Maximum Carnage part 14: Spider-Man Unlimited #2

And this is it! The final part of the Maximum Carnage saga. We ended up in a threeway dance between Spidey, Venom and Carnage. Basically, Carnage and Venom will be trying to kill each other, while Spidey attempts to arrest the other two with a minimum of murder. Basically, since Venom was in the midst of all of those mini-series he used to get from Marvel, the only logical conclusion for this series was either a) Venom kills Carnage and escapes, or b) Spidey captures Carnage and Venom escapes. I think we all know which option we're getting here...

Maximum Carnage part 14: Spider-Man Unlimited #2:

Summary: It turns out Carnage's brains are still pretty scrambled from the giant gun he was blasted by in part 13, which causes him to run away from Spidey and Venom before the battle is truly begun. Spidey tries to convince Venom not to kill Carnage, which earns Spidey a few more broken ribs from an annoyed Venom.

"Shut ya mouth, bitch!" Is what Venom wanted to say here.

Realizing he was badly hurt, Spidey has MJ bring him a change of clothes so he could go to the hospital and get patched up. From there, we see Not-Spawn and Morbius say good bye to each other... That's nice, I guess... Meanwhile, Carnage and Venom go on the Carnage tour '93, with stops at the prison cell the two once shared, as well as Carnage's old orphanage.

Don't say Venom never did anything for Carnage. 

The next day(?!), Spidey decides to go after Carnage after some healing, and gets MJ's blessing this time. Spidey magically knows where Carnage and Venom are fighting, and heads to the orphanage just in time to stop Venom from killing Carnage. Venom attacks Spidey, which allows Carnage to escape. Venom and Spidey put aside their differences(for like the 50th time this event) and find Carnage at a cemetery, digging up his own mother's grave.

Carnage's ghosts are real jerks...

Venom and Carnage fight once more, with Spidey, once again, halting Venom from killing Carnage. However, this time he manages to get through to Venom by stating that due to Carnage's sucky upbringing, he never had a chance, and was therefore one of the innocents that Venom was pledged to protect. While Venom is pondering that one, Carnage attacks Spidey, who is saved by Black Cat, who gets a chance to redeem herself after she basically quit the fight early on. Carnage finally begins to shake the cobwebs loose, which causes Venom and tackle Carnage into some electrical generators(at a graveyard!?), leading to a massive explosion.

The end.

Spidey and Black Cat find a symbiote-less Carnage unconscious in the fire, but can't find Venom, who had snuck away and decides to let Spidey handle Carnage while he heads back to San Francisco. Spidey has the Avengers drop in to take Carnage away, and that, my friends, is the end of Maximum Carnage.

Thoughts: Whew, what a ride THAT was! Overall I'd call this a pretty good, if REALLY bloated, event. I can't go higher than “pretty good” due to all of the dead spots, as well as the final two parts. I wasn't a fan of part 13, and this issue wasn't much better. There were so many odd things going on here, like Venom chasing Carnage for the entire night while Spidey rests up, at which time the Avengers NEVER go out to find Carnage, even though it's established that they were back from space, or wherever the hell they were hiding during this storyline. Spidey just happening across Carnage at the orphanage is another headscratcher... If Spidey knew Venom and Carnage would be fighting there, why couldn't the Avengers?

I love all the little details in this panel.  

Or hell, why wasn't Spidey traveling WITH the Avengers? He wasn't a full-time member back in the day(frigging Bendis...), but would have been a reserve. And of course, who can forget the end of the battle, a giant explosion that roasts Carnage's costume to nothing, while Venom manages to hide in the back of a pick-up truck, costume fully functional. So yeah, not a lot of good things happening in this issue. With that said, I did like the look at Deathwatch and Morbius, since they weren't on Spidey's team during the final battle against Carnage's family in part 13. I also REALLY liked Black Cat showing up in the end, as I was totally surprised by that one. As I was reading this issue I was even thinking before she showed up that she had come out of this event looking really weak/terrible. So kudos to the 4-headed writing team to give Cat a chance to get a little shine. This was also, sadly, the last time Carnage was a monstrous threat to Spidey. I'm pretty sure his next appearance is in a Spidey annual, in which Spidey defeats Carnage on his own, no allies needed. Bottom line? I have to say that I enjoyed reading and reviewing this event, there was just enough good, bad and comically terrible to keep me sated. So good job, Marvel!

HA!  Give it a few years, Spidey, and they'll both be back.

Maximum Carnage part 13: Spectacular Spider-Man #203

The end is near!! This issue should just about wrap this story up. The heroes have rallied, while the villains have fought among themselves and weakened their numbers. I'd guess Carnage's crew gets defeated here, leaving Carnage to battle the heroes in the 14^th and final part of this event. Why I'd want to read that considering Carnage would have to beat like 10 heroes, I don't know, but maybe this issue will do a great job on selling me on the final part.

Maximum Carnage part 13: Spectacular Spider-Man #203:

Summary: This issue opens with Dagger telling the heroes how she returned to life. She became a being of pure light and lived in Cloak's... um, cloak, blah, blah, blah. Shriek is uber pissed to see Dagger alive, and challenges her. Both sides stand by and allow Shriek and Dagger to go at it in what I guess is the co-main event of the evening. Dagger ends up downing Shriek, and tries to pacify Shriek's madness, but is unable to reach through. That leads to Shriek almost blasting Dagger to death(again...), if not for a timely save by Spider-Man. Carnage's team regroups and quickly realize that all of the heroes save for Spidey had turned tail and run off. Spidey tells the villains that the others may be afraid of Carnage and company, but the he wasn't and would defeat them alone if he had to. The villains then batter Spidey to near unconscious, which is kind of hilarious after his speech. Before Spidey can get hit by the killing blow, swerve!, the rest of the heroes return with a really big gun, and blast the bad guys.

Giant robot-looking dude shooting a massive gun?  Yep, it's the 90's alright. 

The gun forces the bad guys to... be good? I guess that works. So yeah, the gun makes the villains feel good thoughts instead of evil, which freaks Carnage out, causing him to strain against the blast, which leads to an explosion. When the dust clears, Carnage is dead, although his symbiote is conveniently covering his face... Dun dun dun!! A bit later on, Venom confronts Spidey alone and yells at him for stealing the glory of killing Carnage. Luckily for Venom, Carnage emerges from a nearby pond, giving Venom his shot at revenge.

This event...  Must continue!!!

Thoughts: This issue was kinda on the dumb side. Let's start with Spidey's plan first. So Spidey was the one who came up with the concept of the “good gun” to counter Shriek's evil psychic energy. The gun was put together at Rand Industries, which is Iron Fist's company. So far so good, although I do take issue at the whole “good gun” thing. Now here's where it gets dumb. Why did ALL of the heroes have to go to get the gun, especially since it was Deathlok who was going to fire it. Couldn't Deathlok and maybe two other people go to get the gun while the others remained behind to battle Carnage, instead of Spidey playing the martyr? As usual. No wonder MJ was always mad at him back then... So the good gun leads to an explosion due to Carnage fighting the good waves that were coming from it. Just that last sentence tells you how dumb this issue was. Anyway, the gun explodes and the heroes find “Carnage” dead. “Carnage's” body has barely any symbiote on it, except for the face, which has a totally intact Carnage mask on...

Clearly that's Carnage, and clearly he's dead.

And the heroes brought that this was Carnage?! Ugh... And so this entire event ends up as a threeway fight between Spidey, Venom and Carnage, exactly how the first Carnage story ended... This was a whole lot of story just to get us to where we were the last time Carnage fought Spidey and Venom...  

Maximum Carnage part 12: Spider-Man #37

We've almost made it to the end! This is the twelfth part(!!!) of Maximum Carnage, which means we only have three comics left(for those of you who are mathematically challenged). After reading through this event thus far, I personally don't see why this wasn't an 8 or 10 part event, 14 just seems excessive. Okay, let's do it.

Maximum Carnage part 12: Spider-Man #37:

Summary: Venom finally manages to escape from Carnage by... I'm not really sure, to be honest... He tricked Carnage into firing the sonic blaster at him, and had a piece of his symbiote sneak inside, so when Carnage blasted, Venom's costume came out(??)strengthening Venom enough to leave. Carnage is none too pleased by that occurrence.

That's like me when I lose at Madden...

Meanwhile, Cloak talks to himself in a church. The heroes spend literally the entire issue fighting the crowds of people that Shriek has driven to violence. Carnage turns up and prepares to attack Shriek for killing people without his permission. That causes Doppelganger to attack Carnage, who responds by killing Doppelganger.

I really liked Doppel as a kid...  I even had a Doppelganger toy.

While that all played out, Spidey and company were able to clear the streets of the rioters due to Shriek being distracted by Carnage. This one comes to a close with Cloak teleporting to the scene with the no longer dead Dagger.

Summary: RIP, Doppelganger... You shall be missed. So this issue gave us Doppel getting killed and Dagger coming back to life. Thus strengthening the heroes side and weakening the villains. At this point, Carnage is barely limping to the finish line. Doppel is dead and Demogoblin seems ready to leave at the drop of a hat, which leaves Carnage with Shriek and Carrion versus Spidey, Firestar, Deathlok, Captain America, Iron Fist, Cloak, Dagger and Venom... Those are not the best of odds for Carnage.

Um, you outnumber the villains by like 3-1, that's the opposite of hopeless...

Next up, we get the big throwdown with the remaining villains and the plethora of heroes.

Maximum Carnage part 11: Amazing Spider-Man #380

I can't believe this look back at Maximum Carnage is almost over! I have to say, it's been a lot of fun going back to the dizzy 90's to see Spidey. And, I've decided what I'll be checking out after Maximum Carnage is finished up here... Stay tuned for that.

Maximum Carnage part 11: Amazing Spider-Man #380:

Summary: Morbius and Not-Spawn follow Demogoblin and Doppelganger to Carnage's base in the Statue of Liberty's torch. We get a brief tussle, but Not-Spawn has to rapidly leave with Morbius due to the sun rising. Meanwhile, Shriek randomly attacks people and things by her lonesome. Spidey, Captain America, Deathlok, Firestar and Iron Fist spot her and defeat her with ease.

This feels like the writer of this comic was thinking, "Well, Deathlok should say SOMETHING..."

And then the comic falls COMPLETELY off the rails... We get several pages of the exact same scene playing out... It's sort of like this, Normal New Yorker, “Gragh!! I'm going to loot this store!!” Iron Fist approaches, ”Now now, you don't want to loot that store, looting is bad.” Normal New Yorker, “Hey, you're right! Why was I even doing this?!” A rendition of that very scene plays out for EVERY single hero in this comic!! Every one! With Shriek still gone, Carnage sends Doppel and Demo out to find her, which they do.

HA!!  The flame "torturing" Venom is so tiny!!

That leads to a fight between the heroes and the villains, which ends when... Oh god... The people of New York yell at Shriek for making them evil with her powers. Shriek gets pissed about that, and uses her amplification powers to their max, making the people bloodthirsty again and setting them after out heroes.

Thoughts: Yeah, this was easily the worst issue of Maximum Carnage. Like, by a clear mile. Here's just a random example of how bad this issue was. Spidey stops a women from chucking her kids off an apartment rooftop by asking her to stop. That snaps her out of Shriek's thrall. Later on, the same woman is in the crowd of people heckling Shriek about making them turn evil...

"Fuck that Captain America guy, Spidey set us straight!"

But how does that woman know Shriek did any thing to her? She was never told by Spidey. I don't recall any of the heroes telling any of the people they “saved” that Shriek was responsible. All of a sudden, a mob gathered and started yelling at Shriek for things they shouldn't know about! Ugh... And then there's the Peter/MJ stuff..... So this issue gets underway with Peter bemoaning the fact that MJ didn't give him her “blessing” to go out and be a super-hero. Peter then saves the woman on the roof with the kids and is all, “Well shit, if I weren't here, those kids would be dead, ergo, MJ is wrong and stupid” Sure, Spidey saved the woman, but his logic that only he could have saved the kids is faulty at best, as he has no way of knowing one of his teammates wouldn't have made the save. And then later, MJ is with Peter's family and the Osborns watching the fight play out and sees that the crowd had turned on Shriek, which makes her think, “Well shit, if it wasn't for Peter being there, those people would be stealing stuff and having sex with fire hydrants and whatnot. Ergo, I am wrong and stupid.”

The moral of this story?  Peter is always right, and MJ is always wrong.

Let's REALLY hammer home how wrong and stupid MJ is...  This frigging comic.....

The way MJ, who had a valid point about Peter being reckless, was just brushed off was really annoying and a bit insulting... For some reason her worrying about her husband during this storyline makes her the bad guy, with this issue hammering that point home by MJ realizing she was in the wrong. Even though she isn't! UGH! I need to end this post before I continue ranting for several more minutes. At least the next issue has to be better than this one! 

Maximum Carnage Part 10: Web of Spider-Man #103

Maximum Carnage part 9 was possibly the best part of this entire story thus far. Considering how mediocre the past several issues prior to that had been, that's super impressive. Besides that, we're really in the home stretch now, as we've reached double digits! Part 9 shook up a lot of things, let's see what part 10 does for an encore.

Maximum Carnage Part 10: Web of Spider-Man #103:

Summary: Picking up from the last part, Spidey and Firestar are in Avengers Mansion with Captain America strategizing. Carnage and Shriek are torturing the helpless Venom, while Black Cat, Morbius and Cloak had gone after Carnage's crew, splitting from Spidey and Firestar. Doppelganger, Demogoblin, and Carrion are sent by Carnage to deal with the pursuing heroes. The three villains encounter the three heroes, which gives us yet another donnybrook. The villains take control, but Nightwatch(!!?!!) shows up to help out the good guys.

What's Spawn doing in the Marvel Comics Zone!!??

Demogoblin decides to have his group beat a hasty retreat, with Nightwatch and Morbius following them.

Oh wait, it's Marvel character, Not-Spawn...  Nevermind...

As for Cloak and Black Cat, Cat decides to head home to heal up a bit, while Cloak needs to do some soul searching. Over at Avengers Mansion, Cap catches Deathlok and Iron Fist trying to hack into Avengers files for information about Carnage. This leads to Cap inviting Deathlok and Iron Fist to join with himself, Spidey and Firestar.

One guess on which one of these characters never made the Avengers.

Thoughts: There was also a scene with Spidey heading home to see Mary Jane, but it wasn't anything we haven't already seen in this event. This issue was weird in that it was mainly the B-teams going at it, while the A-teams didn't really do much. Honestly, if you looked up “filler issue” in the dictionary, this comic would be there... Although I don't know what kind of dictionary would have a definition for “filler issue” Hmm, I'm wracking my brain trying to think of something to add here, but I'm coming up blank... Oh! Nightwatch! That dude is SUCH a blast from my 90's past! He's pretty much the Marvel version of Spawn. Except a zillion times lamer. Um, that's gonna do it for now, I guess I'll move on to the next one.

Teen Titans #15

After sneaking a peek at the cover after this issue, I now know that this is the last issue of this storyline! Huzzah!! Honestly though, this storyline hasn't been that bad, even though it revolves around the most useless of the current Teen Titans. Well, let's polish this one off.

Teen Titans #15(Nov. 2004)

Summary: Cyborg goes to check on Beast Boy and Dr. Register(who is now going by the Zookeeper), which leads to him attacking the Zookeeper after he finds Beast Boy drugged on the floor.

Ahhhh, Barney's on a rampage again!!!

The two fight, which brings Starfire, Wonder Girl(who has returned from Ares's lair after Ares spouted vague gibber-jabber at her) and Kid Flash to the scene. While the Titans try to deal with the Zookeeper, Beast Boy reinfects himself with the virus that turned him into Beast Boy in the first place and engaged the Zookeeper one on one. Beast Boy winds up winning, and takes the Zookeeper in. Then it gets confusing/stupid. All of the kids in San Fran are cured thanks to Beast Boy's blood canceling out the Zookeeper's blood(although Kid Flash says it the other way around, thus the confusion).

How did that woman know which random animal child was hers?

Besides that, Robin calls Superboy on the phone to tell him he was back to being Robin again.

Thoughts: Let's just get right too it, according to this, if I'm reading it right, Beast Boy would have donated enough blood for literally thousands of kids! All in like 36 hours! How is that even possible?!! I guess we'll add “blood transfusions” to genes on the list of things Geoff Johns doesn't understand. The Ares scene was totally unnecessary because it added nothing at all. Ares was all, “Somebody will die! You have to make the right choice!” It was all just empty words that mean nothing... Tell her what this choice is, or who's gonna die, or omit the scene. We also had a scene where Raven asked Wonder Girl how to dress/what to wear, even though we saw Raven in street clothes like 2 issues back when she was dressed hip and was getting tattoos! Now all of a sudden she doesn't know how to dress?! UGH!!!

Agreed.

Maximum Carnage part 9: Spectacular Spider-Man #202

Hey, we are rapidly motoring towards the end of this storyline! After I get through this next issue, I only have 5 left. That definitely deserves a huzzah!! Let's see how Spidey, Venom and the rest of the good guys do now that Carnage has shown them that he can keep respawning his symbiote whenever he bleeds.

Maximum Carnage part 9: Spectacular Spider-Man #202:

Summary: With Carnage back to full strength, Venom attacks him again along with Cloak and Morbius. Spider-Man and Firestar stand around pondering how they could work with somebody as blood-thirsty as Venom...

We get it!  You guys hate Venom!!  Either pitch in or move on!

Sheesh, this again? Black Cat yells at them for debating when they should be working on defeating Carnage, which shames the two into action. Shriek defeats Cloak and sends him running away by telling him that if he hadn't driven her insane to begin with, Dagger would still be alive. Shriek then reveals that she was the cause of all of the riots and madness in Manhattan since the whole Maximum Carnage thing began, since she could amplify Carnage's crazy and make others feel it. Or something like that... That whole thing really came out of left field... A mob of crazed people wander into the fight, causing Morbius to get fried by Demogoblin. Firestar discovers that sonics may not harm Carnage much anymore, but that flame is still a large weakness. Venom tells her to burn Carnage until there was nothing left,

I've said this a lot during this event, but once again, Venom is the voice of reason.

but Firestar bucks at the thought of murdering somebody. However, Spidey tells her that it was the only way(?!!?), which leads to her attacking Carnage with all of her power.

Man, Carnage can be quite the bitch at times...

At the last second though, Spidey realizes that wasn't who he was, and tells Firestar to stop. She does, which infuriates Venom, who goes to kill Firestar. Spidey tries to intervene, but is knocked a few blocks away by the furious Venom. By this point, Carnage and Shriek have regrouped and attack Venom, soundly defeating(heh heh, because she uses sound!) him thanks to Shriek's sonic abilities. Shriek tries to finish Venom off, but is stopped by Carnage(?!?), who wants to slowly torture Venom to death instead. With that, Carnage and Shriek escape with Venom. This issue ends with Captain America(!) arriving to help Spidey to his feet.

Oh snap, business just picked WAY up!

Thoughts: Well, this was a really good issue! There's a lot of stuff I enjoyed about this one, so I'll get my little quibbles out of the way first. The reveal that Shriek was somehow amplifying Carnage's madness and driving regular people crazy seemed really out of the blue and unnecessary. I'm not really sure what it adds to the story overall... Like, would things be any different if Shriek wasn't doing that? I guess it's to show that Spidey is more on edge than usual, but with all the evil shit Carnage is doing, wouldn't that be enough to push him to the brink? Also, Carnage stopping Shriek from killing Venom made no sense... His whole thing is chaos and murder... Why would Carnage suddenly decide to waste time torturing Venom when he could kill him, and then a few dozen others? On the plus side? Everything else! The legendary Sal Buscema did the artwork, which was really strong. I loved the scene where Spidey finally gave in and told Firestar to kill Carnage, before he realized what the hell he had done/said. Venom's reaction to that situation was perfect, especially since that was the second time in as many issues that Spidey has stopped somebody from killing Carnage.

For the record?  This is my favorite scene from this entire 14 part event.

And then it ends with frigging Captain America popping up to (literally) lend a hand. Cap showing up is a real game changer, due to the leadership he'll bring to Spidey and his crew. Let's face it, Spidey was a terribly ineffective leader. Venom is too crazy to lead, and the rest of the group is filled with lifetime followers. So Cap showing up really felt like a huge moment. Yeah, this was a great issue that has me eager to pick up the next one!

Maximum Carnage part 8: Spider-Man #36

Yay, we're on the backside of the Maximum Carnage event! And since I've been enjoying it so much, I'm already thinking about what I can review next! I'm leaning heavily towards a certain Dark Knight, and am narrowing the choices of stories down. But that's down the road, right now let's see what Spidey and company are going to do against the awesome might of Carnage!

Maximum Carnage part 8: Spider-Man #36:

Summary: Spidey and company head to the Daily Bugle and have Jameson print a headline telling Carnage to return to his home...

Good ol' helpful Jameson.

That home being the Brooklyn orphanage. Carnage heads there with his crew, unable to resist the chance to kill Spidey and Venom. Meanwhile, Iron Fist pops up to assist the firemen who were trying to cut Deathlok down from the marque Carnage hung him from. Back to the orphanage, Spidey and his team attack Carnage's group and we have another brawl on our hands. This time though, the heroes are firmly in control, probably due to the fight spilling outside, meaning Carnage can't use his trump card, collapsing the roof on Spidey and escaping. Venom, with the sonic blaster, along with Firestar, blast away at Carnage, destroying his symbiote and leaving him vulnerable.

I don't know what "face meat" is, nor do I want to know...

Venom moves in for the kill, but wouldn't you know it, Spidey pulls Venom away... Ah Spider-Man... Shriek slashes Carnage with her nails, drawing blood, and causing another symbiote to grow out of Carnage, much to the surprise of the heroes. This issue ends with Carnage renewed and ready to fight again.

My plan B is always, "Fall down and pretend to cry" but that doesn't help here.

Thoughts: I know Spidey doesn't kill... And I knew that he'd, of course, stop Venom from killing Carnage, but I couldn't help but shake my head a little bit when he did step in to halt Venom from finishing off Carnage... It would have been so easy for him to just turn his head, or punch Demogoblin or something. I mean, I totally get it, I know how Spidey operates, but jeez, if anybody deserves the Venom, “eat your brains!!” treatment, it's definitely Carnage. Moving on, I really liked Iron Fist showing up to help Deathlok, as that helps to negate some of my complaints about no other New York heroes appearing in this crossover. I also liked the touch with Carnage being able to just continuously respawn his symbiote. It means that, unlike Venom, you can never separate it from him, which makes him that much tougher to defeat.

Maximum Carnage part 7: Amazing Spider-Man #379

We've finally made it to official halfway point of this here Maximum Carnage event. So far it's been like a roller coaster, we started on a high, dropped down a bit, but started to pull back up with the last part. The cover of this issue promises that “Things get even wilder!” I think that means I should get to reading!

Maximum Carnage part 7: Amazing Spider-Man #379:

Summary: We open with a strategy session between the good guys.

Aww, that Venom is a good guy.

They decide to recruit Firestar to help against Carnage due to fire being a weakness of the symbiote he wears. They also decide to break into the Fantastic Four's headquarters to swipe the Mr. Fantastic's sonic gun in order to exploit the other weakness of Carnage. Also, we learn that the Avengers and the Fantastic Four(as well as all of the New Warriors save one) are out of town at a super hero convention or something... On top of that, an unnatural wave a violence is starting to move through the normal people of Manhattan. Carnage's crew is joined by Carrion, who just randomly starts to kill people along with them without saying a word...

Hey look, it's Carrion!

Okay then... Deathlok steps in to attack Carnage and his gang, but winds up getting overwhelmed by the numbers game and strung up on a billboard. On the other side of the fence, Spidey and company are successful in stealing the sonic blaster from Four Freedoms Plaza, while Cloak manages to locate Firestar, who is eager to help out.

Wait, does the sonic blaster have it's own room?  Shouldn't it be in an armory or something?

And that about wraps this one up.

Thoughts: This issue was more about setting up the pieces on the game board more than anything else. The good guys added Firestar and Mr. Fantastic's sonic gun, while Carnage recruited Carrion in order to bolster his side. Demogoblin is still teetering on the edge of turning on Carnage due to Carnage's stubborn refusal to put any type of a plan into effect. I'll also add that I really liked the fact that Deathlok stepped up and tried to halt Carnage, because that's an aspect to this story that hasn't really been touched upon at all. We have Spidey and the good guys, and we have Carnage and the bad guys. But that's it. I mean, in the Marvel Universe there's like a zillion super types living in Manhattan, but none of them thought it would be helpful to try to stop Carnage? Yeah, the FF and Avengers are conveniently out of town, as are the New Warriors, except for Firestar(once again, convenient), but what about the Darkhawks,Luke Cages or Sleepwalkers of the world? Or even a guy like Iron Man, who wasn't an Avenger at this time, why couldn't he fly in to help? Or hell, the frigging X-Men live right upstate, they could lend a hand. Shit, even Firestar should have been out there doing something before being asked by Cloak! She said she was at the New Warriors headquarters, and that her teammates weren't around. Shouldn't SHE have been out and about trying to assist people? Instead of just ignoring the c-list heroes, why not have Carnage tear through a few of them like he did to Deathlok here? That was definitely a step in the right direction, but also served to shine a light on the fact that nobody else is bothering to do anything...

Maximum Carnage part 6: Web of Spider-Man #102

And we're up to part six. That's pretty much all I have for an opener here... Um yeah, let's get to it!

Maximum Carnage part 6: Web of Spider-Man #102

Summary: Hey hey, it's an all out action issue, kids! We get started with Venom adding Morbius to his team, which is something Black Cat isn't exactly pleased about. Meanwhile, Mary Jane is partying at a dance club to forget her recent troubles with her husband, you know, that Spidery-guy. Unfortunately for her, Carnage and his crew set upon the place and start to kill club goers left and right. Venom and company arrive, which means the fight is on! During the action, Venom saves MJ from Carnage in a fun little scene.

Venom is fantastically dick-ish here!

Spidey eventually arrives and throws his lot in with Venom's group. The good guys begin to make some headway, which causes Carnage to order Demogoblin to destroy the roof of the club, burying several of the patrons and allowing Carnage to escape with his lackeys.

If the bad guys ever fight the heroes in a roofless environment, they're screwed.

Spidey manages to get Venom to lend a hand helping the injured club goers, and once that's done, agrees to follow Venom until the bitter end. And that about wraps this one up.

Thoughts: This was a really good issue, especially after how meh the past 2 or 3 parts have been. Sure, the mighty hammer of coincidence struck by having MJ at the very club Carnage was attacking, but I can overlook that since it really didn't add or detract from the story much. Granted, I don't know why that club was even open if Carnage was in the area, but what can ya do. One thing I will say is that Carnage's group has been nearly beaten twice now, and had to resort to dropping the ceiling on the good guys both times before escaping... That's slowly starting to seep into bad writing territory... Either come up with another way to have Carnage win or escape, or don't put him against the good guys in the first place. Other than that though, this was a pretty good issue that pulled this event out of the doldrums... For now!!!

You have to admit, Carnage sure does do original stuff with his costume.

Maximum Carnage part 5: Spectacular Spider-Man #201

Well, after the last issue I think it's safe to say we are squarely in the middle of what I fear will be a very long slump. We get random fights, but they don't mean anything since either Spidey's side declines to go after Carnage's side, or Carnage's side retreats. And we still have like 9 parts to go! I have no idea how the writers are going to be able to stretch this event out that long! But, I do intend on reading on to find out...

Maximum Carnage part 5: Spectacular Spider-Man #201:

Summary: Like a dweeb, Spidey remains at the warehouse and pulls Black Cat out of the rubble of the building before it collapses.

When Venom is the voice of reason, you know there's a problem!

After gathering himself, Venom is pissed(and rightfully so!) that Spidey remained behind when he should have continued after Carnage to prevent him from killing anybody else. Black Cat agrees with Venom, which pisses Spidey off and makes him to decide to stop teaming with Venom... Really dude? Like really? Carnage's kill count is in the hundreds at this point and you're going to play the high and mighty card?! What a prick! Black Cat seems to agree with me and leaves with Venom. Meanwhile, Carnage and Demogoblin have a bit of a tiff, but Shriek smooths it over. Continuing the theme of being an asshole, Spidey complains to Aunt May about Venom in a veiled way over cookies and tea... I... I just can't with this guy... Carnage is murdering half the city and he's whining to that fossil while eating cookies?!?

While this is going on, Spidey takes a cookie break.

Venom and Black Cat close in on Venom and are rejoined by Cloak, who's not doing so well physically since Dagger's death. Spidey finally gets off his ass and heads out, only to find himself ion the middle of a riot. That finally seems to set Spidey off, as he screams to no one in particular that he'll give no mercy(not the game, at least I don't think...) to anybody.

Thoughts: Wow, Spidey was a horror in this one... Like, I barely even have words for how unlikable he was here! All he was doing was whining and bitching about... well, everything! You'd think he'd realize that he's serving the greater good by sticking with Venom(not to mention keeping an eye on him), but instead he gets pissy and runs home to Aunt May. Besides Spidey's complaining, we had Demogoblin and Carnage almost come to blows over Carnage's refusal to operate with a plan of any kind. Demogoblin was such an odd fit in this story... Not that I'm complaining about him being around, because he is frigging fantastic looking, but other than that, he's clearly in the wrong storyline.

Best looking of all the Goblins.

Hey, look at that, I'm almost halfway through this thing! That deserves a “huzzah!”

Maximum Carnage part 4: Spider-Man #35

Part 3 of this event was a bit on the blah side, but we've still gotten more good than bad, which makes me a happy comic book reader. The last part's cliffhanger brought Spidey and Venom together, which should be fun. On top of that, this issue promises to bring Black Cat in on the side of heroes, which should balance the two sides out a little. Okay, enough talk, let's see what happens next.

Maximum Carnage part 4: Spider-Man #35:

Summary: Fed up with all things Spidey, MJ storms out of her apartment home, leaving Peter and Venom behind. Peter lets Venom rest up on his couch and heads out to talk to Black Cat... Really?! His wife is mad at him so he goes to see the other woman?! Jeez Spidey, you suck! Spidey tells Black Cat all about how he knows he needs Venom's help against Carnage, but that he doesn't actually want to team with Venom due to Venom being a bad guy himself. After listening, Black Cat tells Spidey they need Venom, and suits up to fight against Carnage as well. Meanwhile, Demogobin joins up with Carnage's crew. Black Cat goes to Venom and offers to help him out, and is soon joined by Spidey, who warns Venom that there would be no killing as long as they were working together.

HA!!!  That little antenna on Spidey's head slays me!!

Back with Carnage, Cloak manages to locate him and attacks, but is greatly outnumbered. Luckily, Spidey's group hears the sounds of battle and join in to help Cloak.

Ah back when it took several established characters to defeat Carnage...  Good times...

Carnage tires of the fight and has Demogoblin and Shriek destroy the roof of the warehouse they were battling in, burying Black Cat and knocking Venom out. With that, Spidey is faced with a choice, head after Carnage or rescue his injured allies and allow Carnage to escape.

Thoughts: Eh, this issue was alright. Both Spidey and Carnage bolstered their ranks, and we got another inconclusive fight. I'm not really sure what Carnage wants though... He tells J. Jonah Jameson that he wants to face off against Venom and Spidey, but he's retreated from Spidey twice and allowed Venom to escape him once... I get he's all about chaos and such, but shit, finish off your kill, good sir! Other than that, Peter showed how clueless of a husband he was by going to see Black Cat immediately after MJ stormed off.

How the hell does that costume actually stay on?!?!?

I don't even have words for how dumb a move that is. Yeah, that's about all I can think of for this issue...  

Maximum Carnage part 3: Amazing Spider-Man #378

So far I have to say, Maximum Carnage has been pretty damn good. Granted, I'm only 2 issues in, but we've had a few good battles, great pacing, and a quick Spidey/Carnage skirmish. This issue looks to give us the much anticipated Venom vs Carnage battle. The one thing I will say that I'm a bit worried about with this event is the fact that we're getting so many big moments early on... There's 14 parts to this thing, are the various writers going to be able to continue to keep things exciting as we carry on? I don't know, but I think it's time to find that out.

Maximum Carnage part 3: Amazing Spider-Man #378:

Summary: We kick things off with Venom arriving in New York and ranting at a newspaper with Carnage on it.

Dude, it's a newspaper!  Chill out!

Cloak freaks out at Spidey and vanishes, leaving Spidey to head home to a very angry Mary Jane, who doesn't want Peter to end up like Harry Osborn did... You know, dead! Carnage and his crew smooth over their disagreements regarding Shriek “killing” Spidey, and head to Central Park to kill everybody there. Spidey disregards MJ and heads back out, where he runs afoul Demogoblin, who is preparing to kill Spidey, but gets distracted by a priest... Wha?!

This is either the bravest or dumbest priest ever.  I'm leaning towards the latter...

Spidey uses the distraction to turn things around, but Demogoblin flies away, with Spidey much to wasted to stop him. Realizing that he needed rest, Spidey heads home. Meanwhile, Venom hears about Carnage's attack in Central Park, and heads out there, only to get jumped by Carnage and his allies. Or so I assume, since we don't even get to see any of that fight... Which according to the cover is the selling point of this issue! What the hell!?! This issue ends with a beaten Venom arriving at Peter and MJ's front door.

Ya think, MJ?

Thoughts: Well, this was definitely the weakest of the Maximum Carnage issues thus far. We got mirroring relationship issues between Peter and MJ, as well as Carnage and Shriek, as well as Spidey getting into a fight with Demogoblin, only to be saved by a cross-toting priest... I don't know what the hell that was all about, to be honest. And to top it off, we never even see Venom and Carnage touch each other(well except for the sweet cover to this issue). Venom just show up beaten at Spidey's door. And not only that, he politely knocks on the door! I'd have expected him to crash through the window or something, but nope, even in his beaten state, Venom still has good manners. Ah well, let's see if things pick back up come part 4.

Maximum Carnage part 2: Web of Spider-Man #101

Hey look, I'm actually continuing the Maximum Carnage posts! Considering the huge amount of Teen Titans books on here, I'm almost obligated to continue posting these books, I mean hell, I grew up on Marvel comics, although you wouldn't know it by looking at this blog... We are still in the very early stages of this x-over, and we have yet to see Venom make an appearance. Will that change this issue? I don't know, probably? Eh, only one way to know for sure!

Maximum Carnage part 2: Web of Spider-Man #101

Summary: This issue gets started with Cloak and Dagger saving Spider-Man from some street toughs who were closing in to finish him off. FYI, I'm a big fan of the term, “street toughs” I really don't have a reason, it just makes me happy. Go figure. From there, Carnage defaces the Daily Bugle building after telling Jameson to send out word that he wanted to face off against Spider-Man and Venom.  Shriek and Doppel manage to locate Cloak, Dagger and the still injured Spidey at a nearby church, which leads to a two on three fight... At least until Carnage arrives, having been drawn by the sounds of the ruckus.

Oh snap, shit just got real now, son!

Carnage's crew takes charge of the fight, with Shriek killing Dagger, which causes a big explosion. When the smoke clears, Carnage is pissed that Shriek had killed Spidey(even though he isn't dead at all...), and smacks her around a bit before leaving with Shriek and Doppel in tow.

Hey look, Spidey is laying on the ground!  Clearly he must be dead.

Spidey wakes up, while Cloak is depressed that his team name had been shortened to Cloak and. Over in San Francisco, Venom learns of Carnage's rampage back in NYC and decides to head back east.

Thoughts: Man, these comics are SO much more fast paced than the early Teen Titans comics I'm also going through... I mean, stuff actually happens! Now, with that said there were a few parts of this comic that had me scratching my head, like Cloak and Dagger popping up just in time to save Spidey from the gang... That was a tad too convenient for my tastes. It wasn't like the gang members were crowing about their deed from the rooftops, they were quietly stalking Spidey up an alley, so Cloak and Dagger popping up was just too Deux Ex Machina for me. Also, what the hell is with Carnage just assuming Spider-Man was dead after Dagger died!? Sure, there was an explosion(that Carnage no sold, I might add), but Carnage is no rookie to murder.

Carnage: "I almost got Spidey, I guess that means he's dead!"

Hell, he killed 87 people at Ravencroft, I'd like to think he can tell the difference between breathing and not breathing, but I guess he can't.  Another weird thing was when Dagger died there was no body left. Like, there was NOTHING! No body, clothing, anything, she was just magically gone and “dead” like a bad guy in an old video game... All in all, besides my nitpicking, this was a strong comic that set up future events with Demogoblin and Venom learning of Carnage's antics. On to the next one!

Maximum Carnage part 1: Spider-Man Unlimited #1

So yeah, lots of Teen Titans stuff on the blog lately, si? How about we shake things up a bit? Yeah, I like that. I think it's time to add some Marvel to this blog, back when they understood their fanbase. Yes, it's time to head into the wayback machine and go back to 1993... Ah yes... 1993... Superman was dead and the Reign of Supermen had begun over in DC, while Marvel? Marvel gave us the 14 part Maximum Carnage event... And that's what I'll be taking a look at here. Here's a quick FYI before we get underway... This event is only the second storyline to include Carnage, so he was pretty new still. In his debut story, Spidey and Venom were forced to put aside their longstanding hatred for each other to defeat Carnage. So right off the bat Carnage was established as a huge threat that Spidey was unable to defeat on his own. With that backstory stuff out of the way, I think it's time to get this party started!

Maximum Carnage part 1: Spider-Man Unlimited #1

Summary: This issue gets underway with Carnage revealing to the doctors at the Ravencroft institution that he was able to produce his symbiote from his blood, meaning when the doctors go to draw blood, Carnage is reborn.

That is SO not a good sign...

Carnage happily slaughters his way through Ravencroft when he notices Shriek, who cheers Carnage on during his murder spree. After some thought, Carnage decides to free Shriek, and the two escape. Meanwhile, Spider-Man and Mary Jane attend the funeral of Harry Osborn, which leads to Spidey promising MJ that he'd take a break from doing Spidey stuff... HAHA! I can only imagine how many times he promised THAT! While swinging through Manhattan, Carnage mistakes Doppelganger for Spidey and attacks him. Shriek likes the weird-ass look of Doppel, and convinces Carnage to take Doppel along as an adopted son of sorts. With that settled, Carnage leaves his new “family” behind and heads off to attend to some personal business. Spidey heads out to pick up some Chinese food, but spots Shriek and Doppel on a rooftop and confronts them.

Why the hell is Spidey announcing his actions like this is a sporting event?

The two sides battle to a stalemate, with Spidey knocking Shriek out, but Doppel busting up Spidey's ribs before leaving with Shriek. As for Carnage, he stops by the Daily Bugle to say hello to his old hostage, J. Jonah Jameson.

Once again, this?  NOT a good sign...

Thoughts: Good stuff, good stuff. This comic was very fast paced and didn't really drag at any point. Carnage gets his symbiote back, gains two nutjobs to team with, and goes to see Jameson. As for Spidey, he meets up with Shriek and Doppelganger and is injured, which is a great way keep Spidey vulnerable in the coming issues as he faces Carnage and his crew. There were some weird moments, like MJ randomly smoking(I don't remember her going through that phase...),

Spidey's got some balls for chiding MJ on her smoking when he's nearly getting killed nightly!

Peter's parents being around(Ugh.....) and Doppel still being around after the events of Infinity War, but none of that detracts from the good in this comic. Yeah, as far as opening issues of an event go, this one hit it out of the park.