The V-Man! The V-ster! Bagley still trying to keep the stupid tongue’n’drool business to an absolute minimum, and I sure wish he’d succeeded in putting that genie back in the bottle, but alas. This one came out just the month after the Web crossover ended, it’s Venom O’Clock at Marvel now. The V-Man gets the first 3 pages to do some of his trademark exercising, explain his deal, and remind us he just found out Peter’s parents are alive and broke out of jail over it. Speaking of whom…
Peter’s sure changed his tune in a hurry on his parents. At The Bugle, he finds out Venom escaped custody, and all his other plans get canceled. JJJ, hearing the same, decides he has an idea that “will get The Bugle it’s biggest exclusive in years!” and tells his secretary to connect him to the Symkarian Embassy. Sounds weird. Switching to Spider-Man, Peter worries that Venom might go after his parents, and reminds us he swore never to hurt Aunt May, which kind of begs the question, why would he bother the folks.
Eddie becomes Venom and leaps off to attack Spider-Man, who is grateful to be his focus, and then scared. It’s almost jarring to return to this era and see Spider-Man still scared of Venom, when he’ll be just another villain eventually. I appreciate that Michelinie wants to keep Venom A Big Deal, but that’s rapidly becoming impossible.
It’s around this time and this page, even, that I notice Bagley’s approach to anatomy is changing. Things are getting more detailed and more chiseled. We’ve already seen he pushes this pretty far as he goes along. Venom quickly puts a real beating on Spidey, smashing him into the side of a building a few times and flinging him toward the street, and that dumb tongue finally comes out as he makes a Silence of the Lambs reference and moves in for the kill. Spider-Man happens to land in the middle of “the annual Winterfest Parade,” which, like, seems like it would’ve come up before now, what with the folks sightseeing and all, but whatever. Then Venom’s back on him, shrugging off his attacks and punching him through a parade float. Spidey comes back with a couple of big hits, but then runs away again. After surviving so many fights with Venom, including one, like, days prior, the idea that he’s so scared of him just doesn’t play anymore. At any rate, running away doesn’t work too well.
Venom webs that guys face into an airtight cocoon, forcing Spider-Man to ignore him while trying to rip it loose. And once he does, he’s once again swatted across the street, this time into a crowded department store.
Bagley really having some fun with Venom here.
About time, Spidey. Remember how you punched out Firelord? I’m never letting that go. Venom routes Spidey’s newfound aggression, tho, beating him unconscious while saying he’s got more pressing matters to attend to. When he wakes up, he has no idea how long he was out, but a random passerby lets him know Venom swung off talking about “hurting him even more.” And Spidey knows what that means.
What does Venom really want? I don’t actually remember. I do remember how next issue ends, but not too well. Awkwardly, hitting the stands the same month as this issue is the first issue of the previously-mentioned Venom miniseries, which explicitly takes place after ASM 375, so those of us who bought that comic could infer what was going to happen next issue. They couldn’t have waited?