Venom #17-20: Absolute Carnage

ABSOLUTE CARNAGE

Written by Donny Cates
Penciled by Ivan Coello
Published Aug-Nov 2019

   Formerly dead serial killer Cletus Cassidy has once again returned with his kill crazed symbiote, Carnage. This time, he’s collecting codices to reawaken the symbiote god, Knull, and he’s getting ever closer to his goal. While the ulterior motif possessing Maker protects Eddie Brock’s son Dylan, and Norman Osborne’s grandson Normie, he’s eventually overtaken by Carnage clones. Luckily for them though, Sleeper has arrived as a form of reinforcement.

So Sleeper put him in... a sleeper?

   The good son of Venom, Sleeper is the opposite of his maniac brother Carnage. He returns to try and fight the coming Knull-pacalypse, but is quickly overcome by the Maker, who then continues to experiment on the codices in his machine. Dylan refuses to just wait until Eddie returns, so he blows up the tanks containing the symbiotes. They quickly envelop the alt Reed Richards, and the boys are sent scrambling. Fortunately Captain America, the Thing, Spider-Man and Wolverine arrive quickly to bring some levity to the situation. 

The Fantastic Snore.

   The battle rages outside, when Dylan has an idea. He returns for Sleeper and allows the alien to merge with him - but when it happens, Sleeper senses something is seriously different with the boy. So instead he turns into a wolf and slathers his evil alien brother in napalm-like acid, which Hawkeye then burns him into a questionable stain on the concrete. 

Metal.

   Finally with the threat allegedly neutralized, the venom-verse is sorta safe. But at some point in the Absolute Carnage tie-ins, the reveal to Dylan that Eddie Brock is actually his father needs a little more time to breathe. As they talk, it seems like the wounds will heal in time. Things are decidedly less so with the Maker. As he informs the Council of Reeds, he has managed to prove the symbiote from his original universe is very much intact. He intends to use it to open a rift to his home world... But what does that mean for Eddie and Dylan? We'll have to wait to find out as this story comes to a final conclusion.

So is the Reed on this Earth on the council?

   So as many of you know by now, Absolute Carnage was nearly a 40+ issue crossover, which if attempted to read new would cost you about $160. The thing is - the story was good. But did I need a Captain Marvel Carnage treatment? Did I need the Hulk involved? Some of this was reaching and painfully unnecessary. Still, Donny Cates doesn't look like the type of guy who gets the respect he deserves at Marvel. This was a task that, although might not feel worth it on the front end, deserves respect for managing to keep it all somewhat related. So no, I didn't completely love it. But it was ok. Plus luckily it's now all available on Marvel Unlimited. I give this story an 8/10. 

If you like this review, check out my video of it HERE.

You can also buy my physical copy of this book below:

Venom #17 (Already Sold)
Venom #18 (Already Sold)
Venom #19 (Already Sold)
Venom #20 (Already Sold)

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