Venom: Black, White, & Blood #2 review — A trio of new tales featuring Marvel’s Lethal Protector

Venom. What started as an edgy new costume for Spider-Man during Secret Wars has since become one of Marvel’s most infamous characters. From monstrous-looking villain to…well, an equally monstrous-looking anti-hero, Spider-Man’s dark reflection has forged an identity for itself that has only gotten bigger with each decade. 

With each issue of Venom: Black, White, & Blood, Marvel gives three sets of writers and artists a chance to deliver a look at never-before-seen stories from its favorite Lethal Protector’s extensive history, all in a distinct black, white, and red color palette. 

*Mild spoilers ahead for Venom: Black, White, & Blood #2*

First in the list of stories in issue #2 is a throwback to Venom’s early days as one of Spider-Man’s greatest villains, courtesy of writer and artist Erik Larson. What starts as a seemingly normal day for both Peter Parker and Eddie Brock quickly turns into a furious brawl between Spider-Man and Venom that endangers dozens of innocent bystanders. If the intense fight between the two wasn’t enough, Spider-Man holds nothing back as he berates Eddie for his deluded motives in a tense, sharp-tongued tirade that, of course, Eddie refuses to hear. It’s an exciting story, filled with artwork reminiscent of old Spider-Man stories. A quick reference to the movie versions of Venom was a nice touch, too. 

Next up, writer Karla Pacheco takes us back to Eddie’s time as a reluctant agent for the US government. Sent in to infiltrate a criminal outfit—and kept in line by a bomb that his handlers would like nothing more than to detonate—, Venom Vice is a fun, wacky story of intrigue straight out of the 80s. You can practically hear the ’80s music playing behind every panel. Pere Pérez’s artwork only adds to the absolutely crazy vibe of the story, especially once Venom takes over the operation. I was laughing through the entire tale, and the ending in particular had me cracking up and wanting more. 

Finally, writer Tom Waltz and artist Brian Level bring us to a much different version of Venom, from a time when the symbiote was worn not by Eddie Brock, but rather by Flash Thompson as Agent Venom. When fire-loving supervillain Jack O’Lantern attacks the opening of a veteran center where Flash was about to give a speech, he's forced into an intense battle that's heightened by an introspective internal monologue. In the end, Flash is forced to make a hard choice, one built up to by his introspection. While less fun and a tad heavier than the previous two stories in the issue, it's well written and well presented, with the limited color palette adding to the intensity of what's happening both in the battle and in Flash’s head. 

The drastically different tones of the three stories in this issue perfectly encapsulate the different sides of Venom we’ve seen over the years. While many adaptations of the character have been written either very one-dimensional or sticking to his earliest iteration, the symbiote has long outgrown its role as little more than an evil version of Spider-Man that can't move on its bitter grudge with the webslinger. True, Venom is unlikely to be included on a list of “most complex comic book characters,” but the symbiote is more than just a slobbering murder machine, and it's nice to see the different sides of it being put on display here. If the preview of what's coming in issue #3 is anything to go by, we haven't even begun to see all that the Lethal Protector can be.

Venom: Black, White, and Blood #2 is available now from Marvel Comics.