I’ve seen a number of posts floating around where people ask how to start reading the Venom comics, so here’s my little take on the subject. Given that the comics have been around for 30+ years, the “continuity” is a jumbled, nigh-meaningless mess, so let’s focus on the goods here. And by “the goods” I mean “Eddie and Venom being really gay and romantic with each other”. So here are a few series that DELIVER on that front. This list is by no means all inclusive– feel free to reblog and add more! I haven’t even come close to reading all the comics.
(Most of the links below are to Comixology, because that’s where I have them, but you know. Get them wherever.)
1. Venom (2018) written by Donny Cates – this is the current ongoing series, with 6 issues out so far (the 7th comes out on 10/10). The quality of the writing is top notch. Venom becomes very ill because of an evil symbiote god who looks like he stepped right out of a Castlevania game if Castlevania was made by David Cronenberg. Despite the unspeakably powerful goth energy radiating from the art, this series has many tender, soft moments between Eddie and Venom and it contains the crown jewel of any OTP: Venom says, right there on the page, “I love you, Eddie”.
2. Venom (2016) written by Mike Costa – collected into 4 volumes. This is the one where Eddie and Venom rekindle their relationship and then have a baby together, complete with on-panel birth. Has some cute slice-of-life scenes and lot of Eddie and Venom working on trust and communication in their relationship. They call each other romantic pet names. And fight dinosaur people. In the sewer. Like you do.
3. First Host (2018) written by Mike Costa – 5 issue miniseries. A direct continuation of the above. How fares Eddie and Venom’s bundle of joy? Highlights include Eddie in peak Dad Mode, Eddie being super protective of his spouse and child, and the entire plot ripped straight from a soap opera. Not even joking: the Venom symbiote’s ex suddenly shows up out of nowhere and demands Venom return to him. When Venom says it wants to be with Eddie now, the shitbag ex threatens their child! *mustachio twirl*
4. Venom: The Hunger (1996) written by Len Kaminski – 4 issue miniseries. Overflowing with X-Treme 90s Energy, Eddie is insufferably self-righteous and has He-Man hair, all bodily fluids are neon green, and Venom looks like an H.R. Giger painting. This little gem tells us the origin of Venom’s chocolate obsession. Eddie cuddles Venom a lot and there’s panels of Eddie basically moaning with pleasure while Venom wraps him in tentacles. The story revolves around Venom leaving Eddie because it needs certain brain chemicals, and Eddie’s brain alone can no longer provide it enough so it has to go on a vore spree. Eddie and Venom do, of course, make up and get back together again in the end, so fear not!
5. Venom: Lethal Protector (1993) written by David Michelinie. Not nearly as overtly gay as the more recent series, but the movie is (VERY) loosely based on this, so there ya go. Get ready to see Eddie bopping around San Francisco in a killer mullet, crop top, and mom jeans! Still very loud queer subtext between him and Venom, as with every Venom series. Except the most recent ones– only because it’s not subtext anymore, it’s canon!
did they ever actually say what Luis’s last name is? like, do we know he’s not Luis Garcia y Barnes? this doesn’t even have to be some shitty dark headcanon involving experimentation by hydra on immigrants, Bucky had sisters.
Please, God, somebody write the transcript of Luis spending seventeen minutes telling Bucky his grandfather’s life story through WWII and up to the point where he fell hard for this one hot chick from Brooklyn and like brought her back to California with him, man – and Bucky sits there the whole time in silence, too bewildered to interrupt.
I always found it a bit odd. Hilarious, but it raised too many questions. When did Steve make these? Why did Steve make these? How did he manage to be so cheesy and overly sincere knowing how much crap he would get from the other Avengers for it?
Well, today my sister told me her headcanon. Picture the scene. Steve leans on the back of a chair, as above. Peter immediately launches into ‘So, you got detention…’. Cap blinks. Peter awkwardly tries to explain. It turns out Cap has no idea what videos he means, and neither do any of the other Avengers.
So they get in touch with the company who made them, and they swear blind that it was really the real Captain America, and that it all his idea. That he came in and said how much he wanted to help the youth of today.And the Avengers all lose it because someone is running around doing an unbelievably good impression of Captain America, they could have destroyed his reputation, they could have infiltrated the Avengers; and instead all they are apparently using it for is to make silly, embarrassing videos.
It’s completely baffling. Who could possibly be behind it all?
A mystery.
OMG! YES!
My headcanon now. Seriously this is perfect. @rabidchild67 tell me it isn’t perfect
joss whedon: loki tortures and murders people for fun, and, despite being the god of CHAOS, is a fascist who says things like “it’s the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation”
taika waititi: loki is an annoying little shit who day-drinks, puts on theater about himself, and fucks his way to the top
joss whedon: loki and thor are gods, so they always talk proper and posh and in cryptic riddles so for no reason. it makes them seem more powerful and mystical.
taiki waititi: one time when they were kids loki turned into a snake because he knows thor loves snakes and then thor went to pick up the snake and then loki turned back into himself and screamed “yueagh, it’s me!” and then he stabbed thor
Taika Waititi has a deeper understanding of Norse mythological accuracy than Joss lol
It’s because Joss Whedon looks at all mythology and religion through a Christian-atheist lens. You can see it in Buffy and even a little in Firefly too. Even when he writes about other religions and their deities and practices, it still comes back to Christianity.
He wrote Thor and Loki as modern Western Christianity would portray Jesus and the Devil as opposed to how they actually are in mythology or the comics
That…is a really good addition as to why Whedon gets Thor and Loki
wrong and why Taika did a far better job with their
characters/personalities in Ragnarok
taiki waititi is jewish (a kohen, actually!) and, like, it completely shows. whedon’s idea of G-d is “terrifying cryptic fascist who makes you feel guilty for even being alive” while taika’s idea of G-d (or gods, as the case may be) is “has no idea how to be an actual god and it shows”.
it’s a very informative way to understand the microcosm of christian vs jewish thinking re: our deities, and anyone who thinks judaism is just “christianity without jesus” would do well to look at the differences between joss’s and taika’s takes to see what the differences between the two actually are.
the two previous movie series of Spider-Man always had it that Spidey was a Big Hit with the citizens of nyc in spite of the negative press/police departments actively hunting him down but we haven’t really seen anything like that in the mcu past Peter’s classmates simply being aware that Spider-Man is a hero who exists, like we didn’t see any slandering articles or angry officers which is WEIRD considering the canonical climate about superheros in the mcu right now so like….I really hope it carries over into this third series because frankly I love the idea of everyone in a post-accords world in constant debate about superheroes like ‘should they be held accountable for casualties’ and ‘does it make sense to give all this power to just a few people and force them to make potentially catastrophic situations’ and ‘do we even truly Need superheroes’ like any and all debate they can think of but at the same time, all the citizens in New York are collectively like ‘Yeah….but we’re gonna leave the Spider-Boy out of this….he just wants to help out….he’s doing his Best..’ lmao
The Entire City Of New York: after all the danger we’ve been placed in since these superheroes started popping up, since the Avenger’s set up a headquarters here- we’re sick of it. superheroes only prevent problems that they create in the first place and cause millions in damages doing it. we want our city to be safe!
Also The Entire City Of New York: we’ve only had Spider-Man for a year and a half but if anything ever happened to him we would kill everyone on this planet and then ourselves
J. Jonah Jameson: writes a scathing article about the ‘spider menace’ ‘terrorizing’ Queens and campaigns for his arrest and imprisonment alongside other ‘mutant menaces’
That Nice Old Lady that bought Peter a churro: *barges into the Daily Bugle office swinging her handbag with deadly force*
Citizens of New York City: fuck the avengers!!
The Rest Of The World: you do realize that your Spider-Man has been spotted helping the Avengers on multiple occasions and many believe him to be an honorable member of the team?
Steve Rogers, who has recently woken up in the twenty-first century, googles “advice for the modern era” and accidentally discovers My Brother, My Brother and Me.
“We asked you to send in questions related to World War II and Superheroes, because this week our special guestspert is… Captain America??? How did we get Captain America on the show???”
“Please, call me Steve.”
“I legally don’t think I can do that, sorry.”
G: Rogers, can I call you Rogers, Rogers?
S: …Do you want to?
G: –NO!!! Fuck. Oh shit, I said fuck in front of Mister Captain Rogers, FUCK
S: Oh, can we swear on the radio now? Thank Christ, it’s about fucking time.
J: we’re….*gurgling* we’re not on the radio, exactly
T: Captain Mister Rogers Captain Sir could you say bad words again so I could keep it as my ringtone?
S: Sure thing, pal. *pause as he leans in real close to the mic* …Shit.
G: *audibly clutching his entire face* Oh My God We’ve Corrupted Captain America
S: I know of a few people who might say they had a hand in it too
G: Sam The Eagle Is Going To Fly Down And Strangle Us With an American Flag
T: Isn’t Sam the Eagle a muppet?
S: I know that reference! Little known fact, ‘Sam the Eagle’ is what we call the Falcon when he’s grumpy.
Steve Rogers, who has recently woken up in the twenty-first century, googles “advice for the modern era” and accidentally discovers My Brother, My Brother and Me.
“We asked you to send in questions related to World War II and Superheroes, because this week our special guestspert is… Captain America??? How did we get Captain America on the show???”
Plot Designing 