Toxin #1 Review

Archive

Reviewer: James Hatton
Story Title: Toxin: The Devil You Know
Part 1 – The Strange Case of Pat Mulligan and Mr. Hyde

Written by: Peter Milligan
Penciled by: Darick Robertson
Inked by: Rodney Ramos
Colored by: Matt Milla
Lettered by: VC’s Mike Sellers
Editor: Jennifer Lee
Publisher: Marvel Comics

What is on the other side of you? When the voice speaks, what does it say? Do you imagine the most disgusting death of the man standing across the way? Are you a millionaire in a penthouse? Does it tell you not to eat the biggest piece of chicken? Whatever that voice says, it is within us all. In Toxin, Pat Mulligan has a voice – and I was surprised to hear what it actually had to say.

Let me just preface this with the fact that I have no idea where this character came from. A little research informed me that he appeared in the Venom vs. Carnage storyline over in some other book. (Venom to be precise).

STORY!

A cop no longer on the force, Pat Mulligan has another being living within him – known as Toxin. Two things about the name Toxin. One, it reminds of the Britney Spears video – just because my hole addled brain connects similar sounding words. The second is that it reminds me of Troma films. Now that I have that out of the way – Pat wants to help.

He wants to take down the King Cobra, former released villain of the Raft Incident (See New Avengers). He feels it is his moral duty as a matter of fact – and that little inner voice thinks that it’s a smashing idea. So Pat goes and talks to another supervillain, Mr. Hyde. Hyde doesn’t want to help without concessions being granted – and really, who would. After a time though, Toxin does convince Mr. Hyde, but not after having to recognize his inner demons.

Let me say, that I really dislike Venom and Carnage. Not so much as for me to never touch a book they are in – I just feel they are overdone. When I found that Toxin was YET ANOTHER Symbiote, I started to whimper. Then I read the book and realized that Toxin is a GOOD GUY! A Good symbiote. Neat concept, obvious spin, fairly unheard of. After reading the book and realizing that this truly was more of a story about Pat DEALING with this constant dark inner monologue, and not a crazy Dr. Jekyll rip, I was a bit MORE intrigued.

By the time I was done, I was wondering if I had been wrong about these symbiotes the whole time. This book is well done. Top to bottom, Milligan took what could have easily been a lemon and turned it into a possible sleeper hit. It was only in typing the Art section that I had to come back and say that the Spawn comparison is an apt one, but without all of the stupidity.

ART!

Darick Robertson is a fine artist. The defined faces are perfect for this shady, almost noir kind of book. If I was to knock anything I would say the fight sequence looks almost cartoonishly silly. At one point in time Toxin is stuck in a choke hold and his eyes are quite literally BUGGING out of his head.

The look of Toxin though is quite what I expected. A Venom without the black, a Carnage without the uber-fangs. He reeks a bit of that Spawn-esque style, but can I forego that to learn about the character? Sure!

Overall!

Toxin is good. It’s not out of the ballpark excellent, but for folks who like darker stories, this one might be the one to read for Spidey fans. The Hyde scenes remind you of Lector, and the constant inner monologue makes even walking down the street an experience. Overall, thumbs up.