Final Thoughts [5] Astonishing X-Men (#8-12) by Charles Soule

Astonishing X-Men (#8-12) by Charles Soule, Gerardo Sandoval (Illustrator), Greg Land (Illustrator)

I really enjoyed this one at the beginning (read my review of the first seven issues here), but I stopped being as invested in the story once they left the Astral Plane. There was a lot going on... and a lot of it didn't make sense. I decided to finish the series since there were only going to be twelve issues, but now I wish I'd stopped after #7.

Astonishing X-Men had an amazing group of characters, but they all played minor parts in the overall story. The author would occasionally hint at more, but everything came back to Psylocke, Professor X and Fantomex. Logan, Mystique, Rogue, Bishop, Gambit, Archangel--I wish they had all been given larger roles.

In the end, I lost interest in the story. There was one issue that was unbelievably trippy, and it was hard to follow the speech bubbles and the illustrations. Imagine a page in a comic book blending together until it's a giant blob of a picture... The ending was somewhat predictable and very unsatisfying. I think it had the potential to be more than it was, and I disagree with how it concluded.

Venom (#1-6) by Mike Costa

Venom (#1-6)  by Mike Costa, Gerardo Sandoval (Illustrator)

Synopsis (via Goodreads): VENOM IS BACK AND BADDER THAN EVER! The symbiote you know and love has returned to New York City. No more "Agent of the Cosmos." No more "Lethal Protector." It's time for a new Venom, and it's great to be bad. 

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I've always been fascinated by Venom! He's a symbiote from space that bonds with other hosts. His first host on earth was Spider-Man. When you see the black and white Spider-Man costume, that's when Venom is around. However, Spider-Man is never Venom, he remains Spider-Man. Everyone else actually becomes Venom.

Venom has bonded with a lot of people, but not all of them were good. Lee Price is the perfect example of an asshat that only wants to use Venom for personal gain. He sees Venom as a suit, and he's only interested in what he can get out of their pairing. He imprisons the symbiote within his mind (a scary place to be), and essentially treats him like a thing. It's disgusting and I despise Lee Price.

I did enjoy this arc, though. It allowed us to see how Venom has changed since coming to earth, and what he's learned being bonded with other people. He's changed over time, but he genuinely wants to help people and be a good person. He wants to be a hero.

I'm not crazy familiar with Venom and all of his hosts, but I do know of Flash Thompson and Eddie Brock. In the sixth issue we move from Price (yay!) to Eddie. I'm not sure how the story will continue from here, because I still need to read the issues after this one. I'm way, way behind on this series, but I wanted to read them all before the new Donny Cates series starts.

If you're looking for a slightly darker comic, with a lot of ties to Spider-Man, this might be something you'd like. Venom is interesting on his own, but it's always fun to see how things work out when he is paired with someone else. He retains their information and abilities, which makes him a formidable opponent in any battle. He's also scary in general, haha.

*Spider-Man does do something slightly awful, so I might be a little miffed at him right now. I'm also really excited about the new Venom movie! Ahhh! #WeAreVenom