Here is today's Guest Reviews from the guys at Spider-Man Crawlspace for Marvel's Venom #42. I have also added my rating after each review. If you have any questions about my rating or want to discuss anything just leave me a comment.
Venom #42 - Mania Conclusion
It's all out war... with Venom, Mania, Crossbones, the DOA, and... Mephisto?
But who's on whose side?
Mania's final fate is revealed! Will she keep the symbiote?
Is this the end of Venom's dance with the devil? Or just the beginning?
Preview
The Series Finale!
Plot
So Venom and Mania make their way to an abandoned casino in Atlantic City and use a magic slot machine to summon Mephisto. Mania tries threatening Mephisto into removing the demon mark from her and he laughs in her face. Mephisto explains how the Symbiote passed the mark to Andi—apparently it absorbed its own clone some time ago (I think that is the Daniel Way run, but I suppose could also be a reference to when Venom ate Carnage in the Howard Mackie run) thus Andi’s symbiote is the Venom Clone.
Review
I’m of mixed thoughts on this. For one thing this doesn’t feel like a final issue at all. Mephisto creates more new questions than he answers, while Crossbones alludes to a mysterious master who “won’t ever be done” hunting Andi when he teleports away. I seriously doubt that whatever is going to happen with Venom in Superior Spider-man is going to resolve these plot threads; particularly since the letters page includes a farewell by Bunn in which he says “readers may never know what I had in mind for the Descent.” So on that front it is a weird way to end a title.
On the other hand Flash’s narration throughout the issue brings closure to his character arc in the series in a very good way. It is not perfect because in the middle of the book they force the word “responsibility” into several sentences and even use the phrase “Thompson luck” at one point which is trying way too hard to mirror Peter. But at its core the narration and the conclusion work with Flash discussing the things he wanted to be when he was young: a sports hero, a superhero and a soldier but never a father because of his own father’s abuse and alcoholism. And yet here he is forced to be a father figure to Andi and his embracing of that role on the final page after Mephisto gives her some pretty bad news is a great character moment—perhaps the best I’ve ever seen Flash have–so major kudos to Bunn on that one.
As for the issue as a whole there were parts I enjoyed. Flash shooting Mephisto in the face is pretty damn funny. The Crossbones fight is good. Andi/Mania remains a remarkable success for a character that in concept could easily have been pretty bad. On the other hand, I have never enjoyed Mephisto stories in general and specifically there are two things in my opinion that should never under any circumstances be in a Spider-man family comic again: the first being clones and the second being Mephisto/Deals with the Devil and we have both in this book. So a lot of this issue just isn’t my cup of tea whether it is done well or not, and it is arguable if it’s done well when you have Mephisto being summoned with a slot machine.
Images Unplugged Rating
Cover & Solicit - 3
Art, Colors & Inking - 3
Layout & Flow - 4
Story - 4
Verdict - 3.6 (7/10) - (Buy Venom) SAVE 10%
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