Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics, Venom | Tagged: fcbd, free comic book day, marvel, thor, venom

Venom #17 Joins Up The Dots With Thor, Darkoth The Death Demon & FCBD

Today's Venom #17 is a jigsaw piece of a comic book between Dark Web, Thor and Free Comic Book Day from last year, all written by Al Ewing.

Today's Venom #17 is a jigsaw piece of a comic book. A big corner piece with blue bits.  Some folk have been waiting for this a long time,  since last year's Thor #26 and #27, co-written by Al Ewing. Or, looking at this, mostly written by Al Ewing.

Which saw Thor up against Darkoth, The Death Demon. Otherwise known as Desmond The Death Demon.

Close friend of Ben Grimm in the army, and later used and manipulated by Doctor Doom, and Mephisto, into a parody of a monstrous form, embued with mystical metal, he was now possessed by the offspring of one of what would later be revealed to be a future form of Eddie Brock,  Bedlam. How this went down was not revealed.

And fighting Thor alongside another iteration of Eddie Brock as Venom, who believed that Darkoth had died… and looked forward to Venom #17, at the time, half a year away.

Before bonding with Venom with Thor for the fight…

…and later revealed to be a much further ahead version of Eddie Brock… Meridius.

Today, Venom #17 finally catches up, as Eddie Brock of the present returns to Limbo after the event of Dark Web, and finds Darkoth there, during the period in which he was the only inhabitant of Limbo, and therefore in charge of the place.

As the comic enters a Sliding Doors/Coupling-Split version of reality with simultaneous parallel versions of the same storyline happening alongside the other, we see the Bedlam symbiote infection occur and Darkoth make his exit, pursued by Marvel continuity.

Because this is what happens when you get Al Ewing to write your comic books, he's like Steven Moffat. but with very different demons. Talking of which, in 2021, the Spider-Man/Venom Free Comic Book Day issue took a look forward into the title's future.

All of which came to pass and showed us Meridius for the first time. In 2022, the Spider-Man/Venom Free Comic Book Day comic took a further trip to the future..

Eddie Brock The Magician – how literally you want to take that would have been up to you of course. Rather than the Doctor Strange approach, this appeared to be a more philosophical state of being. But maybe not. Even if, at the time, the Qlippoth suggested someone had been playing Pathfinder. Because in today's Venom #17, the scene plays out again, we are now in the future played out a year ago. We're now much more au fait with what this version of Eddie Brock is, The King In Black, the God of Symbiotes, and of his journey through time, space and reality. Jow with added narration, and a new paint job courtesy of CAFU and Frank D'Armata.

As for what happens next? That is down to last year's Free Comic Book Day to tell us, if you don't want to wait for Venom #18…

VENOM #17
MARVEL COMICS
DEC220912
(W) Al Ewing (A) CAFU (CA) Bryan Hitch
BEDLAM AND BEYOND!
Eddie Brock has faced down many monsters in his time, but few have been as terrifying as the one born of his own rage called BEDLAM! In this issue, witness Bedlam's return to the Garden of Time, and see what's become of Eddie Brock after DARK WEB! In Shops: Mar 01, 2023 SRP: $3.99

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