X-23 and a symbiote…? What?
Creative Staff:
Writer: Matthew Rosenberg
Art: Roland Boschi and Adam Gorham
Color: Daniel Brown
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
What They Say:
The series that sets up the epic VENOM EVENT of 2017 STARTS HERE! Each issue introduces another major Venomized character that will feed into VENOMVERSE itself! THIS ISSUE, the young mutant clone designated X-23 collides with a cryogenic tube containing a strange alien symbiote during her frenzied escape from The Facility, . Bonding with the alien enhances her already considerable abilities, and aids in her escape, but it begins to alter her mind! On the run from the very people that made her, can X-23 hold it together or is she doomed to give in to Venom!
Content: (warning, content sections may contain spoilers)
This issue and series caught me out of nowhere, really. A Venom event? While Secret Empire chugs on, why suddenly add another big event to follow, it makes so little sense. Regardless what we have here is actually the first issue in the lead up to this event. Edge of Venomverse # 1 begins the road to the event Venomverse. In this lead-up series, we start off with X-23 as a young girl. Our set up goes back quite a ways in her history, though it is handled relatively well. X-23 encounters and bonds with the symbiote while escaping from The Facility.
The concept works rather well especially when you get into Laura’s internal arguments with the symbiote. These are done surprisingly well, with Laura insisting she’s not a monster, and the symbiote always staying the course of insisting that they are. Laura’s attempt to evade the Facility soldiers is pulled off decently in this book, though the Venom Symbiote is both done well and seems kind of superfluous. The symbiote does add a second voice that makes Laura constantly second guess herself, but at the same time, other than the ending of the book, the concept adds nothing but a difference in how Laura fights off her attackers.
One noticeable difference that does work is that the symbiote uses Laura’s feelings of hating when people she cares about get hurt, and this honestly makes the concept stand out a bit more. Using the symbiote this way hasn’t been done too much, and the concept is pulled off here in great fashion. In the end, Laura is pulled away from her new friends (homeless kids she ran into) and the pursuing Facility goons and lands, in Venomized form, in front of an as yet unknown man,
In Summary:
This book isn’t the greatest depiction of a Venomized character, but it’s certainly not terrible. In fact, this falls squarely into “good enough to make one interested in the next part” territory. X-23 initially seems like a character that wouldn’t work with the Venom suit, but the creative team manages to make a decent case for the concept in this issue. The only real problem is that the biggest things the Venomization offers here is changing Laura’s appearance and her internal dialogues with the symbiote. Laura still fights the way you’d expect her to and acts mostly the same. The concept is cool, but ultimately, they’ll need to do a bit more to show off the “Venomization” if they want the concept to be truly great. The art and designs are great, and X-23 Venom looks fantastic.
The story is rather easy yo follow and Rosenberg does a good job putting it all together in a way that it makes sense. Venomverse still has to prove itself as a worthwhile concept, as this issue, while a good first step, doesn’t fully do that. The tone is one of intrigue, and there’s plenty of action, but ultimately, the biggest question never gets answered: What exactly is going on here? What is the basis for this concept and how did it exactly start? It’s important that Edge of Venomverse answer this, otherwise, the event will suffer for it. This is a decent issue that does what it can with the concept it’s given well, but not much more beyond that. It’s a rather dull comic, and it’s one-dimensional in the sense that it does what the cover promises and delivers X-23 as Venom, but as far as events go, it really doesn’t provide much else for a reader. It’s a decent book and gives what you’d expect from it, so pick it up if you’re really interested, otherwise, this may not be for you.
Grade: C
Age Rating: 7+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: June 28th, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
