Venom (1st series) #7

Issue Date: 
December 2003
Story Title: 
“Run” - part 2
Staff: 

Daniel Way (writer), Paco Medina (pencils), Juan Velasco (inks), Guru eFX (colors), Cory Petit (letters), Sam Keith (cover), John Miesegaes (supervising editor), Joe Quesada (editor in cief), Bill Jemas (president)

Brief Description: 

Venom has infiltrated the small Canadian town of Voici in order to feed and achieve transportation to a city further south. Venom slaughters a few people inside Nan’s Cookhouse, and several patrons run to escape. As they run, they are gunned down by “Vic” and “Frankie,” the mysterious twins from the ship. As Frankie attempts to gun down Nan, Wolverine jumps in, kicking Frankie to the ground. As Wolverine threatens Frankie, Venom shows up and attacks Logan. Vic is sent flying by a blast from The Suit, and Venom begins trying to absorb Logan. Meanwhile, Lt. Robertson wakes up, and attempts to ambush Frankie, but instead receives a surprise as Frankie ambushes her. Venom and Logan continue to fight, and The Suit arrives. The Suit fires a blast from his gun, frying the skin off of Logan’s bones.

Full Summary: 

In the morning, at Nan’s Cookhouse, “Clem” sits and eats beside an old man, who makes fun of Nan’s weight. Clem talks about how he has some alien stuck to him who wants to eat people and kill them. The old man and Nan laugh at him, but the old man doesn’t notice Clem’s transformation into Venom.

As the patrons flee from the cookhouse, the Twins, Frankie and Vic cut loose with their guns, killing everything in sight. They don’t make contact with the creature, assuming that Venom must still be inside the diner. Frankie sees Nan trying to escape through the back door, and attempts to shoot, but Wolverine dives forward and stops her, cutting the gun with his claws. Wolverine subdues Frankie, demanding information, threatening to gut her. As Wolverine asks if there are only two of them, Venom tackles Wolverine.

As Venom and Logan begin to fight, Frankie tells Vic that they have contact. Vic tells Frankie to follow the protocol, but Frankie screams that her collar is broken. As Vic rushes to help, The Suit arrives, and knocks her out with his phone weapon. The Suit reports that he has made contact with the creature, but that other forces have arrived, armed, trained, and well-informed.

Wolverine manages to slice off one of Venom’s mammoth arms, but Venom merely laughs as it grows back. Wolverine notes that it isn’t Eddie anymore, but he assumes that Venom is looking for him. Venom assures the mutant that he wasn’t looking for Wolverine, but he is indeed glad to see him, because he knows who Logan is. Venom taunts Wolverine heavily, calling him a major disappointment. After Logan attempts to slash Venom repeatedly, Venom slams Logan into the ground. Venom tells Logan that he’s “just an angry little man with sharp little knives.” Venom wraps the symbiote around Logan’s face, attempting to swallow him. He tells Logan that he’s about to become so much more, but Logan manages to cut free. Venom warns Wolverine that he is just making him hungrier.

Lt. Robertson wakes up beside a tree. She sees Frankie trying to run away, and attempts to ambush her to get some information. However, before Robertson can pull her ambush, Frankie vanishes and reappears, knocking Robertson out. Frankie wonders how Robertson can still be alive, as she is “supposed to be dead.”

The Suit trails the battle between Wolverine and Venom closely. Calling his superiors on his cell-phone, he warns them that the creature has engaged a “mutant humanoid.” He warns them that termination of the creature may prove problematic for the time being.

Venom begs Logan not to give up now. Logan responds by telling Venom that he never gives up. Venom says that this is why he wants Logan so much – because once he has Logan, he’ll never go hungry again.

The Suit locks on to his target with the phone device, and fires a more powerful blast than the one he has been using to disable his opponents thus far. The blast fries the tissue right off of Logan’s bones, and Logan’s skeleton slumps to the ground.

Characters Involved: 

Venom (formerly known as Eddie Brock)

Wolverine / Logan

The Suit
Lt. Patricia Robertson

Frankie and Vic – the twins

Story Notes: 

In Spectacular Spider-Man (2nd series) #5, the symbiote reattaches itself to Eddie Brock and escapes from Spider-Man, presumably ending up in the Arctic area of Canada sometime later. How it became separated from Brock again is inexplicable. In this issue, it is also revealed that Venom’s “hunger” is caused by a need to feed on the adrenaline glands of individuals.

It is also revealed in “The Hunger” arc of Spectacular Spider-Man (2nd series) that certain people produce far more adrenaline than others, which Venom craves. People with cancer produce more than others, which was Venom’s original feeding choice. It was revealed that Eddie Brock was dying of cancer before joining with the symbiote. However, Venom did not like this arrangement, preferring the taste of fresh adrenaline caused by fear and excitement.

It was revealed that superheroes, particularly mutants and those with psionic abilities (Spider-Man, the Invisible Woman) have the most desirable taste to Venom, as psionic powers and mutations are brought about by a surge of adrenaline. Spider-Man’s spider-sense and Invisible Woman’s force field projections are good examples of this, as adrenaline is the sole fuel of their respective powers. Therefore, according to SSM (2nd series) #5, Venom will search until he finds a victim that suits these parameters.

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