I fell in love with Venom when I first started reading comic books about three years ago. I grew up in a house without comic books and it wasn’t until I went away to college that I discovered what I had been missing. So I’ll admit that I haven’t actually read very many comics, but I have read enough to know that Venom is the best thing that ever happened to Spider-Man’s books. Not only is the character awesome and his storylines enthralling, but he also just happens to look wicked-cool. I thought I’d share a few of my favorite examples of Venom cover art here to share the greatness that is Venom.

5 - Amazing Spider-Man #378 (1993)

This excellent cover shows Venom and Carnage going at it during the great Maximum Carnage plot (one I actually have read). I really like how this cover shows the contrasts between the two – Carnage’s symbiote flows more and can keep its form though detached from the host (as when Carnage hurls blades at his opponents) while Venom’s form is more solid and portrays more muscle.

4 - Amazing Spider-Man #346 (1991)

Venom is hungry for Spidey in this cover. I love the effect of Spider-Man reflected in Venom’s eyes.

3 - Web of Spider-Man #95 (1992)

Venom teaming up with Ghost Rider is a great idea, and the two of them look fantastic on a cover together. I really like how Venom is gigantic and hovering in the background.

2 - Venom #1 (2003)

This is Venom’s tongue gone wild. Although if you look closely, you’ll notice that Venom himself doesn’t look quite right (this was the only time Venom was semi-decently drawn in this series), the crazy and impossibly-long tongue really works for Venom. I think it’s being used in this cover the same way Spawn’s cape is used on many of his covers.

1 - Venom: Carnage Unleashed #3 (1995)

This is the absolute best Venom cover I have seen yet. Once again, we have Venom and Carnage together, but this time the fight is up close and personal. Carnage is ripping the symbiote away from Venom’s head as if it were a cheap plastic Halloween mask. Just look at the expression of pleasure of Carnage’s face juxtaposing the intense pain mirrored on both the head of Eddie Brock and the head of the symbiote.

I personally think Venom art was best in the ‘90s. Recently, artists have been taking (I think) too many liberties on his appearance, making his figure ridiculously bulky, disproportionate, and alien-looking. I liked it better when you could still tell that Eddie Brock was a human. I know the Venom symbiote itself was alien, but he bonded to a human host, and I think that form should be the dominant. Especially now that Mac Gargan (who used to be Scorpion) has the symbiote, I have a hard time getting past the art to read the character. So now, I’d like to show a few examples of how I think Venom should absolutely not be drawn.

5 - Ultimate Spider-Man #38 (2003)

This is what Ultimate Venom looks like when drawn badly. It looks like an honest attempt at good Venom art that simply failed miserably. At least he still looks human – even if his head was drawn by a fourth-grader.

4 - Venom #12 (2004)

He looks a bit top heavy. I’m not sure he can even stand up. If this were an Amalgam, I would guess they combined Venom with Bane. Venom on Venom serum. How ironic. Or not.

3 - Spectacular Spider-Man #1 (2003)

I can’t believe someone got paid to draw this. Venom looks grotesque and disproportionate. There are ways to make Venom look scary and creepy without making him hideously ugly. He doesn’t look agile enough to stand up on his own feet much less be a match for Spider-Man. And are his teeth all sticking sideways out of his mouth?

2 - Spectacular Spider-Man #5 (2003)

Oh look. Same series. Venom is now a tar monster. Tar monsters have never made good villains. Maybe someone should have told this artist.

1 - Venom #15 (2004)

Is this a picture of Venom or Juggernaut’s helmet? I sure can’t tell.

At least there’s hope: the Spider-Man 3 movie actually got Venom right, though I wish we had gotten to see more shots of him as Venom on the screen. Perhaps some of the artists will base their drawings more off of the movie and good Venom art will make a comeback. Venom fans can only hope.

Qapla’

–Sarah

Tags: Comic Books, comicbooks, Eddie Brock, Spider Man, symbiote, Venom

This entry was posted on Friday, January 18th, 2008 at 9:43 am and is filed under GeekCore, comics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.