The Spider-Verse has Spider-Boy, but the Venomverse has Kid Venom. After debuting Kintaro in a backup story included in Death of the Venomverse #2, manga artist Taigami will spin off the original character in Kid Venom in 2024. The four-issue solo series follows January’s Kid Venom: Origins #1, collecting for the first time the full four parts of Kintaro’s origins from issues #2-#5 of Death of the Venomverse. Set in Japan, 977, Kid Venom Ep. 1 introduced capital samurai Kintaro and his symbiote — Clinter — as they saved a village from a blood-red oni (demon) as Carnage culled Venoms from across the multiverse.
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Unlike other onis, Kintaro keeps his sanity when bonded to his symbiote: the parasitic life-form called Clinter. And unlike other symbiotes, which feed on adrenaline, Clinter eats symbiotes and then evolves after absorbing the memories of their hosts. This allows Kid Venom to wield the powers of the oni consumed by Clinter and transform into animal form.
“Kid Venom was based on a one shot that I sent for a manga contestShonen Magazine and Marvel held in 2018. One of the rules for thecontest was [to use a theme or a character from Marvel and write anddraw a first episode for a new series] and the theme that I chose wassymbiote,” Taigami told Marvel.com. “The next thing that I thought was who would be the best host for asymbiote. There were already many Venoms and there were enoughvariations, so I thought it had be something totally new to berecognized.”
Taigami continued: “In Japan there are several famous folklores such as’Momotaro’ and ‘Urashimataro.’ Among them, there is a story of’Kintaro.’ The legend is about a boy who was strong, lived with hismother in Mount Ashigara. He later was hired by Minamoto Yorimitsu, avery high ranked samurai and defeats many yokai. Later he becomes one ofthe four samurais of Minamoto Yorimitsu. This story is a mix offolklore and a historical story from the Heian Era of Japan. So when Imixed Symbiote to the legend of Kintaro, ‘Kid Venom’ was born.”
Kid Venom: Origins #1 is on sale January 3, 2024, with a cover by Taigami; Marvel also announced a surprise variant cover from Luciano Vecchio (Resurrection of Magneto), below, that will make its way to retailers in the first week of January.
Kid Venom #1, featuring art and covery by Taigami and a variant foil cover by Gerardo Sandoval (Savage Spider-Man), is on sale April 17 from Marvel Comics.
