Carnage goes to sea to see the world — and kill it! When South African 16-year-old Jabulile van Scotter started sailing around the globe, she didn’t plan on a symbiotic, psychopathic stowaway! Evolved to the next level, the serial killer has plans to turn the oceans red with blood — but the Anti-Carnage Task Force is following the trail of bodies left in his wake. Do Man-Wolf, Eddie Brock & Co. have what it takes to stop this darker-than-ever Carnage? Probably not if one of them turns traitor! Cletus Kasady’s thirst for yet more power will take him to a mysterious and secluded island, and its secrets may be even more terrifying than him. As Carnage lives up to his name on the high seas, we’re gonna need a bigger boat!
Gerard Francis Conway (Gerard F. Conway) wass an American writer of comic books and television shows. He was known for co-creating the Marvel Comics' vigilante the Punisher and scripting the death of the character Gwen Stacy during his long run on The Amazing Spider-Man. At DC Comics, he was known for co-creating the superhero Firestorm and others, and for writing the Justice League of America for eight years. Conway wrote the first major, modern-day intercompany crossover, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man.
On April 27, 2026, Marvel Comics announced on its website and social media accounts that Conway had died at the age of 73.
I'm a great fan of Gerry Conway since he killed my innocence together with Gwen Stacy in the 80s. I know I am a voice out of the choir, but I'm really appreciating his current run on Carnage.
Loved the funny lovecraftian jokes/references in the first issue of this volume.. Cthon fthagn!!!
After the return of John Jameson as Man Wolf and the Darkhold in the first volume, we have the coming back of Victoria Montesi (named "Montessi" in issue #9 because of bad lettering and lack of editing...), the Darkhold Dwarf and an awesome reference to the Midnight Sons that just made my day.
A good storyline and Perkins art is just over the top.
And Ron Lim's variant cover tribute to old Tomb of Dracula Marvel series was a real great one.
If you liked volume one, you'll probably like this one too, as it's more of the same. A team comprised almost entirely of cannon fodder chases after Carnage in an extremely dark location. Vol. 1 was in a mine, vol. 2’s on a ship.
It's OK. Not awful, nothing special. I really wanted to love this book, as I was a big fan of Gerry Conway's stuff 'back in the day'. Maybe vol. 3 will throw us a curveball.
It's hardly a world tour when everything happens in a small area on the Indian Ocean. The events are sadly even more boring than in the previous volume. Kasady welcomes his new power and wants to enhance it to its full capacity by visiting an altar mentioned in the book Darkhold. The supporting characters don't really have any distinctive personalities. It's like they're only used for filler and I expect all of them to die at some point. They don't really fill a great deal since the story should focus on Carnage and it mostly fails in that department too. He is not maniacal, nor very bloodthirsty, just another guy with a symbiote. Basically, the series isn't funny, entertaining or brutal enough to keep you reading. I'm surprised it ran as long as it did.
Kasady is found drifting on a life raft, the only survivor of an explosion on the Indian Ocean, by a young woman named Jubulile. He soon recovers thanks to his symbiote and tries to infect her with help from Darkhold. She grows stronger, but her mind remains her own and she escapes. She in rescued by FBI agent Dixon's team, consisting of Manuela Calderon, Eddie Brock, John Jameson and Victoria Montesi, the latter of which is financing the team after the FBI disbanded it.
Kasady wants to find the source of his new power in Jakarta from a man named Grigori. On the way he encounters the Darkhold Dwarf, a being of power that rivals his own. He warns Kasady that he may in reality be the slave of his new power, not its controller. Nothing stops him and he even manages to gain a new ally in Dixon, after he infects her. She'll likely get killed for it in the final volume.
I cannot put my finger on WHY this series is what I’d call DAMNED GOOD, but that’s my position, this far in. How is it this is the best story about Carnage I’ve read over these last two months (in preparation for Absolute Carnage)?
Cletus Kasady isn’t a cartoon cackling arch-villain, Eddie Brock is a bemused arrogant sly sardonic devil, and the rest of the cast are shades of grey. John Jameson for gods’ sake, even he’s someone I want to watch more of.
Hell, the dialogue hasn’t given me the eye-rolls *once*. Gerry Conway is the most under-appreciated craftsman of comics today - he’s been writing since, what, the 70’s? His style *doesn’t* stink of Silver Age stilted soliloquies, and I’m actually feeling sad this run has an actual end to it???
Great slow burn - with plenty of non-superfluous action - to build the tension. I’m in. Diving into the finale right friggin now.
The series is more about the team that's hunting him. That makes sense because there's only so much you can do with Carnage as your main character.... unless you spend a lot of time with Cletus. Maybe that's where they need to go if Carnage is going to last as a stand alone title. As for me, I have to check out for now.
Amazing art, some cool parts and definitely action packed... but I don’t really care much for our band of “goodguys,” and frankly, I don’t think there’s enough Carnage. This story is suffering from some weak characterizations and the plot is a little snoozy as well.
It’s not bad by any means. Each issue has some well rendered action... it’s just not enough to carry the title. I need something a bit more compelling.
Carnage is a series that understands how a Carnage series works; Carnage isn't a character that can hold down an ongoing series where he's the focus of the story - he's too one-note a character, since he loves murder and that's really it. (There was a great Axis mini a few years back where he tried to be a hero which is well worth a look though). Instead, the focus of this series is on the people trying to catch Carnage, and here they're always one step behind as he flees across the world in his efforts to unlock the mysteries of the Darkhold.
If the first volume was a claustrophobic horror movie, this one turns that up to eleven as the Anti-Carnage Task Force find him trapped on a boat in the middle of the ocean, with nowhere to escape to. Yep, close proximity with Carnage is a bad place to be. He then escapes (of course) to a mysterious island, which is even more horror movie. Gerry Conway knows what he's doing.
The character interplay can get a little difficult to follow at times; Victoria Montesi is quite individual, but Manuela Calderon and Claire Dixon tend to be interchangeable (to a point), whilst Toxin and Man-Wolf are a little one-note, but it's an ensemble team that also has to check in with the bad guy every now and then, so it's kind of expected.
It shows how jaded I am, but having Mike Perkins draw every issue of this series without a fill-in so far is really a big achievement in my eyes. His art is dark and creepy without being unfathomable, which is a fine line to tread. Mike Del Mundo's covers are always gorgeous and innovative bits of design too.
Once again I am pleasantly surprised by this series. Carnage has basically been placed in an H.P. Lovecraft type storyline, and while it seems a little silly on the surface, it really works better than you'd think.
In this issue we even get some characters from the old Marvel DARKHOLD comic series. Carnage has the Darkhold and is searching for an altar so he can do a ritual that will either make him very powerful, release the elder god Chthon onto the Earth, or maybe both. Carnage is insane so I guess he's willing to just roll the dice.
The art is above average and Gerry Conway has found a way to tell a new story with Carnage that is better than it has any right to be.
Carnage is on the high seas (mostly), for this one and has possession of the Darkhold... not a good combo.
So after the events of the last volume, Carnage realizes that the Darkhold book can give him more powers and of course, he wants this very very badly. Problem is, he doesn't know how to use it. So he starts tracking down those who can, killing literally anyone who gets in his way, and ends up succeeding to a degree. The team going after him manages to slow him down, but loses one of their own who then becomes another symbiote character named "Raze".
This book reads very much like a 90's extreme book. Complete with cliched dialogue and inappropriate jokes at inappropriate times. Of course this is Carnage we're talking about so that it somewhat expected. However, the book is bogged down by this aesthetic overall, and serves to only diminish the threat that is Carnage. He comes off as a less funny Joker, who is trying to beat the record for corniest jokes while committing mass murder.
I don't know if I will be on board for vol3, as this was a tedious read honestly. The best part about the book was the covers by Del Mundo, who is an absolute beast. However the covers alone do not save the book from the 90's vibe that it drastically has.
(2.5) Book 2 is pretty similar to book 1 in style and it further pushes the carnage/darkhold book plot. Carnage has the darkhold book now and is trying to decipher it's text so he can use the power. After they failed to capture him the FBI wasnt happy but a new comer came along named victoria and the children of the night to scoop up team consisting toxin and man wolf. Now Carnage is after an altar so he can utilize the darkhold book. They drag out the story a bit and introduce some new characters but it is just OK. I appreciate the fact Marvel took a darker stylization on this series and that is the one saving grace for the book. Conway's writing is fine but nothing to write home about. I am hoping volume 3 gets better but I'm not holding my breath.
Прочитав другу арку Карнажа від Конвея в які входять номери з 6 по 10.
Сам сюжет розпочинається з того, що дівчина Джубілейлі, яка вирушила в навколосвітню подорож на лодці, знаходить в надувному човні пораненого чоловіка й вирішує його врятувати. На жаль для неї ним виявляється Клетус від якого їй в результаті доводиться рятуватися, після чого її знаходять герої з минулої арки. Як на мене, 6 номер в якому це все відбувалося є найкращим в цій арці, оскільки далі все стає набагато нудніше.
Наступні ж номери це по суті розповідь про те як ми дійшли до подій в 6 номері. І от тут й починаються проблеми. Виявляється, що після невдалої спроби піймати Карнажа, групу агентки Діксон розформували і їй доводиться заново збирати усіх героїв разом, що, як на мене, було зроблено досить ніяк, плюс підсюжет з тим як Клетус намагається розібратися з тим як працює Даркголд теж не викликає якогось захвату. З малюнком Перкінса теж не все добре, якщо в минулій арці більшість подій відбувалися в шахті і його малюнок задавав атмосферу фільму жахів категорії Б, то тут багато подій відбуваються вдень і на фоні цього його малюнок виглядає дещо так собі.
На щастя самого Карнажа та Брока, якого тут було досить мало, Конвей пише непогано через що мені й хотілося читати далі.
Якщо робити підсумки, то друга арка Карнажа вийшла досить великим кроком назад, атмосфера минулого сюжету втратилася, однак 6 номер та характеризація симбіонтів залишилася хорошою. Наступна арка є останньою тому сподіваюся, що Конвею таки вдасться видати хороший фінал.
I picked up the subsequent volumes of this book more out of a sense of obligation (I need to finish what I begin) more than genuine interest in the story. But it's not like this book is unreadable either - Conway had an idea that drives this whole piece and you can really feel the potential.
As the Darkhold is involved, this is really more and more a "Cthulhu Carnage" story - but in this case, it involves the Marvel equivalent of an elder god in the form of Chthon. And that naturally led to Conway digging up the likes of Victoria Montesi, previously of the Darkhold Redeemers, and other more mystical parts of the Marvel Universe.
There's a lot of running around in this book as our anti-Carnage group remains challenged in catching up with everyone's favorite serial killer symbiote. But we'll get somewhere soon enough.
This series really failed to keep my attention. After reading the first volume, I thought I would give the second a try but my interested continued to wane. I just really feel that there isn’t a lot of depth in any of these characters. One might say that there is only so much you can do with these symbiote infested characters, but Donny Cates has proven on his current Venom series that there exists an additional layer of depth to these characters that is very interesting. This series lacks all of that.
That being said, the covers to this series are amazing, and I did enjoy the character Jubulile who we are introduced to in this series.
If you decide to skip this one, you’re not missing much.
I am enjoying this series. I am actually amazed at the amount of violence they depict and are able to get away with despite the comic not being rated for mature audiences. Especially when it comes to a character like Carnage, it would only seem fitting. The series does well to show off how much of a sociopathic serial killer he has always been, not intentionally sparing one or two individuals over the course of the arc. I would class this series along with traditional horror books as there are limbs and heads getting chopped off, a werewolf, and numerous symbiotes killing around. Now on to Volume 3.
Carnage continues to be a fun, if not really stupid comic. this time. Carnage gets rescued by a 16-year-old girl on a boat and then of course betrays her and then puts something inside her so that they're attached symbiot wise.
On the flip side you still have Eddie Brock and the FBI agents hunting Carnage down and eventually they all meet and some big battle of survival and it's just okay.
I think that's the biggest thing with this series is that it's entertaining, but it doesn't do much to push a plot along that I care much about. it's just Carnage protecting this book because he thinks that it makes him special. He's also a redneck idiot so there's that... A three out of five
What was dumb fun last volume was more or less just dumb here. The Carnage task force is still center stage but changes slightly. Carnage has changed and its not for the better and he is seeking answers from the Darkhold. That quest for answers take him to Indonesia and more Darkhold lore. The changes to Carnage aren't necessary and make him a worse character. The lazy change to a member of the task force is sadly expected. Mike Perkins' art is still very good. Overall, the good ideas are slipping away for a one note character.
There are a lot of characters and they look similar and have similar reactions/issues. Brock and Jameson are both characters who transform into monsters. There are a couple of people who seem surprised to be part of the whole team.
It gets confusing.
I think this volume seems much less consequential after reading Volume 3 where everything goes crazy. Like it could have been at this "X-Files" level of one-off investigations for a while. I don't know.
A young woman piloting a boat around the world sees an explosion and investigates to find one man in a lifeboat. Unfortunately that man is Cletus Kasidy.
Jump back a couple weeks and Carnage is trying to find some missing information from the Darkhold, while the survivors of the previous book pursue him around the world. The story takes all five issues just to catch up to the beginning.
Still not very good, this Carnage book, but the Darkhold stuff is getting more interesting. The cast additions in Jubulile van Scotter, Victoria Montesi, and Yuvraj Singh are pretty good, though, and I already like them more than the original cast.
This Carnage series continues to be excellent--Conway takes the...um...carnage to the open seas, letting the horror play out in another classic horror setting--the dark corridors of a freighter. I like the Jubulile character--I wonder if she appears in the Marvel U. after this series?
I'm hoping it picks up. There just isn't enough meat for me to care about all these characters for this government team for me to care. I care about Eddie. That's about it
I had fun with this book. Its not the best, but I am a sucker for Carnage and Venom stories. Such cool characters. The art was decent as well. I liked it.
Carnage could use a little more cohesion, but it's still a fun ride. Still in possession of The Darkhold, Carnage is searching for a new altar to do the ceremony. Off to Indonesia he goes! The Anti-Carnage Task Force is after him: Eddie Brock (turns into Toxin), John Jameson (Man-Wolf), Victoria Montesi, and the rest of the "Children of Midnight". In opposition, Brother Grigori and the Chthonic Brotherhood. Also, we see how Carnage has grown stronger when he creates a new symbiote named Raze. This comic seems to be stalling a little bit, but is still a good ride. Recommend, as long as you like Carnage.
WOW. Compared to the first one this book was actually quite good. It felt like a very cohesive story with a lot of suspense and interesting action/horror set pieces. The parts with the "ghost ship" were quite refreshing and a theme I rarely see in the Marvel comics I read. I love horror movies a lot, but I seldom read horror comics, this book is really hitting a sweet spot for me. The exploration of this theme was really well handled in this installment, great job to the artist Mike Perkins. The characters could use some work, I could only describe them as a werewolf dude, girl whose parents died, ex-venom, the boss lady who distrusts ex-venom. Legit the cast of characters are so one dimensional, even the villain, he just evil and wants power? Why? There is so much more to explore there, hope the series goes more into it. Outside of that, this was a great book for me, I have been reading a lot of mediocre comics lately and this was quite different and entertaining. The whole stranded at sea aspect was very appealing to me, can't wait to see where the hunt takes us next.
A sztori ugyanott folytatódik, ahol az előbbi volume-ban abbamaradt, és őszintén szólva térben eléggé bezárt, konkrétan zárt helyeken mozgatja az alkotó a karaktereket. Szerintem Carnage-nek nem mindenféle setting tesz jót, de egyébként ez a halálhajós, parás feeling kimondottan előnyére vált.
Nem engedi vérgőzössé azért ezt az egész volume hangulatot most sem, de már sokkal bevállalósabb vizuálisan az egész.
Sajnos a sztori nagyon alibi és pont annyira kigondolt, hogy egy rövid szériát kitegyen, semmi több.