Eddie Brock: Carnage vol. 2 — The Killing Muse

Eddie Brock may have bonded with Carnage to save his own life, but he’s also saved countless lives by keeping the psychotic symbiote in check.  Not that his action didn’t stop that thing’s pathological need to feed, and it’s getting more desperate by the day.  The only solace Eddie has right now are some fractured memories of a woman holding a green phoenix with the demand that he remember her.  Whether or not she can help him is another story, but at least he knows she’s out there.  What he doesn’t know is that another psycho killer, the crazed murder artist known as Muse, is also hot on his trail looking for some payback (and maybe even some inspiration) after Eddie trashed his hideout.

On one hand, this is another ten-issue Marvel run which suggested that the direction of this series just didn’t click with the general public.  On the other, I actually liked the mind games that Eddie and Carnage were playing with each other to determine who had the upper hand in this body in the first volume.  Yet ten issues felt like the right length for this kind of thing before it got old, so I guess this is one of those rare cases where market forces managed to cut a series down at just the right time.  It even manages to end on a high note with Muse finally hitting his groove in this series through some A-list trolling, Eddie getting the upper hand on Carnage, and the evil symbiote finding out some key information just in time for the latest Spider-event.  It’s good stuff if you’re interested in the characters and further incentive for me to start reading “Amazing Spider-Man” again so I can find out what happens to them next.