Marvel Comics Universe and Absolute Carnage: Symbiote Spider-Man #1 Spoilers and Review follows.
Whatever Happened To The Venom Host…
…Between Peter Parker and Eddie Brock?
Well the book opens with a throwback page…
…from Peter Parker Spectacular Spider-Man #99…
…followed by another page…
…from Peter Parker Spectacular Spider-Man #100.
Now, its possible you’ve never seen those covers, but I’m willing to bet most have seen the iconic cover by John Byrne that follows this for Peter Parker Spectacular Spider-Man #101.
Here’s a clean version recreated by Byrne.
Anyhow, those two interior throwback pages to 1985 are synopsized in the third page of Absolute Carnage: Symbiote Spider-Man #1.
Well that tourist is Judge Leonard Elkhart and he’s bee in jail for years now and is up for a parole hearing; and he’s dying.
We go back to after the symbiote left him; he blacked out and didn’t know about the symbiote.
He was worried his blackout might be cancer; it wasn’t.
Later, he presided over the hearing of Dr. Lorina Dodson aka White Rabbit despite being a patron in the restaurant she had a super-powered tantrum in.
In her White Rabbit garb later she scared Judge Elkhart’s son to death and is arrested. It was unintentional; she was looking to cause mischief, not death.
However, the elder Elkhart knew what he had to do.
In a courtroom where Dr. Dodson was standing trail he puts a gun at her and in the skirmish with police accidently kills the court reporter.
He is arrested and…
…not popular in prison until…
…Cletus Kassidy…
…and his alter ego Carnage come to collect the part of symbiote that latched itself onto Elkhart.
A welcomed mercy killing by the one-time judge.
The Pulse:
An intriguing and compelling issue with solid art. An enjoyable read with nary a Spider-Man in sight. 7 out of 10.
