Granted, this is an arc that is very focused on Eddie, Venom, Knull–the series’ first antagonist–and to a lesser extent, Miles Morales and Rex Strickland a symbiote host who ties into the new origin story. The thing that felt most awkward in the series was the complete lack of female characters.

I was still invested in the characters by the end of the volume, so I can’t say that Cates completely under-serves the Veddie stans out there.

I’m the type of Venom fan that will always ask for more dialogue or introspection focusing on Eddie and Venom’s love for one another, but readers who are more interested in action over character drama will enjoy this series a lot. Essentially, this serious handles big, dramatic conflicts, but manages to feel fun all the way through the volume. His dialogue feels pitch perfect for an action movie while still conveying just enough pathos maintain the emotional stakes of Eddie and Venom’s codependent relationship. Not only does he tell a compelling story on a cosmic level, but he also ties the symbiote to other pockets of the Marvel universe like Jason Aaron’s Thor: God of Thunder and Captain America. In crafting a new origin for the symbiotes, Donny Cates does a ton of narrative heavy lifting and exposition work while telling an action-packed story of cosmic horror and sacrifice. Does the first arc from the new creative team deliver an origin story “better than Watchmen?” In this collection simply titled, “Rex,” Eddie and Venom learn the eldritch origin of the symbiotes and face a monster on a city-leveling scale.

The issues are written by Donny Cates with pencils from Ryan Stegman, inks from JP Mayer, colors from Frank Martin, and letters from Clayton Cowles. 1 collects the first six issues of the latest series to follow Eddie Brock and his gooey, extraterrestrial partner in lethal protecting.

Venom vol 1 rex