COMIC BOOK REVIEW - Carnage: World Tour
By The Masked Medic
I was recently saying to my wife that I’ve kind of developed an aversion to reading about characters who are overly violent and sadistic. Then I decided to return to this series. Carnage has always been an extremely chaotic character, and the first novel in the series was a little subpar, so it was time to see what this one was all about!
‘World Tour’ sees Cletus Cassidy, aka Carnage, being saved by a teenage girl who is sailing the world. Carnage, having sustained some serious damage from an attempt by the military to capture or kill him, is clinging on to life, but holds within his possession “The Darkhold”, a mystical book full of spells. He is particularly obsessed with the spell that would allow him to create more symbiotes, all of which would be tied to him directly. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the ability to harness its true power. His mission takes him all over the world, eventually landing him in Indonesia, where apparently there is someone with the information he needs. Meanwhile, Agent Dixon, who was the FBI agent responsible for creating the original team to take down Carnage in the first novel, is relieved of her position, but is then approached by a woman named Victoria Montesi, who tells Dixon that she will fund her operation to take down Carnage. The old team is reassembled, including Eddie Brock, who now houses the Toxin symbiote, as well as John Jameson aka Man-Wolf. Having discovered the Carnage now holds potentially a power that could end the world, the team head over to Jakarta to stop the monster in his tracks. Can Carnage find what he needs to unlock the Darkhold? Or will Dixon and her team of misfits be able to take down Carnage once and for all?
I had quite low expectations of this novel. That’s not me being a pessimist, it’s just that I’ve never really liked Carnage as a character, nor have I found him very interesting. That being said, this novel was not bad. I initially thought having the Darkhold feature was going to lead to some Dr. Strange crossover but actually they kept it fairly simple. There was certainly a lot of tension, and a few omg moments. Although there was little character development, it almost didn’t matter because the pace of the novel was fast and you wanted to get to the action!
Errr, the artwork I’d say was average. There were panels that looked very busy, but I think the artist struggles with faces. The covers are really what shone in this novel. Similar to the first novel in the series, but a lot better, I thought. Overall, this was not a bad novel at all, and I think I would like to return to this series at some point to see what happens next!
Favourite Panel:
I genuinely gasped when I read this - you have to read the novel to get it!
Favourite Character:
I mean they’re all a little shady aren’t they? Except Man-Wolf, who seems like a good guy, even if his father is always trying to take down Spider-Man!
Rating:
Story Arc: ★★★
Character Development: ★★½
Artwork: ★★★
Enjoyability: ★★★
Re-readability: ★★½
Level: Advanced