Venom faces the Purple Man in Michelinie + Sandoval’s ‘Venom: Separation Anxiety’

The retro miniseries kicks off in May.

Venom co-creator David Michelinie returns to the character again this year for another miniseries set during Venom’s early days.

Venom: Separation Anxiety by Michelinie and Death of the Venomverse artist Gerardo Sandoval will feature Eddie Brock encountering the Purple Man, who uses his powers to steal Brock’s symbiote and become “The King in Purple.”

“I’m always delighted to write a new Venom story in a retro background,” Michelinie said. “With ‘Separation Anxiety’ as the required theme, the problem became how to do something that’s already been done—have Eddie Brock separated from his symbiote ‘other.’ So I thought, what if there was a deeply creepy villain with a decidedly bloodthirsty agenda who was able to take bits of Eddie’s symbiote away every time the two touched, with that enemy slowly growing stronger as Venom slowly grew weaker? And that was the nugget that became ‘The King In Purple.'”

Continue reading “Venom faces the Purple Man in Michelinie + Sandoval’s ‘Venom: Separation Anxiety’”

Venom gets extreme — and an anthology series — in May

‘Extreme Venomverse’ arrives just in time for ‘Death of the Venomverse’ and ‘Summer of Symbiotes,’ as Venom celebrates his 35-year anniversary.

How easy would it be to apply the template of the Spider-Verse to Venom? We’ll find out later this year, as Marvel has announced Extreme Venomverse, an anthology series that will feature various versions of Venom from around the multiverse.

This year is the 35th anniversary of the character, who was created by Todd McFarlane and David Michelinie and had his first, full appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #300. But you have to tip your hat to the creators of Amazing Spider-Man #252 — Roger Stern, Todd DeFalco, Mike Zeck and Ron Frenz — for creating Spider-Man’s black alien costume. And are you familiar with Randy Schueller? He was a comics fan who came up with the idea for putting Spider-Man in a black costume.

Continue reading “Venom gets extreme — and an anthology series — in May”

Marvel revives ‘Invaders,’ ‘Marvel Comics Presents’ as part of their 80th anniversary

Chip Zdarsky, Carlos Magno, Butch Guice and more dip into Marvel’s past to help celebrate the future.

With their 80th anniversary coming up next year, Marvel is reviving two titles in January — the anthology Marvel Comics Presents, and Invaders by Chip Zdarsky, Carlos Magno and Butch Guice.

Marvel Comics Presents ran as a bi-weekly anthology series from 1988 until 1995. Some of the highlights of the original run included the first published work of Scott Lobdell (including a clever story about Reed and Sue Richards living in the suburbs); Barry Windsor Smith’s “Weapon X” serial, one of the first stories to detail Wolverine’s origins; and the first appearances of characters like Cyber, Damage Control and Nth Man. There was also a very wonderful Colossus story, Colossus: God’s Country, written by Ann Nocenti. The series returned in 2007 for a 12-issue run.

The new volume will feature the works of Charles Soule, Greg Pak, Ann Nocenti, Tomm Coker and Paulo Siqueira, telling stories about Namor, Captain America and of course Wolverine, who appeared in many issues of the first volume.

Continue reading “Marvel revives ‘Invaders,’ ‘Marvel Comics Presents’ as part of their 80th anniversary”