Venom #1 Review: Eddie Brock’s Playing Hero, But New York Ain’t Buying It!

Eddie Brock’s back with his favorite alien headache, and apparently somebody convinced these two that becoming heroes again was a good idea! Papi, have you SEEN their track record? Venom #1 brings Eddie and the symbiote back together, with Charles Soule behind the wheel and Tommaso Bianchi making sure New York looks like it’s about to file a restraining order against both of them. There’s Spider-Man, a whole lotta property damage, and that familiar Venom attitude I grew up loving. The difference? Eddie’s actually trying to behave himself. Good luck with that one, hermano, because this city ain’t exactly known for giving second chances!

Soule gets right into the madness without spending half the issue explaining thirty years of symbiote history. Eddie wants to do some good, the alien’s got its own interpretation of good behavior, and Spider-Man’s understandably skeptical about the whole arrangement. Can you blame him? These two have spent years making Peter Parker’s life miserable, and now we’re supposed to believe they’re the neighborhood’s newest volunteer crime-fighting service? I love the tension between them because it feels like old-school Marvel, where everybody’s got history and nobody’s pretending yesterday didn’t happen. Eddie’s trying to move forward, but the past keeps showing up with receipts.

The action escalates into a bigger mess involving New York’s streets, some seriously unpleasant opposition, and Luke Cage trying to keep things from going completely sideways. Soule understands that Venom works best when there’s friction between what Eddie wants and what the symbiote’s capable of doing. One minute, they’re trying to help. The next, there’s a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth inches from somebody’s face. That’s our boy! The dialogue has personality, the jokes don’t derail the story, and Eddie still carries that rough-around-the-edges energy that makes him more interesting than another squeaky-clean superhero. He’s not looking for a medal. He’s trying to prove he can be better, even if he has to fight half of Manhattan to get there.

Tommaso Bianchi, though? MI HERMANO, YOU CAME TO WORK! This artwork’s got some serious bite. Venom looks enormous, nasty, and just a little too comfortable terrifying everybody around him. Those teeth, that tongue, the way his body stretches and twists through the panels, that’s the monster I remember! Bianchi gives the action real movement without turning every fight into a pile of black shapes nobody can follow. Spider-Man’s acrobatics contrast beautifully with Venom’s brute-force approach, and the quieter facial expressions help sell Eddie’s frustration. The man can look intimidating one second and completely exhausted the next. That’s a tough balance when your main character occasionally resembles a nightmare with a dental problem.

Yen Nitro’s colors give the whole thing an extra kick. Venom’s glossy blacks stand out against New York’s warmer cityscape, while those green and purple bursts of villainous chaos make the action feel appropriately unhinged. The lighting shifts nicely between street-level confrontations and the bigger supernatural-looking symbiote spectacle. VC’s Clayton Cowles also deserves his flowers. Between Eddie’s conversations, the symbiote’s distinctive voice, and all that combat noise, there’s plenty of lettering to manage. Cowles keeps the pages readable without taking away from Bianchi’s artwork. Nobody’s fighting over space, and that’s how a comic should flow.

Now, here’s where I gotta give Soule a little side-eye. For a fresh number one, this issue’s got plenty of moving pieces, and some of the supporting developments arrive faster than I’d like. The new threat looks interesting, especially once the symbiote weirdness starts getting genuinely grotesque, but I wanted more room to understand the opposition before everything went completely bonkers. There’s also a lot of Marvel continuity hovering around Eddie, even when the script tries to keep things accessible. Longtime Venom fans will recognize the baggage immediately. New readers might find themselves wondering why everybody’s so suspicious of a guy who just wants to help. Then again, one look at those teeth should answer a few questions!

The strongest material comes whenever Eddie has to confront the uncomfortable truth that wanting to be a hero and actually earning people’s trust are two different things. He’s made mistakes. Plenty of them. The symbiote’s got its own demons, and neither partner can simply put on a friendly face and expect the city to forget everything. Soule gives that relationship enough personality to keep me invested, even when the plot starts juggling too much at once. The closing pages leave the door open for more trouble, and there’s a personal angle to this reunion that could give the series some real staying power.

Marvel’s had a lot of different flavors of Venom over the years, from street-level monster to cosmic powerhouse, and I’ve enjoyed pieces of that evolution. Still, there’s something special about seeing Eddie Brock stomping around New York with that enormous grin, trying to convince everybody he’s one of the good guys while looking like he eats the good guys for breakfast. Venom #1 brings back that beautifully uncomfortable energy. Soule’s got the right instincts, Bianchi and Nitro deliver the visual nastiness, and Cowles keeps the whole operation moving. The opening chapter gets a little crowded, but there’s enough attitude, action, and genuine character work here to make me hungry for issue two.

Welcome back, Eddie! Try not to eat anybody on your first week, aight? 

CRUSADERS SCORE:
4/5

Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Tommaso Bianchi
Colorist: Yen Nitro
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Cover Artist: Davide Paratore
Designer: Stacie Zucker
Assistant Editor: Emerald Bensadoun
Editor: Jordan D. White
Editor in Chief: Stephen Wacker
Publisher: Marvel Comics