Comic books. What an awesome concept. So I’ve just finished watching Loki and believe me, you’ll get a review of that in time because it’ll deffo need a rewatch at some point. Whilst I’ve been on that high, I thought I should return to a couple of series that I’ve left for a while! The very first Marvel novel that I ever read was Venom and although it was the latest volume I was keen to read some more of Vol 3!
‘Land Before Crime’ sees Eddie Brock and his symbiote partner struggle to figure out just who they are now, since their reunion. Venom it seems wants to try to be a hero because he feels that is what Eddie wants, but when he misreads a situation and attacks several innocent people, Eddie is left wondering just what the hell is going on. During a mission down in the sewers, Eddie takes down a monster that he comes to find has been created by the mysterious corporation Alchemax. He approaches their CEO, Liz Allan, to confront her about the experiments being created by her company. She explains that one of their own scientists defected from the company, hell-bent on turning the world into lizard people. Eddie sensing an opportunity agrees to help her company in return for her scientists attempting to figure out why his bond with the symbiote is different this time. Venom then heads underground to find Vincent Stegron, the mad scientist. During their initial fight, he is absolutely walloped by Stegron and his army of dinosaurs. However, at the last moment, he is saved by Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. I know, these names are fantastically ridiculous. Can Venom and his new allies take down the threat of dinosaurs taking over New York? And can Alchemax help Eddie realize just why his reunion with his beloved symbiote isn’t as sweet as he imagined?
Okay. First things first. ‘Land Before Crime’ is one of the best novel names I’ve ever seen. Had me genuinely cracking up when I saw it. On to the actual analysis. So there are some interesting themes explored in this one and I thought the whole Eddie and Venom being on different wavelengths was intriguing, to say the least. They’ve always been two halves of the same coin in the past, and now they’re just two halves. Therefore, from a character development point of view, it’s looking to push the limits of what this character has been. I thought the addition of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur was excellent, I’m a complete fan of random team-ups. If there was one thing that I thought was lacking, it was probably the actual action. The plot laid a foundation for some terrific scenes between hero and villain, but I don’t think they were executed to perfection.
So in my opinion, any novel that contains any of the symbiote characters needs to be a little different, and some of the issues were, but some really weren’t. Traditionally I don’t like the abstract art styles but I felt this novel could’ve used more of it. A bit like the covers, which were awesome. Overall, not a bad novel, and interesting concepts are being dealt with here!
Favourite Panel:
I actually really enjoyed this random team-up
Favourite Character:
Is it weird that it’s Moon Girl for me? Like Venom was good and all, but Moon Girl is a badass.
Rating:
Story Arc: ★★★
Character Development: ★★★½
Artwork: ★★★
Enjoyability: ★★★
Re-readability: ★★½
Level: Intermediate