Carnage has been building his powers up, extracting unique abilities from many villains throughout the Marvel Universe to the point of traversing the Multiverse with ONE GOAL: KILL ANY AND ALL VENOMS! Death of the Venomverse #1 makes that all very clear as the body count increases with each page and the chances of stopping Carnage looking slim.

Written by Cullen Bunn, Death of the Venomverse #1 quickly catches up new readers who might have not been keeping up with what’s been going on. While it starts off what what feels like a typical Carnage story, death, blood, etc., the comic switches to a superhero feel as a multiverse worth of Venom’s attempt to track and stop Carnage before he kills again.

Let’s be honest, the multiverse concept is being overused at this point but there’s something rather fun about this issue. It takes what is often a blood filled, groan worthy, kill fest with Carnage and adds a little sci-fi camp to it all. The doom and gloom is replaced by a group of Venom heroes looking to stop the killing and seeing Carnage for the threat he is. Now, why this isn’t on the radar of anyone else is a question that needs answering, but… Bunn makes the story rather fun as we’re introduced to the team of Venoms who have a clear mission.

The art by Gerardo Sandoval is good with a nice mix of superhero visuals with a bit of horror. With color by Jim Campbell and lettering by Clayton Cowles, Carnage feels terrifying as he grows in power. There’s something about his movements and depiction that makes him feel more powerful and lethal than he’s been before. It’s small subtle aspects like how he goes about the kills and what he leaves behind that really help build up the character.

There’s something weirdly B-movie about Death of the Venomverse #1 and it makes it all fun. There’s a campiness about it all where it does and doesn’t take itself too seriously. The concept too creates an almost video game level aspect to it where Carnage is on a mission to defeat the next boss. That bit makes it a bit more enjoyable to see different takes on Venom than just dumping them into the story, creating variety for the hell of it. Overall, it’s a comic I went in not expecting to enjoy and came out looking forward to the next issue.

Story: Cullen Bunn Art: Gerardo Sandoval
Color: Jim Campbell Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Story: 8.0 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

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Purchase: TFAW – Zeus Comics – Kindle