Venom by Donny Cates Vol. 2 (Venom, 2) Hardcover – 16 Feb. 2021

These issues were previously collected in two volumes, which I review separately below -Venom – Absolute CarnageIssues #16-20 (Venom 2018 series)This volume breaks into the Absolute Carnage event from issue #17, and once in, the story follows a fairly sequential course, though stuff happened off page that is referenced here.The first issue is a ‘what happened next’ story following the ‘The War of the Realms’ event, in which Eddie got a magic wish that gave him control of the symbiote, so now he can ‘flame on’ (again? Have we been here before?) when he wants to.The next three issues follow son/brother Dylan and Norman Osborn Jr’s adventures with The Other Reed Richards as Reed tries to remove/steal DNA related to the symbiotes, for some nefarious purpose that is revealed in the final issue collected here, in which much is revealed about what Other Reed is up to, and who he is working for, as well as what he is working towards. That is one story you are not going to want to miss – Mr Cates the writer has been given the keys to Marvel’s cosmic toybox, and he’s not going to miss an opportunity…Each of the three stories gets its own artist, but they are all reasonably good ones, and I enjoyed the volume despite it being a crossover, as it concentrated on a subset of characters and a fairly self-contained story, and also added significantly to the regular continuity. This was a ‘proper’ Marvel comic.Venom – Venom Island(Issues #21-25)This concludes the ongoing Absolute Carnage event for the moment, and is another excellent volume in this series, continuing directly on from the Absolute Carnage event, with Eddie – “You…uh…you gonna stick with “Eddie” then?” – off to a job interview with the Avengers (no really), but the Carnage symbiote is still hanging around so instead we head off to Venom/Spider Island for a final, final, final showdown.Four issues later, and we’re back with the Avengers, confessing everything and explaining the Knull business and getting ready for the end of world; but in between, Eddie and Dylan finally clear the air, and the Carnage symbiote.This really has become a superb series, with a top-class writer and artist team winding everything up ready for the next chapter.