Carnage Reigns

Carnage (2022)

by Alex Paknadel

Carnage vs. Miles Morales! Cletus Kasady is back - and badder than ever. With his soul trapped inside the Extrembiote Armor created by Tony Stark during KING IN BLACK, Cletus now has the means to level an untold amount of chaos on New York City - and the entire Marvel Universe! But like any good Tony Stark invention, the Extremis coursing through Cletus' symbiotic veins needs power - and that means Cletus is hungry. Good thing Brooklyn's very own Spider-Man is there to stand in his way! If Miles survives their first encounter, that is. But where will the young would-be hero known as the Red Goblin stand in this fight? And now that Cletus has scored himself an upgrade, can Miles level up to match?! Collecting CARNAGE REIGNS ALPHA, MILES SPIDER-MAN (2022) #6-7, CARNAGE (2022) #13-14, RED GOBLIN #5 and CARNAGE REIGNS OMEGA.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Spider Man, Graphic Novels Comics, Young Adult, Superheroes

216 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 2023

Reviews

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fun event where Scorpion, Miles, Red Goblin, and a group of fighters similar to something like Suicide squad have to survive against the insane man Carnage himself. It's over the top, balls to walls action, with a lot of great art, and really brutal moments thanks to carnage being, well, a piece of shit. I really enjoyed this little crossover, and well worth it for Spidy fans. A 4 out of 5.

[Anna Quilter · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

As Carnage is pretty one dimensional..for me ...it's more about the characters also involved.
This one has Miles Morales..Scorpian...Red Goblin..Agent Gao..The Cape Killers plus a heavy hitter eventually turns up.

So the character dynamics did make it more than readable.

[Kev · Rating 1 out of 5]

Carnage Reigns…more like Carnage Sucks.

I only got this graphic novel as it contains the missing Miles Morales issues and I never miss those but wish I hadn’t have bothered. A complete mess of nonsense.

[Myles Gerber · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun time but nothing too special. The art is gorgeous and the action is phenomenally choreographed, but I don’t know… it just kind of lacks substance. I wish there was more plot than there actually was but at the same time the event also feels longer than it needs to be. It was just weird. I still had fun though- I especially loved Miles and Scorpion working together

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been 30 years since the birth of Carnage..
(guess that means we need yet ANOTHER Carnage event)

Eight separate stories since the early 90's. He's been a mass murder, a sociopath, and a hero(?). The latest? It's a tale of Cletus Kasidy after he made it out of the 'King In Black' event. He's no longer Carnage. He's something more....and it's far worse.

Short version: He's bonded to a Iron Man suit that's a hybrid of Extremis tech (remember that OP Iron Man story?) and a neutered symbiote dragon (thanks Venom/King In Black)

He's pretty heavily overpowered and the Extremis tech (forever dubbed an 'Extrembiote') lets him do all kinds of body swapping/control type things. Luckily, Miles Morales happens to be swinging by and gets a chance to get the crap kicked out of him. Iron Man cameos in what can only be called a 'guilty conscience moment'. His messing around with symbiotes pretty much caused all this. They team up with NYC's anti hero squad to keep the mayhem from getting to big. We even get a Scorpion team-up with the heroes. Imagine that...a classic Spider-Man villain saving people.

It has lots of fighting. Lots of mayhem. (it wouldn't be a Carnage story if it wasn't chaotic and bloody). Marvel REALLY likes to hammer in anniversaries. I think there's a good half dozen books that are Carnage focused in the next few months. They've done similar to Venom and Spider-Man on their anniversaries. It can get a little overwhelming.

Spoilers for the current whereabouts of the Carnage symbiote: His symbiote other half is only mentioned in passing. it's been on a god killing spree, trying to achieve its own omnipotence.
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Bonus: Agent Gao back story...finally (of course she has a history with 'capes'
Bonus Bonus: Is there a team Taskmaster ISN'T part of? Cape Killers has to be the worst yet

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Everything that's been going on in Carnage's solo series comes to a head in Carnage Reigns (and Death of the Venomverse). This book deals with Cletus Kasady himself as he attempts to do what he does best - murder a lot of people.

Usually, crossovers feel like they enhance all of the books that they're encompassing, especially a crossover like this that's one of those proper "part one here" "part two here" type deals, rather than just a big banner over a load of issues and the actual plot occuring in one or two one-shots. Carnage Reigns sweeps in Miles Morales and Red Goblin as well as an Alpha and Omega, but I honestly feel like all it manages to do is drag everyone down.

The story's fine, the idea's okay, but the execution just feels really haphazard. There's a lot of characters running about for no reason - why Cody Ziglar decided to use a crossover to introduce a whole new squad of 'heroes' into the mix, I don't know - and then Iron Man shows up to save the day near the end and it's not even his story. There's a lot of dialogue that doesn't seem to say much, and no one seems to know what to do with Red Goblin so they keep knocking him out to prevent him from saving the day too quickly.

It's all a bit of a mess, and it's a shame, because everything building up to this in Carnage's solo book was much more promising.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun event and yeah one of the better ones from marvel in recent times, I like how the book sort of pushes Miles to the next level and just shows how Cletus is even without the carnage symbiote and it does have a big Iron man plot from KIB and yeah the way it pays off is awesome!

Here we have Cletus attacking a hotel and then how Miles and Cape killer crew are pulled into it is the story and then fighting against them, and some pretty cool revelations and I like how the comic is just pure action showing how far Cletus is gone and the carnage he is wreaking and the stuff with online control was a bit weird but I like how it pulls the Extrembiote armor plot and all, and how it ties it together with present continuity and also brings in Iron man continuity (Duggan run) and just the conclusion s epic.. Iron man's Knight dragon armor and Miles getting a new suit whose design is just so awesome!

Its one of those comics which is just so fun to read and you may need to read some previous stuff to get an idea for the set up but after that its an absolute blast, the art is pretty good throughout, the plots converge solidly, great character moments and good bond between the heroes and just shows how Cletus is even without the symbiote and sets him up for a new status quo, which will be fun to see. So yeah a pretty fun read and I highly recommend it!!

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this a lot more than I thought I was going to at the start. Why, oh why, do we need Carnage-focused events every few months? Carnage is one of the least-interesting, ought-to-be-killed-on-sight characters in all of comics. All he does is kill people and all he does is get stronger and stronger and develop new and more creative ways to kill. How are you supposed to come up with something interesting focused around a character like that? Well, the team here actually manages to do something that kept me interested. You've got Mile Morales, a new team of villains trying to cut their sentences by helping out (ala Suicide Squad or Thunderbolts), the Red Goblin, even Iron Man himself, and the story manages to let everyone live and breathe as they deal with the latest threat regarding Cletus Kasady, who doesn't even seem to exist anymore, other than his consciousness animating a suit of Iron Man armor designed to take down the dragon avatar of the King in Black? (I think I've got that all straight). Anyway, this was a fairly decent, fast-moving story, and the artwork throughout is not bad. But can we wait a year or two before bringing Carnage back again, please?

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.
OK, I might be getting a little tired of Carnage now. Seems like for a while now, anytime they need a extra strong villain for Spidey to fight (or one way to get a bunch of characters to come together for a crossover) they tap Carnage, who can never really seem to die. This time they start him off with Stark's Extrembiote Armor, as well as Extremis coursing through his veins. Somehow he is able to connect to other Armors via Starktech and he becomes way more of a pain. Ultimately Iron Man must come with his new Dragon Slayer Armor to help out and win the day.
I hope we go back to what Miles was involved in the last Volume. With the popularity of the new video game, it's time to see Miles grow in power and ability. Maybe even (dare I say it) take over as Spidey full on, giving Peter a break...
Strong recommend.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll just start by saying that I hate Carnage. He may be the least interesting villain at Marvel. So he's crazy and kills people nonstop. That's not at all interesting. Still, with Miles and the Red Goblin involved, it's not half bad. Carnage has taken over a building and that's just the start. He's gained some new powers and is living in an Iron Man suit, no longer having the symbiote. You probably need to read the previous 12 issues of Carnage's book to get all of the why. It didn't really affect the story much though. All you need to know is that Carnage is a nutjob. Miles Morales and this Cape Killer crew are trying to stop him. The Cape Killers is a new Thunderbolts type crew. Not sure why they aren't just called that. That's pretty much it. Most of the art is solid and Fran Galan's is very good.

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Miles Morales really keeps this run afloat because…hooboy does this version of Carnage leave a lot to be desired. Scaling up his power to include a form of mind control just feels tedious when you run across 7-8 issues and no progress ever really happens. This run is just a series of “raising the stakes by revealing the enemy can’t be killed, multiple times!” I will also admit that having Iron Man and Feilong and the Stark Sentinels play a role in this was a fun way to ground this within the other Marvel storylines, but it couldn’t eventually escape the hold of the symbiotes so firmly wrapped around this narrative.

[Sarospice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. Carnage isn't a threat any more that heroes fighting matters. He comes and goes and who cares? I hoped for a better resolution for Ken. A fanboy for Carnage was a fun idea but it goes nowhere. Interested in Scorpion and Taskmaster getting face time, but again, amounts to nothing when the big bad is just beyond punching.

[MatyG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Damn, the symbiotes are going buck wild.

[Joshua K · Rating 1 out of 5]

I absolutely hate the symbiotes so when this event dropped, I skipped it. Even though I was reading the Miles Morales book, I thought it wouldn’t have any bearing to Miles’ story but then I came back and the book kept referencing this thing so here I am, reading a goo guy book. I hated it, I hate carnage, the two stars was for all the character work. Bah.