The word sneaking out of Marvel is that comic book writer Donny Cates, Marvel's land grab of 2017, snatched from a career of independent books that exploded with the release of God Country at Image Comics, has more Marvel titles to be added to his name for 2018.

Already the writer on Doctor Strange, Doctor Strange: Damnation and Thanos, with the latter burning through repeated printings, Bleeding Cool gets the nod from Marvel sources that he will be adding the Venom comic book series to that list.

Which totally establishes him as the late eighties/early nineties Man At Marvel.

This, of course, at the same time the likes of Baby Teeth and Reactor are being published by AfterShock and Vault Comics too.

Venom, for those who have been abandoned on a desert island for a few decades, is a sentient alien symbiote with an amorphous, liquid-like form, who requires a host, usually human, to bond with for its survival. After bonding, the Symbiote endows its enhanced powers upon the host. When the Venom Symbiote bonds with a human, that new dual-life form refers to itself as "Venom".

The Venom Symbiote's first known host was Spider-Man, who eventually separated himself from the creature when he discovered its true nature. The Symbiote went on to merge with other hosts, most notably Eddie Brock, its second and most infamous host, with whom it first became Venom and one of Spider-Man's archenemies. It's the character's 30th anniversary this year and Marvel has been running a series of weekly Venom events to capitalise on the character's popularity and to provide a batch of trade paperback collections in time for the movie.

Oh yes, because Sony has a Venom movie in production for release later this year. Which would also put plenty of eyes on such a title.

Produced by Columbia and distributed by Sony, it is intended to be the first film in Sony's Marvel Universe, adjunct to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film is being directed by Ruben Fleischer, from a screenplay by Scott Rosenberg, Jeff Pinkner, Kelly Marcel and Will Beall, and stars Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock / Venom, alongside Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, and Reid Scott. Principal photography began in October 2017, taking place in Atlanta, New York City, and San Francisco.

Venom is set to be released in the United States and the UK on October 5th, 2018.