In Review: Venom Volume Two – Deviation

By downthetubes Guests on February 23, 2024

Written by Al Ewing and illustrated by Ram V and Bryan Hitch

Dylan Brock, the new Venom, is in the fight of his life – and he may be in it alone! As Dylan and his symbiote continue to learn to live together without Eddie Brock, the Life Foundation has activated a deadly new operative named the Spearhead! Dylan and Venom aren’t the only ones dead in his sights – every single symbiote that they (and you!) have ever known and cared about is a target as well! Just days ago, Dylan thought his biggest problem was his father’s preoccupation with running the symbiote hive as its King in Black. Now, Eddie is gone – and the only vestige left of him is in Venom! But without Eddie’s guidance, Dylan stands poised to fulfill his destiny, and give into the same darkness that his father once did…

Review by Finn Miles

Venom Volume Two - Deviation (Marvel Comics, Panini collection, 2023)

Brought to the UK by Panini UK, Venom: Deviation collects issues 6-10 of Al Ewing’s 2021 run on the famed Spider-Man villain into trade paperback form, following up on the critical and commercial success of his Immortal Hulk, for which he received an Eisner Award for best ongoing series, back in 2019. Can Ewing bring the same level of reinvention and reinvigorated success to the similarly monstrous but fundamentally different character presented by Venom? Or are the contents of this imprint yet another example of hastily presumed success thwarted by a rising creative simply biting off more than they can proverbially chew?

First it is perhaps important to prephrase this review by establishing that this is the second volume of what is a narratively continuous series. In the first volume readers were introduced to the interesting, if hardly new or revolutionary, creative decision of transferring the twisted black symbiote of Spider-Man fame, and thus the well worn mantle of Venom, to someone other than its most famed and iconic host.

As a result, fans of the titular character were once again greeted with the reality that Venom would once again be separated from the body of Edward Charles Allan Brock, most known by the name “Eddie Brock”, to find itself possessed by another, a status quo in main comic continuity (much to the surprise of those solely familiar with portrayals of the character in more popular forms of media) that has been stubbornly persistent since the 2000s, where Brock has been consistently separated from the symbiote for over a decade.

This time, however, the recipient in question isn’t a Mac Gargan or Flash Thompson, but Brock’s own son, Dylan. As a result, we are given a balance between the often controversial habit of moving away from the Venom’s symbiote first post-Spider-Man love and establishing a new version of the character, with Brock still playing a significant, if diminished, role in the story, despite the central narrative catalyst of the series, his alleged demise. The result is a degree of familiarity, with significant narrative twists.

Unfortunately, the benefits of such a balancing act do not fully bear fruit here. Fans of the character longing for a return of the Venom that constituted a bona fide Spider-Man threat will find little to quench their thirst, with the title decidedly not interested in restoring the character’s classical heyday found upon the comic stands at the tail end of the late 1980s and early 90s. Instead, what we are given still includes what could be said to constitute the fundamental elements of the character, but largely made up of the recycling of a concept found during Flash Thompsons era as Venom, during his tenure as a member of The Guardians of The Galaxy, making Venom Sci Fi.

Of course Venom’s partial roots in science fiction have been a mainstay since the character’s inception, with its roots as an alien symbiote, discovered off world by Spider-Man on the mysterious battle world during the first Secret Wars saga, cementing the genre as a fundamental part of the character’s DNA. However, whilst in the past Venom’s space origins largely hung in the periphery as a narrative background initially cloaked in some degree of mystery and vague ambiguity, in more recent times, such as in the aforementioned Thompson adventures, we have seen the character dip fully into what is termed “Marvel cosmic”, the space Sci fi element of the Marvel universe traditionally reserved not only for the other Guardians, but Fantastic Four villains, such as the Skrull, Galactus and his many heralds.

Those opposed to such a development in the Venom mythos will thus find little in the way of correction or compromise, other than the presence of Brock and the occasional more action-packed moments of Dylan on Earth, Ewing wholeheartedly delving into the realms of Sci fi shenanigans and temporal abnormality, seemingly in part as a attempt to engage in the same sort of deconstructionism he applied to the not so jolly green giant within his award winning Immortal Hulk series.

Unfortunately for Ewing, for me, lightning doesn’t strike twice here, and his take on Venom lacks any of the flawed but ultimately not uninspired gravitas found within what is, arguably, his magnum opus. The time shenanigans and their nonsensical nature of course can’t entirely be blamed on Ewing and are something of a genre conceit, given the general illogical nature of time travel and the suspension of disbelief and acceptance of plot holes required to enjoy its use in fiction more generally. However, one cannot escape the feeling that it could have been used much better here, with its implementation often coming across as forced and bland.

Bryan Hitch, on the other hand, does a fairly admirable job here in working with Ewing’s plot points to form a book that is at least drawn well enough to avoid becoming an eyesore.

Some of the ideas in the story aren’t without merit, but feel both simultaneously underbaked and overdone, as paradoxical as that may sound. What made Ewing’s take on the Hulk notable was that it offered a fresh take on the character, that still relied on playing upon his classical essence and associated cliches. One cannot help but be disappointed that Venom‘s writing is readable, but not especially enjoyable.

Luckily, some of the visual elements combine with solid enough conceptual elements to elevated proceedings above the realms of straight mediocrity.

Finn Miles

Dear reader, a review is an opinion. Other opinions are available, including yours

• Venom Volume 2 – Deviation was released by Panini in January 2023 | ISBN 978-1804910566 | Buy it from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)

• Marvel Comics and Collections from Panini UK