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Venom (2016) (Collected Editions)
Venom, Vol. 4: The Nativity
Cured of the metabolic disorder that was affecting the symbiote's mental state, Venom is back to acting like his old Lethal Protectorf self. But his recent actions in battling his way through New York City won't go unpunished, and Venom is about to discover that the hard way - when the wall-crawling super-sleuth known as Spider-Woman kicks in his door! And soon, Eddie Brock learns a terrible truth: the symbiote has been keeping an earth-shattering secret from him. After years together, off and on, this is the one secret that their symbiotic relationship might not bounce back from... COLLECTING: VENOM 161, 164-165, Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #362-363
136 pages, Paperback
First published September 19, 2018
11 people are currently reading
133 people want to read
About the author
Mike Costa
703 books31 followersMike Costa is an American comic book and television writer.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
March 7, 2019
The Venom Inc. and Poison-X crossovers made a mess of this final volume. We're left with three leftover issues which were actually solid. Spider-Woman makes an appearance in all three issues. She arrives to take Venom to jail until the symbiote tells her a secret that is unveiled in the final issue. It's a bit of a rehash of some of the 90's Venom miniseries so let's hope Donny Cates can do something interesting with baby Venom in the new relaunch.
December 5, 2018
I continue to enjoy this series a lot, despite having to take a detour between volumes (which tends to kill my interest in comics).
Eddie gets to be a distressed damsel for a bit. There's also the alien goo baby I was promised. Everything is going as well as it can go in comics (which means something tragic is coming up and I know what it is, but damnit, i'm sticking with it for now)
Eddie gets to be a distressed damsel for a bit. There's also the alien goo baby I was promised. Everything is going as well as it can go in comics (which means something tragic is coming up and I know what it is, but damnit, i'm sticking with it for now)
June 23, 2021
This is barely a tome. 3 issues and some extras. Fortunately, these issues are decent.
Now, get the hell of the series, Costa you borefest writer.
Now, get the hell of the series, Costa you borefest writer.
October 29, 2018
The Venom symbiote is cured and Eddie is ready to get back to being a "Lethal Protector". But Spider-Woman has a problem with believing him... Clare Dixon returns (seemingly from the dead!) and seeks to capture Venom for something that Eddie has no idea about. It seems that Venom is pregnant and about to reproduce. (Always chaos when a new symbiote is born!) Scorpion (Mac Gargan) wants to claim it for his own, but Venom won't have it. Through all the chaos, the new symbiote is stillborn...
I'm not really sure this needed to be a Volume on its own. So short and basically overall pointless as all of the ideas begun here are over by the end. They could have blended it in with the previous or following Volumes. Still an entertaining character, I'm hoping that Venom begins to take the spotlight again with the release of the movie.
Sort of recommended, but you aren't missing much.
I'm not really sure this needed to be a Volume on its own. So short and basically overall pointless as all of the ideas begun here are over by the end. They could have blended it in with the previous or following Volumes. Still an entertaining character, I'm hoping that Venom begins to take the spotlight again with the release of the movie.
Sort of recommended, but you aren't missing much.
October 27, 2024
Venom #161
No one wants to believe Venom is a good boy ç__ç ♥
Also, jealous!Venom ahahah
and then...
Eddie: you're not keeping anything from me, are you?
Venom: no Eddie, I would never ♥
Me: *giggles*
Venom #164-165 - THE MPREG DREAM
It was so sweet and sad because Venom was scared and it broke my heart even though I was giggling.
I loved Spider-Woman intervention to protect Symbrock and the baby, and the fact that Eddie was pissed she knew about the pregnancy before he did lol
No one wants to believe Venom is a good boy ç__ç ♥
Also, jealous!Venom ahahah
"Why did you ask that woman to eat, Eddie?"
"Just celebrating the good news"
"Last time we had good news you ate with me. Noodles. Steak."
"We always eat together, dear" ♥
and then...
Eddie: you're not keeping anything from me, are you?
Venom: no Eddie, I would never ♥
Me: *giggles*
Venom #164-165 - THE MPREG DREAM
It was so sweet and sad because Venom was scared and it broke my heart even though I was giggling.
I loved Spider-Woman intervention to protect Symbrock and the baby, and the fact that Eddie was pissed she knew about the pregnancy before he did lol
"Didn't want my baby to be another monster. Wanted it to be a hero. A hero like you. Like Venom."
"It's beautiful, Eddie."
"It is." ♥
November 9, 2019
So this run of Venom ends with the revelation that his symbiote is about to spawn, and he finds an unexpected ally in Spiderwoman. The Scorpion is still annoying Eddie and it would be great to see Venom had him the beating he's been begging for.
Overall not a bad arc with great art from Mark Bagley.
Overall not a bad arc with great art from Mark Bagley.
July 5, 2019
Costa finally gets a handle on Venom only for the whole thing to blow up in a couple of crossovers, before finishing up here with the birth of another symbiote. I hate these volumes with only a couple of issues of content, the rest being filled in by back issues and a plethora of related covers. There's got to be a way to work those final issues into a better combo. Good art from Javier Garron and Mark Bagley again.
August 14, 2018
[Read as single issues]
Eddie’s symbiote has a secret, and it doesn’t even want to tell Eddie what it is. But a battle with Spider-Woman and a run-in with a long-thought-dead friend means that it’s going to have to spill the beans one way or another, because a life is hanging in the balance and Venom can’t protect someone he knows nothing about!
Poor Mike Costa’s Venom run has been plagued by crossovers; no sooner was Venom Inc. over than Poison-X derailed Costa’s ongoing story (and he didn’t even get to write the relevant issues for that one either), so we’ve had maybe two clear arcs without interference from outside. That’s also meant that we’re left with three random issues that aren’t collected elsewhere, and have been thrown together into this tiny trade along with a load of variant covers to pad for space. If you’ve been following my reviews you’ll know what my feelings on trades like this are – spoilers: I don’t like ‘em.
The three actual issues collected are #161, which is a one-shot that pits Venom against Spider-Woman, and #164-165, which are the two-part Nativity story with that reveal I none-too-subtley mentioned in my introduction.
The one-shot issue is fun, and feeds into the reveal in hindsight; I had to check to make sure the issue wasn’t written by Dennis Hopeless since he has the monopoly on Spider-Woman recently, but no, Costa manages to capture her character just as well. The art is by Tigh Walker, who I haven’t seen since Avengers Arena/Undercover, but he’s definitely improved since then.
The Nativity draws on Eddie’s appearances in Carnage’s solo series which I’d thought everyone had forgotten about, as Venom faces off against a resurrected Claire Dixon who has a major mad-on for symbiotes after her run-in with Carnage himself. This all builds up to the final reveal which I’m dancing around, but it’s definitely unexpected given that this is the end of Costa’s run on the character (although I’ve been assured that it’ll be picked up on by Donny Cates afterwards). Mark Bagley returns to pencil these final two issues, and he’s one of the best Venom artists we’ve had both on this run and in Spidey history, so that’s never going to be a bad thing.
And then the rest of the volume is stuffed full of variant covers, because we can’t have a three issue trade and Marvel have to make their money somehow. I’m just grateful they didn’t shove in some unrelated classic issues, or reprint the same old Venom classics that we’ve probably read a hundred times at this point.
The Nativity is annoying; the actual stories are great, and it’s a shame that they weren’t able to be collected elsewhere. Instead, we get this half-assed trade with an inflated cover price. The 2 star rating isn’t indicative of the issues themselves (which would be closer to a 3 or 3.5 rating), but the issues surrounding the collection, unfortunately.
Eddie’s symbiote has a secret, and it doesn’t even want to tell Eddie what it is. But a battle with Spider-Woman and a run-in with a long-thought-dead friend means that it’s going to have to spill the beans one way or another, because a life is hanging in the balance and Venom can’t protect someone he knows nothing about!
Poor Mike Costa’s Venom run has been plagued by crossovers; no sooner was Venom Inc. over than Poison-X derailed Costa’s ongoing story (and he didn’t even get to write the relevant issues for that one either), so we’ve had maybe two clear arcs without interference from outside. That’s also meant that we’re left with three random issues that aren’t collected elsewhere, and have been thrown together into this tiny trade along with a load of variant covers to pad for space. If you’ve been following my reviews you’ll know what my feelings on trades like this are – spoilers: I don’t like ‘em.
The three actual issues collected are #161, which is a one-shot that pits Venom against Spider-Woman, and #164-165, which are the two-part Nativity story with that reveal I none-too-subtley mentioned in my introduction.
The one-shot issue is fun, and feeds into the reveal in hindsight; I had to check to make sure the issue wasn’t written by Dennis Hopeless since he has the monopoly on Spider-Woman recently, but no, Costa manages to capture her character just as well. The art is by Tigh Walker, who I haven’t seen since Avengers Arena/Undercover, but he’s definitely improved since then.
The Nativity draws on Eddie’s appearances in Carnage’s solo series which I’d thought everyone had forgotten about, as Venom faces off against a resurrected Claire Dixon who has a major mad-on for symbiotes after her run-in with Carnage himself. This all builds up to the final reveal which I’m dancing around, but it’s definitely unexpected given that this is the end of Costa’s run on the character (although I’ve been assured that it’ll be picked up on by Donny Cates afterwards). Mark Bagley returns to pencil these final two issues, and he’s one of the best Venom artists we’ve had both on this run and in Spidey history, so that’s never going to be a bad thing.
And then the rest of the volume is stuffed full of variant covers, because we can’t have a three issue trade and Marvel have to make their money somehow. I’m just grateful they didn’t shove in some unrelated classic issues, or reprint the same old Venom classics that we’ve probably read a hundred times at this point.
The Nativity is annoying; the actual stories are great, and it’s a shame that they weren’t able to be collected elsewhere. Instead, we get this half-assed trade with an inflated cover price. The 2 star rating isn’t indicative of the issues themselves (which would be closer to a 3 or 3.5 rating), but the issues surrounding the collection, unfortunately.
September 24, 2022
Mike Costa has had a good run on Venom and it ends here. This collection is only three current issues, so that's disappointing. What is here is good though. Costa's Eddie/Venom relationship is maybe the best I've read. Its basic but intelligent at the same time. Venom interacting with Spider-Woman was new and fitting given both their arcs. The art was very good both by Garron and Bagley. Overall, a very short but entertaining Venom book.
March 25, 2020
The first story (#161) was not great art, and not really necessary. The next story (#164-165) was neat and sets up the next Venom run as Venom gives birth. Nice appearance by Spider-Woman.
The final story is a nice throwback to when Spidey and Venom first worked together to face off against Carnage (ASM #362-363), I wish it would have included #361, but still, fun throwback by Bagley, great art!
The final story is a nice throwback to when Spidey and Venom first worked together to face off against Carnage (ASM #362-363), I wish it would have included #361, but still, fun throwback by Bagley, great art!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 14, 2024
It's always awkward when the final story arc in a volume runs short and then there's a need to jump to the next edition of the comic line. So we get compilations like this that have a very short and rather shallow story (the symbiote is pregnant!) and it gets padded with old Venom vs Carnage stories from the original run of Amazing Spider-Man.
It is what it is. On to the next story.
It is what it is. On to the next story.
November 1, 2018
Honestly, this story is a bit of a mess for me as it feels like it was racing to a end of an arc and numbering and trying to setup whatever was coming next.
Not really a fan of this volume.
The best part was the two classic reprints.
Not really a fan of this volume.
The best part was the two classic reprints.
November 7, 2018
Collects Venom (2016)issues #161, #164-165, plus a classic Venom/Carnage/Spider-Man story from Amazing Spider-Man (1963) issues #362-363
Spider-Woman teams with Venom in a very weak story about...
SPOILERS
...another spawning for the Venom symbiote.
Final rating = 2.5 stars
Spider-Woman teams with Venom in a very weak story about...
SPOILERS
...another spawning for the Venom symbiote.
Final rating = 2.5 stars
January 2, 2019
I really enjoyed Spider Woman in this as well as the nice flashback comic to Venom and Spidey working together to bring down Carnage and Cletus (thank you for that crash course in symbiote reproduction for those of us just hopping on the Venom comic bandwagon).
May 4, 2025
Back to the regular series. The Venom symbiote is about to reproduce again, and the characters hope to avoid another Carnage incident.
Only three issues of the monthly series. For filler we get the Spider-Man issues where Venom first meets Carnage.
Only three issues of the monthly series. For filler we get the Spider-Man issues where Venom first meets Carnage.
May 7, 2018
Read as singles...
I don't know what to make of this. So odd.
And I've got zero clue what Cates is supposed to do with it moving forward.
I don't know what to make of this. So odd.
And I've got zero clue what Cates is supposed to do with it moving forward.
June 28, 2018
60/100.
Prometía mucho más y se ha quedado cortísimo... Solo tres números. Sin embargo, lo que proponen estos números puede dar mucho juego en el futuro. Ya veremos qué tal.
Prometía mucho más y se ha quedado cortísimo... Solo tres números. Sin embargo, lo que proponen estos números puede dar mucho juego en el futuro. Ya veremos qué tal.
July 6, 2018
Dr Steve for MVP. Lots of injured people in his lab LOL.
July 22, 2018
A perfect ending. I'm so happy for them.
September 26, 2018
I liked it!
Would recommend it to Venom fans \o/
Would recommend it to Venom fans \o/
December 22, 2018
Very short didn't realise they were gay Eddie keeps calling venom dear and love
March 21, 2019
Really underwhelming conclusion to be honest. 2/5.
May 15, 2019
I mostly enjoyed this one, especially the parts that focused on Venom.
May 15, 2019
i even read the classic comics in this one!
September 15, 2019
I have mixed feelings on what we got in this volume, especially considering half of it is nonsense.
September 16, 2019
I read these out of order and it was confusing, I think.
It's OK?
It's OK?
February 3, 2020
lower stars cause it's a lame graphic novel, old stories plus covers were used as filler...
November 25, 2020
Awwww. Eddie and Venom have a baby!
July 16, 2021
A tepid ending to a series that was starting to get fairly good before getting sidetracked off into three different crossovers. Never let it be said Marvel fails to squander a good thing.
May 22, 2022
Why did COSTA understand this couple so well? Why did the Costa run have to end? The world may never know only be worse off for that fact 😭
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews