Venom Annual #1 Review

Writer: Donny Cates, David Micheline, Jeff Loveness, & James Stokoe / Artist: Kev Walker, Ron Lim, Tigh Walker, & James Stokoe / Marvel Comics Do you know what I’m a sucker for? Apparently, it’s second-hand accounts told about monsters. Just like issue #3 of the Immortal Hulk, Donny Cates, David Michelinie, Jeff Loveness, and James Stroke all craft a story about Venom told from several perspectives. The best part is that these perspectives are all from B-list criminals, whose words you have to take with a grain of salt. If you’ve any of my previous reviews, you’d know I lean towards the more monstrous side of Venom, the one who is treated like some sort of horror movie monster. To an extent, that’s what we get with this annual issue. Accounts of the hulking symbiote from criminals who obviously fear him. All their accounts are vastly different, and it’s fun comparing what is being said with what is actually happening on the page.

Each writer takes on telling a different account, accompanied by a different artist. Every story shows a different side of Venom, from his lethal protector state to his rampaging encounters with other Marvel heroes and villains. However, what I like the most is how each artist obviously has fun drawing Venom. You can tell that Kev Walker, Ron Lim, Tigh Walker, and James Stokoe all have their own interpretation of what Venom’s symbiote powers are capable of and how he looks. The variety in their imagination and the way they draw him on the pa…