Now that Tom Hardy’s third Venom movie, Venom: The Last Dance, has been announced, we at Newzertainment understand if you want to read comics involving the human/alien hybrid and the adventures they go on. Here are our recommendations for the best Venom comics:
Table of Contents
Our list of the best Venom comics to read before for Venom: The Last Dance
Venom by Donny Cates vol. 1: Rex
Donny Cates introduced some new additions to the Venom mythos, namely the God of the Symbiotes, Knull, and Dylan Brock, the son of Eddie Brock. This first volume reveals that symbiotes were present on Earth long before Venom came along with Spider-Man in 1984 and much later, Knull is awakened from his slumber and moves to conquer Earth.
At the heart of this run is Eddie getting used to being a father to young Dylan, wanting to make sure his child doesn’t inherit the darkness he has, and dealing with the threat of Knull, as well as learning more about symbiotes and what they’re capable of. Additional lore reveals that symbiotes were also used by S.H.I.E.L.D. for their covert operations by bonding them to soldiers and that symbiote dragons are also a thing. Yes, symbiote dragons. Since the trailer states that klyntar species have found where Eddie and Venom are located, Venom: The Last Dance could be used to introduce Knull.
Venom Modern Era Epic Collection: Agent Venom
Speaking of soldiers, Venom was once bonded to Flash Thompson, an ex-bully of Peter Parker and a soldier who lost his legs while on a mission. Thompson served America once more as Agent Venom, the government’s own Spider-Man. This Epic Collection collects the first few issues of Thompson’s time with the alien parasite.
It’s not just military missions and shooting people (though both are present in the book), but also Flash dealing with his abusive father, saving his family from a villain, doing his best to get the violent Venom symbiote under control, and dealing with his alcoholism. There are also two separate crossovers where Agent Venom fights mutated spider-people and stops a demonic invasion with the aid of X-23, Ghost Rider, and Red Hulk. The adventures of this version of the character started in these issues collected in this volume.
Dark Reign: The Sinister Spider-Man
No, this isn’t a story where Peter Parker becomes evil. After the Secret Invasion event, Norman Osborn (AKA the Green Goblin) forms his team of Dark Avengers, who are supervillains pretending to be good guys. One of them is the Scorpion, who’s bonded to Venom and masquerading as the webhead.
Scorpion’s objective is to get revenge on J. Jonah Jameson, who was responsible for turning him into what he is today (minus the Venom symbiote). This series is a wild ride, from “Spider-Man” enjoying the company of an exotic dancer and later killing her and placing her corpse on Jameson’s bed to fighting against fellow villains Bullseye and Daken (and a few other characters) in the final issue. The guy even devours squirrels, for God’s sake. Who even does that?
The Scorpion is a complete nutcase and combined with a Venom symbiote that wasn’t exactly stable back then, you won’t know what happens when you turn the page.
Venom Epic Collection: Symbiosis
Everybody’s story has to start somewhere and this Epic Collection showcases the beginnings of Venom. It does take a little while before he pops up since the Collection begins with Spider-Man bonding with the symbiote on another planet before returning to Earth. However, once Spidey spurns the symbiote, it eventually finds a suicidal Eddie Brock and they join together, the alien giving the human a new lease on life and a new purpose: killing Spider-Man.
Back then, Venom was doing his best to kill Peter Parker and terrified him, unlike today where the two are more friendly towards one another. From trapping Spider-Man on an island to ensure he can’t escape him to fighting obscure cosmic superhero Darkhawk and even leading a prison escape attempt, you’ll see how Venom started in Marvel.
Todd McFarlane and Erik Larsen also draw some of the coolest depictions of Venom, giving the character his maw full of razor-sharp teeth, his muscular, pitch-black body, and the green drool that’s usually dripping out of his mouth. Seriously, their artwork is wicked.
Venom by Al Ewing vol. 1: Recursion
Al Ewing’s run is ongoing at the time of writing, but we’re including it because it’s very well written. After Donny Cates’ run, Eddie Brock is the new God of the Symbiotes and Dylan is the new host of Venom. Things start with a bang, quite literally, as Eddie is killed by way of an explosion when the military attacks him and his son; with no other way to survive the attack, Dylan bonds with Venom.
From there, a new villain named Meridius is introduced, who has a major connection to the Brock family. Eddie is taught that he can travel forwards and backward in time, not just across space to control symbiotes and learns more about Meridius, while Dylan deals with being on his own, what he truly is, and how he was created. This run is focused on what may come to pass in the future, the somewhat complicated relationship between father and son, and what a man will do to return to his child.
