The Amazing Venom #1 Feels Like Spidey and the Long-Tongued One Did the Fusions Dance and It’s Awesome (Review)

Marvel Comics has made symbiotes a major franchise separate from the Spider-Man comics, with Venom, Carnage, Knull, and all the rest out there having their own adventures that impact the rest of the Marvel Universe. This led to Queen In Black, which ended this month, a sequel to the original King In Black that changed the symbiotic status quo again. Symbiotes have been bigger business than ever in the ’20s, with some of comics’ biggest creators working on their books. The House of Ideas has a lot of great characters sitting around doing nothing and symbiotes are the perfect way to revitalize them. The publisher started this latest round of revitalization in 2025 with Mary Jane and has recently given another Spider-character a symbiote: Boomerang, transforming him into the Amazing Venom.

Marvel first debuted the character during The Amazing Spider-Man/Venom: Death Spiral, which led to the middling Web of Venom #1. However, the book sold well enough to get a series, which leads us to The Amazing Venom #1, by Jordan Morris and Luke Ross. This comic, as the title of review said, is awesome. Morris and Ross take an idea that is extremely one-note and figure out a way to make it sing like a bird.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Pros	Cons
Morris gives readers an awesome first issue, nailing the exposition, humor, plot, and action	The start of the book is exposition for both the character and Queen In Black, which is a lot to drop on readers right away
Ross’s art is consistently great throughout, helping the script hit its high spots, with Curiel’s colors helping nail the tone of the book
A gem of a first issue, all things told, with some genuinely funny jokes throughout

Morris Delivers the Humor and Heart of Boomerang and It Helps This Simple Plot Soar

I wasn’t really a fan of Web of Venom #1, so I walked into this one with lower expectations. Maybe that was a good thing, because I genuinely enjoyed this issue from start to finish. Morris is able to nail Boomerang as a character and Passenger, the symbiote who has boned with him, is a great partner for him. Boomerang is the straight man, just wanting to live his life of low-level crime, and Passenger is the wild man. He’d been bottled up for two hundred years so he wants to get out there and fight. Morris give the pair a reason to work together – mostly power, since having a symbiote makes crime is easier – but also gives them a friendly relationship. They aren’t using each other and it’s all very wholesome.

Morris drops some exposition on new readers at the start of the book, but he does it in a funny way, with Venomerang asking Passenger to stop reading his mind so he could be introspective. This whole sequence has some of the funniest jokes of the book and gets readers up to speed, but it also has to explain the character’s origin and Queen In Black to everyone (and spoil the ending, so don’t read this one first). That’s a lot and while Morris does a good job of making it entertaining, it’s still not great to start off your first issue with a solid eight pages of exposition.

The rest of the issue sets up the plot, leading to more interplay between the two leads and a big fight with the dangerous new symbiote Tantrum at the end that happens for a rather clever reason, all leading to Boomer giving Passenger his heart desire. The story is fun right from the start; the plot of the book is simple, but it hits every note you’d want. It has humor, it has action, it has heart, and it makes you want to spend more time with this new symbiotic pair.

Ross’s Clean Detailed Art Brings the Goods

Luke Ross is a name that longtime Marvel fans will recognize. He’s been working steadily at the company since the ’90s. His style has morphed a lot over the years, with his work nowadays fitting the Marvel house style. He’s a seasoned pro and all of that experience is on every page of this issue. His art is clean and detailed, with good line work. He’s able to keep a consistent level of detail throughout the comic, which is something that not every artist can do in 2026. He’s not an artist who is going to blow you away with his work, but you’re definitely not going to be disappointed either. This is a guy who gets how to use a comic page and it really helps this issue along.

The exposition scenes at the beginning all look great, which helps keep this part of the issue from getting to bogged down with boring explanation panels. The action scenes are fluid and hard-hitting, and his character acting does a fantastic job of getting across the emotional tenor of every scene. The page layouts keep the action scenes propulsive and help establish the pacing of the story well. The art is colored by David Curiel, who’s another seasoned pro and it really gives the pages just the right pop. Curiel uses a brighter palette for the issue, giving the book a bright and funny vibe that really works for it. It has that slice of life comic feel, the colors helping establish the tone of the book to a tee.

Amazing Venom #1 Is Swinging Towards Success

There are a lot of symbiotes in the Marvel Universe and the argument can be made that we don’t really need more. However, Boomerang is a fan-favorite character who is just sitting there, so making him into a blend of himself, Spider-Man, and Venom is a lot of fun. I was hard on the idea at first, but this issue does it right. Morris is able to do everything you need a first issue to do, all while supplying some hilarious jokes and great characters. Ross and Curiel are pros and it shows on every page. I had a lot of fun reading this issue. It was a pleasant surprise and I hope this book, from this team, can stick around.

The Amazing Venom #1 is on sale now.

How do you feel about this issue? Did it land as well for you? Sound off in the comments below.

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