#and venom's expression upon reading eddie's thoughts

[gardens-light]

Friends To Lovers

Writers Note- First post/fanfic. Hope you enjoy.

Warnings: Light smutt. Fluff. Fingering. Unexpected/Slightly forced sexual interaction.

You and Eddie Brock have been friends as long as you can remember. Growing up in the same neighborhood as kids, witnessing highs and lows throughout the years. But since his public interview with Carlton Drake and the breakup of his ex fionce' Annie. You've watched Eddie go into a downward spiral, becoming distant with you, which he's never done.

Friday. 8:30pm.

The harsh, winter wind nipped your ears and fingers as you stood in front of the bare bricked apartment block. A heavy sigh breathed from your lips, trying to ignore the side glances of people outside. "Why am I even here?" Questioning yourself as you rubbed your hands together, attempting to stay warm.

Eddie hasn't returned any calls or texts for weeks, which at first only bothered you a little, till yesterday. Your worries and concerns grew when his ex, Annie called you, explaining Eddie's recent 'episode' and basicly calling him 'crazy.' Her voice echoed inside your head, 'you're his friend! Say or do something! Eddie already ruined things for me once. You'll wouldnt let him do it again!' You never liked her, but always remained positive and kept your opinions to yourself whenever Eddie spoke of her.

Not being your first time visiting the building, you found Eddie's door easily. But that didn't stop the nerves and worry consume you, after slight hesitation you gently knocked on the door.

---

Eddie's head suddenly perked up from the table, slowly waking up from his drunken nap. The gentle knock on the door came again, eyes widening when a familiar voice calmly called out his name.

She is at the door.

Venom's deep, darkening voice echoed inside his head. "I know..."

You've been ignoring her. Upsetting her.

"It's for the best..." Eddie's attempt at convincing made Venom laugh. Closing his eyes as he placed his head upon the table, hearing the muffled voice call out to him caused him pain. Wincing in discomfort as the ache in his chest tightened.

Extending a tendril from his host's body, wrapping it around the neck of the empty beer bottle and suddenly launching it against the nearest wall. "What the?-" "Eddie? Are you ok?" "What was that for?" He hissed lowly at the symboite. But Venom remained quiet, forcing his host to walk towards the door, peeping through the eyehole he saw you. Standing there, still with a worried expression while playing with your fingers. "G-Go away! Leave!" Those words tasted like poison burning his throat, his heart aching more as your face saddened.

---

"I-I-" "N-No! Leave!" Gathering the stubbornness you had, your hands curled into fists as they remained by your side. "I wont leave! Not until you tell me what's wrong! What's been going on?-" "N-Nothing! I'm fine!" You could hear the pain within his voice. The loneliness in his tone, you curled your lips as you thought, why? Why was he acting like this?

"Eddie... please talk to me, Annie told me what happened at the restraint" there was a slight pause before Eddie spoke again. "What did she say?" "That you stormed towards her and her new partner as they sat at the table. Rambeling about your 'proof' about Carlton Drake- whatever that means. Then you suddenly snatched and eat food from other people's plates, all before exclaiming to everyone you were hot and sat in a fish tank filled with live lobsters." "Th-That's not, ugh that bad-" " you eat the lobster from tank! Alive and fresh while sitting in the tank!." Eddie's voice fell silent when you raised your voice, calming your nerves, your fists unclentched and leaned against the door. "Please Eddie... let me in, just talk to me" you tried to keep your voice from breaking but tears reached your eyes as he snapped. "N-No! Annie thinks I've gone crazy and so will you! Sometimes I feel like I've gone crazy! Carton Drake took everything from me. My job! My home! My girl!-" "but not me."

You were greeted with another silence from his side of the door. Allowing you to repeat yourself, "but not me. You may have lost your career, home and fionce', but not once have you ever lost your friend. I have no idea what's happening or what you're going through, but nor am I understanding why you're pushing me away." "Why would you care?" You blinked multiple times in confusion, your voice breaking as tears rolled down your cheeks. "Why would I care? Because you're my friend! We've been through so much- too much! To stop caring about one another now!"

Leaning your head against the door, with your hands remaining still against the wood. "I've missed you... so much"

---

Matching your position on his side of the door, Eddie breathed deeply accidentally admitting in a low tone. "I've... missed you too"

Aww, isn't that nice?

"Shut up!" Eddie cursed under his breath.

Look at her. You did this to her.

"I-I know" feeling the symbioates toothy smile inside his head. Eddie witnessed as the black trendrils wrapped around the door knob.

Let's, let her in.

"No!-"

C'mon... I won't interrupt. I shall be on my 'best' behavior.

Not giving him a chance to react, the door opened with a slow extended swing. The pair of you gazing at each other in awkward silence, tears continued to roll down your face.

---

Losing yourself, you stepped towards him and wrapped your arms around his toned torso. Eddie pulled you into his apartment, gently closing the door behind him. Surprising you as he hugged you back, squeezing tightly. Not that he would admit out loud, but he missed your touch, your warm hugs, even the sound of your voice and the smell of your favorite perfume.

Gently pushing him away, looking up at him through watery eyes, so many questions swirled around your head but all you could mutter was, "why?." The longer you gazed at him, the more you saw the change. Eddie always kept his brown hair sleek and styled, but now it was greasy and unkept. Dark circles and slight bags framed his hazel eyes, indicating days- possibly weeks of sleep deprived. Pulling you back for another tight hug, resting his chin upon your soft hair atop of your head. "I... don't know" he admitted, "I don't know."

Realizing he may have held you for too long, Eddie quickly let you go before you had a chance to feel lost in his embrace. Panic quickly flashed across his face as the symbioate's low growl rumbeled in his chest. Only speaking the word.

Hungry.

Shock and confusion came to you, as you witnessed him stumble towards the kitchen, each movement being jumpy. "D-Do you want something to eat?" The tone of his voice was quick and jumpy, moving too fast for his reflects, eyes darting rapidly.

Pulling the fridge door with unessarcery force, Eddie took two beer bottles and placed them onto the counter top. You quickly grabbed the bottles of alcohol, saving them from falling over. Your eyes widened as he opened the cupboard door, grabbing a bag of chips and forcing them open, causing loose pieces to fly out of the packet. Grabbing handfulls and shoving them into his mouth, before throwing the packet into your direction, then immediately reaching out for the packet of biscuits.

"Whoa! Whoa! Stop" you called out, stepping towards him but before you had a moment to react, Eddie threw the biscuits away from him. Reaching out for you instead, his hands grabbing your waist and forcefully pinning your back against the wall. Your gaze remained wide eyed as you tried to make sense of what just happened, feeling his quick breath upon your face, you wasnt sure what you were supposed to feel.

Nothing made any sense to you. Eddie was always calm and confident, not jumpy and jittery like he is now.

---

His eyes looked down at your waist, then back to your confused expression. Eddie felt his heart beat like a rapid drum within his chest.

Delicate curves. Soft skin. Lovely eyes.

"No! No! Don't you harm her!" He growled lowly to Venom. "Y/N is my friend! We don't harm friends!"

Who said anything about harming her? Y/N, is attractive. Brave. You have feelings for her. Sexual thoughts.

Eddie shook his head, attempting to stop the symbioate from talking. Stopping him from reading anymore of his feelings which he tried to bottle up.

Yes, you do. They're all here, inside your head. Dreams. Desires.

"No! Not now!" "No what?" Eddie pulled you away from the wall but also away from himself. Stumbling a little, just stopping as your heels hit the couch. "You shouldn't have come!" His voice was more jumpy and quick than before. "I-I'm not myself! I can't control what I'm feeling! Thinking! Acting!-" "It's ok" Eddie loved but also hated how calm and collective you were. You always tried to work things out, even when it appeared hopeless or unusual.

You want to Eddie. The need for her is strong. I can taste it. I can feel it.

"Leave! Just leave!"

---

Without warning Eddie lunged forward, pushing you onto the couch as he crawled on top with predator like movement. Stretching the collar of your top downwards, exposing your breasts, his mouth opening wide placing your breast inside. You bit your bottom lip, feeling his tounge swirl and circle, while firmly grasping your other breast with is free hand. His jaw moved slightly as he sucked on your skin, tounge licking your nipple as satisfied moans came from him.

You closed your eyes as heat built up in your core, slowly moving downward towards between your thighs. Realising his firm grip upon your breast, feeling his fingers trace the curves of your body. His touch flowing downwards, slipping between the gap of your skin and undergarments. A low moan escaped from your lips as his fingers softly felt your folds, before placing his middle and index finger into you. Both fingers curling upwards within, making your back arch and causing your legs to quake. Your fingers clutching onto his shirt as you felt wetness come to his fingers.

Burying your head against his shoulder, as he raised his head from your chest. Hearing your gasps of breath and low moans into his ear, Eddie felt his trousers tighten around his crouch, breathing deeply as he became satisfied of the wetness around his fingers. Slowly pulling them away from you and out of the gap between your skin and undergarments, raising upright and sitting upon your hips. Eddie saw the hot mess he turned you into, your gazes met and he watched you flush pink, returning your smile as he unbuttoned his jeans.

No communication was needed. You both wanted what the other craved for.

She wants us, Eddie. Make her crave. Make her scream.

The heat and wetness between your legs grew as you bit your lip. Watching him unbutton his jeans, pulling out his full erection. Pushing down your leggings and undergarments, you moaned his name loudly as Eddie drove his member deep into you, thrusting hard against your g-spot.

#reader x venom #eddie brock x reader #venom #venom symbiote #marvel fanfiction #fanfic #gardens_light

[venomous--fics]

Anon requested: Can I please request Eddie Brock/Venom helping their s/o who has a tendency to overwork themselves? Like they work super hard at work, go above and beyond at school, but end up so tired and exhausted and anxious bc they should be doing more? Thank you!!!!

You groaned as you kicked the apartment door shut with your foot, nearly losing the papers you were comically holding in your mouth and arms. You carefully set everything on the table and began setting it into the appropriate stacks so you could continue working. It wasn't unusual for you to bring work home, but for the last couple of weeks, you've brought home nearly triple than what you were supposed to.

At first, Eddie didn't see it as an issue because you still got the right amount of sleep, you ate, showered, basically, you functioned like a normal human. But lately, he's gotten kinda worried because he's noticed how your anxiety has been making you go into overdrive. Sure, you liked going a bit overboard to show off, but now it just seemed like it was a real problem. 

Eddie had gotten home an hour after you did, and as he would've guessed... You were slouched at the table. Pen in your mouth, paper in your left hand, right hand holding your head up as your eyes fought to stay open long enough to even hit the space bar on your laptop. Maybe it was just a long day, he thought, but he saw that the plate of dinner you'd made for yourself was still in the microwave. It wasn't even warmed up.

He sighed as he took his jacket off and shushed Venom, who was confused as to why you were behaving this way. Outside of Eddie's anxiety, he didn't know how it affected different people. He didn't want to say it, but it worried him. Humans were stupidly complicated.

Eddie sat to your right and neatly set his folded hands on the table, "Hey. How was work?"

It took a minute for your fried brain to register that he was even there. Your glazed over eyes trailed over to him, "What?"

Eddie smiled a little and quietly shut your laptop, "Babe, I- Well, we think you need a break."

"But I-"

Eddie got up from the table and walked over to the fridge, "No if, ands, or buts."

You looked at the mess of papers, feeling so irrationally uneasy about taking a break. Your brain wouldn't stop telling you to just ignore him and keep working. If you don't do it now, it'll never get done. You'll probably lose your job if you don't finish all of this work right this very second. 

"So, I'm no cook-"

"You really aren't."

"As I was saying-"

"You burn water, Eddie. I didn't think that was physically possible....But I guess it is for you."

"As..I was-"

"You always burn my tater tots too. It's not hard to follow instructions, Eddie."

Eddie sighed as he set the box of pasta noodle on the counter, "Why don't we ask Y/n to help with dinner then?"

"At least they don't burn water."

They paused for a moment. Normally you were ready to step in and make dinner, or tell them to bicker somewhere else, to which they'd just step to the other side of the table. But there was nothing. They turned their attention to you, and surprise surprise, you were working again.

"Don't you want to help with dinner?" Eddie asked a bit sheepishly, "You know I really suck at this.."

"Mmhmm." you hummed, "In a minute."

"Babe-"

"I said in a moment," you repeated.

Eddie walked back to the table and shut your laptop, and again, like earlier, it took your brain a moment or two to process what was happening.

Your hands slumped into your lap and you rested against the back of the old chair, staring blankly ahead. Eddie wasn't sure if you were giving him attitude or if you were just so tired that you didn't want to talk, but he just didn't like seeing you like this.

"Can you please take a break?"

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"I have to get it done."

"Right now?" Eddie flipped through some of the papers and noticed that some of the dates were for next week, "Babe, you're gonna work yourself to death.."

You clenched your fists and pinched your eyes shut, "I have to get them done so that way I don't have to worry about them anymore."

"I was okay with you bringing, yknow, a normal amount of work home but this is a bit much, isn't it?" Eddie looked back to you, and that’s when he finally noticed the dark circles under your eyes. He sighed, not in disappointment or anything, just out of guilt that he didn't stop you sooner, "Listen to me."

He sat back in his original position, to your right, "Well, I mean, more like trust me.. This shit sucks, like alot, but worrying about it all the time isn't going to make it better."

"But, if-"

"Finishing it early won't really make a difference either." Eddie immediately realized how harsh that sounded, "What I mean is that, by the time you even get to the stuff for next week- It's gonna be next week..."

You sighed, caving in a little, "I guess I got a little.. Overzealous. I just.. I really need to stay on top of it all-"

Your sentence broke off into intangible rambling and you got so worked up about it all that you started crying, and then you started crying more because you were crying for a silly reason.

Eddie quickly pulled into a hug and rubbed your back, "It's okay, I promise. Just take a deep breath."

You listened to Eddie and took a few deep breaths, and when you calmed down enough, you noticed that your arm felt a bit warmer. You looked and saw Venom coiled around your arm, like a slick little worm, and his small blob head rested on your shoulder, and for the first time in a while, he looked sad or upset.

"Sorry," you said quietly.

Two little white eyes looked up at you, almost innocently, and not like he had eaten a mugger two hours prior to coming home, "It's not your fault."

Eddie, wanting nothing more than you help you feel better, helped you stand up, "How about this..?"

You looked up at him, wiping your face a little, but Eddie moved your hands and cupped your face, "What if Venom and I attempt to make dinner while you take a shower and get into something comfier?"

That did sound nice, you hadn't noticed how stiff your clothes felt.

"And we can watch whatever you want, or eat in bed, I don't care."

You paused for a moment, and Eddie knew you were thinking about working still. With your face still in his hands he gently tilted your chin up and gave you a soft kiss on the lips, "Won't take no for an answer, love."

"What if I want to eat in the shower?"

"Sounds terrible," Venom chimed, still latched to your arm.

You chuckled, and you saw how Eddie and Venom both lit up at the sound. You stifled another chuckle as you playfully ran a finger under Venom's chin as he uncoiled himself from your arm, "Okay, okay, I'll shower."

"Thank you." Eddie said, stepping back to the stove.

You were about to head to your bedroom for clothes when you looked back at the table. Eddie could feel you staring, "I promise we will help you work tomorrow, or the day after, but-"

"It's alright, I was just.." You cleared your throat, "Thinking about clearing off the table."

"And I'm the president," Eddie quipped, setting the pot of water on the burner.

"No you're not."

"It's an expression."

"I'm not happy about it."

"No, not that kind of-...That's an emotion."

"I feel nothing."

You laughing as you gathered some clothes and went into the bathroom, "It seems like V is quiet the comedian."

"Don't encourage him."

You started the shower and the moment the warm steam started filling up the room, you felt ten times better. Maybe you should really just take a step back for a bit. Take it easy, as all your friends would say.. Of course, you were stubborn so there's no telling if you would actually listen, but, it was worth a shot. Also, why do warm things have to be so relaxing? You were almost dozing off in the shower. It was nice, you had to admit, but, not exactly a good place to just fall asleep in.

You couldn't help but think about all the work you should be doing, but you tried to shut it all off by imagining the mess you'd have to help clean up after pasta night. It was a bit amazing how big of a mess one, arguably small, alien could make with a single noodle.

Maybe there was other things to worry about. Not that you should worry, but habits die hard. Either way, worried or not, you finished up in the bathroom and got into the comfiest clothes you'd worn in a while. And upon leaving the bathroom, you could hear Eddie and Venom bickering in the kitchen about how to cook the sauce. 

"Just read the can." you said, smiling as you stepped into view.

"That's easy for you to say," Venom said, "I can't read English."

"That explains alot," you replied.

"It's difficult. Eddie is no better."

"I love you guys."

"We love you too."

Eddie awkwardly held out a sauce covered spatula, "Could you.. Help me? I'm a bit worried I'll burn the sauce."

You took the spatula, "Just gotta make sure it doesn't get too hot."

"Oh."

"That's what I said," Venom spat.

You snickered a bit more as you helped your boys out in the kitchen. Dinner went smoother than expected and all three of you wound up crashing on the couch, wrapped up in a huge blanket Eddie had bought over the holidays because, 'It was on sale.' For your information, it had puppies and hearts on it, so Eddie bought it for those two things alone. Price was an after thought. It's always an after thought with Eddie.

#eddie brock imagine #eddie brock x reader #marvel imagine #marvel x reader #venom imagine #venom x reader

[boogiewrites]

Reports & Repertoire 17: Resentment & Return

Characters: Eddie Brock x Venom x Candace Miller (OFC)

Summary:  Candy tries to find her way about the world after being roofied and hushed by the media. Eddie is hit with a strong dose of karma, and it's two against one.

Warnings/Tags: Angst. Talk of past trauma and drugging. Revenge plots. Violence and threats.

Click on my icon then go to Mobile Masterlist in my bio for my other works and chapters. 

On the navy comforter of her queen size bed, sat in the middle of her minimalist white and grey room, Candy sits with her best friend Steph who is currently threatening her if she blinks one more time.

“You act like you’ve never put on eyeliner before.” Steph remarks with her judgment not hidden in her tone or expression.

“It’s different when other people are doing it!” She whines. “The makeup artist at work doesn’t do it as hard as you.” She mutters. “She’s also a lot nicer.” She shoots an accusatory brow her way.

“Well she’s getting paid isn’t she?” Steph smirks.

“Fair point.” Candy responds without nodding her head. “But you love me so you should be nice to me. I’m about to go do some important stuff I need support.” She reaches out and grabs at Steph’s unoccupied hand desperately as she bites her tongue and titters.

“Yeah, that’s what you got Eddie for now.” She snarks and shakes her head. “Speaking of, what does he think about all this?”

“He’s as pissed as I am so he’s down. He’s my backup.” She answers with a sultry lilt.

“I’m sure you are backing it up on that beefy, award-winning journalist.” She teases with a fanciful swipe of her hand. “Tell me. When you two have sex do you both have a press conference afterward to discuss the transaction?” Her face remains without a hint of sarcasm as was her skill set.

“As a matter of fact we do. It’s very productive.” She retorts with sassy. “The copy is good to keep and read later alone.” She grins.

“You fuckin’ nerds.” Steph mumbles and shakes her head. Steph was more skilled when it came to makeup than Candy. So for this undercover mission to the rich tech club where the drugging happened, she was helping her not look like herself.

After the initial turn down of her idea to expose the apparently rampant problem she’d been a victim of, she does what few journalists choose to do and gives away her story to someone else. There was a smaller female journalist who did some excellent work at a small newspaper locally. Candy offered her help to give her some footage, evidence and lend the story and support to the endeavor.

The night for the first recon mission was finally upon them. Eddie sits nervously in the modern and cozy living room, knee bouncing and knuckles white with worry. Venom tries to console him, assuring him they would never let anything happen to Candy. Eddie knows, finding his counterparts attempts at comfort to be failing. Putting his favorite person in danger wasn’t really something he could be talked into being excited about. Not a worst-case scenario by far, but a loudly nagging issue, was having to sit and listen to the men hit on Candy all night and that alone was raising his blood pressure.

Candy had pulled out all the stops when it came to mission from the glasses that had a camera inside and nail polish that reacted to Rohypnol, or Roofies. She had to specially ask for the kick starter to be sent to her before the release with the promise of free advertising after the fact to get it. She reveals her disguise, exiting from her bedroom, Venom slithering around the back of the couch to see her before Eddie. She was in something that looked entirely unlike her. A short and tight black dress, a push-up bra with chicken cutlets and enough makeup to give her flashbacks to middle school cheer competitions.

“How do I look?” she asks with a scrunch of her nose.  It’s usual button shape now straight with the help of Steph’s contouring.

“Not like you.” Eddie remarks with an approving nod.

“A big titty goth girlfriend.” Venom says with no humor or irony and the girls begin to laugh. “Why is this funny? This is what Eddie says. Why are you embarrassed Eddie? Large mammary glands and gothic styling are wonderful things in a girlfriend. She wears black. Like me.” he grins as Edie blushes.

“It’s a...an old internet thing, dude just… don’t go around talking about titties so freely. It’s rude.”

“I did not mean to offend… thought it was a compliment.”

“Good use of slang there, hun.” Candy praises his efforts. “I appreciate both of your thinking I have big tits though. It’s just the bra.” she laughs and shakes as Venom’s grin grows wider.

“Calm down.” Eddie groans.

“We are calm,” he says retracting himself back to Eddie’s shoulder. “Are you ready? We’ve got a long night ahead of us.”

“Let’s check the camera first.” Candy says with a clear enthusiasm Eddie did not share.

They run the tests and she learns how to direct her gaze most efficiently. They’d gone over the plan a dozen times. Arrive alone, sit and be bait while Venom lurked on the roof and kept a lookout for her and her victim. They left the house separately, both in taxis that picked them up at places other than her house. She arrived as planned and sat, and waited.

For a girl that looked like her, in a bar like that, it didn’t take long once it was established she was alone. No one recognized her, but she didn’t expect them to, Steph’s contouring really was a miracle worker. She played fun and easy, and it took a few guys, but late enough in the night she finally caught one as she played drunk on top of everything else. She didn’t see the guys who had drugged her before, which was a letdown but anyone who would do this deserved it right?

She talked him up, a trust fund baby who, with his father's money, had a tech start-up. It took no effort on her part to get him talking about his genius and how HE would run Tesla if he had the chance. There were a lot of “Oh my god that’s CRAZY!” and “That’s SOOOO smart.”’s from her but he was so caught up in hearing himself he didn’t notice the soundboard answers as they came from her like a kid hitting buttons on a customized keyboard. With the mere suggestion of her excusing herself and asking him to get her another drink, he was antsy to put his own plan into action. On return, she tested it while distracting him with her chest. A task that proved almost too easy. She fake drank for a while before claiming to feel sleepy and wanting to “get this show on the road” before it got too late.

With a short walk, not even a few blocks down, she knew her alien accomplice was close, slinking in the darkness of the rooftops. The disguised Candy pulls the unsuspecting predator out of the street lamp lit sidewalk and into the dank shadows of the greasy alleyway.

“I  just can’t wait.” she giggles “I don’t want to chance my roommate being in and I want you all to myself.” she coos with a bop of her manicured finger to his nose.

“I mean, your roommate can join in too if she wants.” he offers with a smug smirk.

“Well, the problem is my roommates a dude.” She answers with an upward inflection.

“Ah, red flag much?” he laughs.

“No. He’s my boyfriend… and inhabited by a symbiote.” Her delivery goes flat, sober eyes meet the pursuer turned victim.

“What the fuck? You goth girls are fuckin’ crazy, man. Not even the drugs could come up that shit.” he shakes his head, still laughing.

“No. Really. He’s huge and dangerous and doesn’t like you. You’re a piece of shit who tries to drug women to sleep with them because you're a pathetic excuse for a human who can’t get laid on his own.”

“Wait, what?” he stutters, suddenly standing up straight as Venom drops from the rooftop behind her in an impressive slinking mass. She has to admit, the look of horror on his face did things to her. The sheer terror that only being faced with death could give a dense, self-worshiping asshole like him.

“We’re going to eat you. First that big head of yours...then slurp up your organs like fava beans and then drink your adrenaline glands like a nice  chianti.” His dagger teeth drip with drool, proof of his hunger and intention.

Candy beams with pride for the completion of their plan, stepping back and chuckling quietly at the reference Venom made. The guy doesn’t even have time to scream. There’s not a drop of blood or splatter left of him to find. It’s like it never happened at all.

Candy is left with a deeply satisfied, albeit disturbingly good feeling in her gut. “I’ll see you later, babe.” she whispers and just as quiet as they’d came, they fled.

This continued for a few weeks, the footage of the drugging is stored on an external harddrive Candy kept in her safe. Eddie thought it’d only happen once. But it happened again, twice, three times more before there were articles about mysterious disappearances of the young rich elite in town. Was it the work of the Illuminati some articles asked? She read them with her coffee every Tuesday and smiled knowingly. It pleased Venom. Finally, a human that understood him and his need to kill to eat and protect this planet and its people. But Eddie was more worried than relieved at this point.

—- “You made us stop hunting when we got too much media attention. And now you want to go out and do it again?” Candy could hear the concern for her in Eddie's voice but her own was too strong to heed his warning.

“I wanna find the guy that originally did it to me, Eddie.” Her eyes give away the hurt that’s been fueling her anger as her hands move animatedly while she argues her point. “These are awful people, same as who you get rid of, there’s no reason not to give it one more shot.”

Eddie sighs and puts his hands on his hips, feeling as if he was talking to his old self. “Candy, I don’t want a fight alright? I get why you’re upset and I’d be upset too!” His voice inflected hugger pitched with feeling, “Hell, I AM upset! I get it. I do but ya know you can’t keep pushing it. Your luck will run out… like mine did. You’ll push it just one step too far because of your pride and then boom, it all falls apart.”

“Am I supposed to just let it go what they did to me? To the countless other girls they’ve done it too?” He saw the tears she fought back and his heart hurt for her. He suddenly understood everyone that had tried to warn him of the same thing in the past. It was weird karma to witness.

He sighs and gives her sad and tired eyes, much like the ones she was giving him. “You aren’t… losing by moving on ya know. You can’t win them all, just believe me, babe, please. I’ve BEEN where you are alright? I GET it! I swear I do but you can't fix every wrong out there. You just can’t… I’m sorry.”

“I’m going out tonight. And you’re going to be there. That... I hesitate to call him a person but that asshole will be there who did this to me. I just know it. Let me do it just one more time and I’ll stop okay? Please Eddie?”

He groans and feels Venom wants to give his two cents. He was on Candy's side. But of course, he was, he didn’t grasp the situation fully because he couldn’t, he was damn near indestructible right now and one more buffet of bad guys seemed like it had no downsides when you took into account it meant making Candy happy. And they both wanted that, so desperately. She’d been so much happier since they’d started this after the funk she denied she’d fallen into after the roofie.

“Fine.” He says with more anger. “But just one more time Candy I swear to god, this is the last time I’m helping you do this.” He wags his finger and she doesn’t care. She doesn’t notice. She’d already gotten her way.

—— She had her ritual now she liked to do, the getting ready and primping. The adrenaline rush was enough to get anyone hooked on the feeling. Perhaps it was what made her go against sound advice. Perhaps it was the lack of justice for herself, feeling like a martyr to take on people who seemed untouchable. It was the origin story she’d dreamed of since she was young. A woman wronged, going against the bad guys for the ultimate revenge and winning against the odds. It was everything she’d wanted. And she foolishly thought she could have it.

She was right about one thing. The guy that drugged her was there that night. She and Venom only used this convenient coincidence to shut Eddie up. “It’s a sign!” They’d hissed together.

“It’s a bad idea.” was Eddies defeated reply.

Candy enjoys this one a little too much, a little too true-crime podcast subject for Eddie's liking.

She leads him to the alley with her curves and promises. Her heels giving her no trouble but her wobbly ankles playing like they did all the same to the target.

“You believe in karma?” She proposes, lips so close she could taste the alcohol in the air on his breath.

“Nah, you get what you work for. You gotta step on some toes sometimes to prove you’re the best. If you lose you didn’t try hard enough.” He cockily answered. Something he’d probably picked up from the few interactions he had with him billionaire father growing up. His trust fund was a shield against his own evil deeds.

“That’s a shame. Because I do.” She sighs.

“I don’t think we have to match up on our philosophy 101 ideas, babe.” He chuckles. “Don’t have to have anything in common at all to do what I wanna do to you.” His hands lead to her hips and next thing he knows there’s a knife pressed into his neck. This was new. This wasn’t part of the plan.

Eddie's heartbeat picks up as he sees through Venom's eyes what’s happening. She was in too deep and she was only going to dig herself deeper.

“I’m glad we have one thing in common for what I’m going to do to you.” She snarls, taking her wig and glasses off.

“What the…?!” He says with no fear and only surprise. “Wait aren’t you? Holy shit you again?” He laughs. “So you’re the one doing this little vigilante justice thing. How cute.”

“Cute? You were going to rape me and my friend you fucking disgusting, baby dicked piece of shit.”

“They're onto you sweetie.” He grins. “You can do whatever you want to me but you think killing the brightest minds in the world was a smart idea? Like no one would come looking? You really are stupid.”

“You can call me whatever you want because you’ll be dead and I’ll be able to breathe a little easier knowing one less asshole like you is in this world.”

“Do what you want little girl, but I’m gonna put up a fight you can’t win.” He smirks.

“Doubtful.” Is Venom's response as he appears looking over Candy in the dim and dank alley.

“Good riddance.” She says angrily, putting her wig back on. She continues to mutter curses and name call while her eyes well up with a long-held release that was a long time coming.

“Are you-“

“I’m FINE.” She snaps and wipes at a falling tear. Venom recoils noticeably. “I’ll... see you later.” She rushes out before stomping off.

“Eddie?”

“I know man. She’s just… going through a lot.”

“We are worried.”

“Yeah. We are.”

-----------------------------

@hardygal69​ @marvelgirl7​ @emerald-bijou @brianaisasongbird​ @vale0413​ @izzy-the-ginger​ @chortletortoise @onomatopoetic-aesthetic @anrm1 @jademox​ @nightcraver​ @venomous-possibiities @tinastarkandco​ @chipster-21​ @ugly-crying-over-bucky-barnes​ @queenof-wakanda @s-h-e-w-r-i-t-e-s​ @peakys-mystic​ 

#venom #eddie brock #eddie brock fanfic #venom fanfic #venom fan fic #venom fandom #venom fan fiction #venom fic #tom #eddie brock fic #eddie brock fan fiction #eddie brock x ofc #eddie brock au #eddie brock x reader #eddie brock fan fic

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Absolute Carnage #1 Thoughts

Absolute Carnage is an Absolute Triumph!

Do not get it twisted. I will not be covering older or future issues of Cates’ Venom run. Nor will I be covering every tie in issue for this event. In fact I was not planning on covering the main book in the first place.

But after reading it I now will be and have put it on my pull list.

Cates’ Venom work has been tremendous despite the detractors.

There have been some writing issues with older Venom continuity, but those issues are the by product of Cates desperately loving this character and the symbiote franchise and wanting to make Eddie Brock and his version of Venom a viable anti-hero protagonist character going forward.

To be clear I still fundamentally oppose that direction for the character, but if it must happen (and sales practically demand it happen) then yes we should have good writing accordingly. Cates has thus reinvented Brock and Venom (without a total overhaul) and rendered them fascinating, sympathetic, but still with plenty of edge and moral ambiguity.

He has not done the same for Carnage. He has simply taken Carnage and made him true to what he always was. A force of nature, a force of chaos and death with a Freddy Krueger wisecracking personality.

However what Cates has done for Carnage is reframe him in this story.

Whereas before Carnage was a spikey, sharp obstacle heroes needed to band together to bring down, now he’s beyond that. As he says, he is a God now, or at least almost Godlike. A Red Grim Reaper that even a monster like Venom is rightly afraid of.

Heroes might be able to stall him for awhile, but never stop him.

Much like Freddy Krueger, or Jason Voorhees or any of the classical slasher villains then, Carnage has been reframed as a horror monster. But imagine Jason, Freddy or Michael Myers with the almost Lovecraftian raw power behind them.

Scary right? And that’s what Absolute Carnage is. It’s a superhero horror story.*

It gets scarier when you consider Carnage isn’t even himself the real horroer, he’s the harbinger of it. Knull, the literal GOD OF THE SYMBIOTES is the ends through which Kasady is the bloody red means. Knull has recently appeared in Cates’ Silver Surfer run and it only just struck me writing this that in a sense Carnage is to Knrull what the Surfer was to Galactus.

Carnage is the Herald of Knull.

Kasady has all the over the top immense abilities he had before as Carnage, only now they’ve been cranked up to 11. Which considering the whole point of Carnage was that he was cranked up to 11 makes Absolute Carnage 22? He’s less vulnerable to sonics and fire and injury in general. His anatomy is contorted to the point where when bonded with the symbiote his waist is as thin as his spine and he’s HUGE. He can generate other symbiotes and bond them to others making them his footsoldiers.

He’s seemingly Absolutely unstoppable.

In this sense Absolute Carnage is a true blue sequel to Maximum Carnage. Like so many sequels of the time it is BIGGER. Whereas in Maximum Carnage the question was how far should the heroes go to stop Carnage, in Absolute Carnage the question is rather how on Earth CAN they stop him?

It’s Carnage taken to his absolute logical conclusion and I love it.

Now in fairness all that is contingent upon you liking Carnage in the first place. I’d still recommend regular ASM readers skim the issue as events from it will be relevant, but if you don’t like Carnage in general maybe don’t buy this.

However the issue holds other merits.

Cates is a unique beast amidst symbiote writers because he actually seems to unrepentantly LIKE them.

In the history of all the symbiote comics writers have either approached the characters as enjoying Venom and/or Carnage or parts of their lore but being very selective. Flash Thompson’s run on Venom for instance carried an undercurrent of, if not contempt, then elitism towards Eddie Brock and all the other symbiotes hence Remender (or was it Bunn?) sought to clean the slate of them. Bendis infamously didn’t even want to do Venom in Ultimate Spider-Man, rarely used him after he did and totally reframed the symbiotes in Guardians of the Galaxy to be glorified gooey Green Lanterns.

And I will be the first to admit I fall into the cadre of people who are extremely selective when it comes to symbiote lore. My love for them is through the lens of how they fit in and enrich Spider-Man’s  mythology, not appreciating them on the basis of their own mythology.

Cates is entirely different. He is first and foremost a Venom/symbiote fan. He is someone, and there are interviews corroborating this, who as a kid had one of his formative comic book lover experiences with anti-hero 90s Venom and stories like that.

This is why so many of the Web of Venom comic books that have been setting up this event have directly or indirectly referenced those 90s Venom books, even if it’s just in the name of the comics. Unleashed. Funeral Pyre. Cult of Carnage. Carnage Born. I mean he’s the first comic book creator to have ever expressed adoration for Carnage Mind Bomb, the first ever true blue Carnage horror story that is his equivalent to the Killing Joke. It’s obscure, macabre, twists and gruesome. But it lays out for you everything about who Carnage is. He hasn’t got layers. And that is the point.

Cates’ love for those stories, for the symbiote lore oozes (pun intended) in his Venom work and this comic. He WANTS to use every corner of that lore that he can and add to it. He wants to tell the greatest symbiote epic of our time. He wants to do the ultimate Carnage story, the ultimate Venom story.

Hell he WANTS to do a Maximum Carnage tribute because he unapologetically loves that piece of hot trash.

And he wants you to love that stuff too. I don’t agree with the decision to do stories like this because I feel Venom and Carnage should be just about the only symbiotes around and be nothing more than Spidey villains at that. And yet...I feel his enthusiasm pulsing from the pages of this comic.

His love and excitement for using these characters and doing something this big is as palpable as it is infectious. And so he’s won me over. I don’t agree with doing this story but I’m so onboard for enjoying the ride.

It helps that it’s honestly very well written.

He’s done his homework (and symbiote canon is a fucking mess let me tell you so that is impressive), he throws out deep cut references to stuff like Marvel Knights or the Life Foundation. More than that when you look at this issue and his Venom run up to this point you can see how meticulous he planned it. it could go way off the rails of course, but right now he’s firing on all cylinders. Carnage was appropriately foreshadowed and built up, his escapades were well documented in various issues preceding this event. The Knull mythology was clearly established, the stakes were appropriately set up.

And just in case you disagree he spells it all out for you concisely in the first few pages of this oversized issue. I’ve been reading the run and even I appreciated the refresher course.

He doesn’t just give us a larger than life doomsday scenario though, or even a ‘a bad guy is doing bad things we need to stop him’ plot. By making everyone to have bonded to a symbiote a target it means characters we are emotionally invested in, even if they are villains we love to hate, are in jeopardy.

And at the beating heart of it all is the story of a father and a son.

Eddie Brock and his son, unbeknownst to the boy of course. On a thematic level this is relevant because Dylan and Kasady/Carnage are both the products of Brock and the Venom symbiote. But the fact that this is all about Knull, the ‘father’ if you will of all symbiotes makes this a metaphorical family drama.

And Peter Parker to my surprise and delight is a part of it. I didn’t expect him to show up or to seemingly have the starring role he will have, and yet here he is. That’s what got this onto my pull list.

If there are any criticisms to be had it relates to Spider-Man continuity.

Peter is nonchalant over Brock knowing who he is.

Spider-Man in costume refers to Normie as his Godson multiple times in front both Normie and Dylan.

Norman Osborn may or may not still have the Carnage symbiote (the art makes this a bit unclear).

Spidey is very chill with Brock.

These do bother me, they are objectively writing issues I will not deny that, even though my thrill at the rest of the comic means on a pure enjoyment level I can’t bring myself down by sweating them.

My only defences would be that Peter upon learning Brock is once more aware of who he is would probably not react that badly to the information for a few reasons. First of all he was already living with the distinct possibility that Brock already knew the truth about him. The symbiote had known for a long time and had been bonded to Brock for awhile now so it was always a possibility. Second of all the Brock/Venom of the 80s and 90s is not the Brock of the current run. That is to my personal chagrin, but nevertheless Peter knows Brock and the symbiote are nicer more moralistic folks now and if they still held a grudge they’d have come after him, with or without knowing who he was.

My other defence is that this is not a Spider-Man story. It is a Venom story. It is in essence Spider-Man/Peter Parker filtered through the lens of Venom and the needs and requirements of serving Venom’s character and narrative. Whilst a major problem in Maximum Carnage was serving Carnage and Venom at Peter’s expense, that was a Spidey story in his titles, this is Venom’s story so giving him the spotlight, short-changing Peter’s continuity for the sake of propelling the plot along, that’s fair game. I don’t like it but it’s fair game.

Similarly Peter becomes Brock’s supporting character in this story and an effective one at that.

Brock recognizes Spider-Man is his best ally to resolve this situation even though he hates him. We learn more about Brock as a person through his feelings towards Spider-Man. Where once irrational hatred flowed now there is surprisingly...jealously. Spidey often gets a bum rap in the press and yet Venom is envious of that because in and out of the costume it’s much better than his lot in life.

There is also two wonderfully poignant moments between the two. The first is where Peter learns Dylan is Brock’s son and that Dylan doesn’t know this. We see the hurt Peter feels when he relates how terrible it is to not know who your father is. The second poignant moment is when Brock is distraught that Carnage must have desecrated the body of his deceased ex-wife and Dylan’s mother. For a character like Eddie Brock who’s so often (unfairly frankly) been dismissed as lacking depth this is a shocking moment of sadness, compounded by the fact that Dylan doesn’t know who Ann was. In this same moment Spider-Man looks remorseful too, which is a subtle piece of continuity porn done right by Cates. Ann was first introduced in ASM #375 (the issue setting up Brock’s solo series actually) and later died in ASM vol 2 #19.

What follows is another Spidey/Venom team up but arguably the best, or at least one of the best ever, as they encounter the Maker a.k.a. Ultimate Reed Richards which is a historic moment as Spider-Man finally gets to meet the counterpart to his old friend. There is plenty of other connections between hem too. The Ultimate Universe is innately associated with Spider-Man more than anyone else, the Maker like him was a young genius and they were both among the Secret Wars 2015 survivors. We get Normie Osborn returning for the first time since Fresh Start, a welcome return at that as I always love seeing his relationship with Spider-Man acknowledged. Then we get a nightmarish sequence set in Ravencroft with yet more well done continuity porn. John Jameson, veteran of Carnage Mind Bomb, Carnage: It’s a Wonderful Life, Conway’s Carnage run and 90s Ravencroft stories shows up to pay off his appearance in Cult of Carnage earlier this year. Norman Osborn returns in what will hopefully fix the asinine Red Goblin story arc. Spidey and Venom have their backs up against the wall (literally) and facing down Carnage, an army of Carnage infected psychos and Norman Osborn with the Carnage symbiote.

It’s been a very long time since I’ve ended a comic thinking ‘How WILL they get out of this?’

To tie aaaaaaaall this together is Ryan Stegman’s stellar art.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, Stegman is the best new Spidey artist of the 2010s. He’s Bagley, JRJR, Frenz levels of awesome. He’s also the perfect fit for symbiotes as his art seems to be somewhat influenced by McFarlane co-creator of Venom despite what fucking fools (like RDMacQ) might think. His style here is dynamic, detailed, funny when it needs to be, scary when it needs to be, awe inspiring when it needs to be.

His double page spreads are eye candy and the one depicting the pit of bodies feels straight out of a late night drama. It’s just brilliant.

Never before has there been a Carnage or a symbiote story that’s felt this epic, this ambitious, this sheer mad and audacious in scale.

I can’t wait to read future installments.

Cates in this issue, and his run in general, has somehow managed to recapture the allure of the symbiotes that I think 80s and 90s fans felt when they first fell in love with them.

If you don’t like Carnage or symbiotes inherently I strongly recommend you skip this. If you even vaguely like them though I cannot recommend this enough. 

*Carnage has been making the transition into a horror character for awhile now. Carnage U.S.A., which is recommended reading for this event, felt very similar to a Dark Horse horror comic only with Marvel superheroes. Gerry Conway was explicit about how his Carnage ongoing series was effectively his take on Tomb of Dracula.

#Absolute Carnage #Carnage #Carnage symbiote #venom #venom symbiote #symbiotes #eddie brock #Cletus Kasady #Spider-Man #Peter Parker #Dylan Brock #Ann Weying #Norman Osborn #Green Goblin #normie osborn #Gerry Conway #Donny Cates #Ryan Stegman #Maximum Carnage

[ty-talks-comics]

Best of Marvel: Week of October 16th, 2019

Best of this Week: Absolute Carnage #4 - Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, Frank Martin, Jay Leisten and Clayton Cowles

God is Coming and Eddie Brock is ready for him.

Things have not been looking good for Eddie, Peter and the rest of the heroes of New York. Carnage’s brutality and efficiency has seen him gain the upper hand at every turn imaginable, allowing him to snatch up codices from almost everyone he’s encountered. Ghost Riders haven’t been safe, Spider-People haven’t been safe and even girls with magical powers over hell haven’t been able to stop Carnage’s warpath. 

The last issue saw him take the appearance of Eddie Brock to infiltrate The Maker’s lab to steal the codices from Captain America, The Thing and Wolverine, taking everyone by surprise and seeing the Hulk use the Venom Symbiote himself. This issue follows up on that excellently by showing us the fallout of Hulk merging with Venom, Eddie dealing with the loss of his other again and the heroic efforts he makes to protect his son. 

The book begins with an amazingly drawn and explosive punch by Venom Hulk. Carnage is laughing as he’s being put through a wall while clawing at Hulk’s eyes. The Symbiote is barely able to contain all of Hulk’s massive musculature as it appears to be tearing apart around his fist and forearm. The use of blur around the edges of the page sell you on the velocity of the punch and all of the rubble flying out as they go through the wall shows just how heavy and impactful the blow was. For added measure, there’s even a pigeon just flying by as it all happens.

As the fight is going on, Eddie and Peter take Normie and Ethan to The Maker’s armory to protect the kids from the Symbiote Zombies and Norman Osborn himself. Eddie is dead set on protecting the other heroes, but Peter tries to convince him to stay down with the rest of them. This issue gives us one of the best glimpses of the inner heroism of Eddie Brock as he looks at Spider-Man with the most desperate look possible, one eye stitched closed and asks him to let him do this. Spider-Man does and Eddie gathers Cap’s shield and maybe some kind of electric glove to go and protect everyone. Presumably, the events of Amazing Spider-Man #31 take place while Eddie is out fighting.

The next few pages are just strings of awesomely paced and spectacularly drawn fight scenes. Eddie, armed with the shield, fights his way through Carnage’s hordes and Miles Morales as an infected symbiote re-emerges. (Sorta ignoring the events of Miles’ own tie-in) Elsewhere, Venom Hulk and Carnage continue their romp around the warehouse district as Carnage is surprisingly holding his own against the black and green giant. Frank Martin and the various inkers really set the mood for the fight. The fires glow bright in the backgrounds with a vibrant red and white coloring to it, almost like a fiery mist. Rain crashes down around them and the inks are dark in the perfect places, really bringing out the deep red in Carnage’s color scheme as well as the black veins that now coil around his body. As Carnage mushes Hulk into a wall, you can feel his expression of pain and rage, accentuated by the glowing green of his eyes.

Pinned under Cap’s shield with Miles bearing down on him, Eddie decides to use the shock glove to blast the symbiote off of the young Spider, allowing the two to finally re-team as Miles runs down what he learned while hearing Carnage’s thoughts. He warns that if he gets Hulk’s Codex and the Venom Symbiote, he’ll be unstoppable. In a surprise upset, Carnage overpowers the mind of the Hulk, turning him back into Banner and rips his spine right out as Eddie and Miles show up. It’s a disgusting scene as they always are with Cowles making sure to put as much emphasis as he can by giving it a nice “SHRIPP” sound effect in big, bold, red letters over an entirely black background.

Before we know it, Carnage is covered in the Venom Symbiote, becoming an ultra badass. Ryan Stegman has done a lot to redesign some of the elements of some symbiotes, but this Black Carnage is somehow so much cooler and so much better. He looks like a demon knight with the pauldrons with spikes, an improbable neck guard/collar and Maleficent-esque horns all crackling with hell energy. Eddie begins to lose all hope upon seeing him, but that feeling is washed away when Captain America, The Thing and Wolverine all show up to help in the fight.

Miles grabs Eddie and tells him that the Maker’s machine that was supposed to destroy the codices did no such thing and instead saved them all. The last moments of the book show the Doverton Avengers fight a losing effort against Carnage while Eddie punches the machine, giving his own inner monologue about how he feels something creeping up inside of him. The hope that he thought was lost. Surrounded by all of this blackness and despair, Carnage and all of his bringers of Death, Eddie punches his way to the light.

As the penultimate issue to Absolute Carnage,  have to say that this event and the various tie-ins that have accompanied it have been absolutely amazing to read. I usually decry back to back event stories, especially since we had just come off the heels of War of the Realms, but Absolute Carnage fit the aesthetic of everything I love in stories. It’s dark, it’s bleak and it’s Absolutely Brutal.

Ryan Stegman can do no wrong here as his art style is amazing from start to finish, he has an eye for action scenes and makes great use of single a double page spreads to bring out the most in every scene. Even when the fighting is confined to a few panels, he manages to spring as many infected as he can into the space, making things feel claustrophobic and dangerous. Frank Martin’s colors give this book life, however, when they’re burning with darkness or glimmer with small glimpses of hope. They complete the amazing package by pulling the emotion out of you, whether you’re terrified or you have a bit of hope only or it to be ripped away.

JP Mayer and Jay Leisten help him by making sure that the pages have the perfect amount of darkness to them. The inks are phenomenal and really help to give off that feeling of hopelessness and danger in every scene, even better that most of this story takes place at night so the mood is always set.

I love that Eddie Brock is starting to be seen less as the villain who used to eat people’s brains and more as this responsible every-man that’s been caught in an extraordinary situation. When he got the Symbiote back at the end of Lee Price’s time in All-New, All Different Marvel, I never expected him to get this much heart. That’s the main thing that Donny Cates has contributed to this character, that feeling of heroism.

Eddie’s becoming a much better person than he ever was in the past, but at the same time, we know that he can never fully escape who he was. Even at the end of this issue there was a transcription of his first time in jail when he first met Cletus Kasady and it was so weird to see how unhinged Eddie was not too long ago.

As Absolute Carnage draws to a close (and with Venom Island on the horizon) I can’t wait to see what direction his story takes and how Eddie Brock could possibly see Avenger status in the far future. High recommend.

#marvel comics #comics #marvel horror #horror #absolute carnage #carnage #cletus kasady #eddie brock #spider man #venom #donny cates #ryan stegman #jp mayer #frank martin

[hybridequalist]

VenomXReader Fanfic

So it’s been a hot minute since I wrote any fanfic and I’ve been geeking out about the Venom movie for a few months, so I figured I’d throw my hat into the ring for the fun of it. 

Please note that this is only part 1 of this idea, I just needed to get this out. This is a female reader character who is selectively mute.

This story was inspired by @snarky-badger and their lovely collection of reader inserts, particularly the ones with mutant/powered reader characters.

AO3 Link Here!

Being a mind-reader was like living in hell most of the time. Every day, the secrets of every passerby was bared to you, coming in all shades of ugliness. If you were lucky, the most dishonest thing someone had done was tell a white lie to their mom about how well they were doing. More often than not, you were overwhelmed with the personal garbage of everyone on the trolley. It was impossible to entirely tune out, like hundreds of people shouting all at once, unaware that someone was able to hear them. Nighttime was much better, far fewer mental voices though they tended to be more unpleasant to hear if you encountered them.

    Still, the worst part of being a mind-reader was knowing exactly what everyone thought of you at any given moment. Compliments were few and far between, especially once whoever you encountered realized that you were selectively mute. Sometimes you encountered people who pushed their initial reactionary thoughts aside and tried to keep see you positively, but they were rare gems. More often, you sensed some kind of disgust and a few times even malicious intent. It was incredibly difficult to make friends when you knew exactly what each person wanted from you.

    At least your gift was able to help a few people: you worked as a nighttime janitor for a hospital and were able to sense which patients were the most lonely and in need of a kind gesture. You always made sure to leave them a gift or to nudge their minds into calling a friend or family member. It wasn’t much, but feeling someone’s mood shift into happiness was enough to keep you going.

    It was thanks to that very job that you had met the Demon of San Francisco.

    It was your typical shift, replacing the garbage liners and mopping the hall floors while discreetly visiting those you felt needed it. While you were passing by one of the rooms, you sensed an extra person inside it, someone who didn’t belong. No...two people? One of the minds didn’t feel...right--hostile and primal in a way you had never encountered.

You hesitated, uncertain if you should go in or not. The patient, however, was in distress, mentally pleading for someone to intervene. Plucking up your courage, you softly knocked and entered the room.

The sight you were met with surprised you: the patient was shifting nervously in their bed and across from them was a man in a leather jacket with heavy bags under his steely eyes. No sign of the third mental presence you felt. It seemed to be...attached to the stranger somehow?

Suddenly realizing that you were being stared at, you felt your throat close up and you fumbled in your pockets for the notecards you kept on hand for situations like this. Rummaging through them, you pulled one out and flipped it around. The stranger stepped forward to read it aloud.

“‘Is everything okay?’ Um, yeah, we’re fine,” he said, confusion coloring his mind and tone.

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH HER, EDDIE?”

The mental voice cut through the room and you reflexively flinched. It was so loud, aggressive and distinctly masculine. But despite being its own voice, it seemed amplified by the mind of the stranger. Who was this man?

“Oh no, she can’t help.”

The patient’s thought interrupted your alarm. Pulling yourself back into reality, you extended the notecard towards them and nodded, trying to seem encouraging and not as shaken as you really felt. The patient glanced at the stranger and you rummaged for a different card, holding it up to ask “what is going on?”

“This gentleman was interviewing me about my...accident,” the patient replied slowly. “He believes...there could be a connection to something criminal.”

You didn’t have a card to express your next question, so you pointed at the stranger and then gestured to the door. After repeating the motion a few times, the patient understood.

“No,” they said, shaking their head. “No, I don’t need him to leave. I just…”

“Would you feel more comfortable if she stayed?” the stranger inquired, stepping towards the patient. Upon getting a nervous nod in return, the leather-clad man turned to you, extending his hand. “Eddie Brock, reporter.”

You pointed to your nametag before taking a seat next to the patient and listening in to the rest of the interview. As the conversation progressed, you made certain to hold the patient’s hand or rub their shoulder soothingly to help keep them calm. You tried to block out the strange mental voices of Eddie Brock and whoever else seemed to be speaking in his head, but the loud second voice was distracting. Even stranger, it seemed to be speaking directly to Eddie and he was responding to it, though not with worded thoughts.

When Eddie had finished his interview and shook both yours and the patients’ hands, he left without another word. You made sure the patient was settled back in and comfortable before leaving yourself and returning to your janitor cart. To your surprise, Eddie was standing next to it, very obviously waiting for you.

“Hey,” he greeted you. You were frozen in place, unsure what he was doing.

“WHY ARE WE STILL HERE?” the mysterious loud voice complained. “I’M HUNGRY.”

“I just wanted to say thanks for helping out back in there,” Eddie continued, ignoring the strange comment you know he must have somehow heard. “I really needed this interview to wrap up a pretty complicated case.”

“YOU SAID THANKS, NOW CAN WE GO?”

“So...yeah. Thanks again. Hope you have a good night.”

With that, he turned to leave and you stepped up to your cart. As you returned to work, you caught another thought from Eddie and his...friend?

“Well that wasn’t an incredibly awkward goodbye.”

“WE’RE ALWAYS AWKWARD WHEN IT’S YOU TALKING.”

You had initially brushed off the encounter with Eddie Brock as a one-off event. While it was an odd experience, it wasn’t the first time you’d met a mutant--if that’s what he was--and ultimately wouldn’t be something that would happen again.

Except it did. Sort of.

You had been at the store, waiting in line to check out and eager to get home when a rowdy group of gang members came in and started harassing both employees and customers. It had suddenly escalated when one bold cashier had asked them to leave and a man with at least ten piercings had pulled a gun out. The store almost immediately went into a panic and you found yourself knocked to the floor in the stampede. You barely managed to haul yourself behind a snack rack before the gunfire flew wildly through the air. You were paralyzed, unable to scream or do anything to release some of the terror holding you bound. The fear of everyone in the store rebounded in your head, clouding your brain in a haze of collective emotion.

And then you felt him. Them.

The mental voice was a primal roar, echoed by the same outward sound that interrupted the gang’s wild shooting for a moment.

You couldn't see any of the action, but you didn't need to: the minds of the gang members supplied more than enough. You could feel their horror and revulsion, catch flashes of the unnaturally huge, black creature with too many teeth...and feel the sudden silence as minds were torn from consciousness into nothing.

The shooting stopped, but there was still a single gang member left. You were unable to pull your mental focus from the panic and the visual of the black monster stalking forward, reaching out a clawed hand. The moment of their death was awful, the sounds and pain so clear and so suddenly cut off that you retched, unable to hold back being sick any longer.

You distantly heard sirens approaching, thoroughly detached from the feelings of relief everyone else shared. You couldn’t get the sensation of being eaten out of your head, the noises and sudden silencing of thoughts.

And then you heard it.

“THIS IS THE ONE FROM THE HOSPITAL. I TOLD YOU I SMELLED SOMEONE FAMILIAR.”

The snarling, primal thoughts dragged you into the present, your eyes locking onto a familiar face--Eddie Brock, the reporter. You instinctively jolted back, unable to make a peep in your panic.

“Hey, hey, you’re okay,” Eddie rushed to say, trying to sound soothing but his flustered thoughts betraying him. “The police are here and the gang is gone.”

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH HER, EDDIE?”

You recoiled and curled into the fetal position. Eddie was the thing that had killed those people. And yet he was trying to pretend that he hadn’t just eaten someone. You had to communicate, but your voice was useless. You had only one option.

Psychically speaking with words to was harder than communicating with emotions or offering mental suggestions, but you were desperate to get the monster away from you. Mustering your strength, you lashed out with all the mental will you could muster.

“Get away from me!”

Eddie flinched at the force and the second voice went silent. And then a sensation you could only describe as a vicious, toothy grin came from the strange, loud mind.

“YOU CAN HEAR ME, CAN’T YOU LITTLE MORSEL?”

Nope. Too much.

The world slanted violently and then everything went blank.

#venom #venom movie #fanfiction #fanfic #reader #venom x reader #selectively mute character #hybridwrites

[sepublic]

Rough Draft for a Venom 3

So I just posted a fan plot outline for Venom 2 earlier, and the idea is that this plot outline follows the continuity previously established in that post.

The basic premise is that Eddie and Venom now have to deal with a potential Symbiote invasion... but not on Earth, but at Venom’s homeworld! Eddie travels to his boyfriend’s old home and meets his extended ‘family’! AKA;

Venom 3: Meeting the In-Laws!

Plot Outline below:

           The film begins in space, with a massive alien vessel floating in the void. A distress call reveals that aboard the ship are the last survivors of a planet destroyed by some unknown incident. Although the ship is a war vessel, the caller insists that the inhabitants aboard mean no harm.

This doesn’t do much for them, however, when the adrift War Vessel floats through an asteroid field and scrapes past a few of the rocks. Unbeknownst to the crew, this has allowed a team of Symbiotes to hitch a ride, and crawling through the ducts, the Symbiotes quickly seize a few unwilling hosts.

The opening sequence culminates with the bridge being stormed by our new Symbiote friends: Lasher, Agony, and Malady, all led by Phage! Cue a sequence where our new friends get to show off their abilities, utterly decimating and tearing apart the crew as they seize control. Now in charge, Phage orders the others to set course for Riot’s path.

Cue Title sequence! Back at Earth, Eddie, Venom, Anne and Dan, and the rest of the group are enjoying life as usual. We see Cletus still imprisoned, with Red recovering from their last battle with Eddie and Venom. The scientist-cultists experimenting on them have devised fleshy mannequins for Klyntar to use, allowing them an ideal host that physically works and has no mind of its own to rebel. 

           In the background, the Homeworld Squad from the previous plot outline (Plague, Clash, the Apocalypse group, etc.) is retrieved by the second group. Cletus and Red eventually escape and wreak havoc as Carnage once more, and Venom tries to stop them. Venom is surprised, and Carnage reveals how these scientists, ex-employees from the Life Foundation, have formed their own group continuing on Drake’s work. They are led by a masked figure who Eddie refers to as a ‘Diet Carlton Drake’. Venom and Carnage fight, and Anne and Dan are on the scene, as well as the scientists, who want to retrieve Carnage.

Eventually, our protagonists and Carnage are confronted by the Cult Leader. Eddie/Venom and Cletus/Red are very skeptical and sarcastic towards the ambiguous person, until they unmask themselves to reveal...

Dora Skirth?! Eddie is baffled to her survival, noting that he thought she’d been killed, her whole body eaten, during the events of the first film. ‘Skirth’ confirms that no, her body wasn’t eaten- She just escaped. Skirth transforms into a familiar yellow-and-red Symbiote, none other than Scream!

It’s revealed that the Yellow Symbiote from the first film, Scream, had survived the conditions of the lab. After the Blue Symbiote failed to bond with Skirth and nearly killed her, Scream took advantage of the situation and seized Skirth, taking full control of her against her will and inadvertently saving her life in the process.

Scream was too weak from Drake’s poor oversight to help Riot fight Venom, hence his death in the rocket ship. In the wake of Riot’s death, Scream has since decided to be her own leader and prepare humanity for its inevitable role as livestock for the incoming Symbiote Invasion.

            Right on cue, Scream is interrupted by the second wave of Homeworld Klyntar, whose space ship appears and lands. Out comes the second squad, followed by an angry original squad, and they overwhelm and pin down Venom and Carnage and the humans. The scientists try to welcome the Klyntar, but they don’t seem to care too much.

           Venom asks what’s going on, and Phage reveals that back on Homeworld the Klyntar hierarchy is changing. With the planet yielding less food, other Klyntar leaders have emerged and begun to fight with one another, and it’s now ending with Rampage, a cannibalistic Symbiote, on top. Phage and his group are Symbiotes who aren’t in exactly good graces with Rampage. Expecting Rampage to be the one on top soon enough, Phage has planned to appease Rampage’s wrath by finding her old foe, Riot, and offering him to her as a tribute to devour.

           As Ven recalls Rampage and warns Eddie of how crazy she is, Scream and Phage confront one another, with the former explaining her situation. Phage attempts to challenge Scream over continued control of the team, but Scream quickly curb-stomps him, revealing that her talons can extend rapidly like Lust from Fullmetal Alchemist. Having been put in his place, Phage acknowledges Scream’s superiority and defers to her, the others following.

Noting that Riot is dead and unpresentable, Scream decides to take Venom and Carnage and their hosts instead. She notes that Rampage will like meals with such combat experience and bloodlust, and hopes her offerings will appease the new Symbiote leader (Especially since Scream was Riot’s lieutenant). Before the Homeworld Squad heads back home, they decide to bring Anne and Dan and the other humans, including the remaining cultists, as roadtrip snacks.

           Cue the ship flying out into space, back to Homeworld. As Ven worriedly notes the possession of such a ship enabling the Klyntar to attack other planets, Eddie and Cletus fight but are prevented from doing so thanks to sonic speakers in their cage. As Venom and Carnage bicker, the Scientists offer the mannequins as a gift to the Klyntar.

           Some of the Homeworld Symbiotes take them… And then decide to eat three of their snacks as a meal. Luckily, Anne and Dan are spared, but throughout the trip, many others aren’t. Anne and Dan are spared because Anne is She-Venom, so Rampage would want to eat her as well. As for Dan, the group makes up some stuff about him having important knowledge.

           At the very least, Dan seems shrimpy compared to the other snacks, so the Klyntar do a consensus on saving him as one of the last ones.

           Eddie asks Venom what Homeworld is like, and Venom gives a brief run-down on it. He also discusses the story of Rampage- A Symbiote who once went off-planet in search of food with her own squad, like Riot. When she returned alone, Rampage revealed she had come across a dying planet with only a few sentient tribes that died off quickly. When she controlled one, she absorbed the knowledge of their belief systems, including the belief that eating an enemy would allow the person to retain their greatest skills.

           Heavily influenced by her hosts/meals, Rampage has since become a ruthless and willing cannibal. Venom remarks that he’s not surprised that Rampage has begun to take control, noting that even other Klyntar leaders such as Riot or Ambush were fazed by her.

           Meanwhile, Red and Cletus, still celebrating their reunion, overhear what Ven has to say and muse over it what this new planet could provide for the two…

           Eventually, the Klyntar Homeworld is sighted and everyone goes to the windows to get a glimpse. It’s very dry and barren, like a crumbling world, with massive volcanic vents and cracks in the crust. According to one of the Homeworld Symbiotes, most likely Scream, the damaged core of the planet has gotten worse thanks to Klyntar excavation attempts to find subterranean food.

           As Dan marvels at seeing another planet, the ship enters orbit and they fly over a large gathering of Klyntar, many of whom have odd shapes due to using the native species as hosts, surrounding a large stone mesa. Atop it is Rampage, a maroon Symbiote with a mouth full of long, clustered fangs, who is fighting another Klyntar named Havoc.

           The Homeworld Symbiotes explain that Rampage has challenged another rival towards Klyntar leadership to a duel, and it’s ending predictably. Rampage tears Havoc from his host, holding him above her head like a trophy to the cheers of the crowd, and then devours her enemy whole, taking a few moments to digest.

           Everyone is fazed except Carnage, who thinks Rampage has style. The ship lands, and out comes everyone under tow of the Klyntar as they present them to Rampage, explaining the situation. While everyone else is trying to not garner Rampage’s anger, Carnage is far more defiant, and he and Venom look at one another, and wordlessly reading the terrain, break out together and free everyone else.

           Venom and Carnage hijack smaller land vehicles from the ship and use it to escape, with Venom taking his friends. Some of the scientists and other humans stay with Rampage, while Carnage goes on his own. Rampage, angered by the events but at the same time impressed by the tenacity of her prey, revels in a grand hunt. The remaining scientists present their mannequins to Rampage, promising to assist her in her planned invasion of Earth, which she decides upon after hearing of Earth’s bounty from the original Homeworld squad.

           The rest of the plot involves Venom and Co. trying to survive the treacherous wasteland of the Klyntar Homeworld, all while Rampage gives a personal chase on foot, preferring the sport of that to flying on the ship. Meanwhile, Carnage’s vehicle crashes and he is cornered by several Klyntar.

           These Klyntar muse that Carnage smells different, and Carnage remarks on how Klyntar prefer to use their hosts, and criticizes this, declaring that the host is the way for a true Symbiote to express itself. Said Klyntar are unimpressed and lunge in for an attack, but Carnage easily defeats them, and after killing one, places the rest under his leadership.

           Venom and Co. deal with the horrific wildlife. Venom explains that most of the remaining prey has holed up in the Pyrosphere, a region of the Homeworld covered in flames and volcanoes. Fire is dangerous to Klyntar, but every now and then a brave Symbiote leads a pack to get meat from the Pyrosphere- One of said symbiotes being Rampage, who has begun to coordinate more campaigns into the Pyrosphere. To demonstrate this point, we cut to Rampage leading a group into the Pyrosphere, slaying several predators.

           Venom also notes the presence of the Klyntar’s main predator; massive Space Dragons.

           Along the way, Eddie and Venom battle other Klyntar, proving the strength of their bond. They also get the aid of fellow ‘losers’ Toxin, Payback, and Purge, the last of whom is meant to be Anti-Venom. To survive in the alien atmosphere of Homeworld, Anne and Dan and others need Symbiotes to bond with. At first turns are taken with Venom, but the new additions make things easier. 

Payback bonds with Anne, as both are rebels by nature. Toxin, definitely the weakest and most timid of the group, bonds with Patrick Mulligan. The creepy and intense Purge, who was an outcast not due to being weak but because of his defiance towards Rampage, ends up bonding with Dan of all people.

           Meanwhile, Carnage is gathering his own faction of Klyntar, forming his own milita and pack that is challenging Rampage’s. Carnage plans to seize control of the Klyntar, preventing them from completely devouring Earth. He’ll still take them to his home planet, however, which is a concern, and Carnage revels in how his barbary isn’t as judged on Homeworld. Rampage and Carnage fight, but it’s clear that Rampage is stronger and Carnage is forced to retreat.

            Payback gets her hands on alien weapons from the ship, a pair of electro-blades that fit over the hands. Payback and Anne fuse with these blades, giving them an edge in combat; At one point, they fight a Symbiote and slam it into a wall before swiftly decapitating them with a spin. 

At least two more altercations occur between the protagonists and Rampage. In no particular order, Rampage tears Toxin from Patrick and devours the poor guy; During one of the altercations, Rampage resorts to flying the War Vessel over the area and firing down at the protagonists. They attempt to circumvent this by sticking close to Rampage’s allies on the ground below, reasoning that she wouldn’t shoot her own troops to get to them... And lo and behold, Rampage blows up several of her soldiers trying to kill the protagonists.

           Eventually, Venom and Co. hide in the tunnels beneath the planet and learn that an impatient Rampage is planning to just abandon her hunt and head to Earth without them. Realizing they need to stop Rampage, Ven reminds everyone that even without a ship, the Klyntar will still be able to make it to Earth- Killing Rampage won’t stop them.

           Eddie decides that they need to do the best they can, and the group sets out to take Rampage’s ship. They end up reuniting with Carnage’s group, and form a temporary alliance with him and Ambush, another Symbiote leader, to defeat Rampage.

           In the climax, the protagonists seize Rampage’s ship and fly away with it, but Rampage and several of her soldiers are still on and fighting. In the chaos that ensues, Dan ends up piloting the ship into the Pyrosphere, burning off several Klyntar who are on the outside, and the chaos causes the ship to accidentally fire a powerful laser into a crater connected to the core.

           The energies damage the core, causing the entire planet to begin to rupture and fall apart. A panicked Venom warns the others of this damage, even as the ship crashes in the Pyrosphere. As several predators converge on the ship and devour the Klyntar, Venom, Carnage, and Payback get off to fix the ship and lodge it loose from the ridge it’s struck.

           However, an enraged Rampage attacks them, still not defeated. Through teamwork, the group manages to defeat Rampage, tearing apart her host. The Rampage Symbiote slithers off and they assume that’s that, and continue trying to fix the ship as the planet begins to split.

           Cut to several shots across the planet as giant gorges form, heat and lava burst through, and quakes ensue. Then cut to a final shot of the whole planet, which is beginning to break.

           As giant heat vents send massive parts of the crust hurtling into orbit, with some Klyntar trapped aboard said asteroids, an enraged Rampage slithers about and devours a random Symbiote before setting her sights on a rampaging Space Dragon. She ponders- Then lunges.

           Cut to the protagonists dislodging the ship, when a column of flame bursts into the air, bigger than the rest. One of the protagonists dismisses it as a geyser, until a horrified Venom realizes it belongs to a Space Dragon- one that arrives over the horizon, controlled by Rampage.

           A horrified Venom notes that the fire of her host is killing Rampage, and Rampage notes that the same will happen to Venom and Co. as well, attacking. Dan and Purge get the ship flying up with the help of the remaining human scientists, who have decided that Rampage is a maniac, and fire a devastating laser at Rampage. Wounded, Rampage is vulnerable to Venom and Carnage, who deal a final blow to her that shoves Rampage off of a cliff and into a lake of lava. Rampage screams and fluctuates as she incinerates, and the team ponders… Before Carnage turns on Venom, attacking them.

           Carnage notes that, alas, Venom is a thorn in his side that also must be dealt with. However, Payback arrives and fights Carnage- At one point, Red unravels and she throws a grenade right at Cletus, even as Red reforms around him. The grenade detonates, vaporizing Cletus and splattering Red’s smouldering bits all over the place, apparently killing Carnage for good.

Payback remarks that ‘Payback is a bitch’, with Klyntar and host remarking on the corniness. They gather Venom and board the ship, which flies off, the entire surface of the planet cracking and bursting with lava.

           As the camera cuts to the ship leaving behind the crumbling planet, a depressed Eddie laments his condemnation of the Klyntar species. However, Venom reassures him that many of their kind will survive on the bits of the planet hurled into the atmosphere and will hibernate, just like he and Riot’s team did, until someone else finds them or they land.

           The Klyntar will survive, albeit scattered. Maybe some will end up on one planet. Others may come across a ship and hijack it. Either way, they no longer have to worry about a full-scale Klyntar invasion… So as far as Ven is concerned, Earth is saved.

           However, Dan reminds them of all of the other native species on the planet, and Ven admits that they’re goners. Oh well.

           The protagonists relax, and even as they all wonder what they’re going to do with the ship when they land, they also muse on the fates of the other Klyntar…

           Cut to a montage showing what has happened to several others. Some time later, a ship of aliens retrieves an asteroid, unaware of the Symbiotes aboard planning to seize the crew. Elsewhere, shooting stars streak through the sky and crash-land, and out emerges a few Klyntar. A boy, travelling to meet them, offers these ‘Shooting Stars’ food and snacks he had on his being.

           Cut to a nostalgic song, Guardians of the Galaxy style, playing as various Klyntar are spread throughout the universe, landing in different places, all having their own stories to tell. Some will remain vicious predators- Others will learn how to interact with advanced societies. Either way, this is not the end of the Klyntar- Far from it. In actuality, it’s more like a new chapter for their species.

           The protagonists muse on this and sit back, enjoying the view of space as the ship flies towards Earth. Again, they lament the fate of several of the dead species, but then the camera cuts to below in the ship’s storage areas, revealing several stowaway native species from the planet, some of whom were placed there by Rampage as rations for the trip.

           Cue credits. A mid/end credits scene shows Red, or what’s left of them, crawling around the ducts of the ship. Another potential credits scene could have Eddie waking up to a newly-born Sleeper.

Notes:

-A potential plot thread has one of the human ‘snacks’ who is brought to Homeworld is Tanis Nieves, who has a dark hatred of life and society due to her past. She ends up as Rampage’s new host once Rampage’s native one dies out. She and Rampage actually ally with one another, but by the end of the day it’s a bad, codependent relationship that enables the other. Eventually, Eddie convinces Tanis to reject Rampage, which then leads to Rampage controlling another host/the Space Dragon. Tanis survives and is on board the ship as it heads back to Earth; Alternatively, it could be a different character besides Tanis, who regardless of either draft is one of the humans abducted by the Klyntar.

-Dora Skirth is quickly abandoned by Scream for one of the mannequins after the big reveal. As Skirth goes off with Venom’s group, Scream forms her own bond with Donna Diego, another human abducted for the trip who was the new CEO of the Life Foundation after Drake’s death. Scream and Donna end up having an interesting dynamic and bond over having always needed to be conniving, cunning, and underhanded in order to survive. Scream is absent from the final battle, wisely noticing the danger of the situation, and she and Donna, alongside Ambush and a few others, band together on a piece of the planet and hibernate for the time-being.

#venom movie #venom 3 #venom sequel #carnage #eddie brock #cletus kasady #symbiotes #klyntar #OCs #anne weying #dan #toxin #anti venom #payback #tanis nieves #dora skirth #scream #phage #lasher #agony

[snarky-badger]

Hi there! I just found your blog, and I must say, I love your writing! Could I request a story with Venom/Eddy x female reader where Eddy/Venom and the reader go to some sort of event and they only leave the reader's side to go get her food (because they're always like hand-feeding her and stuff with her on their lap) and while they're gone, this guy comes up to the reader and starts trying to grope/ harass her. How would Venom/Eddy react without revealing who they are?

Here we go!

You loved carnivals. The lights, the rides, the games, it was exciting and wonderful, and made all the better by the company that came with it.

Both you and Eddie had taken time off work, meeting up in the afternoon so the two of you could have as much time as possible at the carnival. You’d gone through almost all the rides - sometimes twice - eaten more junk food than you did in a month, and Eddie had taken great pride in winning multiple prizes for you at various games - balloons, costume jewellery, a cute little pink bear on a keychain. He’d given you a warm, loving, look in understanding when you’d offered a little girl who hadn’t been able to win anything your over-large stuffed panda bear.

Granted, no one knew he was cheating by having Venom help him out, but you weren’t about to announce his secret to the world.

Yes, it had been a little weird to learn that your boyfriend was bonded to an alien symbiote. Odder still that the alien was Venom. It had taken some getting used to,  you couldn’t lie. But meeting Venom, spending time with the so called ‘monster’, had only cemented the fact that said ‘monster’ wasn’t a monster at all.

Or at least, not to you.

It took a bit of getting used to, having basically two boyfriends inhabiting one body. They’d worked out some sort of schedule - Eddie would work during the day, and Venom would come out at night while his ‘host’ slept. They spent equal time with you as well. One evening it would be Eddie taking you out to dinner and a movie, the next, you’d be web-slinging across the City in Venom’s arms.

Oddly, it had been the symbiote’s suggestion to head out to the carnival once it had learned about the event on the news. Venom had access to Eddie’s memories, his childhood joys of visiting and riding coasters and tilt a whirls, and had expressed curiosity, even excitement about it, especially about the rides.

Eddie’s laughter at it’s excitement at experiencing a roller coaster for the first time had made you grin. It was so much like Venom’s web-slinging, just with the little added fear of possibly running off the rails.

After a third visit to the coaster - now lit up with bright lights since the sun had gone down - Eddie nudged you a little before resting his arm across your shoulders. “Hey, you hungry?”

“Sure.” You cast your gaze around at the various food vendors, then grinned. “Oooh, is that a pretzel stand?”

His easy laughter rumbled into you, and you felt the symbiote reach out from the arm across your shoulders to lightly caress the side of your neck with an inky tendril. One thing that both of them liked to do was feed you. It stemmed from your usual horrible habit of forgetting to eat. “Pretzels it is! Hang tight, we’ll be right back.”

“‘Kay.” You decide to wander a little, never leaving Eddie’s line of sight of course. It wouldn’t do for Venom - territorial and possessive and so, so, protective of you - to make an appearance in the midst of a crowded carnival simply because they couldn’t find you.

So you investigated the nearby games, helped a little boy aim a gun at a plastic moving duck and win a prize, before going to stand next to the Carousel, smiling at the bright painted horses and uplifting music.

Your first thought as an arm wrapped around your waist was that Eddie was back. Your second, upon realizing that it was a stranger, was that if Venom spotted him, he’d be dead in an instant.

“Move the hand or lose it,” you snapped, twisting out of his hold when his hand lowered in preparation to grope your ass.

“Aw, c’mon, pretty lady. Someone like you shouldn’t be here all alone.” His breath smelled faintly of beer and hot dogs, face sporting an ugly five o’clock shadow, brown eyes dark and leering. “How about you an me blow this joint and go have some fun, huh? We’ll have a nice time.”

“No thanks. My boyfriend is off getting food.” You tried to shimmy away, not wanting to make a scene and alarm the nearby children waiting for a turn on the carousel.

The man grasped your wrist, tight, keeping you from escaping, and you glared as you tried to wrench yourself free. His lips quirked in a sleazy smile as he started to tug you after him as he headed for the entrance to the carnival.

You braced yourself against his pull, eyes narrowing, and you were in the process of pulling your right arm back to deliver a haymaker punch that Venom  had taught you when Eddie suddenly appeared at your side, two pretzels held in his left hand.

“Let her go. Right. Now.” There was a lot of Venom’s deep, predatory, baritone, growl in Eddie’s voice.

Your unwanted suitor didn’t even blink. Merely gave Eddie an up and down look, then snorted, unimpressed. “Piss off, punk.”

Dumbass.

Unable to cause a real scene, Eddie reached out to close his right hand on the man’s wrist. A shadow moved along his arm that had nothing to do with the darkness of the night, and you felt the idiot’s hand loosen as Eddie calmly applied pressure.

“You’re bothering my girl, asshole,” he growled, Venom’s voice melded with his, an unearthly combination of two contrasting tones. Your would-be suitor’s eyes started to bulge as Eddie continued to squeeze, and you were certain you heard bones break as the man’s grip on you suddenly vanished.

Relieved, you retreated to Eddie’s side, resting a hand on his other arm, feeling his ‘jacket’ undulate under your fingers.

“Jesus, shit! Fuck, let go man!” The stranger tried in vain to pull himself free, but at that time, it was Venom that had a hold on him, covering Eddie’s hand like a taloned glove. “You’re breaking my fucking arm!”

“YoU DaRe tO ToUcH oUr GiRl?”

One minuscule twist of Eddie’s wrist sent the other man to his knees, and this time, you were certain you heard something snap. Realized that Venom was crushing the guy’s hand and wrist to a pulp, and, very aware of the looks and attention you were garnering from the growing crowd, you gently tugged on his left arm.

“Let’s go. He’s not worth getting into trouble over,” you said, drawing Eddie’s gaze, the whitish cloud receding from his eyes as he blinked at you. “Don’t let one asshole ruin our date, lover.”

He turned his head to frown down at the man at his feet, then growled and - visibly fighting against a no-doubt raging Venom’s influence - uncurled his hand from around the male’s wrist. It flopped unnaturally, bones obviously broken, and you grimaced a little at the sight, gently tugging Eddie away from the idiot as the man cradled his mangled hand to his chest, whimpering and crying pathetically.

You hustled Eddie away from the scene and towards the far end of the carnival that held the tilt a whirl, feeling him shudder from time to time as he fought Venom’s no doubt impressive anger. The symbiote didn’t like having to relinquish it’s prey, especially if the alien thought someone had harmed you.

“V, it’s okay. I’m okay,” you murmured softly, knowing that he could hear you. The whitish clouds had reformed over Eddie’s blue eyes, jacket bulging a little as alien muscles started to form. “You’re going to give Eddie a stroke, calm down, please. That guy will be lucky if the doctors can save his hand, you made your point.”

An inhuman snarl echoed in both voices left your boyfriend before the symbiote visibly settled, and Eddie’s breath left him in a relieved sigh. You turned and stepped into him, curling your arms around him in a hug and pressing a kiss to his lips when he clutched you to him.

“Better?” you asked after a minute, where Eddie had hidden his face in your hair, nuzzling into you. The symbiote was using your proximity and the shadows to wrap tendrils around your waist, slipping under the hem of your shirt to touch your bare skin. Little feelers spread across your back and stomach, caressing you gently.

“Yeah. Though we lost the pretzels.”

“Baked goods are expendable. You aren’t,” you told him, smiling when he rose his head from yours and moved to kiss you, slow and warm and loving. “Wanna go make out on the Ferris Wheel? It’ll be dark enough, no one will be able to see anything.”

“You read our mind,” Eddie smirked, blue eyes dancing a little, his mood visibly rising. The symbiote vibrated against you in a sign of happiness and excitement, and you giggled at the ticklish feeling. “After, we’ll try getting you those pretzels again.”

“Hah. Deal.”

#snarky is writing #venom x reader #reader x venom #eddie brock x reader #reader x eddie brock #venom #eddie brock #filled prompt

[softgrungeprophet]

i ranted on twitter about andi benton (being ignored/mischaracterized/etc) so i’m just gonna copy-paste that all here and expand upon it:

i wish we could at least get a solo run written (and drawn) by a woman, who understands how much anger and pain andi has.

she's so fucking passive in venom inc., especially in the ending... it sucks. it's "growth" she was not shown having, predicated on abandoning a person she cared about (mania)

imagine if she reacted that way about losing flash or if eddie did that w symby? like? 

"i'm just as badass on my own" kinda missing the point here?! mania's alive!? 

(reply to a comment from rec-rewind about mania being treated like a source of power and not a partner) not to MENTION the way loss and her connection to mania are directly connected, it misses that point as well. going from "that's my symbiote!" to not giving a fuck is just so purely ooc for her and misses so much of the point 

andi benton got shafted as a new and interesting female (probably also mixed race) character with a lot of anger and potential!

she was okay in space knight but since it got cancelled it was obvs a rushed thing...

venom inc ending was bad

have not read venomized but have heard very few good things about it

she wasn't even at flash's funeral...

(reply to a comment from rec-rewind about andi being a prop for the plot) she really is a prop. she's barely present for like, half of venom inc. even tho it ostensibly should [have] been more about her than anyone else... bleh

andi benton deserves better but will probably continue to be white-washed and then get killed off for manpain

she has so much anger! so much hurt! so much potential! but she is only brought out as a plot device to say, well i guess we saved the day. yes, leave me alone in philly. forget about me.

and on my private i also tweeted about how like, tho bunn and shalvey are dudes it’d be nice to see them, as andi’s creators, write some kind of special mini, or to see bunn include her in whatever bullshit event but i really want something ~About Her~, you know? not just an inclusion in the tie-ins.

I certainly don’t trust Donny Cates to write her based on his track record so far and to be quite frank I don’t like the way Ryan Stegman drew her in Venom Inc. so I don’t look forward to seeing how she might look if she makes an appearance... or what will happen to her.

I would love to see some kind of mini written by a woman, like I mentioned, and drawn by one as well. Someone like Stacey Lee would be cool because, to quote another tweet i made this morning in my fit of rage, “her work is so dynamic and refreshing... full of movement, and clean w/o being overpolished... would suit andi's hellfire, or a symbiote like mania, well imo”

and also just cause i’ve been reading silk so her art’s on my mind XD it’s very good. there are plenty of other great artists tho. i wonder how annie wu might draw her... her skritchy fine lines would work really well. i mean like i said, kate bishop x andi benton teamup? that would be sick? get wu on it as the Original Detective-y Kate Bishop Artist, master of extremely expressive.... expressions. 

or like.... Emma Rios, or Leslie Hung... both have great art styles i think could suit a story about Andi (either solo or with hawkeye lol) in different ways, different uses of flowing shapes... you know?

ANYWAY

i love andrea benton and it sucks that she’s been reduced to an oft-forgotten, fairly passive character instead of the rage-filled, emo-goth fire-tornado she could be.....

i have a whole doc about how kate could both validate her anger and help her with understanding that anger can lead to bad choices... i have so many thoughts. i have thoughts about how andi reacted to hearing about flash’s death and how no one told her about the funeral; thoughts about how angry she must have been after flash left her standing in the snow without mania--i refuse to accept that response at face value, she was bluffing, she was pissed, ugh ugh; thoughts about how she would resent kate for trying to mentor her in the same way she resented flash for trying to step into a parental role (even if it was accidental); thoughts about how the cure for her demonic possesion was only TEMPORARY?! ARE WE GONNA?? IGNORE THAT???

thoughts about her fears and future and loneliness....

#nadia rambles #nadia reads venom #andi benton #every once in a while i misspell flash as flesh and that's some kinda typo huh

[chalabrun]

between the dirt & desperation, ch. 3

Word count: 2,191 Pairings: Symbrock Rating: T Warnings: Mentions of character death Summary:  Sequel to “Angry & Half in Love with You”, it’s been well over a month since Eddie moved away from San Francisco to start over in his hometown of Manhattan. Yet, it’s difficult to return to a normal life when what you were once addicted to becomes addicted to you. A/N: This is a crossover between Venom (2018) and Sam Raimi’s Spiderman trilogy (2002-07). This is also the last chapter!

( READ ON AO3 ) 

When he was kid, there was a morbid game Eddie would play with the other school kids. When it was too cold to go out and play, they’d be remanded indoors since the gym wasn’t large enough to play host to them and whatever PE class was going on at the time. There was a large, old globe in one of the corners. It was a game he started, and he didn’t entirely remember why; maybe something to do with the silent blame his father hung over his head for his mother’s death.

He and what few friends he had would take turns spinning the globe with their eyes closed, a digit suspended over the revolving world until a few seconds passed and they’d bring their finger down like the arm and head-shell of a record player down on the actual record. Then, wherever it’d landed, they’d invent some outrageous story on the spot. Of how they’d died.

Eddie remembered one in particular out of the innumerable times they’d played it, where his had landed smack dab on NYC itself. He didn’t remember entirely what story he’d invented, but it had to do with aliens and an explosion—some War of the Worlds crap.

Funny how those things turn out.

Eddie coughed roughly upon awaking, feeling as though he’d been dragged through cement and then an ocean, all tactile sensation rough and dirty, starched and coarse. Too much heat. Too much smoke when his lungs craved air. As though he’d been incubated in a volcano, Eddie craned up at his vision that was still black and interrupted by jettisons of water. Too familiar. Too fucking familiar. His breath misted and tasted like plastic, robotic.

Eddie…

“He’s awake! Man, you really got caught up in the wrong place. Can you hear me? That was quite an explosion.” He blinked blearily at the white-masked EMT who had propped him up enough to sit from the temporarily gurney inside an ambulance. How…? “We thought we’d have to take you to the hospital, but aside from some superficial scrapes, and the dirtiness, you seem fine. Unless you’d rather be taken in…?”

“Nah…’s okay. Thanks, though,” Eddie mumbled after unhooking himself from the respirator and picking his way through the cramped ambulance and to the edge of the site where the warehouse had been, looking like Galactus had punched a crater in the earth where it’d stood. Its gaping maw somehow barely strafed any nearby residences, just far enough, though debris and cinders scattered everywhere.

He needed air. Needed something blue or gray and without the acrid stench of smoke rotting dark and his lungs, to get away from this hellish ruin.

The blond’s clothes were intact, Eddie slipping behind a gathering bevy of news vans hastily setting up shop that he didn’t intend on sticking around for. Better for Spiderman to think he was dead than have his face plastered over the news. Thankfully, with the gathering throng of people, his restitution had been in a place off from the center of chaos where no one really paid him any mind. No one knew that there had been a single man, or that he’d survived

Eddie didn’t know how long they walked down bleak streets and slanting buildings that leaned into each other, this clearly a dilapidated part of town. Trees hung heavily, already beginning to turn their leaves, a phenomena that didn’t really occur in the sunny latitudes of San Fran. His walk was shaded, hood pulled over his head and feeling miserably cold. But quiet. Still. Something pulsed in him that wasn’t his.

Venom emerged and he could practically sense that it was weak, burrowing like a kitten into his neck, craving warmth. “Hey,” Eddie greeted throatily as they paused briefly, pressing his cheek against its squishy morass that began purring weakly. It was exhausted. It had been the only thing that had kept him alive. Just like last time. Kittenish licks could be felt against his jaw, meaning that the symbiote at least heard him.

This neighborhood became more familiar the more he walked. It was like a high pressure, nostalgia. Creeping like a tide to lap at his feet. Overgrown sidewalks gave way to a clearing that revealed a modest church, red brick and chipping white paint. Its belfry pierced the sky alone amid a ring of trees that encompassed it. If he looked close enough, he could see the playground he used to play at while his dad conversed with the priests. They’d be drinking buddies if vices didn’t go against their vocation.

Without really thinking of it, he walked towards the stoop and opened the double doors, the interior inside dusky and quaint. You’d think it was a church from some backwater, landlocked Midwest town and not Long Island, but here it was. Rays of pale sunlight filtered weakly through narrow windows, motes of dust swimming in it. Pews crowded close together, the interior firm and Spartan. Exactly as he remembered it. His father and he had always sat in the middle.

This was all before they’d moved to San Francisco when he was still a little kid, maybe in elementary school or so. Never mind that it had made things strained between him and his older sister, Mary. Aside from the bullying and trying to excel in school so he’d have some scrap of validation his father never gave him.

“This…is where your parents wed.” Its voice was still weak, but it was better than silence.

“Yeah,” Eddie confirmed, pocketing his hands in his hoodie pocket. “Looks’a lot smaller than when I last remembered it, Ven. Though, I was kinda a tiny tot way back when.”

Venom emerged cautiously as a beginning thaw, marveling at it as though it were the most amazing thing it’d ever seen. He could feel its swell of affection, something that made him freeze, but not with rejection. It felt heavy and he wasn’t ready to be crushed. While his expression seemed to darken, a note of hope was in Venom’s voice. “Here is where humans bond. Like we did. And we’re here now.” It sounded excited, and nervous.

Eddie leaned against the prayer rest of the front pew, one of his hands curled around its shape, against the lacquered grain. “So, what—you sayin’ we ought’a get hitched, is that what you mean, Ven?” The dry dubiousness in his voice cause Venom to shrink away. “We get ourselves all dolled up, then what? Get a fuckin’ priest to marry us? Invite my family that doesn’t acknowledge I exist and the rest a’ those buddies a’yours on Klyntar sure as hell wouldn’t come, since the betrayal an’ all? Anne’d… Nah. God!” He laughed bitterly.

Raking his fingers through his hair in frustration, his hood came off in the process. He was still filthy. But, maybe it was just karma. This was like a reflection of the outside, right? Everything ruined and decayed in him. The effigy of Jesus affixed to the crucifix gazed down at him with an old Bloodhound’s gaze. Eyes turned down like they were too heavy to smile with again. They were accusing, reminding him of what he was jabbing almost too intentionally.

“’m sorry, Ven. It’s just…a lot at once,” he sighed tiredly, feeling the symbiote emerge again. He felt like Lucifer from Cinderella, only a lot less humorous. Getting dust and grime everywhere he touched. Let alone on Venom, of all things.

“It’s gonna take awhile. Hell, I dunno how long. To get used’t—this. Whatever we think we are. Whatever we’re trying t’be.” Jesus’ eyes bore down at him, as if demanding he continue. So did thirteen more from the painted Stations of the Cross that encompassed the church. He had to drop his gaze back to the plain tile ground. “People don’t work that way. They don’t live inside’a each other’s heads, knowing what they’re seein’, smellin’, hearin’, thinkin’—it just ain’t like that. Hell, I’d say it makes us pretty damn stir crazy, Ven. We’re so used to livin’ like fuckin’ goldfish in a bowl and sometimes, the bowl is clear enough for people t’look in. But, the fish don’t get inside’a each other’s heads. Hell, if they’re together for too long, sometimes they downright start maulin’ each other. Two people in the same small space. Nevermind in each other’s bodies—”

“Know you’re not like us, Eddie. Never thought you would be, but—we’re trying to understand. Understand you, and the world. Can’t stop how we feel about you,” the symbiote reasoned adamantly, pearl-bright gaze holding his when he couldn’t meet that of the divine. “And…it’s strong. Very strong.”

Eddie’s brow wrinkled together in disbelief. “D’you really mean that, or ya just standin’ too close to the speakers and it’s all you can hear?” he asked defensively, feeling himself clam up again even while Venom was trying to get in.

It manifested as a large humanoid blot that swallowed the lights of the many candles, those for the prayers people lit as alms. A good head taller than him, all symbiote sinews and impenetrable density, Venom pushed him back against the pew he’d been leaning on—enough that his back curved from how it loomed over him. The burn of frustration and indignation welling passionately in its throat.

“Said it yourself. You know everything we think, feel—and you think we aren’t sincere? That we’re faking it?” Venom scoffed disdainfully, lips curling in a snarl, bringing its gaze level and powerfully over Eddie’s, strands of matters clinging to the hem of his jeans from their proximity. Even if he wouldn’t yield. “We know you’re bullshitting yourself if you really think that, Eddie.”

That didn’t mean he’d falter. Eddie pushed back, craning up to sink his teeth into Venom’s neck like that first night. That night he still couldn’t tell was a mistake or not. Venom’s chest rumbled audibly and it was enough to loosen its hold, insinuating more but instead taking Venom by its chin and forcing it to look in his eyes. “Not here,” he commanded firmly, but not cruelly, gaze boring with insolvent stone into Venom’s. By its chin did he guide it away, stepping from their intimate closure.

“That’s not what we’re here for,” he murmured after a long moment, Eddie’s gaze growing distant with grief as he fished for a wad of cash he tossed indiscriminately in the donation basket nearest the candles. He procured a relatively long but intact match and suspended it over an already lit candle, jerking his head for Venom to join him at his side while he knelt. “Help me with this. We met because’a Maria, y’know. We owe her one.”

Reverently did Venom’s tenebrous hand envelop Eddie’s and it was warm. He smiled low but approvingly, lowering together to light an untouched candle. “I dunno if you had any gods back where you were from, on Klyntar—I mean. But just…focus on Maria. I wanna feel everything.”

Though Venom seemed reluctant to open those floodgates, it sank on the kneeler, emulating Eddie’s pose. “…Knull. He created us,” the symbiote said, not expounding further. And Eddie didn’t push for it.

Pain. So much pain. Maria hadn’t been healthy before she’d died, and his palms twitched spasmodically and he grimaced, feeling her death throes. Everything before she perished. The panic, the voices, the fear and remembering him— Eddie exhaled stiffly and deep, head tucked down and back bowed before he could straighten. Venom’s hand steadied on his back, expression discernibly concerned.

“She had happy moments, Eddie. She showed us you. Untouched mornings. Brilliant sunlight. Kind people who made sure she was safe. Like you.” He didn’t know whether it was supposed to make him or Venom feel better, but he felt…a little less guilty. She hadn’t been alone, and her death hadn’t been their fault. Venom hadn’t known any better. Maybe for a moment. He still felt at fault, even if— …No. Venom felt guilt. He knew what Maria had been to him. “…She didn’t die hating you. You saved her…and us.”

“…Maybe,” Eddie said, unclasping his hands and staring deep at that flickering flame. He folded his arms on the prayer rest, conflict broiling in his eyes. His lips quirked a little when he felt Venom rest its head on his shoulder, arm circling his shoulders. Funny how an alien acted more human than most.

“It won’t be an easy road, Ven. We make nice now, maybe we’ll know more than before. We’ve gotta lotta shit in shore for us. You sure you wanna put up with all’a that?” He felt Venom’s smile span wolfishly.

“Always did like a good challenge. You’ll trust us, we’ll prove ourselves.”

Eddie nodded, still feeling muddy and heavy. Sometimes, he tried pretending like Maria wasn’t really gone. That he’d wake up on a sunny morning with Anne’s petite form next to him, warm and gold swimming in her hair. That everything would be back to normal, even the cracked and broken parts of it.

“I jus’ hope you’re right, Ven. I really do.”

#eddie brock #venom #symbrock #veddie #spiderman #my writing #here have a bittersweet ending-- #never thought i'd finish a fic this fast but--here we are 8'D

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 6 November 2017

Quick Bits:

The Archies #2 kicks off the band’s inaugural road trip and, naturally for Archie, everything goes to hell pretty quick. There are some pretty funny moments throughout the issue as the band deals with their predicament.

| Published by Archie Comics

Birthright #28 is going to play with your expectations. Nothing is quite as it seems and Joshua Williamson is potentially turning things on their ear again with our understanding of the world and its adversaries. Andrei Bressan and Adriano Lucas again make it look gorgeous.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Centipede #4 somehow gets weirder. Kafka dreams and 8-bit graphics.

| Published by Dynamite

Coyotes #1 is one of the most beautiful, unique, and haunting debuts from Image that I’ve seen and it’s not like there’s a dearth of beautiful and unique Image comics lately. Sean Lewis and Caitlin Yarsky have managed to create something here that elevates the horror genre with a mix of a coming of age story and a kind of metaphor for the dogs of society. 

The art from Caitlin Yarsky is also absolutely gorgeous. Her art reminds me a bit of Emma Rios mixed with Jeremy Haun and Declan Shalvey and it has this interesting quality about it that just seems to blend the ephemeral and realistic. I’m particularly impressed by the way that the lettering is incorporated to tell us more about the characters as well. A lot of thought looks like it’s gone into the presentation of this story and it pays off in spades.

| Published by Image

Eugenic #2 jumps ahead to a society now ruled and manipulated by the Numans, subjugating the remaining humans to walled off ghettos and putting a lie to the concept that this new “perfect” race would be any better than its predecessor. 

I also appreciate the moment that James Tynion IV and Eryk Donovan take to comment about representation in media. It’s highly important and highly relevant and it’s nice to see that reflected outright in science fiction.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Grass Kings #9 shifts point of view again this issue, this time to Ashur and Pinball as they pick up some of the threads in regards to the investigation of Jenny Handel’s death. I really like how Matt Kindt has been weaving this story together, a patchwork of overlapping narratives building one upon the next.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Hack/Slash vs. Vampirella #2 has some great art from Rapha Lobosco again. I really like his style, at times I swear I’m looking at pages by Eduardo Risso, and that kind of dark, highly shadowed work fits perfectly with horror. This issue also seems to amp up the comedy aspect, bringing more of the feel of Hack/Slash proper to the crossover.

| Published by Dynamite

Harbinger Renegade #0 is kind of nice in the wake of “Massacre” to see HARD Corps get spanked so thoroughly. It’s also terrifying as Rafer Roberts and Juan José Ryp unleash the next nightmare upon the Valiant universe in this bridge to Harbinger Wars 2.

| Published by Valiant

The Harcourt Legacy #1 is something from a publisher I normally don’t pay much attention to, but the write-up about it sounded interesting. It’s a kind of family drama about a dying relative leaving his inheritance, the family fighting over the will, etc., but it’s also about magic and the interpretation of magic through music. Brendan Cahill gives it an interesting spin, with believable characters, and I’m looking to see what’s next. The art from Jason Federhenn is also very good, he’s got an angular style similar to Giuseppe Camuncoli.

| Published by Action Lab / Danger Zone

Harrow County #27 gives us Bernice kicking all kinds of ass, it’s very satisfying. Her confrontation with Kammi is just a wonderful thing to see, showing how far that she’s come and what she can really do. It’s just a shame what happens next. Emmy’s vengeance against Kammi is going to be epic.

| Published by Dark Horse

Injection #15 is very pretty. Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire seem to up their game again this issue and this is just lovely.

| Published by Image

Kid Lobotomy #2 does the nigh impossible and is somehow even better than that first issue. Gloriously insane doesn’t do justice to what Peter Milligan and Tess Fowler are creating here. Milligan is presenting a story of familial strife, blending literary allusions to Shakespeare and Kafka throughout, across a backdrop of madness that transcends even his work on Shade: The Changing Man. The artwork from Fowler also is wonderful. The layouts and character designs are enthralling, making the book as visually interesting, if not more so, than even the story. This is great stuff.

| Published by IDW / Black Crown

Kong on the Planet of the Apes #1 is the expression of a crossover of properties so fitting that you’re left wondering why no one thought of it before and secured the license and publishing rights. (It’s, of course, understandable why Universal and Fox didn’t do it themselves). This just works so well that Ryan Ferrier’s story is seamless, playing upon the scientific and religious implications of giant apes present in the Planet of the Apes world. It’s also nice to see Carlos Magno back working on both properties.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Pestilence #5 continues hitting hard with its medieval zombies. It’s also interesting to see the religious reaction to the undead as the Pope gives a deathbed confession, pushing our knights to search a new destination.

| Published by AfterShock

Port of Earth #1 is the new series from Eclipse’s Zack Kaplan with Andrea Mutti handling the art chores. It’s another interesting take of science fiction, turning a woefully technologically disadvantaged Earth into a way station for space vessels and suffering the consequences of murderous aliens. Mutti’s art really gets to shine, even with the kind of faded blue wash Vladimir Popov’s colours provide, giving us some great designs for aliens and their technology.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Redlands #4 veers left into an unexpected ghost story this issue, as Bridget, recovering from her injuries last issue, begins investigating a cold case from 1985. I really like how Jordie Bellaire is telling these stories and developing the characters in a very organic, flowing fashion. Although clearly thought out and planned, everything in the story just seems to flow together. Equally impressive is Vanessa Del Rey’s art. This issue brings back rounded corners, but this time only for the whole page. It’s a subtle technique, but it adds a different element to planned storytelling within a frame, rather than just discrete panels. It’s a nice touch.

| Published by Image

Slots #2 is good, damn good. Dan Panosian delves into the seedy backstory of Stan’s history with Les, while fleshing out more about the various characters across Vegas. His art is also incredible.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Star Wars #38 reunites the original Marvel Darth Vader team in Kieron Gillen’s first issue on the main title. It’s kind of a follow-up from Rogue One, as well as a surprise appearance from a character from the previous Darth Vader run, but it reads well enough on its own, setting up the stakes of this new arc. It helps that the artwork from Salvador Larroca and Guru e-FX is absolutely stunning.

| Published by Marvel

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #26 bills itself as the “zine issue” and as such is essentially an anthology of oddities with some guest art by the unusual suspects. It’s pretty hilarious with contributors like Chip Zdarsky, Carla Speed McNeil, and a Galactus short with Jim Davis.

| Published by Marvel

Other Highlights: Astonisher #2, Daredevil #595, Despicable Deadpool #289, Falcon #2, First Strike: Transformers #1, Jessica Jones #14, Half-Past Danger II: Dead to Reichs #3, Marley’s Ghost, Master of Kung Fu #126, Moon Knight #188, The Normals #6, Rock Candy Mountain #5, Royal City #7, Royals #10, Runaways #3, Scales & Scoundrels #3, She-Hulk #159, Slam! - The Next Jam #3, Spider-Man vs. Deadpool #23, Spirits of Vengeance #2, There’s Nothing There #5, TMNT/Ghostbusters 2 #2, The Unbelievable Gwenpool #22, Uncanny Avengers #29, Venom #157, X-Men Gold #15

Recommended Collections: 4 Kids Walk into a Bank, Black Panther - Volume Four: Avengers of the New World - Part One, Edge of Venomverse, Rose - Volume One, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

d. emerson eddy does not like green eggs and ham. He does not like them on a boat. He does not like them with a stoat.

#This Week in Comics