Spider-Man: Vengeance of Venom

The Amazing Spider-Man (1963-1998) #332-333,346-347,361-363,374-375

by David Michelinie, Erik Larsen (Illustrator), Mark Bagley (Illustrator)

Collects Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #332-333, #346-347, #361-363 And #374-375; Spider-Man: The Trial Of Venom and material From Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #373, #388 And Annual #25-26; Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #12; And Web Of Spider-Man Annual #8.

When the web-slinger donned a sleek black costume of alien origin, he had no idea it would one day become his deadliest foe: Venom! See the misguided Eddie Brock in some of his earliest adventures as he tries time and again to take down the hated Spider-Man! Featuring the first appearance of Carnage! Plus: the Black Cat, Silver Sable and the Human Torch!

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

302 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 5, 2011

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

The collected issues in this graphic novel are good; nothing terrible, but nothing superbly great either. I sometimes felt like I reread the same stories several times over, just with minor alterations every now and then. Other times, I got some really good issues with my favorite Spider-Man villain really coming through for me. There's a lot of action and cool Venom artwork to be had here, but the premise behind each issue remained mostly the same: Venom hates Spider-Man; they fight; Venom comes back next issue; rinse and repeat. It got a little repetitive, but I still liked it enough when it managed to vary. One cool thing is that Carnage is featured prominently in several issues in this collection, and I always liked stories involving both Venom and Carnage as villains.

On the technical side of things, there were some comic issues that weren't written exceptionally well, and that brought down the overall quality of this graphic novel. It made the collection feel very inconsistent. Otherwise, I do not have much to complain about on that front. The issues that were written well were fun to read, and those with less-than stellar writing only felt a little bothersome. By no means was the writing a deal-breaker, but it should have emulated the quality found in Spider-Man: Birth of Venom, since just about all of it was written very well.

All in all, if you like Venom, you'll like this collection, but don't expect anything exceptional – especially if you don't like Venom or his stories that much. As a big fan of Venom and Carnage, I enjoyed Spider-Man: The Vengeance of Venom despite its flaws, but not as much as I enjoyed Spider-Man: Birth of Venom. If you're looking to read a complete Eddie Brock Venom collection, you will find that this one ranks among the better ones you can read, making this is a must-have for that reason alone. In an arena full of inconsistent Venom graphic novels, you would be wise to appreciate the good ones – as well as the okay ones – as they come along.

[Corban Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the best Venom compilations I've had the pleasure of reading. A great exploration of Venom, his history, relationship with Spider-Man, and a great mix of secondary characters throughout in Carnage, Silver Sable, Daredevil, and others. I can't recommend this book enough for Venom fans.

[Katherine (Kat) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5 Stars
Individual Issues Rated Below -

Amazing Spider-Man #332: 2.5/5 Stars
Amazing Spider-Man #333: 2/5 Stars

Amazing Spider-Man #346: 3.5/5 Stars
Amazing Spider-Man #347: 4/5 Stars

Amazing Spider-Man #361: 4/5 Stars
Amazing Spider-Man #362: 4.5/5 Stars
Amazing Spider-Man #363: 5/5 Stars

(Material From) Amazing Spider-Man #373: 3.5/5 Stars ("Venom: The Getaway Scream!")

Amazing Spider-Man #374: 4/5 Stars
Amazing Spider-Man #375: 4.5/5 Stars

The Trial of Venom #1: 4.5/5 Stars


(Material From) Amazing Spider-Man Annual #26: 4/5 Stars ("First Kill! Part One")
(Material From) Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #12: 4/5 Stars ("First Kill! Part two")
(Material From) Web of Spider-Man #8: 3/5 Stars ("First Kill! Part Three")
(Material From) Amazing Spider-Man #388: 3.5/5 Stars ("The Lost Days")

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

A bit too disjointed for me. For example, we get the final chapter of a story but not the preceding ones. Venom issues are collected willy-nilly from here and there in roughly the same era but interconnecting issues are excluded. Some collections work that way. This one annoyed me. Perhaps it was the quality of the stories that were included. They might work for children. Didn't work for me.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I was reading "The Amazing Spider-Man" when the mysterious black suit was first introduced, I concluded my regular reading of the comic books about the time Peter Parker finally severed his link with the suit, leading to the creation of Venom.

So that may be part of the reason I don't really consider Venom one of the great villains in the Spider-Man pantheon along side the likes of Doc Ock, the Green Goblin or the Scorpion (I'm still dreaming of a big-screen adventure with the Scorpion as the main adversary. I have a feeling this will not be happening any time soon).

Reading this collection of stories center on Venom's returning time and again, a thought struck me--in many ways Venom is to the Spider-Man comics what the Master was to 1980's Doctor Who. He was the villain you kept thinking was gone for good only to crop up again a year or so later to menace our hero yet again.

"The Vengeance of Venom" collects four Venom arcs together and each time we see Spidey barely defeat his "greatest foe" and each time hoping that Venom is gone for good this time. It's all well and good until we need to bring Venom back to sell some more comics (I recall a Ren and Stimpy comic of this era with a Spider-Man crossover in which our hero contemplates having a foil-embossed cover with Venom on it to increase sales....funny because it's true!) and then the symbiote and Eddie Brock are back for more mayhem and threatening Spider-Man's very existence.

I suppose had I read these stories over the course of a couple of years instead of all in one big gulp, I might be more inclined to like them. Or maybe if I thought more of Venom as a villain and character, I'd be more intrigued. Instead, most of what we get here has the feeling of "been there, done that."

The one intriguing twist on the standard Venom comes back story is from Peter David. The one issue "Trial of Venom" brings up some intriguing ideas about Venom and I found myself wishing these had been explored a bit more. Instead, we have a few interesting ideas brought up before everyone has to start pounding on each other again.

[Daniel Boháček · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zábavná devadesátková oddychovka. Navíc je tu hezky vidět přerod Venoma ze záporáka v anti-hrdinu. Ale s Venomem existují určitě lepší příběhy.

[Travis Wise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Venom in the spotlight, otherwise nothing special. The Carnage strips steal the show.

[Crazed8J8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A smattering of classic Venom stories, see how Spidey and Venom face off, but walk away with a truce. Meet Ann, Eddie's ex-wife, plus the resurrection of Peter's parents?
Give this a read before Lethal Protector to get the background on Spider-Man and Venom's colorful past. Plus, see where the 2018 movie puked some of its inspiration...oh, and Carnage even makes an appearance.

Re-reading 9/2020 review
Spiderman Vengeance of Venom 3.5
Some classic Venom stories that introduce us to Carnage and show us some classic Venom and Spidey interactions. Most art by Larsen and Bagley, with a few others thrown in, all in all, it's a pretty decent and classic look to Venom in his early days. Most of the stories are from the mainstream Amazing Spider-Man, with a few annyals and one shots too. Classic and necessary reading, but dated and not as adventurous as some of today's runs. Still highly recommended!

[Kris Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am in shock. I normally equate '90s comics with crap, but I was completely blown away by both the quality of the writing and the artwork. One thing became apparent to me after reading this book: Venom is clearly David Michelinie's baby. I was there from the character's inception, buying ever issue of the rack when it came out, from the alien costume's first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man No. 252* through his first appearances in issues 299 and 300 and subsequent rematch during McFarlane's now legendary run. I liked Venom at first but later associated him with everything wrong about '90s comics: totally !!!extreme!!! and rad.

*Many fans erroneously state the first appearance of the alien symbiote that became Venom was Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars #8. That is the first chronological appearance of the entity, but that issue came out 6 months after ASM 252. If you were buying comics weekly in 1984 (which I was) then you would know this to be true.

Michelinie had everything mapped out from start to finish. Venom is cool because he was the first foe that Spider-Man couldn't beat in a fair fight. Spider-Man either had help or came up with some eleventh hour cop-out victory. He never decisively beat Venom, ultimately calling a truce with him after the Carnage symbiote forced them into a reluctant team-up. This was when Venom jumped the shark, doing a WWF Wrestling-style defection from bad guy to good guy due to popularity. It's too bad, because he was a great villain in spite of the stupid tongue. The alien symbiote could evade Spider-Man's Spider-Sense and, coupled with Venom's superior strength and comparable speed, actually scared Spider-Man. Many of Spider-Man's defeats came from his own self doubt.

I thoroughly enjoyed Mark Bagley's early artwork, especially on the Carnage arc (361-363). Bagley's action sequences are fluid and beautifully choreographed, with each panel looking like a stop-frame of an animated sequence. Genius. Bagley of course went on to great fame for his run on Ultimate Spider-Man. Erik Larsen is a fan favorite. He is nothing more than a second rate Todd McFarlane in my book, though. Passable if unremarkable artwork. Rick Parker's hand lettering is incredibly effective. So many Letters during this era were producing crap (i.e. Janice Chiang).

In Spider-Man Special Edition No. 1 (The Trial of Venom) we learn that the symbiote can fool Daredevil's radar sense for detecting heartbeat and pulse rate to determine if a person is lying. It's the little nuances like that which makes these characters so interesting to me. Seeing Daredevil tackle Venom was also cool. In closing, this book was and is a complete blast to read.

[Siike Donnelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicely put together

This graphic novel features pretty much every Venom story and appearance he made in the Spiderman books from the ending of the Birth of Venom tpb up to Lethal Protector.

We even get a story from some Spiderman annuals called First Kill that explains more of Eddies hatred for Spidey, and we also get the first appearance of Carnage. This book was a fun trip down memory lane, and even know I didn't love every story within, what I did enjoy outshined the bad. I'd say pick it up, especially if you finished reading the Birth of Venom tpb.

[Kyle Berk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love lots of the individual issues collected in this, nut there is no connecting tissue really. It is just every encounter Spidey has with Venom after the inception of a Venom.

And if that’s what you want this book is for you. For everyone else you’ve got some very 90’s art, meaning it is over designed and blocky, Spider-man still manages to look good in costume.

The art is a love it or hate it, lots of two issue arcs strung together in no real succession. Some issues are better than others but there is still some damn good Spider-Man to be had.

4 stars.

[Jacob Shute · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that I would definitely like this book better but I didn’t like this book that much. I thought that every different story in this book was just the same until about the last 5 or 6 ones. But most of them were just venom trying to kill Spider-Man. So overall this book was ok for my second Spider-Man book.

[Trevor Dailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers some great Venom stories. Interesting questions as to whether Eddie Brock is culpable for Venom's actions.

[John H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this. Classic Venom vs. Spidey stuff.

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story's fine, the characters (esp Venom) are a blast, but the art is SOOOO 90s and distracting. The muscles. And the hair. Yikes.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

I really enjoyed this!

[Sophie Carbone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, this was fine… kinda just reminded me how annoying the 80’s-90’s issues you be….. MJ always annoyed me in these versions and none of the issues really stick out to me as being all that great

[Tony Loyer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible dialogue, really talked down to its audience, characters had unrealistic and minimalistic motivations. Terrific artwork but the story telling was incredibly poor.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of overlap with this and the Symbiosis collection but still a great collection of a WHOLE ASS BUNCH of early Venom

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Things peter out a little at the end but, overall, this is a wonderful collection of Venom stories from the early '90s featuring some fantastic art by Erik Larsen and Mark Bagley.

[Bethany Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting read.

I liked seeing the reason why Venom hated Spider Man and why he wanted revenge on him.

I like seeing how Spider Man tried to survive all the things that Venom did to him. Spider Man had to do everything he could do to stop him and it was interesting to read.

[Adam Bender · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've long known the basic gist of the Venom and Carnage storylines in Spider-Man, but hadn't read most of the stories myself, including the origin of Carnage. This book did the job of filling in that gap of fictional history for me! For the most part it's a well-drawn book -- Bagley's clean, super-flexible Spider-Man is the version of the character I tend to think of. The writing by David Michelinie is more than solid, but Peter David's fantastic Venom-on-trial story makes those stories seem dull by comparison.

Spidey fans should dig this for the historical value but overall there are better collections out there.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a Spider-Man comic.

I don't know what you want me to tell you. You don't know who Spider-Man is or what?

[dude · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5