Venom, Vol. 8: Venom War

Venom (2021)

by Al Ewing, Torunn Gronbekk (Writer), Cafu (Illustrator)

Father and son go head to head to decide who will host the symbiote as VENOM WAR rages!

Following Carnage’s battle with Venom and his assault on the Garden of Time, Eddie Brock — all the Eddie Brocks — are in free fall...literally! The future of the entire Earth — and all of time — is now at stake. Because both Eddie and his son, Dylan, have glimpsed terrifying visions of each other's future as Venom. For calamity to be averted, can either Brock suffer the other to live? As their inter-generational war breaks out, another, older Dylan Brock is on a mission to make sure things go the way they’re supposed to. That’s right: Old Man Venom is jumping through time to guarantee the correct victor in the Venom War, starting with a jaunt that takes him right into Spider-Man’s early history!

COLLECTING: Venom (2021) 35-39

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

112 pages, Paperback

Published February 25, 2025

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.3 stars

[Brandon Daniels · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh yeah, more time travel craziness; just what this series needed. I kid. This was actually fine, more coherent than the last trade or two probably. And the art was solid. Though, I am ready for things to wrap up.

[Craig · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is...not good. I think this all started with Donny Cates. Then Al Ewing took over. Now it's in the hands of Torrun Grondbekk (who seriously deserves her own series that she doesn't have to write others out of. C'mon Marvel!). It's somewhat amazing that this makes any sense at all at this point, let alone to be another company-wide crossover (read the room, already! your creators are pretty much gone at this point. Why proceed with this?). Really disappointing (I'm wondering about the high ratings for this, which is largely crap). Let's start over, and this time, try to keep some continuity...

[Izhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This feels like the end of a specific era of Venom for me personally and I don’t know how to feel about it. Al’s still doing All-New Venom but now Eddie’s with the Carnage symbiote, someone other than Dylan is Venom. Things are different. The era of King in Black is over. Meridius I think is done. I really loved that period of time for Venom when he was essentially a time-traveling god. Different versions of himself, the Garden of Time, Eddie struggling with if he’s a good father, if he can even grasp the different sides of himself. ‘Himbo Frankenstein’. It’s not like all that’s gonna entirely go away but I don’t think we’re going back to this point. For me in this entire run starting from when Al began Venom to now, it felt like Venom transcended what he was before. He was a cosmic force unlike any other, and now, I dunno, Venom just feels like he’s back to street level stuff and Eddie’s no longer a god, he’s just a dude beefing with Carnage. I wish it could’ve kept going cosmic. But that’s comics.

[Derek Milley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ll be honest—I haven’t really kept up with Venom since King in Black, so jumping into Venom: Venom War at issues #35-38 left me pretty lost. I knew the basics: Eddie Brock has a son, Dylan, and Eddie himself is time-hopping in some future war. But all these different versions of Eddie, mixed with constant time-jumping, made it hard to follow.

The only reason I picked this up was Doctor Strange, and while his appearance was interesting, it also left me with questions. He didn’t seem to recognize the symbiote at all, calling it a “demon,” which felt odd given that Stephen should know who Venom is. I assume this takes place before their paths ever crossed? Regardless, Strange gets pulled into the conflict when Dylan, trying to change his future, enlists the help of a future version of Strange to go back and warn his past self. After some initial reluctance, Strange connects with his future self, sees the dystopian future, and briefly aids Dylan. Unfortunately, he only sticks around for two issues.

The rest of the arc follows Dylan making some questionable choices—most notably, striking a deal with Chthon (despite Strange’s warnings) and later seeking out Loki to obtain another piece of whatever he’s building for the war. While these plot beats were interesting in concept, I just couldn’t get invested in the larger conflict.

That said, the art by Cafu and German Peralta was fantastic. Their action sequences were dynamic, and I especially loved their portrayal of Doctor Strange. Visually, the book was solid.

Ultimately, Venom: Venom War isn’t for me. The heavy time-travel elements and multiversal Eddies made it tough to follow, and without Strange’s continued presence, I don’t feel compelled to stick with it. If he makes another appearance, I might check back in—but for now, I’m out.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty fun setting the stage for Venom war and where all the characters are and it primarily focuses on Adult Dylan as he arrives in the present and we get a small glimpse of his apocalyptic future and then we switch to the present as first he fights against Molten man and gets his molten thing and then the stuff with Spider-man, teaming up with Dr Strange, going to the realm of Chthon and seeing dark nightmares there and how he makes a deal and its pretty painful for him, what he had to give and then enter Loki!

Its still a mystery as to what the molten bullet thing really is and now that Loki had one by the end, I wonder if it will be used in future or something, that will be interesting to see and it becomes a pretty crucial read if you have read the full Venom war event, so in a way its a side story yes but its also is an emotional and turbulent read and the cost of saving the future.. is high. Though I wish we had gotten more about the apocalyptic future this guy is from.

Overall, an okay read and for the end volume of Ewing's venom run and as something which ties into the main event and serves as the plot device by the end.. yeah its crucial to read. ALSO, loved the art, its spectacular and compliments the writing really well.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll get this out of the way, since the actual event book isn't out at time of writing this - Venom War is stupid. It's the best kind of comic book stupid, but it IS stupid.

This tie-in volume however, is not. We get to revisit Old Man Dylan from earlier in the run, as well as Donny Cates' previous romp with Eddie, as he attempts to find meaning in a life that has spiralled out of control. It's not really a tie-in until right at the end, which you'd think would make it more accessible, but it still feels a little dense to get into anyway. If you've been reading the rest of the run, you'd be fine, but if you randomly picked this up as part of Venom War, you'd probably be really lost.

Then again, reading Venom War without the rest of the run would probably be impenetrable anyway so...what do I know?

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as terrible as previous volumes, but that's probably because, after the first issue, it totally abandons the "multiple Venoms" and "Dylan is sad" plotlines in favor of traversing the timeline with Old Man Dylan. He's apparently on a mission to collect some McGuffins so he can prevent a big...Venom War?

It's not super clear, but it's certainly engaging to see Old Man Dylan interact with characters in the past, including Doctor Strange and Loki (always welcome additions). Torunn Gronbekk's excessive use of narration wasn't even as grating as it usually is. Not that I have any idea what's going to happen going forward...

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a setup for the 'Venom War' series...

I guess we get to finally abandon the 5 faces of Eddie Brock. The past/future/end versions of Eddie Brock are pushed aside in favor of a new 'Old Man' universe to worry about. This time we have Old Man Dylan on a dystopian Earth, plotting to find the parts to a weapon that could avert the Venom War that destroyed the planet. Part Matrix and part King of Black, it's a hell hole.
----
Bonus: The end of this series just bleeds out...to feed the Venom War crossover event.
Bonus Bonus: Can you use ANY of this to fix a time travel mess?

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25
Is it weird I feel a strange sense of satisfaction when I finish a run? I had weird relationship to this series. It was different and weird and strange in the ways that Eweing can be. But I'd also get bored with the book and stop it and then come back to it. But overall, I enjoyed it a good deal. The most interesting take on Venom so far, IMO.

[CyberBookish · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Venom run has been a wild ride. I ended up liking this one, mainly because I just enjoyed following the Old Man’s romp through time. The art was nice too. I haven’t read the rest of the tie-ins, so I don’t know exactly how this fits into the larger story, but as a casual reader, I enjoyed this volume.

[Sarospice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing happens here that makes you feel you're missing out on the Venom War, happening somewhere else. Marvel likes an OLD MAN series and this is Dylan Brock's chance to be Old Man Venom.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

One if the better entries of the run…wasn’t expecting timey whimey.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's starting to feel like a lot of characters have overstayed their welcome and become too complicated.

[Juan Francisco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Éste sí que me ha gustado. El viaje por el que tiene que pasar Dylan me ha parecido interesante, aunque quizás demasiado cliché. Puntos extra al dibujo, que me ha parecido sobresaliente.