The Arbitrary Nerd: Pull List Review: Minimum Carnage Finale

Hi all,

Sorry for the absence, I've been enjoying my holiday and not doing anything that looks remotely like work. I've occupied my time with Star Wars: The Old Republic, comic books, spending time with the Wife, Supernatural, and Star Wars Blu Ray (expect to see a continuation of Machete Order soon!). Good times.

Before I get to the first post for the current Pull List Review (I'll try to follow up with the next few shortly), I want to explain a minor change I'll be making to the blog. The three buttons you see up top (with difficulty on mobile browsers, sorry about that -- I don't know how to make them automatically resize for mobile) will be getting a couple more additions, featuring my more popular post tags. In additional, I'm moving away from the three days a week schedule and going to a minimum of two posts a week, preferable at the beginning and end of the week.

If you like/dislike the changes, let me know. Otherwise, enjoy my review of the final issues of Minimum Carnage (and the following Scarlet Spider/Venom issues):

Scarlet Spider 11 (Minimum Carnage Part 4) This issue starts with a nice fight scene between Carnage and Scarlet Spider as well as Venom going crazy against the Enigma Force (group, not power). Venom gets calmed down and then captured along with his friends, while Scarlet gets the upper hand on Carnage, only to give it up in an effort to save the Redeemer. We finally meet Radu, learn the history of symbiotes in the macroverse and Radu's plan with them, which is the build an army out of Carnage and Venom's suits. It's an action packed issue with strong art and a decent enough storyline. Issue gets an 8/10.
Venom 27 (Minimum Carnage Part 5) An army is created by cloning and combining Venom and Carnage's symbiotes with mindless Macroverse clones Radu had been growing. Venom and Carnage fight it out, but Carnage has the upper hand because he can control the symbiotes due to not being nuetered (also, Carnage has been shown having the ability to manipulate many hosts via his symbiote before, so this isn't much of a stretch. Venom realizes he has to release the beast, so to speak, and fights viciously, beheading Carnage. Pause. This doesn't make sense to me because Carnage continues to live -- Cletus Kasady, the host, should be dead. The symbiote shouldn't have anything to do with him surviving that, but that gets ignored. Scarlet comes to aid in the fight, while the Enigma Force are busy escaping with Venom's reported friend. Radu is seen fighting the uncontrollable symbiotes and then teleporting away before the Enigma Force can attack. Venom once again goes all out, unleashing the symbiote more and more in his fight against Carnage, finally using a psychic shriek to defeat the clones and Carnage (which happened with Eddie Brock in Planet of the Symbiotes, way back when). Carnage, however, sinks into the floor, disappearing. Why the symbiote can break down and rearrange its host, I'll never know. Seems like a new thing to me. Either way, we next see some microscopic carnages wreaking havoc back in the real world, while our heroes remain behind. The art is awful for most of the issue, the Carnage inconsistoncies bother me, and the whole trip through the Macroverse doesn't seem to accomplish too much, leaving this a 6/10 for me.
Minimum Carnage Omega This issue ooens with Carnage killing random folks while growing bigger and bigger, both due to time spent in the real world and his absorption of the clones that traveled with him. Our heroes get sent back to Earth by the Enigma Force and go toe to toe with Carnage -- literally, because they're still no bigger than his toe. The heroes get their ass kicked for a bit before reverting to their original size, at which point they begin to turn the tables. Venom finished the fight by force feeding Carnage a sonic grenade given to them by the Enigma Force. One of the major turning points for the whole arc comes when Scarlet Spider, realizing (FINALLY!) that the heroes are responsible for every time a killer escapes and kills again, lobotomizes Cletus Kasady with one of his spikes. Venom doesn't agree with this tactic and tries to get Cletus medical help. We learn that, while Cletus may be gone, the Carnage symbiote is now in 100% full control, making him more dangerous than ever. This is a bit unfortunate because Cletus was already suffering from a painfully repetitive personality, but we'll see how it goes from here. For now, however, this issue gets a 9/10 because of the lovely art, the acceptable conclusion to the story line, and someone not completely insane (ie, Punisher) realizing that imprisoning some of these super-villains isn't enough.
Scarlet Spider 12 How does Scarlet feel after this big revelation? Upset that he was, is, and always will be a murderer. He gets hammered and attempts to leave Houston and his friends behind. Fortunately, a heist occurring in the hotel Kaine is living in spurs his friends into action, which eventually gets him into the action. It's definitely a filler issue, but shows that Kaine is a bit deeper than some other characters and really shows some interesting relationships he's building. I'll rate it an 8/10 and am looking forward to seeing where the series is going.
Venom 27.1 This is a bit of a strange issue. Per usual, Flash is depressed and thinking about all the shitty things that have been going on. When he sleeps, however, the demon/symbiote setup seems to take him over and terrorize both criminals and Flash's mother, with Flash waking up none the wiser. The big issue looked at here is Flash coping with how much of a bully he was in high school. He meets up with someone he bullied terribly for being gay and then talks to Peter about their rocky history. After Peter is painfully honest, Flash announces that he's officially leaving New York, forever. This issue was nothing special but not terrible either, so it gets a 7/10 and we'll see Venom in Philadelphia next time.