Writer: Mike Costa
Artist: Gerardo Sandoval
Color Artist: Dono Sanchez Almara
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Venom is back with a new host in it’s new series. We’ll be following the story of Lee Price and this issue opens with a brief description of what exactly Venom is. This will be redundant for fans of the characters, but makes for a good jumping on point with newer readers. Venom makes it’s way over to Lee as the issue goes on and we leave off with him sitting alone. He’s thinking of ways to use the power to his advantage and we just need to wait and see what he decides on.
Mike Costa does a great job with the story. I’m usually not a fan of having a page of text right away in a comic, but it works well with this being a new number one issue. My knowledge of Venom is what we see in the movies, which means there’s some catching up to be done. This comic gives a good introduction to the character and Mike Costa writes the character well. He gives us something to look forward to going forward without laying a huge cliffhanger on at the end of the issue. It’s quite effective.
On the art side of things, Gerardo Sandoval and Dono Sanchez Almara team up as artist and color artist respectively. The colors absolutely fit with the book with their darker tone throughout. Sandoval brings out the grit in Venom and draws the character wonderfully. This team makes for a great looking book. Clayton Cowles rounds out the entire team on letters. The main thing to note is that it’s crystal clear when Venom’s thoughts show on the page. The font is white on a black background instead of the usual black font on a white background. It all just fits well with Venom.
This first issue has a few pages that could have been utilized a bit better. After that opening page with all text, we get a two page spread with “ VENOM” in big letters and then the credits for the creative team. That’s 3 pages right away with no characters in sight. Even if they would have just put in some art peeping in on the corners, it could have been slightly better. This isn’t a huge deal, but just seems odd to have three straight pages with no art.
Verdict: Buy. This series looks to be pretty promising. I’ve been trying new series from Marvel since I am so enthralled in DC lately. Hopefully this is another title I can add to my list. It’s never a bad thing to give something a shot once, and this is a good jumping on point if you are unfamiliar with Venom.
