"Carnage: Web of Carnage"

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Carnage: Web of Carnage” as presented in Marvel Epic Collection format, written by J.M. DeMatteis, Larry Hama, David Michelinie, Warren Ellis, Dan Jurgens, Tom DeFalco, Howard Mackie, Todd Dezago & David Quinn.

            Cletus Kasady was a criminal who was about as worse as they could come, a prisoner on Riker’s Island serving twelve life sentences. His cell mate Eddie Brock claimed to have been bonded to an alien called a symbiote and was the super villain Venom. The symbiote broke Eddie out of prison, but left a piece of itself behind during the escape. That excess symbiote bonded with Kasady and gave birth to the psychotic super villain Carnage. Kasady had been locked away in Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane for the crimes he committed as the Carnage.

Peter Parker was arrested for the worst of all crimes, which were actually committed by Kaine. The mysterious Judas Traveller transported Peter/Spider-Man and Kaine to a fictional courthouse where Traveller placed Spider-Man on trial to prove if his actions as a super hero were as beneficial as Peter has been led to believe or if they had unintended consequences that made things inadvertently worse for other innocent people, placing Carnage as prosecutor of the case.

            A video game called “Carnage Unleashed” has been created, starring Carnage as the villain and Venom as the hero. This game featured online capabilities. While unable to actually make the money he technically deserved for having been made the star of the video game, the staff at Ravencroft allowed Carnage screen time. He was allowed to play the game. Wary of this fact, Eddie decided to travel to New York to pay Kasady a visit. Kasady was subjected to inhibiters which prevented him from becoming Carnage. Kasady learned a new trick while playing this game. Kasady sent his symbiote through the internet to bond with a player of the game. This possessed player was then able to hack the security systems of Ravencroft and release Kasady/Carnage from his cell. Fortunately, Venom’s arrival in New York was timely, as he was able to defeat Kasady/Carnage, place him in a coma and return him to Ravencroft.

            After an encounter with Spider-Man, Eddie decided he had had enough with the symbiote and enough with being Venom and cast out the symbiote. The symbiote was not happy about this and sent out a distress call to other symbiotes, which led to a symbiote invasion of earth. Eddie found himself in an alliance with Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider to fight back against the symbiotes with sonic cannons (symbiotes are weak against loud sonic frequencies and fire). Ben had accidentally picked up the Venom symbiote along the way, which decided to bond back with Eddie again, dismayed about seeing what it’s species was doing to it’s adopted planet. Unfortunately at this point, Kasady emerged from his coma, releasing Carnage, who then absorbed several of the invading symbiotes, creating a giant symbiotic monster. The combined might of Venom, Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider were able to defeat Carnage and force back the symbiote invasion.

            Ravencroft head psychiatrist Doctor Ashley Kafka invited world renowned psychiatrist Doctor Matthew Kurtz to Ravencroft in an attempt to rehabilitate the recaptured Kasady/Carnage. During the course of the interviews and treatments, Carnage dragged Kurtz into Kasady’s memories, making Kurtz actually live the moments in Kasady’s life that led to Kasady becoming the criminal he grew up to be, and this mind bombing drove Doctor Kurtz completely insane.

While Kasady was in Ravencroft, a Carnage impersonator was terrorizing New York City. Ben Reilly/Spider-Man went to investigate and found that Kasady had been separated from his symbiote and had little time left to live, while the symbiote was attached to Ravencroft head of security John Jameson. Ben Reilly/Spider-Man engaged Jameson/Carnage, and the symbiote decided it wanted a stronger host, and left Jameson and attached itself to Ben, giving birth to Spider-Carnage. Spider-Carnage went on a rampage through New York City, ruining Spider-Man’s reputation. Peter Parker confronted Spider-Carnage at the risk of his own life. Spider-Carnage instinctively went to Ravencroft, where the symbiote left Ben Reilly/Spider-Man and rejoined with Cletus Kasady.

Kasady’s treatment continued, but Carnage attempted another mind bomb by dragging Doctor Ashley Kafka and John Jameson into his own made up, insane, twisted, pocket reality, turning John into his Doctor Kafka into an insect metamorphic creature and Jameson into the Man-Wolf.

Eddie Brock was placed on trial for his crimes as Venom, represented by Matt Murdock/Daredevil. Eddie was given a serum that prevented him from becoming Venom. Kasady, being Eddie’s former cell mate, was called to testify. Kasady was given the same serum as Eddie, yet still transformed into Carnage, and Daredevil, Peter Parker/Spider-Man, and Venom had to team up again to take Carnage down once again.

 

Some of you may recall I am a huge fan of Carnage. I’ve previously reviewed the “Maximum Carnage” event as presented on Marvel Unlimited and “Carnage: Born in Blood” as presented in Marvel Epic Collection format on this blog site and gave high scores, so if you’ve read either of those, you probably know. If you didn’t know, well, now you do.

So, let’s talk about my reactions. First off, I will say I liked most the stories in it. But here is where we have the problem: these issues are not all consecutive and were gathered from points between 1994-1997, and only included issues with Carnage. It really jumped around. For example, it included two issues of “Amazing Spider-Man,” but they were #403 & #410. On top of that, most of this book took place during “The Clone Saga” and the little previously blurbs just aren’t enough if you don’t know the story. I have reviewed “Spider-Man: The Clone Saga” as presented on Marvel Unlimited on this blog site, but the list ended when Ben Reilly became Spider-Man, and this graphic novel goes past that point, so even I don’t know the full story. Some of you who have read previous posts know this has also been a problem before, such as in “Moon Knight: Bad Moon Rising” and “Hawkeye: The Avenging Archer” in particular, which I have previously posted on this blog site. I will say that Marvel Epic Collections have singular focuses, such as how “The Silver Surfer: The Infinity Gauntlet” didn’t actually have any of the six issue limited series “The Infinity Gauntlet,” just the issues of “Silver Surfer” from around the time. Also, the titles of Marvel Epic Collections are the ones Marvel thinks will sell best, such as “Captain America: The Coming of… the Falcon” who only appeared in three issues of the book. “Web of Carnage” was only four parts, and there are eighteen issues in this book, but Marvel clearly thought that “Web of Carnage” was the catchiest and slapped it all over the book. But I TOTALLY digress, terribly sorry. Let me emphasize my point. The start of the book was “Amazing Spider-Man” #403, which was part of a four issue crossover story, but since this issue was the only issue with Carnage in it, that was the only one they included. And even “Venom: On Trial.” It was a three issue limited series, but Carnage wasn’t in #1, so only #2-3 were included. When reading a comic book storyline, I feel like two issues are most important: the first issue and the last issue. I’m not saying that I don’t think that everything in between isn’t important, but I like to know how a story starts so I get a feel of what’s going on. The exclusion of #1 made the graphic novel kind of confusing. The fact that this whole book was selections from an extensive event only including minimal amounts just makes it hard to fully follow. I will also say that one of the number one reasons I purchased this graphic novel was because it contained “Amazing Spider-Man” #410, which was actually the first Marvel comic book I ever got, so it was rather sentimental to me, plus it was part two of a four part crossover story I never read the other three parts of and have wanted to read the others for twenty-seven years, so when I heard about this book I had to get it. I really enjoyed that storyline, Ben Reilly is a favorite character of mine, so him becoming Spider-Carnage was pretty cool. And I enjoyed the “Venom: Carnage Unleashed” limited series, especially the irony that Cletus would have been rich over his use in the video game if he weren’t a prisoner. I thought that was a good joke. The psychological issues just didn’t do it for me, though. I’ve been a mental patient (not a serial killer), but I didn’t feel the depictions were right. I felt like the writers needed to do better research there. As far as Planet of the Symbiotes, I really enjoyed rereading this (since it was in “Spider-Man: The Clone Saga”) in context now. And let’s discuss the artwork. Previous readers may know how I feel about mid-to-late ’90s and early ’00s artwork, but if you’ve never read a post from me before, that is my favorite period of comic book art. There was just such a quality to it that wasn’t there before and isn’t followed anymore, and I totally miss that standard. Just like all art, there a periods that have distinct features, and I just loved that period. I will say that the artists of “Carnage: Mind Bomb” and “Carnage: It’s a Wonderful Life” let me down a little, but not too badly.

Now, I’m going to alter the order I do my reviews in a little and say that I only recommend this book to Spider-Man fans who know about “Spider-Man: The Clone Saga” or else I feel like you will have NO idea what is going on and the previously blurbs are just not enough to guide you through it. I feel like this book is just NOT a point for new comic book readers to start with, even if you are a Carnage fan from any of the cartoons, movies, or video games. Back in 1996, I read “Amazing Spider-Man” #410 and had no idea what I was reading, I just didn’t have the background and context at the time, especially the whole who is really Peter Parker and who is the clone, it did feel a bit convoluted. Did I like this book? Personally, yes, but still, it’s not an easy book for me to recommend, but hey, what do I know? If you like this review and want to read this book, go right ahead. I know I always say that, but it’s true. We all have our own thoughts and opinions, I can’t tell you what to do. It’s just a really expensive book and I hope I don’t lead you to disappointment, so buyers beware.

Now, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty: my numeric score. Some of you know the deal: one to ten, one’s the worst, ten’s the best. Simple as that. I’ve been going on for quite some time now and I hope you’re still here because I’ve been writing this for almost three hours and I hope I haven’t wasted my time, so if you’re still reading this, you are THE BEST! So, here’s the moment you’ve been waiting for. I give it… an eight. When you look at a graphic novel, you have to take everything into account: story and art. It can have a story that’s amazing but the art is just an eyesore, or the story is awful but the art is just spectacular. So in this case, I liked most of the stories, I liked most of the art, so, yes, the score is an eight.

Okay, I’ve been ranting for almost 2000 words, you probably want to do other things on the internet, so I’m letting you go. As you could tell, I’ve done reviews before (actually literal dozens), mostly Marvel stuff, but I write short fiction and nonfiction, free-verse poetry, essays, editorials, and several other types of content, so feel free to keep browsing my blog site. I post frequently, I actually get an Epic Collection every month, so keep an eye out for that. Tell your friends. And now, until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

“Carnage: Born in Blood” by David Michelinie, Tom DeFalco, Terry Kavanagh & J.M. DeMatteis

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Carnage: Born in Blood” by David Michelinie, Tom DeFalco, Terry Kavanagh & J.M. DeMatteis.

            Cletus Kasady was born into a broken home and grew up in St. Estes Home for Boys, where he was badly bullied. He would go on to commit arson on the orphanage and many other heinous crimes that landed him in Riker’s Island Prison Complex serving eleven consecutive life sentences.

            Peter Parker was orphaned as a little boy and grew up with his elderly Aunt May and Uncle Ben. As a high school student when he was bitten by a radioactive spider at a radiology demonstration. He gained the proportional strength and agility of a spider, adhesive fingertips and toes, and a precognitive awareness of personal danger he calls “spider-sense.” He also created web shooters. He first used his powers to show off and try to make money. He allowed a robber to run past him when he easily could have stopped the robber. The robber later broke into Aunt May and Uncle Ben’s house and murdered Uncle Ben. Peter then took a saying from his Uncle Ben to heart: “With great power there must also come great responsibility.” He then vowed to use his powers for good and became a super hero called the Amazing Spider-Man. Peter kept his identity as Spider-Man a secret, telling no one of his alter ego. On one of his many adventures, Peter was sent to the planet Battleworld with almost all the other heroes and villains in the Marvel Universe. His costume was damaged, and he came upon a device that gave him a new costume. The costume could produce its own webbing, amplified Peter’s abilities, and could change shape. Peter brought the costume back home to earth and continued to wear it. Superhero Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four ran a diagnostic on the costume and discovered it was a living organism called a symbiote that wanted to permanently bond with Peter. Reed discovered the symbiote was weak against sound. Peter was able to separate from the symbiote and thought he had destroyed it. But he was wrong. Peter married Mary Jane Watson, one of the only people who knew Peter was Spider-Man.

            Eddie Brock was a disgraced journalist. He blamed the end of his career on Spider-Man. He stumbled upon the symbiote Peter rejected and the two bonded in their mutual hatred for Spider-Man, and they became Venom, who became one of Spider-Man’s deadliest enemies. Venom had all the same powers as Spider-Man, and didn’t set off Peter’s spider sense. Spider-Man defeated Venom and separated Eddie and the symbiote. Eddie was sent to Riker’s Island Prison Complex, where he became cellmates with Cletus Kasady. Eddie always hoped the symbiote would reunite with him. Then, one night, the symbiote did indeed return and broke Eddie out of prison. In the process, however, a piece of the symbiote was left behind. Kasady bonded with this symbiote and busted out of Riker’s. Kasady and the symbiote took on the name Carnage, and went on a nasty crime spree.

            Peter went on to investigate the crime spree, believing this to be the work of Venom. Peter had previously battled Venom on a desert island, and Peter faked his death to give Venom a sense of satisfaction and let Venom find peace. Peter came face-to-face with Carnage and was defeated. Peter realized he could not defeat Carnage on his own, and turned to Venom for help. Venom returned to New York with Peter. Carnage set his sight on Peter’s boss J. Jonah Jameson, publisher of the newspaper The Daily Bugle. Spider-Man and Venom were able to defeat Carnage and destroy Kasady’s symbiote. Peter thought the nightmare of Carnage was over. He was wrong.

            Richard and Mary Parker, Peter’s parents, as it turned out were not really dead. They were spies, and had been captured and held in a Russian prison for twenty years. Peter’s best friend, Harry Osborn became the super villain the Green Goblin, and met with an unfortunate end. Mary Jane then asked Peter to give up being Spider-Man for two weeks, and Peter gave Mary Jane his word that he would.

            Kasady was brought to Ravencroft, a maximum security institution for the criminally insane for study. The doctors there were under the impression that Carnage was just a regular costume that could just be taken on and off, and not actually a living organism. And the symbiote actually had entered Kasady’s bloodstream. Kasady became Carnage again. As he escaped from Ravencroft, Carnage released another criminal, Sandra Deel, called Shriek. Shriek had the powers of supersonic blasts and the psychic ability to bring out the worst aspects of a person. Fortunately for Kasady, Carnage was now immune to sonics. The two criminals immediately fell in love. After their escape, the two ran across the monstrous Spider-Doppelganger. After realizing that the creature posed no threat, Shriek and Carnage “adopted” it.

            Peter immediately broke his promise to Mary Jane after learning of Carnage’s escape and rushed off as Spider-Man. Unfortunately, he proved no match against the “Carnage Family.” Spider-Man was then joined by Tyrone Johnson/Cloak and Tandy Bowen/Dagger. The team-up met a snag when Shriek destroyed Dagger.

            Venom, meanwhile, heard of Carnage’s resurgence and returned to New York to battle his “offspring.”

            Spider-Man then found himself fighting the demonic creature called the Demogoblin, whose aim was to purge the world of sinners and deliver vengeance. After a brief battle, the Demogoblin escaped.

            Peter returned home, but he and Mary Jane were visited by none other than Eddie Brock. Mary Jane then stormed off from Peter after Spider-Man and Venom decided to team-up again. She went to see Aunt May, Richard and Mary Parker. Peter then turned to his ex-lover and ally Felicia Hardy/Black Cat for assistance. This alliance failed when Peter refused to do whatever it takes to end the threat of Carnage for good, and Black Cat and Venom went off on their own.

            Demogoblin encountered the Carnage Family and allowed himself to be “adopted” by Carnage and Shriek. Then a clone of an old Spider-Man villain the Jackal, who called himself Carrion, and possessed a decaying touch joined the Carnage family.

            Spider-Man then found himself surrounded by ordinary New Yorkers who were now under Shriek’s influence and at an impasse as he did not want to hurt these people but had to stop the Carnage Family.

            Michael Morbius, a former scientist and now a pseudo-vampire, dug into Shriek’s history, hoping to find information that could be used to bring down the Carnage family.

            Spider-Man, Venom and Black Cat met up again and reformed their alliance.

            Deathlok, a cybernetic organism also joined into the battle against the Carnage Family, but was swiftly defeated.

            Cloak also rejoined the Spider-Alliance, bringing the mutant Anjelica Jones/Firestar with him. Firestar’s powers include flight and microwave blasts, an ability that could help against the Carnage Family as the symbiotes are weak against strong heat and fire, and Morbius joined with the Spider-Alliance. The alliance was temporary, as Spider-Man and Firestar both did not wish to cross the line against Carnage.

            Danny Rand/Iron Fist also joined the fray, rescuing Deathlok, and Steve Rogers/Captain America, Iron Fist and Deathlok joined in with Spider-Man and Firestar.

            Carnage then abducted Venom and proceeded to torture his “father.”

            The Spider-Alliance learned that they had the ability to restore the good natures to the Shriek-controlled New Yorkers, but this proved only to be temporary. But two returning heroes then helped turn the tide against the Carnage Family.

            Still Carnage would not stop and set his sights upon a childhood friend, William Bentine, who Spider-Man then attempted to rescue.

 

            So, some of you may know my favorite Marvel super villain is Carnage, and if you didn’t, now you know. So you can imagine I got this Epic Collection as soon as I could. Some of my prior readers may have noticed I already reviewed the Marvel Comics Event “Maximum Carnage” which was the primary storyline in this book and may see some redundancies. That said, this book gave more content that was not in my prior review, particularly the original “Carnage” storyline and origin of Cletus Kasady/Carnage and another further Carnage battle, so this review is not exactly the same. It should be noted that when I score, I give it at the actual moment, and my scores may change before and after writing my reviews.

            The content in this graphic novel was originally published between the years of 1991-1994, I feel should be noted. I have regularly been reading Marvel comics since 2001, and I have read many Carnage stories over the years. That said, “Maximum Carnage” has been my favorite Carnage storyline published up to this point. My reasoning for this has been that the heroes battling Carnage was consistent. Many Carnage stories have focused on several perspectives, meaning they are an event crossover of different series. There were five Spider-Man series at the time, and this event was contained only in Spider-Man series, with the main focus on Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Other storylines such as “Absolute Carnage” for example were a crossover event and was a limited series with tie-ins from other series that focused on different characters and occasionally were contradictory, such as dialogue changing between the different series and scenes not consistent between series. This event was just one continuous storyline, with just one narrative, and that is why this story has been my favorite Carnage storyline to date.

            As to why Carnage is my favorite Marvel super villain, he’s dangerous. Most of the time, the heroes win, and the comic is just how the heroes go from point A to point B, from the start of the villain conflict to the hero defeating the villain, and everything else is just in-between, how the hero defeats the villain. With Carnage, there have only been few times Peter Parker/Spider-Man has ever defeated him on his own, so I always like seeing the alliances it takes to defeat Carnage. He’s a very powerful villain and often out-classes the heroes who battle him, which makes the victories that much more surprising. For those of you who have seen the film “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” (which truly was a disappointment to me), Carnage is not that easy to defeat in the comics as he was in the movie, and I thought that the comic storyline “Maximum Carnage” (that the film was based on) was so much better.

            And, lest we forget, this WAS a “Graphic” novel, and that is very important. You can have the best comic book story that you have ever read, but the artwork is just unbearably awful and ruins your enjoyment of the graphic novel. Or you can have stellar art, but the story is just completely flat. Let’s also point out the time of publication. There have been several periods of comic book art that exemplify the time period. One of my all-time favorite comic book artists is Mark Bagley, and he was one of the primary artists whose work was featured in this graphic novel. To me, this graphic novel had a story I loved, and MOST of the artists satisfied and impressed me, but this also impacts on my score.

            I enjoyed the three stories contained in this book. BUT! All that said, there WAS indeed a story where Spider-Man battle Carnage on his own, and that DOES impact my score. Which I am sure you want to know (if you’re still here, and if you are, you are THE BEST!), so let’s get to it. I score on a scale of one-to-ten, one being the worst, ten being the best. You can now tell that this will have a good score, but will not be a ten. So, all-in-all, everything taken into consideration, the stories, the art, all cards on the table, I score it as an eight. There was so much I loved in this book, but there were aspects that just didn’t meet my expectations, including some of the art that just wasn’t to my liking, and a story that just didn’t wow me, but I still heavily enjoyed this book.

            Now, I will say I give this book my recommendation. As I said, “Maximum Carnage” has been my favorite Carnage storyline, and “Carnage” was a good read in my opinion. You could probably find “Maximum Carnage” in a separate graphic novel, but the two other storylines made me feel getting “Carnage: Born in Blood” is more worth it. If you are a fan of Carnage from either the film or the cartoons and want to get into comics, if you are reading this review, I think you should look into reading this book. If you are a comic fan and have never read the earliest comic appearances of Carnage, totally look into reading this book. If you’ve never read a Marvel Comic before and are looking for a good place to start, there is a gap between several of the stories that may confuse first-time readers, so this book is not completely self-contained, and this might not be a totally great start for you. Still, if you’re reading this review and this graphic novel has you intrigued based solely on what I’ve typed for you here now, and are now considering reading this graphic novel, I say go for it. I don’t think this was a perfect book, but I do think it was a good book. So if you want to, give it a try.

            Before I sign off, I will say that this blog has dozens of reviews of graphic and prose novels (most are Marvel though), and I write short stories, poetry, essays, and editorials (and I am working on several projects at this time), and I post frequently (I’d taken a few month off because I had a hand injury and could not type), so you can expect more. If you’ve read this and liked this review, there’s plenty more to see and read, so you can keep coming back for more. I’ll say that if you’re still reading this post at this point and want to read more of my work, you are THE BEST! I’ll be back, and I hope you will too. Until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Maximum Carnage"

            The following is a review of the Marvel Comics event “Maximum Carnage.”

            Okay, for you new readers, my name is Tim Cubbin. I am a certified journalist but can’t find employment, so to give myself purpose, I write this blog. I write essays, editorials, short stories, reviews, and I keep promising poetry but haven’t gotten around to it but I totally definitely will soon. Pretty much all my reviews have to do with Marvel, but every once in a while I tackle other content matter. When I review comic events, they’re usually from years back, and this is no different. I have Marvel Unlimited and read A LOT of reading lists, and in honor of the theatrical release of “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” (which I want to see because Carnage is my FAVORITE Marvel super villain but because of COVID I have no movie theaters open near me so I have to [shudder] wait until Blu-ray) the programmers highlighted the “Maximum Carnage” event, so OF COURSE I read it, and my devoted followers will note I haven’t posted anything in a while, so I said to myself, “Well, I read it, now I’ll review it” and now here we are. Again, new readers don’t know how my reviews work, and I’m sorry to my regulars that I have to explain this and you know how I roll, so here’s the deal: first I give my monologue (which I am obviously doing right now), then I give a synopsis of the story. This will also contain certain descriptions of characters for people who have no idea who Spider-Man and Carnage are. Then I go on to my review. My reviews consist of four parts. Part one: my own follow-up thoughts. Part two: accessibility (for my new readers who don’t know what I mean, just stay with me, I’ll explain when we get there). Part three: my numerical score (again new readers, I’ll explain my system when I get there). Part four: do I recommend this to others and if so, why? Then I write a few sentences and log out. You with me? Good! (You are with me, right? If you aren’t, I honestly don’t know what to say. Please be with me?)

            I think the best place to start will be to describe a bit about Spider-Man and Carnage (like I said I would). First off, Spider-Man. Peter Parker was fifteen years old. He was orphaned as a child and lived with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben. He was top student in grades, but was heavily bullied. One day, he went to a radiology demonstration. A spider got in the way of the radioactive rays. As it died, it bit Peter Parker and then Cindy Moon (Cindy however, has nothing to do with this story, she wasn’t revealed to have existed until quite a while later, so we’ll just leave her out of this, but I had to be totally correct here and mentioned her). Peter gained spider-like abilities: adhesive fingertips and toes; the proportional speed, strength, and agility of a spider; and a precognitive sense of danger which he calls “spider-sense.” He also created web shooters, which he uses to travel New York City faster, to restrain bad guys, and to save others in danger. At first, he wanted to use his powers to make money. After a television appearance, Peter let a burglar run past him, figuring it was nothing to him, why should he get involved? That burglar broke into the Parker residence and murdered Peter’s Uncle Ben. Peter caught him, and thought of something his Uncle Ben used to say: “With great power there must also come great responsibility.” (That’s how it was said in the comics. If you’ve only seen the movies, it was misquoted as “With great power comes great responsibility,” but we’re talking the comics, so “there must also come” is what I’m going with). After that, he decided to use his powers for good use and make the world a better and safer place. He has a very extensive rogue’s gallery, but of all of his enemies, Carnage is among the most dangerous.

            Cletus Kasady was a convicted serial killer, a total nutcase, with absolutely no remorse. He was held in prison (because that’s where they put convicted serial killers for life or until they are executed, of course, but Kasady just had several life’s sentences, so, yeah, jail). His cellmate was one Eddie Brock, formerly the super villain called Venom. Brock had powers from an alien creature called a Klyntar symbiote. The symbiote was brought to earth by Spider-Man after the first Secret War on Battleworld when Peter was given it after he needed a new costume for proprieties’ sake when his original was damaged. The symbiote enhanced Peter’s powers, but when Peter found out the symbiote was a living creature that was trying to bond with it, he spurned it and separated from it. The symbiote found Eddie Brock, who blamed Spider-Man for his ruined journalistic career, and they became Venom. Eddie had been separated from the symbiote after a battle with Spidey. The symbiote eventually came back and broke Eddie out of jail, but while doing so, it spawned another symbiote. This symbiote bonded with Kasady, and they became Carnage. After an intense battle with Spider-Man and Venom, Kasady had been separated from the symbiote.

            And that brings us to “Maximum Carnage.” Without the symbiote, some idiots decided to send Kasady to Ravencroft Sanatorium for study. As it turned out, the Carnage symbiote had actually entered into Kasady’s bloodstream during their bonding period and Kasady cut himself and became Carnage again. Carnage then escaped Ravencroft, busting out Frances Louise Barrison/Shriek in the process and they decided they were now husband and wife. Barrison can manipulate sound into a solid force and can release pheromones that cause negative emotions in others. Upon escape, the couple “adopted” the Spider-Man Doppelganger, the Demogoblin, and Miles Warren/Carrion. Shriek also turned a large grouping of New Yorkers into a rioting mob.

            Obviously heroes were needed to combat this situation, and Spider-Man took the lead, what with Carnage being one of his rogues. He had an epic team-up with Felicia Hardy/Black Cat, Tyrone Johnson/Cloak, Morbius the Living Vampire, the cyborg Deathlok, and (surprisingly), Venom.

            Okay, I think that’s all you need to know. Now let’s start with my own personal thoughts. Alright, I must say that I LOVED this event. I thought it was epic, one of the (possibly the) best Carnage stories I have ever read. The story was so exciting for me. I loved the Carnage “Family.” I thought this was a great grouping of villain, and I felt that “Team Spidey” was an awesome gathering. I mean, I could go on-and-on about this, but I won’t, I don’t want to bore you.

            Alright, now we go to accessibility. For you new readers to my blog intrigued by my tags, I always tell you what background information I feel is needed for optimal enjoyment of the story. I don’t give a numeric score for this, but I will usually go into background knowledge. For this event, I thought it was a great jumping in point. I feel that this is very much self-contained and that knowing nothing about Spider-Man and Carnage beyond what you’ve read in this post is more than enough to totally dig into.

            Well, now the whole reason you’re reading this: my numeric score. For you new readers, my score is based on a scale of one to ten, one being “Ugh, this was a piece of garbage!” ten being “this was one of the best stories I have EVER read!” Based on what you’ve read on this post, I’m sure you’re expecting to see very high. I will say I am a VERY harsh scorer as my regulars know, so a high score is a GREAT honor. So, my number score is… (drumroll) nine! I would love to have given this a ten, but I don’t know why, I just can’t quite do that. I just have to hold back. There’s something.

            This is now actually a first being singled out in a post, but will definitely be done in every review from now on, is if I recommend this event. Do I? YES! As I said, this is a good jump-on point for new readers, and if you like/love Carnage, you should TOTALLY read this and you most likely enjoy it. I mean, like I said, this is (one of) the best Carnage stories I’ve ever read, and Carnage is my favorite super villain, so you can’t get any higher recommendation than that.

            Okay, now, if you’re still here, you are THE BEST! I mean, you stuck with me through this whole rant, so thanks for the support! So now, please retweet, like, follow, comment, whatever you can do on the platform you found this on, that would be greatly appreciated and then you are TOTALLY THE BEST! Be ready for plenty more content, I have three more reviews on the way, and an editorial and two essays planned, so whatever, be on the lookout. If you’ve never been here before, you can check out other posts, I have done over fifty now, so yeah, plenty of stuff to read! And now, as always, until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!