My torment is nearly ended. It’s only just occurred to me think there’s no reason Venom should look like the classic black suit as “Spider-Man.” On Gargan, the suit looks different (For no obvious reason). As long as he’s not flashing his chompers, why does he have to look like he used to? If you’re going to the trouble of telling people that’s Spider-Man, you might as well tell them he’s designed a new suit. It makes as much sense as him going back to an old one. Ah, well. Doesn’t matter, just a thought. After a now-typical jumbled 2-page splash depicting Venom being attacked by the gangs he’s been riling up, this series’ lame villains, and Bullseye throwing corndogs, as well as some random pretty girls floating around, which we’re told is happening “now,” when then backup 18 hours to see how we got there.
Why does Norman need a Spider-Man so bad? Why not replace him with a more “classic” Avenger? Well, Venom is at the festival, and so are the remaining lame villains, and so are the gang members, so we got to that fast enough. Redeemer has sent them all the pictures proving Venom is behind their gang war, so they call a truce to find and kill him.
Sigh. Venom’s big maw is revealed on stage, though I really don’t know how much of a secret that is after this series. Then Daken and Bullseye attack him. They say Osborn’s story will be that he’s an imposter of who got in over his head fighting them. Ok, whatever. That seems really bad for Osborn’s whole cover story, but then, this is a really bad comic book. Then the gang members appear, so they can do some shooting, and also Bullseye begins throwing corndogs. Venom still has that dog stuck in his head, for some reason. Just pop it out? Peer used to do that with his camera all the time. Ugh.
You have to really want to know what’s happening on this page to stare at it long enough to understand what’s happening on this page. And I do not. This awful page is apparently also Bachalo’s last for this issue.
This is one of the stupidest comics I’ve ever read. And I say that knowing full well how many pages of 70s and 90s comics are on this blog. 2 days later, Norman informs Venom that Bullseye and Daken are back from prison. They have an exchange about whether Venom will fall in line that Bendis’ Norman would have shot Venom in the face for, which instead ends with Venom leaving and Norman just taking it. Then there’s this…
Which I guess means page 3 was taking place both “18 hours ago” and “2 days later” from “now,” and we’re out. This has been an incredibly tedious experience and I will hold it against all involved.