Brock Has the Cure

In spite of limited appearances over the past 20 odd years, Eddie Brock has always been a valuable commodity in the Marvel comics universe. A symbol of carnage, death and mayhem, Brock and the alter-ego he’s had throughout most of his life-span in comics, Venom, are always among the most devious villains when websites get bored and makes up their lists.

That alone makes it an interesting concept that Marvel decided to give Brock another lifeline and create the “Anti-Venom” character. After nearly succumbing to cancer, Brock meets up with the new Venom, Mac Gargan, and ironically, ends up nearly destroying him and becoming something much more powerful. Venom, turned inside out, both literally and figuratively, Anti-Venom is a picture of purity, as he has the ability to cure anyone of their most dysfunctional of vices, including taking powers away from heroes and villains alike, in addition to his costume being an inversion of the old Venom digs. However, when these powers are in the possession of someone like Brock, a cold-blooded killer turned savior, the end result isn’t exactly as black and white as his costume indicates.

Originally introduced in Dan Slott’s “New Ways to Die,” the character gets the solo treatment in “The Amazing Spiderman Presents: Anti-Venom- New Ways to Live.” Featuring the first three issues of this run, this trade paperback is a great introduction to the character and a throwback to Brock that many comic fans have been waiting for.

Between Slott’s work in the first issue and Zeb Wells’ excellent follow-up in the next two issues, it’s obvious that Brock has some staying power. Certifiably insane and possessive, yet undoubtedly righteous, Anti-Venom is a character that many a writer can have fun with. However, Slott and Wells don’t just tinker here; they form a personality and attitude that is a microcosm of the traditional Marvel character- tremendously strong in ability, yet flawed in character, but simultaneously intertwine elements of modern-day life, making Brock and his alter-ego accessible, fun and addicting.

Add in excellent pencils by Chris Bachalo and Paulo Siqueira, who end up doing so much more than making Brock look like an inside out Venom and you have so much more than Marvel looking to cash in on a solid character. After a look at a few of the splash pages, you’ll be convinced that the entire art team involved with this series is a step above many other teams out there and that this series has a distinct look that is anything but cookie cutter. Bloody and gritty, yet naive and playful, the artistry alone is enough to hook you into the cure for comic book mediocrity that this series provides.

At first glance, it’s easy to label this series as a potential cash cow for old school comic fans looking to relive their teenage years. In spite of that, due to top-tier writing and superb visuals, Anti-Venom is a character worth following for a while.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13874 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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