I remember a few years back when there was this hubbub that Sony Pictures were moving forward with a universe of their own with Spider-man and his associated characters. The first of their projects was the “Venom” solo film, which despite raised eyebrows, did very well and thus cemented the continuation of this branch of superhero film. Naturally, with any superhero film that does well, a sequel is never too far and it was announced that Venom 2 would have the other well-known symbiote Carnage in it.
“The One That Got Away” sees the titular character Carnage, and his host, Cletus Kassidy, going on a murderous rampage. However, during one of these, he hears a news story about a woman who survived Kassidy’s very first murder spree. Enraged, Carnage sets out to find her and finish the job he once started. Unbeknownst to him, this news story is all a plan set up by the military. They bring in Colonel Jameson, J Jonah Jameson’s son, to help take down Carnage with some new sonic technology. In case that doesn’t work, they also have Eddie Brock, the original Venom, who now carries a new symbiote, Toxin, with him. Despite the plan looking foolproof, it seems that everything was orchestrated by a villain behind the scenes. The final act sees all the characters trapped in an old mine, attempting to bring Carnage down. But it seems that the military knew what they were doing when they bought in Jameson, because behind the cool exterior lies a monster waiting to be unleashed.
My initial thoughts about this novel were that it definitely played out as more of a horror novel than anything else. I thought that although it was Carnage novel, the focus was more on other characters such as Colonel Jameson and Eddie Brock. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but at the same time does make the novel a little harder to judge. In terms of character development, there wasn’t much to see, apart from Carnage becoming even more of a madman than he already is.
The artwork was average, although there wasn’t any part of the novel where I thought it was bad. The covers, on the other hand, were a different story. They were really cool and the style was very unique. I haven’t seen covers like that before. Overall, this was a novel that was quite different in genre than most novels I read, and I did find it a tad boring at parts.
Favourite Panel:
This was probably the most exciting part of the novel.
Favourite Character:
Hard to pick, but probably Eddie Brock, who is clearly trying his best to make amends for the person he used to be.
Rating:
Story Arc: ★★★
Character Development: ★★½
Artwork: ★★½
Enjoyability: ★★½
Re-readability: ★★
Level: Intermediate