The latest installment in Flash Thompson’s attempts to become the Spider-Man of Philadelphia takes the fledgling hero down a dark… well, even darker path, coinciding with the return of his archenemy, Jack O’Lantern. This version of the pumpkinheaded villain is a cut above the standard perception of the character as a joke – in fact, he killed everyone else who ever wore the garb so he could stake a serious claim to it. Now, in Venom #38, he’s back to get his revenge on Flash for the death of his father, The Crime-Master.
Flash’s day job as a high school phys-ed teacher has cost him the secrecy of his dual identity as Venom – a prickly student named Andrea, who also happens to live in his apartment building, has figured out who he is. In this issue, we get a sense of her family life with her father as she wrestles with the dilemma of whether or not she should keep that secret or tell somebody about it. Her dad is typically sort of clueless, but he also dotes on her, and we can tell the relationship is fairly solid between them… which fairly well telegraphs that daddy’s dying before too long. Before the end of the issue, in fact, because Andrea knocks on Flash’s door to talk it over, only to be greeted with Jack O’Lantern, a guy sworn to preying on everybody Flash cares about. Cue terror, cue Venom’s arrival, cue murder. The twist isn’t the death, though – the twist is that, in trying to save Andrea’s life from deadly Jack O’Toxins, he inadvertently symbiotes her up entirely, and it looks like Flash has a teenage sidekick on his hands now.
I still like this book, but lately, Cullen Bunn’s writing has felt a bit uninspired. There’s no real shock to Andrea’s father’s death, as we see it coming from a mile away. Teen Girl Venom might turn out to be interesting – especially since she’s likely to be just as pissed at Flash as she is at Jack – but if there’s one thing that sours me on symbiotes, it’s the endless multiplications and spin-off versions. Venom is all right, Carnage is lame, and everything else is even worse than lame. I don’t want to be choked out by Maximum Goo-Monsters. I’m also not a big fan of Kim Jacinto’s artwork, which has that sketchy sort of cross-hatch crazy shading that makes everybody look dirty and gross. Also, the whole slobber-tongue thing reminds me of lamer times, too. Yeah, I know it’s part and parcel with Venom, especially when he’s highly agitated, but I still hate it. I started reading this book because of the new look and design, and kept with it because it was darkly compelling. If it starts spinning its wheels and getting all slobber-monster all the time, I’ll start tuning out.
Venom #38 isn’t bad. Just kind of rote.
