Todd, Matt :: Matt Todd's Sketchbook Posts :: October 2021: Venom, Carnage & Symbiotes

Venom: The Absolute Carnage of Knull by Daniel White. Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman

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Artwork Details

Title:	Venom: The Absolute Carnage of Knull by Daniel White. Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman
Artist:	None Specified
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Commission
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	362
Likes on CAF:	0 1
Comments:	0
Added to Site:	10/4/2021
Comic Art Archive:

Description

�My name is Eddie Brock. Our name is Venom.�
When I was a kid, I thought Venom was cool. I have always liked the inverted version of the hero trope, Bizarro, Reverse Flash, and of course Venom. I remember first discovering the character when I saw a kid reading an issue at Space Camp. I thought his costume was so cool, it was alive!!! My first issue was the final chapter of, �The Mace� miniseries, drawn by the amazing Liam Sharp. I was then not fully introduced to the character and his origin story until I saw him in the 90�s Spider-Man Animated Series, Voiced by the incredible voice actor Hank Azaria (The Simpsons).

Initially Eddie Brock was written as a hulking body builder, he was not written as lacking intelligence, but in my reading, he was single minded, obsessed, which did not allow for a lot of depth. Since taking over the series in 2018 Donny Cates has made the characters of Venom and Eddie Brock incredibly interesting to me. Cates has clearly set out to move Venom beyond the spider-verse and he is doing it with aplomb. The depth and melancholy Cates have brought to the character has endeared the character to me in a way I never thought possible. Throughout the run the exploration of Eddie Brock and the Symbiote has been a terrific expansion of the mythology, deftly weaving it into the history of the Marvel Universe and expanding it into many new corners. Knull, The God of the symbiotes and his weapons, the All Black Sword and the Grendel are terrific additions to the story and to the Marvel Universe. Similarly, to how Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing begins by using continuity in the best way, to enrich the story and characters but forging its own way forward.
Eddie is a broken man with a horrible codependence issue. Instead of it being drugs, the dependence is with an alien symbiote. I love how much of a lovable screw up Eddie is. He fails more than he succeeds and even when he succeeds there is a cost and a degree of failure. This version of Eddie Brock reminds me a lot of Aaron Paul�s portrayal of the Breaking Bad character Jesse Pinkman. Broken, but trying to make things right and living by his own code. I thought it was very interesting how Cates writes that when Eddie needs to keep the symbiote at bay he uses anti-psychotic medication to silence its voice. Speaking of the symbiote, Cates might be the first writer to really give the creature with a real personality and perspective. He has asked us questions that the Eddie and fans have not even thought to ask, like what is the symbiote�s name? How old is it? How many others has it been bonded to BEFORE Spider-Man? And he is setting up some awesome answers.
Venom has become a very prominent theme in my art collection. Both in published pages and in commission. The published pages I have been lucky to acquire have mainly captured the father son relationships present in the run. My commissions have focused on Eddie and the symbiotie�s evolution since meeting Knull, the god of the symbiotes. Wrapped in liquid black malice with dragon like wings and occasionally the All Black sword his evolved design is incredibly evocative. The beard, wings, and sword create a mythic version of the character that reflects the mythology Cates has been building.
While on the Sketch Prices Facebook page I came across the work of Daniel White (Thank you Jason Wood and Robert Angus). Daniel�s pieces were beautiful. Elegant line work and incredible layout and design. Robert�s piece caught my eye as it told the origin of Venom. There was also a passion in Daniels pieces, you could sense his absolute love of comics. Initially I got Daniel to create a breathtaking piece based on Tom King and Mitch Gerads Mister Miracle run. After receiving the piece, I was so impressed I wanted to get another, a spiritual successor to the first Venom piece, but this time summarizing Cates and Stegman�s Venom run through Absolute Carnage. Daniel was onboard and read the appropriate issues of the run and created a marvelous tapestry summarizing some of my favorite things from this run. He absolutely knocked it out of the park. Knull is coming and with him vanta black vengeance. Through the work of this amazing creative team Eddie Brock and Venom are finally more than just �Spider-Man�s Bad Laundry Day.� I have loved seeing the creative team show us the potential of the character and the lore and I can�t wait to see where things go from here.

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	Matt Todd Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	August 2014
Last Login:	September 2025
Country:	UNITED STATES
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