A complicated web…
Creative Staff:
Story: Dan Slott, Christos Gage
Art: Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba
What They Say:
The first issue in THE DARKEST HOUR – the Spider-Event of the year! Flash Thompson, the Secret Avenger known as Venom, is back in town for his first run-in with the Superior Spider-Man! Will their first encounter be friendly, or will Flash sense something perilous about Peter Parker’s presence?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I still have very fond memories of when I first started reading Spider-Man comics as it was amid the Secret Wars series when the black costume was first introduced in old Amazing 252. While I fell out of it after a few years, I enjoyed a lot of the early Venom stories, but didn’t keep up with the way the character has been reworked so many times over the years. Amusingly, you have to feel that Octavius is in the same boat here in this issue as Venom, now known as Agent Venom after working in covert with the Avengers for awhile, is now back in the city and hunting down the returned from the dead Crime Master.
That alone is a complicated issue since Crime Master has ties to Betty, who is investigating this herself, and she has her past ties to Flash Thompson as well, making the two of them less than pleased partners for a little bit here as they check out the docks where Crime Master’s goons are working out of. It’s one of those kind of messy things when you get down to it in years of relationships and interactions make it far more complicated than it should be. Flash is definitely interesting to see in this form as he’s in control of the Symbiote and working to do good now while utilizing its abilities in some decently creative ways. He does have to work to maintain that control though, so it’s not an easy thing to do, though the low level punks that Crime Master has makes it easy.
While all of this is going on, Octavius is reveling in being a CEO and inspiring his team at Parker Industries to go forth and innovate. Of course, he looks and sounds like a classic mad scientist, providing another moment where shades of the real man in control shines through. There’s a lot to like as we go through this segment though, as Sajani is fitting in well, Wirtham is on board as a consultant which keeps him close for Octavius’ piece of mind and they’re also able to do some things to help aunt May with her health issues. There’s also a great piece where we see Octavius and Anna Marie getting closer in a really good way, which helps to reinforce my own interest in seeing this relationship progress.
Of course, that can go only so far before the fight at the docks gets the team on Spider-Island’s attention and Octavius has to go and intercede. What makes it fun is that he’s there to take down Agent Venom, thinking him the classic villain and not letting him say anything to contrary. We do get some time with Crime Master, but the reveal there is about as expected as it’s another area where Kingsley is selling franchise rights, which is still a decent idea overall but one that’s going to catch up sooner or later if Octavius actually listens. The action here is once again pretty solid as I really do like the style Humberto Ramos brings to the page and the overall layout and approach makes it pretty dynamic, especially between the way Agent Venom works and the changes made over the series for Spider-Man with his suit and more technological approach to things.
In Summary:
As is the case in both Peter Parker and Spider-Man’s life, there’s a lot going on. We get the big ticket items here with Agent Venom taking up a nice chunk of time, first with Betty and then with Spider-Man as they go against each other, but we also get some good pieces from Peter’s life that Octavius is really living. The Parker Industries aspect is one that I’m really curious to see how it goes overall as it has a lot of potential, though I’m also looking forward to seeing more of what Watanabe is going to discover as she’s realized that Carlie has been kidnapped and that Octavius may be onto them. There’s a lot of pieces in motion but it makes for a smooth, chaotic and engaging time.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: November 27th, 2013
MSRP: $2.99
