#Donny Cates's Venom

[vertigoartgore]

2018's Venom Vol.4 #7 (LGY : #172) cover by artist Ryan Stegman, inker JP Mayer and colorist Frank Martin.

[farsight-the-char]

Yeah that tracks.

[oroontheheels]

Eddie Brock didn’t have morning sickness and painful contractions for people to claim “he is not a father to Sleeper”.

Disrespect is maddening.

[sisterfrnkly]

says a lot that this is from one of the less overtly romantic venom runs

[Image description: 4 screen caps show a segment from Venom (2018) #11. All four have a plain, white background. The first shows the Venom symbiote on the viewer's left, outside a host body. The viewer's right shows speech bubbles from an out-of-frame Eddie. The dialogue reads:

Eddie: I THOUGHT WE WERE BEYOND THIS."

Venom symbiote: "EDDIE..."

Eddie: "I THOUGHT..."

The second screen cap shows the host-free venom symbiote reaching a tendril towards the out-of-frame Eddie. The third shows a close up of the symbiote's tendril, reaching for Eddie's outstretched hand, just centimetres away from Eddie's fingertips. The symbiote's dialogue reads: "IT...IT WAS THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE YOU STAY... YOU HAD TO NEED US." The fourth screen cap shows just Eddie from the side, kneeling on one knee, head down in anguish, left arm resting on his knee while the right arm reaches toward the symbiote, who's now out of frame. Eddie's dialogue reads, "...I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME." End image description.]

[vulpinesaint]

tom hardy baby i’m so fucking sorry. i just know you had something beautiful in your heart and they tore it apart

[absencesrepetees]

the maker in venom #10-12 (donny cates/ryan stegman, joshua cassara, 2019) + absolute carnage #1 (donny cates/ryan stegman, 2019)

[moonesaiky]

No Cates, I don't know if you ship Symbrock or not, ANSWER ME, DO YOU SHIP OR NOT?

[lady-in-the-lair]

Hii after tld I am trying to read the comics but I don’t know where to start, can you recommend me anything pls:3

Thanks for asking! Here are the most symbrocky of the comics. There are other good Venom comics, but this is where I'd start to fill in everything the movie left out:

“The Hunger” 1996 -- that's where I got my Tumblr banner image from. The most symbrock of any of the comics, in my opinion, even without saying anything outright. It explores the bond between Eddie and Symby and has a uniquely dark, eerie tone without going overboard on the edgelordness. I bought the whole volume it's collected in just for that storyline.

Mike Costa run, starting at issue #5 (the first four issues feature Symby getting abused by its host to the point that it regresses and is unable to speak properly. Eddie only shows up in Issues #5). I'm still unclear on why Eddie asked Liz Allen out other than to no homo a run full of "my love," "my darling," and literally giving birth together...clearly, it did not work.

"First Host" -- the Mike Costa extra featuring the symbrock baby, Sleeper.

Marvel Presents #5 (2019)  -- It's a collection of Marvel stories, one of which features Eddie and Symby getting intimate. I have mixed feelings about choices made in part of the comic, and the art is terrible, but the actual intimacy is great! Also, it's barely PG-13, it's all implied and more psychological than anything else and inspired me to write a fic, it was so validating.

For non-specifically symbrock content after the cut!

David Michelinie wrote some great general Venom stories I recommend checking out. Even without overt symbrock (which is just one aspect of the characters!), and the absence of Symby's voice, you feel like he gets the characters and his writing isn't all doom-and-gloom.

"Venom: Seed of Darkness" (Len Kaminski, who also has good content) -- Not symbrock; this takes place while Eddie is still a reporter, but it shows how and why he'd bond so closely with Symby even without their mutual hatred of Spider-Man. Everyone is afraid of the alien monster he's reporting on; he's fascinated and even sympathetic iir.

Carnage (2015) -- It's dark and spooky and while it features Eddie, he's bonded to a different symbiote and the symbiotes are not the focus of the story. I like it for the Lovecraftian elements and characterization of Eddie, who seems more like himself than in other recent comics--a bit of a himbo, trying to do the right thing, loves kids, and is generally respectful of women (bunch of female characters in this one).

I also like the Agent Venom comics, though Eddie only briefly appears and Symby is bonded with Flash Thompson, the soldier who lost his legs in the movie. Those are just generally solid action comics with some character development for Flash.

I do not personally recommend the other pre-Costa 2000s Venom comics, as they mostly feature Eddie and Symby hating each other to various extremes and being generally very OOC. This is the era when Venom got dark and edgy and weird in a bad way, with Eddie going off the rails and Symby having a variety of awful hosts. Some good stuff to cherry pick, like Symby still loving Eddie when it sees him in that Anti-Venom getup, but generally bad, bad, bad imo.

I'm only current as of the beginning of Donny Cates's run, as I didn't like where he was going with it and the Look How Dark and Edgy This Is of it all. He also was disrespectful to fans who shipped symbrock (despite it being canon in the Costa run) and tried to no homo it...by having them co-raise a son and having Symby tell Eddie "I love you." Whatever he intended, he clearly backed away from the symbrock so hard he bumped into himself. All that being said, he does explore what Eddie and Symby mean to each other and packs in some good grieving from Eddie when he loses Symby (....who is a dog at the beginning of the run...)

Still, I'm sure there's a lot to like in there even if his dismissal of fans and worship by dudebros has always left a bad taste in my mouth and I stopped reading relatively soon.

I'd avoid Venom: The Madness, too. Hate that one!

Something to be aware of is that both Eddie and the symbiote are very different in the comics than they are in the movie! It varies from writer to writer, but Symby isn't as vocal and sassy and Eddie is just a different character with certain constants that didn't make it into the movie much--a difficult childhood with a distant father, loves kids, uses big words, Catholic, bodybuilder, generally respectful of women (okay that might just be my opinion after reading a lot of comics and cherry-picking the series I like--do not read Venom: The Madness!), and wants to protect innocents, his defining trait.

[transrightsjimin]

i LOVE that the symbiote made little steps for dylan btw that's so cute! idk how i missed that the first time

[vertigoartgore]

2021's Venom Vol.4 #35 (LGY : #200) cover by artist Ryan Stegman, inker JP Mayer and colorist Frank Martin.

[feathers-and-cigarettes]

Cackling about Sony choosing to retcon Donny Cates’ shit ass run and taking the one good idea he has ever had and putting it into a romcom.

[oroontheheels]

3 types of Venom authors:

1. SPIDER MAN WAS T H E MOST IMPORTANT THING IN VENOM SYMBIOTE LIFE!! NOTHING ELSE EVEN BEGING TO COMPARE TO HOLY PETER!!

2. Flash Thompson was the one who taught Venom symbiote what is right and what is wrong. Without his influence Venom would’ve been evil, immoral creature!!

3. Eddie Brock is love of symbiote life. Also feeling’s mutual. They both have their ups and down, their needs and desires, but they can always work it trough to keep their bond strong.

[nickfuryagentofsword]

King in Black 1 (2021) by Donny Cates & Ryan Stegman

Cover: Philip Tan (variant)

King in Black

[url-is-url]

Artemisia: why do you think the bad guy is doing bad guy things?

The revenant: I don't know, you're the one with the meat brain, you'd know better than me

Artemisia, autistic: Are You Sure About That

[venomized]

they were deadass raising dylan together like a married couple are you kidding me. venom scolding eddie for working too hard??? pls

venom (2018) #200

[samasmith23]

Considering that we later learn in Donny Cates’ Venom run that Carl Brock did indeed physically abuse his son while forcing him to plead innocent instead of guilty after Eddie killed a kid in a drunk driving accident, I’d like to think that this flashback from the classic Lethal Protector miniseries is a partial case of unreliable narrator considering that the housekeeper tells Spider-Man that Carl was never “cruel or abusive” towards Eddie. I mean… she’s either not aware of the truth or is aware but is trying to protect herself from Carl potentially firing her or worse…

From Venom: Lethal Protector #3 by David Michelinie & Mark Bagley, and Venom (2018) #10 by Donny Cates & Ryan Stegman.