Previously in Venom #37 I just couldn’t get enough of the series. Venom fights a bunch of villains, reporter Kay Kierman is invading his privacy, and Lord Ogre has hired a slew of assassins to take out the symbiote that is causing him nothing but problems.

How could that go bad? Well, by under-delivering! There will be some spoilers near the end of this issue because it’s the only part that was really worth talking about.

Don’t get me wrong, this was still a decent read. Also every scene with Venom is always amazing as this artist (as I’ve mentioned before) was born to draw symbiotes and I can’t stress enough how true that still is! I just have a few complaints for the first time on an issue of ‘Venom’ and hopefully this will be a rare thing and not become a trend.

I think my problem with the issue was expectations. I expected with how Lord Ogre ended things last issue that we were going to see Venom fighting off tons of assassins this time around. Hell, he fights Lord Deathstrike and Constrictor though we only get a small shot of each.

Honestly, he did fight a few. It was just overshadowed by the fact that the main things being pushed forward in the issue are a lot about the girl, Andi, who has stumbled across his secret and Katy, the reporter who is now becoming his unofficial ally. On the one hand, we see Andi deliberating through most of the issue as to whether she should talk to Flash that she knows that he’s Venom (and her dad pushing her to do so without knowing the details). On the other side of the spectrum, Katy Keirnan is showing Venom around (in a variety of disguises) to people he can use for information, weapons and more.

His new setup with Katy reminds me of how The Punisher used to get his tech so that could be interesting. The Andi portion of the book? Well near the end that finally starts tying into the major story. We do get some good fun when Jack O’Lantern has been lying in wait in Flash’s apartment for him to come home. He immediately sets on Andi and chases her back to her own apartment.

Now the controversial portion in my mind.

SPOILER ALERT!!

Venom pops up to save the day and he falls short. Jack O’Lantern kills Andi’s father and spreads a poisonous toxin into the room to kill her as well. This is where I’m feeling a bit miffed at what happens. With her father just dying, Venom uses the symbiote as an extension of himself to save her from the poison.

This extension? Next scene we see Andi in her own full on symbiote and both her and Venom are facing down Jack O’Lantern with her asking “Uhhh Coach?”

So she just lost her dad, is covered in a symbiote, and asks “Uhh Coach?” in a pose that looks like she’s ready to fight?

My question though she who is she about to fight?  While symbiotes have worked together in the past, it has also been referenced that they can’t stand one another. However, it is unclear if this was actually true or just the ramblings of Carnage’s host for why he felt like trying to kill Venom on that particular day.

In the next issue are we going to see these two take down Jack? Or will it be a free for all where no one is safe?

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VENOM #38
Writer: Cullen Bunn