Description

Superior Carnage                        Comics Lot
Featuring Clayton Crain’s “Carnage” Artwork on every cover! Awesome!!
Writer: Kevin Shinick
Artists: Stephen Segovia & Dan Mexia
Inkers: Dennis Chrisostomo & Dan Mexia & Don Ho
Colorists: Jay David Ramos, Vero Gandini, Rachelle Rosenberg & Rex Lokus
Letterer: Virtual Calligraphy’s Joe Caramagna
Editors: Devin Lewis, Axel Alonso, Sana Amanat, Tom Brennan & Stephen Wacker
All Covers by: Clayton Crain

Originally created to be a darker version of Venom, Carnage was once a serial killer known as Cletus Kasady who became the deadly killer symbiote after merging with the offspring of the alien symbiote called Venom during a prison breakout. Since the alien symbiote adapts to the host’s personality, the Carnage symbiote is affected by Kasady’s insane mind and lust for destruction… making it even more dangerous. Carnage is usually considered as a “main” enemy of Spider-Man. The character first appeared as Cletus Kasady in The Amazing Spider-Man #344 (March 1991) and then as Carnage in The Amazing Spider-Man #360 (March 1992). Carnage was created by writer David Michelinie and artists Erik Larsen and Mark Bagley, based on elements of the precursor character Venom. Along with Venom, Carnage belongs to a race of amorphous extraterrestrial parasites known as the Symbiotes. Carnage is widely considered one of the Greatest Comic Book Villains of All Time!

Now, Marvel Comics Presents, Superior Carnage! Locked away in an asylum, Carnage may finally be gone for good – but his fellow inmates have other plans. Can they successfully wake the monster? Or will this hideous experiment create the most powerful, dangerous, maniacal Carnage yet – a Superior Carnage? And lest you think we forgot, it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for: Superior Carnage vs. Superior Spider-Man!!

Story/Spoilers:
In issue #1, Having recently been transferred to a maximum-security prison facility for supervillains, Ted Connelly monologues to himself about his bad luck at being caught up in the governor’s new plan for dealing with overcrowded prisons. An explosion goes off in the prison, causing the guards to instigate lockdown, and Connelly is thrown into his cell, continuing to lament his situation. Outside, the guards determine there must have been a gas leak and congratulate themselves for record timing. Ted recalls when the prisoner in the cell next to him, Cletus Kasady, was brought in by Agent Venom. That the prison doctor said he was comatose, but Ted could see something evil lurking in his gaze. One of the guards approaches Ted’s cell and begins taunting him, saying he’d made a wager with the other guards about how long Ted could stand being so close to Carnage, who has a reputation of eating his neighbours. Abruptly, the guard stops talking and opens the cells. Immediately, the Carnage symbiote takes over Cletus’ body and goes on a rampage, impaling the guard and mowing down the other inmates. Ted loses control of his bowels and collapses onto a toilet as Carnage enters his cell, brutally killing him. Watching the massacre from a screen, the Wizard quips that it’s like watching Game of Thrones, then complains that Ted’s thoughts interfered with his ability to control the guard. As Carnage devours the inmates, the Wizard explains to a group of captured guards that he intends to turn do to the monster what the US Military did to its progenitor. The guards – two of whom ae father and son – demand to be released so they can save the prisoners, but the Wizard refuses, revealing his plan is an attempt to regain the respect and affection of his cloned son by rebuilding the Frightful Four. The father guard mocks him over this, comparing the team’s multiple incarnations to the Pussycat Dolls, and the Wizard kills them in a fit of rage. The Wizard approaches Carnage, who immediately lunges at him, realizing too late that Cletus has no mind that he can take control of. Carnage brutalizes the Wizard, but just as he is about to devour him Klaw intervenes, blasting the symbiote into submission.

Next in issue #2, At the Wizard’s base, Cletus Kasady is chained naked to a rusted operating table. As the Wizard recaps his plan to turn Cletus into his own version of Agent Venom, Klaw asks him how he intends to control Carnage if Cletus is lobotomized, and the Wizard explains that he’ll just recalibrate his helmet to control the symbiote instead of the host. When Klaw points out that he has a picture of the Black Tarantula instead of Agent Venom, the Wizard dismisses him in a fit of paranoia before being interrupted by Karl Malus, the paraplegic surgeon who once specialized in creating supervillains. The Wizard states that Malus is the fourth member of the team and will be in charge of sculpting the new Carnage to his liking, ominously telling Malus that if someone screws with you, you pay it forward. The Wizard has Cletus unchained and recalibrates his helmet, telling Klaw to release the symbiote. Carnage promptly attacks him, forcing Klaw to step in and suppress it despite the Wizard’s protests. Malus tells Klaw that Black Bolt afflicted the Wizard with dementia for trying to take back his son, expressing doubt in the Wizard’s sanity. The Wizard rebukes him and asks that he stay, then says they should try again. Swinging through the nighttime city, Otto Octavius, the Superior Spider-Man, argues with Mayor J. Jonah Jameson about whether to pursue Carnage or finish taking down the Jackal. Inwardly, Otto laments the Wizard’s degrading sanity and the inhumanness of Black Bolt’s punishment leaving him with only months to live. Otto wonders if this attempt to revive the Frightful Four isn’t just a suicide mission on the Wizard’s part, before deciding to take him down. In the Frightful Four’s lair, Malus urges the Wizard to give up after repeated failures to control the Carnage symbiote. The Wizard’s dementia confuses him briefly, and Malus points out that the unlike the Venom symbiote, the Carnage symbiote has integrated itself into Cletus’ bloodstream, making it a part of him and impossible to control unless transferred to someone with a working brain. The Wizard has an epiphany, comparing Malus’ handicap to Flash Thompson’s own, and tells Klaw to prep Malus for infusion. Klaw tells the alarmed Malus that he has indeed noticed the Wizard’s decaying mental state, but that the Wizard has both cloned him and brought him back from the dead to do his bidding, Whispering in Malus’s ear that he is the Wizard’s family, Klaw punches Malus across the face, knocking him to the floor. Ignoring Malus’s pleas, Klaw drags him to an operating table while the Wizard preps a blood transfusion unit. The Wizard attaches a mind control device to Malus’ chest and connects him to Cletus, proclaiming that his son will think he is a god, and announcing himself Malus’ lord and master. Malus’ sclera turn black, his irises red, and a long serpentine tongue protrudes from his mouth as the symbiote is transferred to him.

Next in issue #3, As the Carnage symbiote bonds to him, Karl Malus recaps his situation to himself, lamenting that he was suckered into becoming the Wizard’s guinea pig. As the symbiote takes Malus over, the Wizard tells Klaw to unleash him, intending to take him over using the control device attached to Malus. Carnage immediately destroy’s Klaw’s sonic cannon, snarling that they will suffer and die at his hands. As Carnage pummels the Wizard, Klaw moves to intervene and is cut in half, destabilizing the symbiote ad forcing it off Carnage’s arm. Reforming his body, Klaw states that he is made of living sound, but Carnage retorts that he doesn’t need the symbiote to bash Klaw’s face in, attacking him with his uncovered hand. The Wizard tells Klaw to get him his helmet, putting it on just as Carnage attacks. Inside Malus’s head, the Carnage symbiote demands that the doctor succumb to it and become its host, while Malus reels at its overwhelming rage and hatred and struggles to maintain control as the Wizard imposes his will. With Malus now under the Wizard’s control as the “Superior” Carnage, the symbiote takes on the appearance of biomechanical red and black body armor in mockery of Agent Venom.

The Wizard launches into a speech detailing his plan to take City Hall, telling Carnage to arm himself with whatever weapons he desires before instructing him to form a coat, having grown tired of all the buttocks and crotches on display. Carnage obediently manifests a coat, but Malus warns Klaw that the Wizard’s control is tenuous at best and the moment it slips the symbiote will take over. Klaw tells the Wizard he needs to fix his arm, insisting when the Wizard dismissively states that Carnage will more-than suffice. As the Wizard repairs his arm, Klaw asks about the rumors of Black Bolt giving him brain damage. The Wizard admits the rumors are true, but that what the Black Bolt did was give him clarity. Concerned, Klaw asks how they know if the Wizard will survive the coming mission or even has the means to properly repair his arm, and Bentley admits that they don’t. However, he states that he wants to show his son – who has only known the Wizard as a joke and lackey for supervillain organizations – what he’s really capable of by taking city hall and claiming New York as his own. Carnage interrupts, having outfitted himself with an array of weapons. As the Wizard’s dementia starts acting up, Klaw tries to bolster him by saying that his son won’t see him as the mayor, but as the ruler of the world and that city hall will only be the start of their conquest. As the Wizard thanks him, Klaw asks him to promise that when they get back to the lab he’ll fix his arm properly, but the Wizard pulls out a detonator and says he won’t be coming back. As the base explodes around them, the Wizard, Klaw, and Carnage set out for City Hall.

At City Hall, Mayor J. Jonah Jameson asks why his polls aren’t rising after he got rid of Alistair Smythe, but his aid replies that was yesterday’s news and that the people are more concerned about the completion of a new subway station. When Jameson asks what’s being done about Carnage’s escape, one of his bodyguards remarks that Spider-Man informed them he has everything under control. As Jameson laments that his tenure as mayor had to be the one with lunatics running rampant, an subway train crashes through the roof and the Wizard exits alongside Klaw. As Jameson’s bodyguards look for the other two members of the Frightful Four, Carnage arrives wielding a flamethrower and pistol as arm-cannons, remarking that the symbiote doesn’t mind the heat as long as it’s the one pulling the trigger. Laughing maniacally, Carnage denounces Cletus Kasady as a fool for wasting his time on chaos when so much more can be accomplished with a little focus. As Jameson’s aid flees from Klaw and Carnage, the symbiote begins morphing back to its usual form and snares the aid with its prehensile tongue, Carnage demanding to know where Jameson is. Klaw looks over to see the Wizard in the middle of a dementia-induced panic attack and quickly calms him, telling him that they’re in the middle of attacking city hall. Regaining composure, the Wizard breaks down a wall and gleefully proclaims that he’s coming for Jameson. Carnage stops Klaw and remarks that he noticed the Wizard’s control slip, but Klaw tells him to just do his job so that they can all benefit. As Carnage ominously states that he’ll benefit, the Wizard calls him over to where he has captured a couple of bureaucrats, saying they didn’t think he could control him. The Wizard tells Carnage to show them what he can do, so Carnage forms an arm-blade and bisects them. The Wizard exasperatedly says he meant blowing the door to the next room apart, and Carnage sarcastically apologizes before doing so. Entering the mayor’s office, the Wizard is confronted not by J. Jonah Jameson, but by the Superior Spider-Man and a team of Spiderlings.

Next in issue #4, In a flashback to a few moments before, Spider-Man has his Spiderlings haul a furious Jameson to the safety of a bunker, disregarding him as a liability while smugly noting to himself that as always he is the smartest person in the room and that almost nothing surprises him anymore. Turning to his Spiderlings, Spider-Man tells them their opponents are the Wizard – a dying old man with only hours to live, and Cletus Kasady – who despite being bonded to the savage Carnage Symbiote was lobotomized and brain-dead. Sitting in the mayor’s chair, Otto tells them he’s estimated that it will take the Spiderlings seven minutes at most to subdue their adversaries, thinking to himself that none of the events that have transpired phased him in the slightest. However, when the Wizard, Klaw, and Carnage arrive, Otto notes that he is in fact somewhat surprised. The Wizard proclaims that the Frightful Four have taken city hall, but Spider-Man retorts that his Spiderlings are more than equipped to take out Carnage and Klaw, telling him to surrender. In response, Carnage throws a pair of shuriken that decapitate the two Spiderlings before they can react. As the Wizard and Carnage open fire, Otto barely dodges and scolds himself for forgetting that the Carnage symbiote doesn’t trigger his Spider-Sense. However, when Carnage remarks that he’s not Cletus Kasady but a “superior model”, Otto is enraged by the appropriation of his epithet and attacks all three of them before they can react and causing Klaw to shoot his arm-cannon at Carnage, who ducks so that the blast blows a hole in the wall. As Carnage throws a grenade, saying it will take more than bad aim to stop him, Otto retorts that’s why he had an opening created for his Spiderlings. The grenade detonates, launching Spider-Man into a wall as the Wizard orders Klaw to take out the Spiderlings.

Thinking to himself that he’d never have thought the Wizard could have led the Frightful Four so effectively, he prepares to fire a web-line to yank off the Wizard’s helmet but is disoriented by Klaw. As Klaw’s arm-cannon malfunctions, Spider-Man tackles the Wizard out the window and into the crowd of reporters and journalists, who immediately begin taking pictures and asking what his goals are. Spider-Man angrily reprimands the media for giving the Wizard the exposure he wanted, but is berated for attacking a feeble-minded old man. Seething, Otto webs up the Wizard in order to take the fight somewhere private. Holding onto the flagpole, Spider-Man tells the Wizard that he’s lost and should surrender, but the Wizard infiltrates his mind to discover Spider-Man’s secret identity, learning of Otto’s brain-jacking. Spider-Man drops the Wizard in shock sending him plummeting to crash-land onto a parked car, where he remarks that his brain must finally be shutting down since he can’t even read the right minds anymore. Inside the city hall, the Carnage symbiote jubilantly takes over, killing the Spiderlings before turning to confront Klaw. Realizing something has happened to the Wizard, Klaw attempts to subdue Carnage, but his arm-cannon malfunctions as Carnage attacks. Outside, Otto berates himself for dropping the Wizard, landing next to him.

Recalling how he was once in the Wizard’s position, Spider-Man reveals his identity and tells the Wizard to get Carnage to stand down and then he’ll let him see his son. Carnage abruptly slashes Spider-Man from behind, and Otto scolds himself for letting his guard down before radioing for backup. Carnage tells him help won’t be coming, quipping that he originally thought the jacket was a pointless addition as he reveals he’d hunted down and removed the tongues of all the Spiderlings. Furious, Spider-Man attacks, but Carnage shrugs him off, saying that the weapons were fun but that nothing beats the taste of flesh. As Carnage transforms the coat into a flurry of tendrils, Spider-Man grabs the Wizard and urges him to take back control. Klaw grabs Spider-Man from behind and smashes him into a wall, not realizing they’re on the same side as he prepares to explode Spider-Man’s head. Carnage abruptly impales Klaw with some vibranium taken from the Wizard’s arsenal, quipping that the metal is Klaw’s one weakness and that he was waiting for the right moment to use it on him. As his body destabilizes, Klaw berates Carnage for ruining their plan when they were so close to winning, apologizing to the Wizard before exploding into a shockwave of sound that sends everyone flying. As Spider-Man picks himself up, dazed, he sees Karl Malus – who he does not recognize – devoid of the symbiote and realizes that Cletus Kasady wasn’t the host. Congradualting himself on a victory, Otto looks around for the symbiote, intending to contain it before it can find a new host. The Wizard interrupts his train of thought by asking if he’s dead, having been drenched by a viscous crimson fluid that begins to cover his body and take over his mind.

Finally in issue #5, Disembodied by Carnage’s attack, Klaw ruminates on the nature of sound and sonic booms, lamenting that he and the Wizard forgot Carnage was an unstable element. Noting that he is for all intents and purposes dead, Klaw observes the events transpiring around him as he becomes part of the acoustic fabric of the sound wall, lamenting that he was unable to protect the ones he left behind. As the Carnage symbiote takes over the Wizard, Klaw realizes that he can experience events that occurred across time and space, witnessing the birth of the Carnage symbiote and its first bonding with Cletus Kasady, experiencing the symbiote’s solace and relief in finding a suitable host. As he views the times it was abandoned by Cletus and bonded to Ben Reilly, Norrin Radd, and Tanis Nieves, Klaw realizes that the symbiote has only grown stronger over time and with successive hosts, and that separating it from Cletus Kasady was the worst thing he and the Wizard could have done. Psychoanalyzing it, Klaw compares the Carnage to a human teenager, striving for independence while also craving a connection to its original host – its family. As Klaw nears the present, he witnesses the badly-injured Wizard telling reporters he just wants to see his son, and Bentley-23 seeing his father in a new light, realizing that the Carnage symbiote and the Wizard are angry about the same thing. Lifting a car over his head, Carnage furiously demands to know where his family is. Malus regains consciousness and asks to know what is going on, but Spider-Man tells him to stay down and shields him from the car, radioing for backup and instructing his troops to bring the prototype flamethrowers.

Spider-Man laments that the one bit of Peter Parker he couldn’t purge was bad luck as Carnage lunges, forming an arm-blade and snarling that Spider-Man promised him his son. Spider-Man dodges and states that the deal was that he’d give him his son if he helped control Carnage, and the Wizard retorts that he did one better by becoming Carnage. Spider-Man tells the Wizard to turn himself in, reminding him that the symbiote killed his friend Klaw and asking how it feels to be in the skin of someone he despises. Carnage mockingly turns the question on Spider-Man, taunting him with his knowledge of Otto’s secret. As a platoon of Spiderlings arrive, Spider-Man orders them to immolate Carnage but the prototype flamethrowers fail. Smashing Carnage with a parking meter, Spider-Man orders Malus to run, but Malus reminds him he’s a paraplegic and can’t even walk. Carnage pounces on Malus and devours him, spattering the Spiderlings with blood, while Klaw laments the Wizard’s loss of control to the symbiote. A Spiderling runs up to Spider-Man saying a boy claiming to be the Wizard’s son has arrived, but Otto furiously punches him hard enough to knock him out, snapping to never reveal intel that could be used against him. Carnage quips that he doesn’t think the Spiderling heard him and mockingly asking if there is a doctor hiding amongst them. As Spider-Man furiously attacks, Carnage snares him with tendrils and demands that Otto make good on his promise, mauling him while threatening to destroy his life and undo the miracle that Otto pulled off. Spider-Man relents, telling his Spiderlings to bring Carnage’s family in, but as the Wizard jubilantly proclaims his victory Spider-Man says he wasn’t talking to him, but to the symbiote. A status pod containing Cletus Kasady’s badly burnt but still-living body is wheeled out by two Spiderlings, surprising Klaw, who had assumed Kasady perished when the base was destroyed. The Carnage symbiote immediately leaves the Wizard, taking care to make the separation as agonizing as possible, and too late Spider-Man orders the Spiderlings to contain it before it reaches Kasady. As the symbiote reunites with Cletus, Klaw realizes he was wrong about his earlier assessment of the alien: it hasn’t been continually abandoning, but has deliberately been separating itself from Cletus to become more powerful and mold him into the perfect host, its soul mate. As the symbiote suffocates the Spiderlings, Spider-Man takes one of the sonic guns and aims it at Carnage. In control of Cletus, the Carnage symbiote speaks, snarling at Spider-Man to stay back and claiming Cletus’s body as its property. Disarming Spider-Man and knocking him aside, Carnage prepares to devour the Wizard in retaliation for separating the symbiote from its beloved host. Using the last of his energy, Klaw manifests in the storm clouds above the battle and hits Carnage with a bolt of lightning, the intense heat and the point-blank shockwave of the thunder separating Cletus from the symbiote again. Spider-Man has the symbiote contained before it can recover, while Klaw is satisfied with being able to avenge his own death and save the Wizard, allowing his consciousness to fade into oblivion. The Wizard is hospitalized, while the Carnage symbiote is taken to Spider-Man’s base to be contained and studied. Some time later, at a maximum security prison hospital wing, a doctor tells a Spiderling that the Carnage symbiote cured the Wizard’s dementia, while in his cell the Wizard and his son converse via instant messaging. The Spiderling asks the doctor if the Wizard remembers anything about Spider-Man’s secret identity, but the doctor says they can’t know for sure. As the Spiderling leaves, he stops and asks for if the doctor is sure that the symbiote repaired the Wizard’s brain. The doctor verifies this, asking why the Spiderling wanted to know. In his cell, Cletus Kasady – fully recovered from his lobotomy – writes “CARNAGE RULES” on the wall of his cell.

Comics lot contains: Superior Carnage (2013 – 2014) Issues #1-5.  Marvel Comics

Comics are bagged & boarded and will be carefully / securely packaged then shipped via USPS Priority Mail to ensure that it arrives to you perfectly and quickly.

All First Printings
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Publication Date: 2013 – 2014
Format per comic: FC, 32 pages, Comic, 10.25″ x 6.5″
UPC: 759606078165

Collectible Entertainment note: Comics 1,2,3,4,5 are in Fine + to Very Fine condition.  Very Nice Set!  Please See Scans!!  A must have for any serious Carnage and/or Spider-Man collector / enthusiast.  A fun & entertaining read.  Highly Recommended.

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