Donny Cates Promises Plenty of Easter Eggs in Absolute Carnage

This week, Marvel Comics launched the ambitious Absolute Carnage event from writer Donny Cates and artist Ryan Stegman, featuring a story all about the resurrected Cletus Kasady hunting down anyone who has ever been attached to a Symbiote. Well, if you've been reading comics for any amount of time, you probably know that means just about everybody in the history of Marvel is now a target.

Of course, with so many characters and storylines from Marvel linked to this event in one way or another, you can expect a plethora of Easter eggs to fill its pages over the next couple of months. There's one pretty obvious nod about halfway through the first issue, as Eddie Brock's son Dylan can be seen flipping through an issue of Guardians of the Galaxy. As you may or may not already know, Cates is the writer of the current Guardians of the Galaxy series for Marvel.

That may be the most obvious Easter egg hidden in the first issue of Absolute Carnage, but it certainly isn't the only one. Chatting with ComicBook.com via email, Cates confirmed that there are quite a few Easter eggs in the debut issue, including some that reference Alan Moore's iconic DC series, Watchmen.

"Yeah, that was all Ryan," Cates said of the Guardians nod. "But yes, we tend to sneak a few things in here and there. This issue has a few little Easter eggs in regards to That One Book that the Internet tells us that we are better than."

That "one book" that Cates refers to is Watchmen, calling back to an running joke that he and Stegman have had with fans since early in their Venom run. There have been quite a few jokes about Venom being better than Watchmen over the past year or so, and it sounds like there will be quite a few more throughout Absolute Carnage.

What did you think of Absolute Carnage? Did you find any other Easter eggs? Let us know in the comments!

Absolute Carnage #1 is on sale now, online and at your local comic book shop.