Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Cafu
Color Artist: Frank D’Armata
Cover Artist: Cafu
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
Eddie Brock has been through much as he set out on a journey spanning time and space to stop his villainous self, Meridius. He went to Latveria, homeland of Dr. Doom to seek his aid, a fight ensued and the two were sent hurtling through time, until Doom devised a solution to Eddie Brock’s problem and they sought out Kang The Conqueror for a spare time machine. Eddie got the time machine and now heads to the Garden of Time to face off against his villainous alter-ego. But in Venom #29, we get another story that focuses on another version of Eddie Brock who undergoes his own transformative journey into a familiar face.
Review:
Okay, the last Eddie Brock issue left in Venom #25, where Eddie, Bedlam and Doctor Doom went on a journey through time to find their way back to the present. Along the way, Dr. Doom and Eddie temporarily teamed up to enlist the aid of Kang The Conqueror from far in the future to acquire a time machine Eddie can use. He gets the time machine and makes his way back to the moment he arrived in the Garden of Time when he first met Meridius. But this comic decides to go backward and then forward at the end. Fair warning, this review will have SPOILERS.
Firstly, this comic doesn’t directly pick up where Venom #25 ended with Eddie crash landing the time machine in the Garden of Time. Instead, the comic focuses on the other alt. version of Eddie called Tyro, the green sycophantic King in Black who’s always following after Meridius to “learn from him”. Like with previous issues where we saw how one phase of Eddie transformed into the other, this time we see how Tyro finally transforms into Meridius of all people. This comic is really all about how Tyro becomes Meridius from beginning to end and how it all loops back to the first scene that the comic started with, but there’s a difference.
Now, Tyro’s transformation into Meridius is a little weird at first, but then as soon as he becomes more and more like Meridius until he finally transforms, it all becomes more interesting very quickly. That said, this issue doesn’t exactly elevate the threat of Meridius only double down on his menace and evil as we get to see the lengths he went to become who he is and even what he did to make the Garden of Time that we’ve seen throughout the series. But since this series has been one massive time travel story, the flaws do become more obvious and apparent and while Al Ewing is able to loop everything back to certain points, some things still don’t add up. However, I’m confident that the story will round it all out in the upcoming issues.
One strength of this comic issue is undoubtedly Cafu’s art, seeing him back on the interior art is great as it is with every other issue where Cafu was the main artist. There’s just something about how Cafu draws that lends itself well to the gooey aesthetic of the symbiotes and we see that again in this story as Tyro travels through a series of different environments, but the one that stands out is the hivemind of the symbiotes composed of their bodily matter and it looks great with his art style. And of course Tyro and later Meridius look great with Cafu’s art and Frank D’Armata’s colors also blend beautifully with Cafu’s art here.
Final Thoughts:
Venom #29 picks back up on the Eddie Brock side of things as we see more of the other Kings in Black, this time focusing on the green alternate version called Tyro. We get excellent art with Cafu back on the interior art and Frank D’Armata on colors. Tyro’s journey into becoming Meridius is a little slow but it picks up real quick as we see not just the physical but mental transformation from one character into the other.