Review: Scream Curse of Carnage #1

The last time we checked in on Andi Benton (first appearance: Venom Vol 2 #38) , she was being hunted down by both Carnage and Scream (using Patricia Robertson’s corpse).Â Patricia’s consciousness speaks up, urging the Scream symbiote to resist Carnage’s control, reminding it that once Carnage has consumed Andi’s codex, she will be next.Â Later, after Carnage has killed Patricia, as Carnage is approaching Andi, the Scream symbiote reaches towards her foot and bonded to Andi transforming her into a black-haired version of Scream.Â As such she has been on the run from Carnage ever since.

In the current issue of Scream #1 Curse of Carnage, we meet back up withÂ Andi, who is still on the run, homeless and roaming the streets.Â She ends up at F.E.A.ST, where she meets a couple of familiar characters (one of them is a first appearance), and she almost gets shanked.Â Also there is an interesting cameo appearance of some type sea creature that seems to have properties similar to Venom and Knull, that I was previously unaware of.

The strength of this issue lays in the depiction of the sea creatures.Â There are some really good panels there and Chris Mooneyham, does a good job at using the panels to help build the suspense.Â There are some consistency issues; however, with the depiction of Scream.Â She is supposed to have black hair now, but often the panels just showed her with Orange and yellow hair.

Final Verdict:Â Overall there were some good elements in here that I eventually wanted to see, but not t right now.Â A lot of the stuff felt kinda crammed in, which resulted in a very difficult to detect narrative story structure, but I will allow it due to the fact that I can see what it is trying to set up.Â All that to say that this is a must pick-up.Â Â If you are a collector or speculator, you almost have to pick this up due to the impending events hinted at in this issue.

Scream Curse Of Carnage #1 will come in several covers: Cover A Regular Jim Cheung Cover (1:1); Scream Curse Of Carnage #1 Cover B Variant Stanley Artgerm Lau Cover (1:1); Scream Curse Of Carnage #1 Cover C Variant Skottie Young Cover (1:1); Scream Curse Of Carnage #1 Cover D Incentive Nick Sullo Variant Cover (1:25); Scream Curse Of Carnage #1 Cover E Incentive Nick Bradshaw Variant Cover (1:50). Ultimately the Cover B Variant Stanley Artgerm Lau, is my favorite, and the one I will be looking to pick up on Wednesday.

SCORE: 3 stars out 5.

(W) CLAY McLEOD CHAPMAN
(A) CHRIS MOONEYHAM
(C) RAIN BEREDO
(L) VC“s CORY PETIT