Hey, they let Venom appear on the cover! Maybe they shipped this when Jemas’ back was turned. This issue begins with a frankly astounding retcon:
Eddie doesn’t just have cancer, he’s had cancer since 1986, since before he ever appeared in a comic. He’s had cancer in every comic he’s ever appeared in. And it never came up! He never internal monologued about it, his ex-wife didn’t mention it, medical professionals didn’t notice when he was caught, a terminal diagnosis wasn’t a factor when he stood trial, nothin’. What a load of dreck. Why couldn’t he just have cancer NOW? It wouldn’t hurt your story! Ugh.
So the premise is it feeds on adrenaline, but it really feeds on cancer, but it also feeds on adrenaline. A wild and wildly unnecessary overcomplication no one will remember in 2 years, great stuff. Spidey thinks he finally understands why Eddie hates him, because the suit only ever wanted him. Which was evident as far back as ASM 318 (Back when the suit couldn’t bond with anyone else, remember that?), little slow on the uptake, there, Pete-O. Eddie has a coughing fit, Spidey asks if he’s going to be ok, he says he thinks the suit took things from him. He references how he and Spider-Man used to be able to “always be able to hear each other, even in our sleep,” but that he can’t hear anything anymore. This is SUCH an egregious retcon! None of this happened! Eddie thinks the suit created this mental bond through their adrenaline, which obviously makes no sense, then he passes out. Spider-Man webs Eddie up, puts him on his back, and begins scouring the city for the symbiote. He gets to the airport, sensing it’s close.
Spider-Man tells the symbiote it has 3 minutes until Eddie’s brain dies, and that he’s figured out that it’s dying, too, without a host, and that it can make this right. But it says the next time it joins with someone is the last time it can do it, which is patently untrue, lemme tell you, it’s bonded to at least 3 people not named “Eddie Brock” since 2003, and it doesn’t want Eddie. So they fight for awhile, until Spidey says it only has 30 seconds, and it says it can’t use Brock because “a child grows within me.”
You miss all the time, stop trying to impress your symbiote.
Nope! Venom’s offspring will never be mentioned again, and the next time we see Venom and/or Eddie, which will be at the top of the next block, well… things will be different. Not looking forward to that, lemme tell you, dear reader. Yet again, when trying to end a multi-issue story with a major Spider-Villain, said villain just leaves, and Spider-Man just lets him. Weird choices, Paul. Well, now we get to go back to ASM for awhile…