Venom: Lethal Protector - Heart of the Hunted

Venom: Lethal Protector (Collected Editions)

by David Michelinie, Ivan Fiorelli (Illustrator)

Venom co-creator David Michelinie returns to tell an untold tale of the Lethal Protector! Before Carnage and space gods, clones and toxins, and the revelation that he was a father, Eddie Brock was a down-on-his-luck reporter who had tried to take his own life and been saved by an extraterrestrial alien. Now, this all-new story set during Venom’s earliest days welcomes Michelinie back into the symbiote hive with open arms, as he and rising star Ivan Fiorelli unite to tell a new, horrifying story that not only revisits the wicked web-slinger’s past, but hints at what’s to come in his future!

COLLECTING: Venom: Lethal Protector (2021) 1-5

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Superheroes, Science Fiction, Fantasy

128 pages, Paperback

Published November 15, 2022

Reviews

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread: 21/06/2024

I actually liked this volume a lot this time around and I love the various subplots going and how its character assessment of Venom with whats happening to him and how he is feeling alone or secluded rather and then by the end he is not after going through the whole ordeal. the assassins after the hero is an old trope but it works well here. Humbug was a funny villain and then there is the recurring Death shield who went away from NYC to get away from Venom but oh well. It was well done for real, I like the story elements and Venom on a couch for an interview was kinda funny panel. There are some good hilarious moments here and the art is so good and compliments the writing really well. The last issue vs hammer was a blast. Definitely will recommend it on second read through.
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This was an interesting read for sure!

We see a flashback stories of sorts in the 90s and well we have Eddie trying to live his life and well killing Spider-man and all that but also trying to be a hero at that and well going against villains like Humbug which was fun and lame at the same time though I liked the meta-commentary with his character.

Then there is assassins and other villains after him, seems like he has a bounty on his head and we find out who is the one who put it on him and well its fun watch battle villains like Chance, Styx and Taskmaster and then confronting the villain behind it and its fun and action oriented and delivers on that front.

The whole thing with Annie was weird and could have been done better I guess but I digress and there were some plots with Life foundation and Dr Harwood, idk if they forgot about it or if it will continue in a future sequel volume but still a fun read thats for sure!

SO yeah overall a great return for Micheline to Venom and some cool fights though I wished we had more fights and less *off the panel* fights and the villain motive could have been done better, but still a good one-time read!

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

So Venom has been noticing all these random villains keep attacking him. He finds out this is due to the fact someone had put a bounty on his head. So now the mission is to find out who. Nothing super exciting here. Book ended up just being meh.

[Michael J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Are you a Venom fan, but recent stories have become too complicated for you? Then, here’s a welcome throwback to those simpler days of Spider-Man comics in the early 1990’s, written by the creator of the Venom character.

Eddie Brock and the alien symbiote he wears both are still yearning to kill Spider-Man/Peter Parker for disgracing journalist Brock and abandoning the symbiote black spider suit. When he’s not doing that, Brock/Venom are trying to be do-gooders, coming to the assistance of victims of low level street crimes. Brock wants to reconcile with his ex-wife but she’s got a new fiancee and wants nothing to do with him.

Meanwhile, a slew of second-tier villains are hunting Venom, including Humbug, Hydro-Man, Blood Spider, Death-Shield, Styx and Stone, Blizzard, and Taskmaster. Venom is out to find out who contracted for all these hits, and tracking him down in the final issue. I”m not going to spoil it. Venom succeeds in geting his foe to stop, cancel the contracts, and lift the price on his head so that he can go on to further adventures.

The art is good. The story brought back nostalgic feelings for the comics world of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.

[Roman · Rating 3 out of 5]

​​Прочитав лімітку "Venom:Lethal Protector" яка є однією з тих флешбекових серій, які Марвел стабільно випускає останні декілька років. Тож давайте дізнаємося чи вийшло у Девіда Мікеліні написати щось хороше.

Зав'язка серії полягає в тому, що на нашого стероїдного екс-фотографа та його інопланетний слиз постійно почали нападати різні лиходії. Сам же Веном не розуміє звідки взялася така цікавість до їх персони і Брок намагається зайнятися більш важливими справами, а саме помиритися з колишньою дружиною.

Найбільшим плюсом для мене тут вийшов сам Веном, він тут є смішною монстрякою яка хоче захищати невинних, їсти мізки та побити Людину Павука, тобто такий яким він був у 90-х коли його писав Мікеліні і цим серія й підкупає. Також автор дуже добре прописав діалоги між Броком та клінтаром, ба більше того рефлексія Едді нехай місцями дещо тупа, але чіпляє, а з місцевих жартів справді хотілося сміятися. З малюнком тут теж все дуже навіть добре, Айван Фіореллі видав видав яскраву та приємну оку роботу.

Головним мінусом тут є сам сюжет який на 70% відсотків є філерним. Так наприклад у третьому номері Веном вирішує позбутися своєї слабкості до звуків лиш для того щоб в кінці передумати через те, що сироватка яку йому дали мала побічні ефекти. Основна ж лінії тут зводитися до того, що Едді тиняється і займається чимось своїм поки на нього не нападуть якісь поганці. В кінці комікс взагалі перетворюється в бойовичок категорії Б, оскільки Веном штурмує острів на якому сидить той хто назначив винагороду за його голову.

Загалом мені лімітка сподобалася, вона непогано розважає та й за самим Веном тут цікаво спостерігати. Якщо вам не подобається те, що відбувається зараз в основній серії Венома і хочете побачити стріт левел Венома то раджу прочитати.

[Dominic Bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did we need more 90s venom? No. Was it worth it? Not necessarily. Is it a fun read for an afternoon? Kinda.

Crazy to think how far venom has changed and retconned since the days of the original lethal protector run. In some ways it makes me yearn for simple and fun stories, just like this one, but it also makes me think the venom we have now is pretty cool anyway.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a nostalgia piece, this is everything you'd hope for. David Michelinie wrote a LOT of Spider-Man issues. I believe he's second only to Stan Lee in total issues of Spider-Man published (somewhere around 100). This is a slice of early 90s web-slinging. The cover art (even the internal pages) come across as an homage to some of the greats that wrote with Michelinie at the time.

Since David Michelinie wrote Spider-Man for so long (and even cocreated Venom) he's got a lot of background characters to work with.

a few to spot:
*Humbug
*Styxx and Stone
*Blood Spider and Death-Shield
*The Life Foundation
*Blizzard
*Justin Hammer
*Taskmaster
*Annie Weying

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.
A story of Venom from back during his "Lethal Protector" era. Was great to see Eddie and Venom back together again. The story deals with a bounty that was set on Venom's head and all the villains who get dispatched to try and deal with it. It's comical how pathetic they are when compared to our favorite symbiote.
A quick and fun read, especially if you aren't fully immersed in current Venom lore.
Recommend.

[Nico · Rating 2 out of 5]

remember those kind of okay venom books from the early 90s
well this is written by the guy that did a lot of those, and boy does it live up to that "just okay" quality. nothing in this book is outright bad or anything, it's just kind of, nothing.
it being 90s nostalgia filler, maybe that's what you want. maybe you want to see venom fight 90s D-listers in a very non-story that would be as forgotten as almost any venom title of the 90s post-1993, just like i'm already starting to forget this book. honestly as someone that did read a lot of early venom appearances and titles, you do tend to recognize a lot of michelinie's venom tropes. how much he broods about how much he only wants to protect innocents and kill spider-man, but then he kills anyone for looking at him funny, and then the symbiote "dies" in a pathetic way and eddie mourns it for the billionth time, before surprise it's not dead. and then the rest of the book is just this cavalcade of D-listers that im surprised anyone besides me or mid-2000s dan slott even remembers. its a bit funny when they're pathetic i guess, but it's not going for this humorous tone most the time, it just ends up feeling rather jarring. theres also this weird plot element that just... happens? life foundation confronts eddie, saying they can get rid of his sonic weakness if he signs his life to them, he does and they remove the weakness... then due to a glitch of whatever they did to him, the symbiote malfunctions and turns eddie into a clown and a pirate when he tries to go venom to kill spider-man, so he goes back, says "give me back my sonic weakness" and then he kills some people at life so he doesnt need to bother with his contract and then... thats that. that just happens and then its over before you can go "wtf was that"
this book also does something that bugs me, and maybe only me, but i'll mention it anyway. despite this book being 90s nostalgia, set sometime between original lethal protector and idk maybe carnage's first arc (if i had to guess), it makes it very clear that this is probably set around 2007 or so. with flip phones and pirates of the caribbean sequel posters, it doesnt act like it's in the 90s. and im sure thats just because of how marvel time works, but it bugs me a lot

overall the books not bad
its not good
it just is

[Ollie Tonks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was able to read this in the day, the character build ups are the classic “here is the return of” whilst having a villain being able to disrupt the symbiote venom, with insect supersonic sound waves came as a surprise to me and was a slightly underwhelming way to fake a kill off of venom. Each issue of 1-5 all follow the same story which is great!

On the other hand, there are several location switches through the comic and some are piled on top of one another which did slightly confuse me, but others may not be. Lastly the comic finished with him having a moment of deep thought and recollection before swimming off in the sea with the words “we are venom” as the finale of the comic. It was a sorta 80-90s movie ending, the “villain” escapes, the “hero” thinks about the grand scheme of things and it all ends with the “we did it” before the credits roll. Overall it is a great comic and a good read but slightly confusing at times.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Venom kehrt in die 90er Jahre zurück und wir begleiten Eddie dabei, wie er versucht, sein Leben zu meistern, Spiderman zu töten und all das, aber auch, ein Held zu sein und gegen Schurken wie Humbug zu kämpfen, was einerseits doch recht lustig war, aber andererseits wenig überzeugend war, obwohl ich die Dialoge zwischen Eddie und Venom gerne mochte.
Die Geschichte ist sehr actionlastig mit vielen eher unbekannten Schurken - sowas wie B-Promis, nur die ganze Sache mit Annie war irgendwie seltsam und hätte besser umgesetzt werden können.

Insgesamt kein besonders aufregender Band und wahrscheinlich nur für eingefleischte Venom-Fans richtig interessant, nette Unterhaltung für zwischendurch ist dieser Band hier aber allemal.

[Nick LeBlanc · Rating 3 out of 5]

I accidentally borrowed a digital copy of this from my library. It was improperly labeled as "Lethal Protector" which I mistook for the original 90s run. Considering it was so short, I breezed through it anyway. There were lots of laughs, some good art, and a fairly straightforward and compelling story. I liked the use of no-name heroes/villains. That can really work with an IP like Venom. I enjoyed David Michelinie's voice and tone so I am going to soon borrow the correct book and give that one a try.

[Rhydian Chester · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay? I didn’t realise this was based on the 90’s run (I am fairly new to comics in general and was looking for some good Venom starters since I enjoyed the movies so much, and this was highly recommended among other Venom comics I have bought). It was an okay read but the story was kind of boring… I felt like we were missing out on a lot of Venom/Eddie interactions too. Not my favourite comic characterisation of these two but a fun read nonetheless. I very much prefer characterisation like Donny Cates’ Venom run. I think this is also my sign to not read the Lethal Protector run lol.

[Rick Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first issue - Michelinie really sells the goofy but menacing version of Venom well. Venom is targeted by a group of F-list villains out to make a bounty but find themselves over their head. Honestly this series could have just been a one-shot, because the remaining four issues really don't deliver much in terms of an interesting story. Might be something more die-hard Venom fans enjoy, but I found this utterly boring overall.

[Marko Perisic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the most well-written piece out there, with the dialogue being too on the nose and with the story that could have flown better instead of trudging from one set-piece to the next with no throughline. It is at least fast-paced.

The standout is the character of Venom, a self-centred doofus. I do appreciate a writer who can make him be both goofy and intimidating, even though here it comes at the cost of developing emotionally deeper moments and character analysis.

[Adam Endacott · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the first Venom story I’ve read and it was a letdown. While I’m happy to see that Venom does kill multiple people in creative ways, the writing is just poor throughout. Every character just spouts exposition non-stop and it feels unnatural.

The artwork is nice though and it has made me more aware of what is possible with Venom and his symbiotic abilities.

[Ross Cudmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

A throw-back story for those feeling nostalgic for "classic" Venom-action.

Eddie Brock is down on his luck with the world against him, only to find hinlmself being hunted down by mercenaries and villians. Some entertaining action scenes and bits of humour sprinkled throughout the story to keep the reader interested.

[Corban Ford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this modern "retro" Venom tale with some of the original creative team! I personally wished there was more of a vigilante, darker feel (since this was supposedly closer to Venom's roots from a character perspective) but I loved the artwork and the story was solid!

[Alessandro Pensi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un Eddie Brock come non lo vediamo mai, molto pensieroso e alla costante ricerca dei motivi per cui oggi è Venom, che non si sposa così bene con il continuo susseguirsi di scontri randomici che si incontrano in questo volume. Poca sostanza e cattivo risultato.

[Sarospice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not very strong, definitely meanders to an unsatisfying ending... But the Eddie Venom relationship continues to be interesting. The ultimate inner dialogue!

[lex · Rating 3 out of 5]

la descaracterización me va a matar

[No_One · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.7

[c · Rating 2 out of 5]

"lethal protector" and yet they barely protected anyone besides themselves lol

(read in single issues)

[Malcolm Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read about the dual characters of the symbiote and Eddie Brock. They keep getting attacked by would-be heroes, Eddie's ex has gotten engaged and some institute wants to experiment on him. Plus there's revenge to be had on Spider-Man. Lots of complex emotions as well as the need to fit in and not be the monster everyone perceives him to be (in either form). Despite all the action, bright colours and quips, this is quite a melancholy story.

[Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good first issue. Multiple plots developing and it’s action-packed.