Feed Your Symbiote

1

SPIDER-MAN: BIRTH OF VENOM

It helps that Eddie Brock wasn’t an established character before attacking Spider-Man as Venom. He offers a flashback during his first storyline to get us up to date, and from there we get plenty of fighting plus an introduction to that unique Spidey/Venom dynamic. Not only is Venom stronger than Spider-Man, but he’s invisible to his spider-sense and knows his identity, meaning that in order to survive, Spider-Man has to think outside the box at every turn.

2

VENOM: LETHAL PROTECTOR

Venom’s popularity hits a level where they decide to have him step out on his own. No longer driven by false revenge, Venom moves to San Francisco to get in some solo adventures before eventually returning to New York City where all the important characters are.

3

MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN VOL. 2: VENOMOUS

The less said about Eddie’s return to villainy the better. After a couple years of writers not really knowing what to do with the character, a storyline called “The Hunger” reveals that Eddie has been afflicted with cancer from day one and the symbiote keeps him alive. Eventually, Eddie comes up with the idea of auctioning the creature off to the criminal underworld and giving the money to charity.

From here, Eddie and the symbiote are split apart for well over a decade.

4

SPIDER-MAN: NEW WAYS TO DIE

A mixture of Mr. Negative’s powers, cancer, and traces of the symbiote in Eddie’s blood turns Eddie into Anti-Venom. He’s still a violent psychopath, but now he has the power to cure people of disease and even the long-term effects of drug use. Unfortunately, his powers also suppress Spider-Man’s abilities when they’re near each other, so that’s an issue, even if Anti-Venom insists on being his ally.

After moving on from that identity, Eddie wears the Toxin symbiote (Carnage’s spawn) for a while, but remains a supporting character until he purges that costume, too.

5

VENOM VOL. 1: HOMECOMING

The symbiote spent some time attached to a guy named Lee Price. The twist is that the symbiote actually wants to do good while Lee is a criminal using the power for his own benefit. This leads to the rebonding of Eddie Brock and the symbiote, and a return to the old Lethal Protector status quo.

After that, Venom finds peace with Spider-Man, teams up with the X-Men, and takes part in a multiversal war alongside a lot of superheroes wearing alternate universe Venom suits. These days, he’s finding out more about the symbiote’s true nature and history via fighting Knull, the God of the Symbiotes. Comics are crazy.

And that’s all I heard about Venom and Eddie. Can’t tell you more ‘cause I told you already, and here we are waving Venom and Eddie goodbye.

By Gavin Jasper