• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Comic Book Herald

A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

  • Reading Orders
    • Marvel
    • My Marvelous Year
    • DC Comics
    • All Comic Book Publishers
    • Most Recent
  • Beginner Guides
    • Beginner’s Guide To Comics In 2023
    • Marvel 2023: Where to Start?
    • DC 2023: Where to Start?
    • Best of Lists
    • Tablets for Comics
    • Guides for Digital Readers
  • Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
    • DC Comics
    • Comic Book Movies
    • Comic Book TV
    • Video Games
  • Podcasts & Video
    • My Marvelous Year
    • Best Comics Ever (CBH)
    • CBH on Youtube!
  • About Me
    • My Favorite Comics of All Time
    • Columns
    • CBH Email Newsletter
  • Support Comic Book Herald
    • Ways to support
You are here: Home / Featured / I Can Legacy Clearly Now #14 – Venom #155: Comic Book Dinosaurs

I Can Legacy Clearly Now #14 – Venom #155: Comic Book Dinosaurs

November 3, 2017 by Dave 1 Comment

One of the biggest problems with revering “Legacy” is the potential interpretation that comics were only good in the past. While there are of course some truths to the adage “They don’t make ’em like they used to,” there are also many instances of comics that *couldn’t* have been made decades ago.

Marvel’s relaunch of Venom – technically five months prior to the actaul launch of Marvel Legacy – is a desperate grab at a nostalgia that may have long passed. Since Rick Remender and Tony Moore’s “Agent venom” relaunch of the symbiote suit in 2011, Venom has remained apart from his street-level, brain-eating ways. The Venom of the 2010’s has been a government agent, guardian of the galaxy, and space knight.

So no, if you grew up on Marvel Comics in the late 80’s and 90’s, this is not *your* Venom, but that doesn’t really change the fact that Agent venom was the most interesting take on the character since his introduction.

Not your father's Venom

To me, restoring Venom to this menacing “Lethal Protector” with longtime host Eddie Brock back in black is everything we should reject about the Legacy initiative. There’s no two ways about it, giving Venom a preposterously long tongue drawn by 90’s Spider-Man staple Mark Bagley is not “restoring legacy.” It’s pandering to dated success. It’s like your dad and his friends playing in a Venom cover band and telling neighborhood kids about Dark Side of the Moon (ok, I’m mixing metaphors).

General approach aside, Venom #155 is a horrible place to start reading Venom comics, and says very little about the character’s history. Instead it’s a simple continuation of Mike Costa and Mark Bagley’s run to date, with Venom visiting the literal Sewer Dinosaurs he helped in the book’s first arc as they try to eat the Mole Man’s moloids without sparking all out war.

Support For Comic Book Herald:

Comic Book Herald is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn a qualifying affiliate commission.

Comic Book Herald’s reading orders and guides are also made possible by reader support on Patreon, and generous reader donations.

Any size contribution will help keep CBH alive and full of new comics guides and content. Support CBH on Patreon for exclusive rewards, or Donate here! Thank you for reading!

The best that can be said about Venom #155 is its absolute Marvel Comics insanity, and the worst is that I will never read another issue of this run. Honestly, I’m insanely invested in Marvel continuity, and I simply don’t care where this book is heading.

There are a lot of reasons “Agent Venom” was such a sucess, particularly the connections the series made to Spider-Man and the symbiote’s past while moving the villainous alien forward. Remender didn’t just create another take on anti-hero Venom, he put the suit on a legacy supporting character, and then developed Flash Thompson’s relationship with the symbiote in a way that felt completely unique from anything that came before.

Venom #155 doesn’t suggest any direction, or ask any new questions, or do anything other than look like my favorite action figure when I was a wee lad. Maybe this book can change course, but for now, I just don’t see it.

ESSENTIAL COMICS READING

Spider-Man: Birth of Venom

Venom: Lethal Protector




Venom, Vol. 1 aka “Agent Venom”

Filed Under: Featured, Marvel Reviews Tagged With: marvel legacy, Venom

Heroically Support Comic Book Herald!

If you like Comic Book Herald, and are able to donate, any small contribution will help keep CBH alive and full of new comics guides and content. Donate here! Or, support CBH on Patreon for exclusive rewards! Thank you for reading!

Become a Patron!

About Dave

Dave is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Comic Book Herald, and also the Boss of assigning himself fancy titles. He's a long-time comic book fan, and can be seen most evenings in Batman pajama pants. Contact Dave @comicbookherald on Twitter or via email at dave@comicbookherald.com.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Joe Harman says

    November 3, 2017 at 11:18 am

    i don’t mind going back to the old school venom, but the execution and writing has been subpar.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

The Comic Book Herald Podcast!

Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsRSS
My Marvelous Year reading club helps Marvel fans become comic book experts

Recent Posts

  • Fall of X Teasers & Al Ewing’s Sins of Sinister | Comic Book Herald Live! March 24, 2023
  • “Sins of Sinister” Part 6: Immoral X-Men #2—in Review! March 23, 2023
  • DESTINY OF X | The Krakoan Empire Divided March 22, 2023
  • “Secret Identity” with Alex Segura | CBH Interviews #107 March 21, 2023
  • 2002 Pt. 3: Daredevil & Elektra March 20, 2023
  • Immoral X-Men #2 and Wolverine vs. Dark Beast! | Comic Book Herald Live! March 17, 2023
  • X-Men: The Animated Series Season 2 Rewatch! March 16, 2023
  • “Sins of Sinister” Part 5: Nightcrawlers #2—in Review! March 15, 2023
  • My Marvelous Interview: Paul Jenkins on Wolverine Origin, Inhumans, Spectacular Spider-Man, & More! March 13, 2023
  • The Dark Knight Trilogy 15 Years Later: Film & Comic Influences! March 11, 2023
  • Sins of Sinister: Nightcrawlers, X-Men #20, New Mutants: Lethal Legion #1 | Comic Book Herald Live! March 10, 2023
  • 2002 Variant A: Ant-Man & Wasp Quantumania TAKEDOWN! March 6, 2023
  • Steve Orlando’s Marauders #1-5—Annotated! March 4, 2023
  • “Sins of Sinister” Part 4: Immoral X-Men #1 in Review! March 3, 2023
  • “Sins of Sinister” Part 3: Nightcrawlers #1—in Review! March 1, 2023

Popular Articles

DC Rebirth Guide

Batman Reading Order

DC New 52 Reading Order

Marvel Ultimate Universe Guide

Civil War Reading Order

Marvel Cosmic Reading Order

The Best Comics of All Time!

Deadpool Reading Order

Justice League Reading Order

Complete Thanos Reading Order

X-Men Reading Guide (Modern Era)

Age of Apocalypse Reading Order

Modern Marvel Universe in 25 Trades

Best Tablet For Digital Comics

Is Marvel Unlimited Worth It?

Footer

New to Comic Book Herald?

Hey there - my name's Dave and this is my comic book blog. It's my way of sharing my borderline obsessive addiction to the comic book medium, and I hope you like some of what's going on here.

Most people that come here are looking for my (WIP) Marvel reading order guide. You can probably also get a sense if CBH is for you by taking a look at some of my columns.

If you like what you see, let's connect on Facebook or Twitter. Or, leave a comment on the blog here, I'm always looking for new awesome people in the comic book community.

More on Comic Book Herald

  • Home
  • About
  • Support CBH
  • My Marvelous Year
  • Join!
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service

Recent Posts

  • Fall of X Teasers & Al Ewing’s Sins of Sinister | Comic Book Herald Live!
  • “Sins of Sinister” Part 6: Immoral X-Men #2—in Review!
  • DESTINY OF X | The Krakoan Empire Divided
  • “Secret Identity” with Alex Segura | CBH Interviews #107
  • 2002 Pt. 3: Daredevil & Elektra

Copyright © 2023 · Metro Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in