@bizarnage beat me to the punch earlier with sharing our collective thoughts on today’s Marvel NOW! Venom #1 teaser poster and @marvelentertainment ‘s choices for composition. I’ve had to mull over my thoughts about this announcement since lunch when I first heard of it. I basically went through a modified version of the Seven Stages of Grief, beginning with shock and mind-numbing joy. I’m now at a stage I and many of my fellow Venomaniacs are all too familiar with when it comes to the “new” in our fandom: tired, impassionate, anticipatory frustration and defeat.

To begin, let me get something straight: I love Venom. (No surprise.) If you know me, then you know that’s just a part of who I am: my intense passion for Venom and all things symbiote. I don’t really care who’s wearing the Venom suit at the time, even if it’s the late Angelo Fortunato or everyone’s go-to punching bag, Mac Gargan, I love ‘em all.

However, above all else–and even above Venom and symbiotes themselves–I love Eddie Brock. (Not like that.) He’s my top favorite character of all time regardless of which symbiote he’s wearing these days. (Venom, Anti-Venom, Toxin–bring ‘em all on!)

I’m not the only one who like Eddie’s Venom, too. There are plenty of Venom fans who are on Team Brock, and some who are devotedly so who probably suffer more than I do when another Flash Thompson Venom book gets announced. I don’t really suffer at all, actually, when one does get announced; I play for both Team Brock and Team Thompson. I like Flash as Agent Venom; Marvel’s comic creators have built him up as a strong character.

Now, the reason I’m writing this blog post is that Marvel is most likely stepping across a very important line when it comes to teasing a new series featuring a quarter-century-old, fan-favorite legacy name. The core of the issue lies in the facts that (1) the classic Eddie Brock Venom character design is the most iconic of all iterations and (2) Marvel knows this and capitalizes on it to shameless lengths. Want to sell a few hundred or thousand more units of this or that? Stick Venom on it!

Here’s the problem with that, though, when Marvel advertises comics (or games (looking at you, LEGO Marvel Superheroes) or animated shows (Ultimate Spider-Man)) with a Brock-looking Venom and little else to suggest that it’s actually Eddie and not someone else: it frustrates fans. It’s a bait-and-switch advertising tactic that the seasoned Venom fans (Venomaniacs, as I’ve coined them) have become jaded with if we’re lucky enough. I, myself, and @bizarnage and several other Venomaniacs have experienced this frustration countless times and yet each new instance kindles a bit of hope in us–only to be dashed or leave us disappointed with a weak or cheapened incarnation. (I’m still salty about Renew Your Vows, @danslott-blog .)

This bait-and-switch advertising tactic has become almost characteristic of the Venom franchise. That doesn’t make it okay, but it’s still expected. It’s probably how Marvel cold-sold a lot of Gargan-era books (see the Namor example above) and it definitely kept Daniel Way’s abominable Venom (Vol. 1; pictured above with the title, “Shiver, Part 1″) floating. The former (Gargan) probably had the closest design approximation to the original Brock-Venom, save for the addition of human-like eyes and a different spider symbol pattern. The latter series was Venom by title and featured a lot of Brock-Venom imagery on its covers but it didn’t even feature Eddie until near the end of its run; instead, the Venom you saw in the book was a host-jumping clone of the symbiote that ultimately bonded with the protagonist, Patricia Robertson–and even then this new She-Venom looked like a Brock-Venom clone.

Then came the big announcement in 2011 that a new Venom series by Rick Remender was coming featuring a new host for the titular symbiote. Okay, so we knew someone new was going to be the next Venom even if Marvel tried to hide that fact behind a shroud that suggested that it could also just be Brock returning as Venom. Even still, it was nearly obvious that this was a new guy in the suit.

And, as expected, the cover for Venom (Vol. 2) #1 (pictured above) featured a Brock-looking Venom. Here we go again with the bait-and-switch. To tell you the truth, a lot of people fell for it, too. This wasn’t Eddie, but Flash Thompson who we’ve come to know and love as Agent Venom. And Agent Venom took off like a rocket in popularity–slowly at first, but assuredly and definitively so. It doesn’t take a die-hard comic geek to see that Agent Venom has become so popular he’s starting to challenge even Brock-Venom’s advertising prowess. He’s a featured cast member on Ultimate Spider-Man, a character in several games, and has a growing portfolio of toys and action figures. He’s even been through several significant designs changes in the past few years, the most recent of which (Space Knight) had a lukewarm reception but has grown on many Team Thompson fans.

All the while, Team Brock fans have enjoyed and despaired in a rollercoaster ride of emotions in reaction to Eddie’s changes post-Venom: from Anti-Venom, which to this day still divides fans between “lame” and “apropos for Eddie’s development”; and Toxin, in which he enjoyed a nostalgic reversion to his Lethal Protector roots in Venom: Toxin With a Vengeance! yet struggles with great characterization but a piss-poor, if not pretentious redesign (which I like to call “Agent Broxin” for obvious reasons).

The Team Brock die-hards have been repeatedly disappointed with each instance in which it only seemed that Flash may be ready to give up the symbiote and allow Eddie to be Venom once again. I understand their position, too, though I don’t wholly share their sentiment. I don’t want to see Eddie become Venom again; however, if he did, I’d still read and enjoy his return.

I’m of the Team Brock camp that believes Eddie was making spectacular character development progression as Anti-Venom and that becoming Toxin was a mourned regression. Sure, we got a taste of the good ol’ Lethal Protector again with the change, but was it worth destroying his moral and personal progress? (That’s a topic for another time.)

So, back to the issue at hand. No minutiae spoilers, but in current events, Flash Thompson has been struggling with the Venom symbiote, whose moral cleansing is rapidly being undone causing the symbiote to revert into its pre-Guardians of the Galaxy: Planet of the Symbiotes corrupt savagery. Flash managed to get it under control again, but now he’s being drawn back to Earth from his space escapades to attend to some unfinished business (and to make a cameo in Civil War II). That means he’s going back to Philadelphia, his old haunt before he blasted off into space.

Those were all of the details we knew about from Marvel’s solicitations up to September 2016. Then today’s news dropped that Venom: Space Knight is getting relaunched as Venom (Vol. 3) #1 for the Marvel NOW! 2016 initiative. Accompanied with this news is the above teaser image featuring none other than a very classic-looking Brock-Venom and the tagline, “Lethal Arrival.”

I freaked out. What Brock-Venom fan wouldn’t at that teaser? I mean, judging from what we know about how Venom: Space Knight will possibly end, Agent Venom’s resulting status-quo shake-up, and the imagery and text of the teaser, who wouldn’t immediately think that this new series wasn’t going to feature Eddie’s Venomous return?

Then the jaded, rational Venomaniac in me began to have doubts (which @bizarnage helped fuel, make no mistake) and I started thinking on it. Here’s my conclusion: this is more likely than not going to be another Agent Venom series featuring Flash Thompson and this teaser is yet another bait-and-switch advertisement.

The problem is that this isn’t only expected anymore. If it turns out to be just that, then Marvel has truly taken a step too far over the line that divides pleasing the fans and profiting off them. This would be very bad advertising, ethically speaking. What pushed this advertisement over the edge on which others in the Venom franchise have straddled?

The tagline, “Lethal Arrival.”

Historically, Eddie Brock as Venom has only ever been called the Lethal Protector (harkening back to Venom’s first solo series, Venom: Lethal Protector). No other host or version of Venom has ever been referred to as the Lethal Protector; it’s a title exclusive to Eddie Brock (just as the Venom name should be exclusive to Eddie, though again, that’s an argument I can make for another time). Agent Venom has never been called a Lethal Protector; Superior Venom (when the Superior Spider-Man commandeered the symbiote from Flash for a short time) only jokingly referred to himself as the new Lethal Protector of New York (I’m betting that’s your jab at Team Brock fans, eh, @danslott-blog ?).

To even reference the Lethal Protector title in conjunction with classic Brock-Venom imagery suggests that what you’re seeing is the genuine thing. The problem with this teaser is just that: it’s suggesting something that it most likely will not be. This probably won’t be Eddie’s return as Venom; this is likely just another bait-and-switch and using this powerful combination of imagery and message for the teaser is going to work as Marvel intends.

The die-hard Team Brock fans will pick this book up thinking that their years of prayers have been answered at long last. If it happens to be another Agent Venom book–even if Marvel decides to give him the classic Brock-Venom look to appeal to these fans–there will be an outcry the likes of which haven’t been heard in the Venomaniac circle. (Dramatic, yes, but not so far from the truth, I’d wager.)

Marvel will make a dime from the issue #1 sales, which, if I recall correctly, is a marketing and sales strategy the company has adopted according to Axel Alonso (there’s an interview out there with him where he talks about this being the new norm for Marvel Publishing, the “seasonal renumbering”; I can’t find the original interview at this time). I predict that sales will drop drastically come issue #2 if this is the strategy with Marvel NOW! Venom. The die-hards will drop the book and rightfully complain that they were lied to by Marvel.

And yes, if this does come to pass (and again, I stress that this is the most likely outcome), then it will be true: Marvel outright lied to its consumers about what it was offering them. This all comes down to the inclusion of that tagline in the teaser because the tagline and image together make a promise that this is Eddie Brock as Venom once again. This will be a humongous breach of consumer confidence all to serve Marvel’s issue #1 cash-grab regime.





I’m tired. It’s late in the evening and I’m writing this from an 8-hour day full of work and several hours of souring anticipation that began as pure, excited hopefulness. I feel like I’ve peeked behind the curtain and found the Wizard wanting. I’m definitely not the only Marvel fan feeling like this, though it’s not exclusive to Venom. And the sick comedy of it all is that regardless of whether this is going to be another Agent Venom series or a true Brock-Venom series, I’m going to buy it and I’m probably going to enjoy, if not gush over it.

If it’s Agent Venom, I’ll be happy to see him back on Earth after his less-than-inspiring cosmic jaunt. Hopefully, he’ll be reunited with Mania and take to the streets of Philadelphia again. If it’s Brock-Venom, it’ll be bittersweet for me: I finally get to experience the good ol’ days of classic Venom anew, but Eddie will likely slide even further back in character development for it. Either way, though, I will be both happy and dissatisfied.

Discuss this and more symbiote stuff on @thevenomsite ‘s hub, The Venom Site, or on Reddit at r/thevenomsite. Follow my counterpart, @bizarnage, for Venom-related goodies.