Venom by Ram V and Al Ewing vol. 1: Recursion

The Cates/Stegman (and friends) run was the first time I followed the ongoing adventures of Eddie Brock and his symbiote.  In case anyone has forgotten, I was thoroughly entertained by that “Venom” series, particularly in the way that it served to build up the main character arc by arc and while also making major changes to his backstory and status quo.  I’d say it’s the definitive “Venom” run… but it’s also the only “Venom” run I’ve read.  Until now.  Choosing to follow up Cates and Stegman’s (and friends’) work are not one, but two writers, Ram V and Al Ewing, and a hell of an artist in Bryan Hitch.  Throwing this much talent at a single series shows that while you can definitely make it readable, it doesn’t result in an instant classic.

After the events of “King in Black,” Eddie Brock was now a space god.  He had taken Knull’s place as the God of Symbiotes and was now able to direct them throughout the cosmos to be a force for good.  This has left him plenty busy and with much less time to be a proper father to his son, Dylan, who is taking out his aggressions on his fellow classmates.  It isn’t until a rescue in space goes bad, and Eddie realizes that there’s a new threat out there, that he tries to go back and reconnect with his son.  Only it’s too late for the both of them and now Dylan is on the run and his father is… somewhen else.  All because this has happened before and is happening again now.

While V and Ewing are credited as the writers on this new series, they’re not actually co-writing it together.  V is doing the present-day sequences with Dylan, while Ewing handles Eddie’s new adventure.  It’s an interesting division of labor that I haven’t seen done on a mainstream superhero title in recent memory.  Their approach works well enough here even though the majority of the focus here is on Dylan’s adventure.

That makes sense given that he’s the new host for the Venom symbiote.  So it stands to reason that we should see how things are between the two of them.  The problem is that it feels like I’m getting only a slightly different version of the father/son drama I’d expect we’d be getting if Eddie was still around.  Where the Eddie/symbiote relationship was more of a partnership, the being has absorbed enough of his personality to the point where it’s more of a father/son dynamic with Dylan.

I’m not saying they can’t go down this road.  What we get in vol. 1, however, is the impression of a direction with lots of setup.  Most of Dylan’s adventures here involve running from threats or being at the mercy of them and he doesn’t get to display much of a personality beyond being a confused and scared kid.  V executes all this competently, with some decent setup involving the latest incarnation of the Life Foundation, but there’s a distinct lack of surprise here.  You’re ultimately left feeling that you’ve read this kind of story before, even if it’s the first time for Dylan.

Ewing’s story is more interesting simply by virtue of the fact that it’s kind of a headtrip.  Without giving too much away, Eddie finds out that he has a new symbiote ability to use and it winds up taking him to (someone who is clearly) the main villain of this story.  I’d be more excited about this if not for a couple things.  The first being that this new bad guy is kind of dull in that he’s big on predestination and believing that everything is already going to his plan.  He’s not a villain who shows any kind of struggle, in other words.  The other issue is this storyline’s emphasis on predestination, which is honestly kind of ridiculous when you consider how often the timeline in the Marvel Universe has been subject to manipulation.

This is a little disappointing given that everything else I’ve read from Ewing has been immediately entertaining on one level or another.  What gives me reason to believe things are going to get better is the fact that the writer is already delivering payoff on his setups in the first volume.  There’s one scene early on involving Eddie and Dylan that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense initially.  It isn’t until you get to the fifth issue that you find out what was really going on and the result is pretty cool.  The villain’s smarmy narration at this point is also the best thing about him in this volume.  In fact, the fifth issue is the high point of the volume as it shows that even if V and Ewing aren’t co-writing every issue, they’ve got a plan and are working towards paying off on it.

Holding all of this together, and even elevating it in some parts, is the artwork from Hitch.  This isn’t his most detailed or epic work, but it’s still impressive to behold.  The artist can pull off scenes of low-key domestic squalor, and ones involving a coordinated attack on a spaceship with ease while also drawing you in with his storytelling.  He’s also an old pro at drawing superhero action, and while there isn’t a whole lot of it here, what we get still looks good.  The thing is that Hitch is more of a superhero artist than a horror artist, so anyone expecting this run of “Venom” to hold onto its horror influences will likely be disappointed.  There are some decently creepy moments, however, such as the full-page image which closes out this volume.

If you were expecting greatness from this creative team on “Venom,” then you’re going to be a little disappointed.  While the art delivers, the writing isn’t quite on the same level.  Things do show promise with V and Ewing’s long-term plans.  I’ll feel better if V can find some new angles on Dylan’s story in the next volume to make me feel like I’m reading something new instead of a bog-standard kid-on-the-run story.  Which is to say that I will be back for vol. 2 to see if things do get better from here.