Description

Venom #1 (January 2017 / 3rd Series)            Variant Comic
Featuring the ComicXposure Virgin Variant cover by Clayton Crain!
Writer: Mike Costa
Artist: Gerardo Sandoval
Colorist: Dono Sanchez Almara
Letterer: Virtual Calligraphy’s Clayton Cowles
Editors: Axel Alonso, Allison Stock, & Devin Lewis
Variant “ComicXposure Virgin” Cover by: Clayton Crain

Venom, or the Venom Symbiote, is a character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with Spider-Man. Venom made his first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #300 (May 1988). Venom was originally conceived as a supervillain, but has since become more of an antihero. Venom is a Symbiote, a sentient alien, with a gooey, almost liquid-like form. As with real-world symbiotes, it requires a host, usually human, to bond with for its survival. After bonding, the Symbiote endows its enhanced powers upon the host. When the Venom Symbiote bonds with a human, that new dual-life form refers to itself as “Venom”. The Venom Symbiote’s first known host was Spider-Man, who eventually separated himself from the creature when he discovered its true nature. The Symbiote went on to merge with other hosts, most notably Eddie Brock, its second and most infamous host, with whom it first became Venom and one of Spider-Man’s archenemies. According to S.H.I.E.L.D., it is considered one of the greatest threats to humanity, alongside Magneto, Doctor Doom, and Red Skull.

Venom is widely considered one of the Greatest Comic Book Villains of All Time!Now, Marvel Comics Presents, Venom #1 (2017)! Years ago, thinking he was donning a new costume, Peter Parker (A.K.A. The Amazing Spider-Man) accidentally bonded with a unique alien being called a symbiote. When Peter realized the costume was making him angered and more aggressive and actually a living organism, a member of an alien species called Klyntar, he rejected it, leaving the creature feeling betrayed and alone on a foreign world. But during their time together, the symbiote had access to Spider-Man’s genetic code, and as a result can now grant whomever it bonds with skills similar to those of its first host: wall crawling, the p[ower to generate bioorganic webbing, and unique abilities to shape-shift and turn invisible. The symbiote has had many hosts over the years, some noble, some nefarious, and though it has been a Lethal Protector, A Government Agent, and a Guardian of the Galaxy, it will always remain… VENOM!

Story/Spoilers
Lee Price, a man with a gloved left hand, walks down the street with a duffel bag over his shoulder, holding an eviction notice stating his rent is past due. He receives a text message from his childhood friend Tony, who asks if he’s still looking for work and says to meet him in a local diner in an hour. Elsewhere in the city, a weakened and exhausted Venom symbiote crawls down the wall of an alley, thinking to itself how hard it is to be good and how easy it is to be evil, but that it’s learned that being good requires strength and that strength necessitates help. Walking into the diner, Lee meets with Tony, who introduces him to Mac Gargan, a security guard at Alchemax and an enforcer for Black Cat’s Gang. Gargan notes that Tony mentioned Lee was once an Army Ranger and asks if he’s killed anyone. Lee states that he has, asking if the job will require bloodshed, but Gargan protests that his employer runs a non-lethal organization and that the job is strictly transactional. When Tony protests that Lee is just nervous, Gargan remarks that the stoic Lee doesn’t look nervous. Noting that Lee has all the markings of someone who was turned into a “murder machine” by the horrors of war, Gargan remarks that he’s spent a lifetime around psychopaths and monsters and isn’t looking to add another one to the list, adding that even if Lee has PTSD he’ll get no sympathy. Lee pulls off his glove, revealing he’s missing the pinky and ring fingers of his left hand, and states that he was discharged due to his injury and was classified as “disabled” to qualify for benefits, which haven’t come through. As a result of his designation, no private security firms are willing to hire him and he refuses to go back overseas, but he needs work. Lee says that he can follow orders and stay cool when trouble happens, but when he says that if anyone needs to be killed he can take care of it Gargan interrupts and says all Lee needs to do is look like he’s going to kill someone, which he says Lee has down. In the alley, the symbiote collapses from exhaustion just as an elderly homeless man approaches. Lamenting that sometimes compromises have to be made, the symbiote bonds to him, vomiting before observing that it’s just one more lost person in the city. Later in the evening, Tony and Lee wait with members of Black Cat’s gang in order to deliver a stack of crates. Tony complains about how dangerous thefts have gotten, observing that their cargo is a toxic, mutagenic gas and that the year before he helped move a nuclear warhead. Lee tells Tony to shut up, as their contacts — a group of gangsters working for Tombstone — arrive. Tombstone’s representative tells Black Cat’s thugs to give them the crates and leave, and when Tony asks where their pay is, Tombstone’s representative tells them that their payment is getting to live and that his boss thinks that Black Cat is a joke. As both sides pull guns, Lee remarks that the deal wasn’t supposed to turn violent and that he doesn’t have a weapon, and Tombstone’s representative calls him an idiot for assuming that would be the case and holds him at gunpoint. Coldly staring down the man pointing a gun at him, Lee tells him to get it over with and pull the trigger. The Venom symbiote abruptly rips through a wall and shields Lee from the gunfire, separating from the old homeless man and bonding to him in the process. Exchanging memories, the symbiote excitedly interrupts Lee’s confused protests and observes that he used to be a soldier, remarking that its last host was a soldier as well and one of the most honorable people it knew. As it gushes that they’re going to do great things together, Lee snaps at it to shut up and that it’s not the one in control. Transformed into Venom, Lee ignores the symbiote’s horrified protests and massacres both Tombstone’s and Black Cat’s thugs.

Retracting the symbiote, Lee revels in the power it grants him, assuring the terrified Tony that he can control it. When Tony says they need to get him to a hospital, Lee tells him to be quiet, remarking that he can hear the symbiote talking inside his head. When Tony asks if “the suit” makes him like Iron Man, Lee states that it’s even better, since it’s alive and powerful enough to take on Spider-Man. When Tony asks how he knows all these things, Lee says that he can hear its thoughts, marveling at the possibilities if they keep it secret. Tony excitedly remarks that with the symbiote’s power he and Lee could make a big move, but Lee bluntly retorts that he wasn’t talking about himself and Tony, but himself and the symbiote. Casually snapping Tony’s neck, he approaches the old homeless man, who protests that he won’t tell anyone. Lee callously states that he just killed his best friend since grade school because he knew Tony couldn’t keep a secret, and the old man protests that no-one would believe him even if he did say anything. Lee agrees, noting that the man is very convincing, and transforms into Venom before stating that’s the problem and killing him too. To silence the outraged symbiote, Lee forces it to witness his memories of growing up in Queens with his abusive parents, befriending a pyrokinetic mutant boy who razed the apartment and killed his mother when government agents came for him. Abandoned by his father and taken in by Children’s Services, Lee notes that if he’d had the boy’s powers he would have razed the apartment even sooner and not gotten caught. Lee coldly states that one thing he learned in the Rangers is that the people who scream are the ones who have lost, while the ones who win are those who stay calm and that those who are lucky exploit the breaks they’re given for all they’re worth. Piling the corpses into the Tombstone crew’s van, Lee blows it up to dispose of the evidence and takes the crates they were supposed to deliver. Having minimized all the variables in his situation and capitalized on the gains, Lee returns to his apartment in Brooklyn intent on figuring out how to use the symbiote’s power to his advantage.

…story continues in Venom (2017 – 2018) Issues #2-165. Marvel Comics

Featuring the ComicXposure Virgin Variant cover by Clayton Crain! Awesome!!!

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

First Printing
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Publication Date: January 2017
Format: FC, 32 pages, Comic, 10.25″ x 6.65″
UPC: 759606086269

Collectible Entertainment note: Variant Comic is in Very Fine condition.  Beautiful!  Please See Scans!!  A must have for any serious Venom collector and/or enthusiast.  A fun & entertaining read.  Recommended.

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