They Were Here The Whole Time! — Reviewing ‘All-New Venom’ #5

The villain! The reporter! The sidekick! The mayor! One of these individuals has bonded to become the swashbuckling All-New Venom! They’re out gallivanting around the city, saving lives and trying to clean up some lingering messes from the recent all-out gang war that hit New York’s streets.

One of these people became the latest host for the silky black alien symbiote, surely meant to…wait, what’s that? A surprise fifth contender has entered the chat? Pulling a scarlet rabbit out of their hidden hat, Al Ewing, Carlos Gómez, Frank D’Armata, and Clayton Cowles leave their old yet new hero standing revealed.

***SPOILERS FOLLOW***

Okay, good, now that they’ve looked away, we can flip that last page and freak out a bit.

Mary Jane Watson! Never saw that one coming.

No. Really. I didn’t see that happening one bit. Way back in October, I threw out the odds on which person would be the new Venom (while my pal Anton threw out some other intriguing options). I even chose to include a fifth spot for a ‘wild card,’ because I know how stories go. I never once thought of the storied redhead as a suspect. Largely, this is because she has a very tumultuous history with the symbiote, which once traumatized her to get back at Peter Parker (who spurned the symbiote).

Funnily enough, the solicit for the sixth issue was a red herring used to ‘hide’ the potential reveal in plain sight. The solicit stated we would see a past moment between the new Venom and Jackpot/Mary Jane. Cheeky Ewing and company looking us right in the proverbial eye and spelling out the reveal without actually spelling it out. I’m on to you all!

My trust for Ewing as a writer goes deep. Almost every series he’s done for Marvel has been one that I greatly enjoy and follow. Ironically, the only title I ended up dropping off of previously with his name attached was the first Venom series he wrote with Ram V. That was mainly just because the particular direction and focus wasn’t doing it for me. It was typically well written, as one would expect from both writers, but just not something that pinged my interest.

Here we stand now.

That’s my long way of saying I am intrigued and feel solid about what will come. I’m very certain that not only will the bonding (one that we already saw in previous issues that host and symbiote are not keen on) issues be addressed, but I imagine MJ’s issues with symbiotes, and Venom in particular, will be addressed as well.

Gómez draws the absolute hell out of this series.

Mary Jane hasn’t had a lot of books where she is a headlining type. Since she’s the one in the Venom symbiote, even though her name isn’t in the title, she’s a headliner. It’s amusing, then, that out of the limited times she’s headlined, Gómez has been the artist on two of them. It works, though, because he draws a great Mary Jane and a great everything else too.

Whether it’s action or character interactions, everything is vivid with such depth and weight, feeling adequately like lived-in spaces. There is a natural smoothness that comes into play that really makes the dynamic nature of the artwork pop even more. Additionally, there are rougher textures that give faces their emotional range and more realistic appearances. All of it hits that sweet spot between more realistic and more whimsical.

Slick and glossy also describes the color palette which D’Armata deploys. It gives the more vibrant shades a flashier appearance. At the same time, they are kept to a degree of toning down which matches the overall aesthetic of the more muted setting space colors. These more fantastic figures and elements stand out from the overall world without feeling too outlandish. It’s just enough to be a strange vision of our world while still feeling like our world.

Characters have a lot to say this time around. We get a lot of revelations and dialogue that deepens the situation of our varied cast of characters. Cowles makes sure that it all flows so smoothly, as usual. He really hits all the emotional and tonal intricacies with ease as the various colors, shifted fonts, and more create unique voices. They play into the overall fun energy which this series has been completely built upon.

All-New Venom #5 is now available from Marvel Comics.