Flash Thompson is in a difficult spot. His family is being threatened by the Crime-Master, he’s teamed up with his arch-nemesis Jack O’Lantern and he’s now on the run from the American military for stealing the Venom symbiote. To make matters worse, Flash has worn the symbiote too long and it has now bonded with his nervous system, making it nearly impossible to remove.
This issue, Venom breaks into a Las Vegas casino to retrieve a package for the Crime-Master. In the middle of the heist, things take a turn for the worse and Flash loses control over the Venom symbiote. Of course, this puts Flash’s family and friends at risk since the Crime-Master has threatened to kill them if Venom should fail in his mission. When Venom’s confrontation with the criminals spills out onto the streets of Vegas, news reporters flash video of the skirmish all over the news. Now the Red Hulk, who has been on the trail of Venom since he absconded with the symbiote, knows exactly where to start looking.
For the year that its been published, ‘Venom’ has struggled to stand on its own as a title outside of the shadow of Spider-Man. For several months, ‘Venom’ was nothing more than a side-story to the ‘Spider-Island’ story that was taking place over in ‘Amazing Spider-Man’. As soon as that major Spidey arc ended, writer Rick Remender took immediate advantage of the situation and took Venom out of NYC and into an adventure of his own. Next issue, things are ramping up to the next level as Venom gets his first major arc of his own. The six-part event titled ‘Circle of Four’ will feature a cross-over with Red Hulk, Ghost Rider, and X-23.
Remender’s been keeping mum on the actual plot of ‘Circle of Four’ but it should be a fun romp since it’s essentially a more lethal version of the early-90s teamup between the similarly-powered group of Spider-Man, Hulk, Wolverine, and Ghost Rider in the pages of ‘Fantastic Four’.
Verdict: Buy
VENOM #12
Written by RICK REMENDER
Art by LAN MEDINA and NELSON DECASTRO
Cover by TONY MOORE and DEAN WHITE
