venom Modern Era Epic Collection

by Rick Remender, Patrick Zircher (Cover Art), Kevin Walker (Artist)

The Crime-Master unites a cadre of criminals to destroy Agent Venom! The villain's diabolical plan takes the war to the people closest to Flash Thompson - and forces Eddie Brock, the former Venom, to become a symbiote's host once more! But when Crime-Master's identity is revealed, Flash and Betty Brant's lives will never be the same! Then, when the Avengers task Venom with bringing in Daimon Hellstrom, a Devil's pact comes full circle - and Hell-Venom is unleashed! Can Flash regain his soul, or will he remain in Daimon's thrall forever? Flash bids farewell to New York City and heads to Philadelphia! But is something toxic on the horizon?! Collecting VENOM (2011) #17-35 and #27.1, MINIMUM ALPHA, SCARLET SPIDER (2012) #10-11, and MINIMUM OMEGA.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Spider Man

507 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 19, 2023

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

[Ross Cudmore · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Even now, with the distance I have, with the reality if it all out in the open, I still defend him. I still think, well, maybe I deserved it. Maybe he was right about me. Maybe I'm no good. I let him down. Never did enough. Never made him proud. J deserved it. All of it."

Father's Day was Remender's final issue of the series, and perhaps his finest. The story involves Flash tracking down serial killer Jack O'Lantern. The relationship between Flash and his abusive father has been a cornerstone of the story so far, and this story is particularly introspective on the abuse Flash suffered and how it affected him growing up.

Cullen Bunn takes over writing duties next. The initial story arc is a follow up to the Hell in Las Vegas story from volume 1. Unfortunately it wasn't a strong start and felt a little dull. Bunn's characterisation of Flash seemed to lack the depth of Remender's take on the character.

The next story arc was "Minimum Carnage" which was a cross-over with Scarlet Spider and Carnage. Carnage is a fun villian and the story dealt with the universe of the Micronauts, a classic series from the 80s which I have never read. If the story did justice to the Micronauts I have no idea. Overall the story felt like a generic tale of hero transported to a fantasy land with an evil dark lord that they must defeat. The action was fun, but nothing stellar.

The final arc was when the story really picked up, as Flash moves to Philadelphia to have a new start. Bunn does more character here to develop the Flash and his problems with addiction and tense relationships with those around him. Flash's anxieties and fears are laid out as he tries to attend an AA meeting, with negative thoughts spiralling as the meeting goes on.

By the end of the book I was interested to see where Bunn would take the character next.

[Rick Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Opening with the tail-end of Remender's time on Venom, the final arc of his run concludes with "The Savage Six", which features Flash Thompson's/Agent Venom's tenure on the Secret Avengers. Facing a multitude of enemies this time around, Flash seems to need the assistance of the original Venom - Eddie Brock. This arc moved at a fun pace and ends Remender's time fairly well.

Unfortunately, the rest of this edition collects the not quite as good Cullen Bunn run which found itself rehashing a lot of the same beats. The "Circle of Four" arc from earlier gets re-explored in "Devil's Pack" where Flash must take on Daimon Hellstrom. The story then connects up with Carnage and Toxin, with Flash teaming up with Toxin to take on the Symbiote Slayers. It's kind of dull stuff and though the artwork is great for the action set pieces, the story is pretty directionless at this point.

I mostly liked the Agent Venom stuff based on concept alone, but the character has mostly been underserved by the quality of stories that followed the initial arc as presented in the previous volume of the Modern Era Epic Collection format.

[Mariano · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a chore to read, which is surprising after how good the previous volume was. This is mostly Cullen Bunn's Venom. The first arc in the trade is also co-writen by Remender (and marks the end of his run) but the majority of that work was done by Bunn (as stated by Remender in his farewell editorial) and it shows.

We move from an introspective tone about the cost of doing what you think is right is the midst of an addiction struggle (previous volume), to just have a bunch of fights over and over, issue after issue.

Maybe this isn't that bad, but the contrast between what I was expecting when I picked up this to read and the reality of it was too jarring.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

This covers the end of Rick Remender's run with the character and most of Cullen Bunn's issues. I expect a third Epic Collection'll finish that out and the Space Knight series. So closing out the Crime Master arc and moving Flash to Philadelphia. It's good stuff with great art, I even liked the Minimum Carnage crossover a lot more this time around than I did originally. Wish it had included the Mania stuff as I'm unlikely to go out of my way to check out that potential third collection, but still really good Venom stories here.

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was very good with Remender writing it, but I feel it maybe could've ended there. When Bunn took over, it seemed to rehash a lot of the same story tropes that were in Remender's run, and also felt lower stakes and a lot more boring for lack of a better word. The mixture of Flash and Venom was a great duo though, and I wouldn't be opposed if they explored it again in the future. The Hell-Venom arc also felt like pointless filler, and it really didn't mean much to me.

[Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Remender issues are 4 stars, the Bunn issues are 2. This was a slog once Remender left.
Same good artists and art teams. Stories become more science fiction based which isn't a naad thing but the heart and poignancy of the Remender issues has been lost. And it's lesser for it.

27.1 started off poorly but the story ends up being really sweet with early Chechetto art which was nice. From here until issue 32, I enjoyed the stories again.

The book itself is poorly made also. The cover started curling up after I read the first issue.