All-New Venom has been something of a return to form for the Venom comics. Venom was massively popular in the ’90s, but he became overexposed and that popularity faded. This was the case til about the mid ’10s. Creators Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman made Venom and symbiotes cool again in Venom, Absolute Carnage, and The King in Black. Of course, this being Marvel, they sort of over-pushed symbiotes after Cates and Stegman left the title. Writer Al Ewing was put on Venom, with Ram V on Carnage, and the two of them did their best to bring Venom back to popularity. Now, obviously, Venom isn’t as popular as the Cates/Stegman years, but I would argue All-New Venom is just as good as the Cates/Stegman days, with Ewing and artist Carlos Gomez giving readers a fun superhero story, with the drama of the Mary Jane Watson/Paul Rabin relationship, and the way they deal with former Venom host Eddie Brock’s son Dylan.
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All-New Venom started with a mystery of who Venom was after Eddie gave up the symbiote and it was pretty engaging. As Ewing pared the mystery down, he also set up SCAR, an anti-symbiote group, as well as the return of Venom’s symbiotic child Sleeper. Sleeper was working against SCAR with help from a beloved host of Venom — the hero known as Agent Anti-Venom: Flash Thompson. Thompson was once Venom, and was one of the few bright spots for Venom in the years before Cates and Stegman took up the character. All-New Venom #9 is excellent, and it proves yet again why Flash Thompson has always been the best Venom.
Flash Thompson’s Venom Was a Very Different Venom
Flash Thompson is a rather important Marvel character, especially to the Spider-Man mythos. Flash was one of the bullies who tormented the nerdy Peter, and readers learned to hate him back in the early days of The Amazing Spider-Man. Peter may have been Spider-Man after school, but he was never as cool as Thompson. Thompson kept returning over the years, sometimes as an antagonist, but as the years went by and maturity struck, Flash became a friend to Peter. Fans started to warm up to the character and Flash would show up, stay around for a few years, then disappear again. He never really seemed like he was going to be important to the Spider-Man stories like he was in the old days and fans were basically fine with it. However, things were going to change drastically for Flash Thompson in the 21st century. Flash joined the military, inspired by his friend Peter, and fought in the Middle East after 9/11. Flash’s life would be changed forever in the war because he would lose his legs. This was a massive change to Flash Thompson; he went through the stages of grief, trying everything to get his legs back, but eventually accepted it. Of course, this being comics, that was forgotten and he entered Project Rebirth 2.0, where he was given the Venom symbiote. Flash got his legs back and was enlisted by the government to become Agent Venom.
As Venom, Flash battled the new Jack O’Lantern, Crime Master, and Kraven the Hunter. He fought alongside Spider-Man and company during “Spider-Island”, and joined the Thunderbolts. He was made a member of the Secret Avengers, and over and over again proved that he was an actual hero. There was so much growth for Flash as a character, something that we haven’t really seen with the other Venom hosts up to that point. People talk about Eddie Brock’s changes, but he yo-yo’ed between heroism and villainy over and over again until the ’10s. Mar Gargan was just a monster. Flash had already made sacrifices by joining the military, and earned the respect of everyone he worked with. Flash Thompson became an Avenger, which is the pinnacle of the Marvel Universe. He fought the greatest villains in Marvel, joined the Guardians of the Galaxy to protect the universe, and worked harder at being a hero than anyone else who had the symbiote. Eventually, he lost the symbiote, which was like losing a best friend. However, he’d soon get another chance at having legs, becoming Agent Anti-Venom (Anti-Venom is a whole can of worms; it’s basically a “heroic” symbiote that hates evil symbiotes, but has somehow been used for evil). Flash killed it as Agent Anti-Venom as well, bringing his old school heroism to bear, and eventually joined SCAR. However, Flash was a hero and didn’t want to destroy symbiotes. So, he acted as an informant for Sleeper, helping the symbiote to free his fellows from captivity.
Becoming Agent Venom and Agent Anti-Venom Proved Flash’s Growth
Flash Thompson was once one of the most hated characters in the Spider-Man mythos, and for good reason. He tormented Peter Parker, and since Parker was the audience insert, Flash was the bad guy. However, as the years passed Flash proved that he had learned his lesson and became a hero. He lost his legs in war, and then was given a chance to be a hero again with Venom symbiote. Flash Thompson made Venom cool again for the first time in years; he was everywhere in the Marvel Universe. He proved so popular that he was given another chance as Agent Anti-Venom, and since then has helped Sleeper protect the symbiotes.
All-New Venom #9 shows again why he’s great. Venom went to free Sleeper from the prison in the issue #8, and had to fight Doctor Octopus. However, they also want to save Toxin, a symbiote who needs to be bonded to someone. After Venom, Sleeper, and Toxin get away, Agent Anti-Venom comes in to help them get away. He lets Toxin bond with him, partly to get Toxin out of the facility and partly to change his appearance so he can help the symbiotes and SCAR won’t know he did it. This is exactly the kind of heroism that made Flash such a great hero, and proves why he’s the cream of the heroic symbiote crop.
All-New Venom #9 is on sale now.
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