Marvel Debuts Surprise Venom Variant By Mark Bagley

Venom Island was already pushing Eddie Brock and the Venom mythos to new places, but things are about to get even crazier courtesy of a new storyline titled Venom Beyond. The new story arc will finally bring together all the pieces of the puzzle that The Maker has been assembling during his time in the series, and what better way to kick off the new arc than with a sweet variant cover by a fan favorite. That’s why Marvel got famed Spider-Man artist Mark Bagley to create a new variant cover for Venom #26, which features Venom taking on his frequent nemesis Carnage, and you can get your exclusive first look at the cover below.

As you can see on the cover, Venom is tearing into Carnage, grabbing him by the neck and charging forward as he is about to strike. This is also classic Carnage, and not the God-like Carnage we saw in Absolute Carnage. After that harrowing event, it’s kind of nice to see Venom getting the upper hand on the psychotic villain.

As for the issue itself, we’ll finally see what The Maker has been up to all this time, and while it’s easy to see the crazy with Carnage, The Maker is not in any way much better, though he is better at manipulating any given situation to his benefit.

Sure he helped out Eddie and Dylan in the past, but we expect once his full plans are revealed, he won’t be helping anyway but himself.

Venom #26 is written by Donny Cates and drawn by Iban Coello, and you can find the official description below.

“VENOM BEYOND” BEGINS HERE! If you thought VENOM ISLAND was insane comic book action of the highest order, then shut your yapper and face front, True Believer, because we’re about to outdo ourselves! For months, the Maker has been fascinated with symbiotes. IN THIS ISSUE we find out why – and what he intends to do with any he can get his hands on…

32 PGs, $3.99…Rated T+

Diamond Code: APR208405

Venom #26 hits comic stores on July 15th.