In the previous compilation volume of the episodes of The Amazing Spider-Man we had the opportunity to attend the birth of Matanza. Panini comics has coordinated the release of these hardcover volumes to coincide with the cinematic introduction of the character in Venom 2.
To say fear is to fall short
We all know the great responsibility that his powers place Peter Parker on. It is his mantra repeated thousands of times, as well as keeping his private identity a secret to protect those he loves the most. That list of loved ones has increased by two since the end of the previous volume as those who were believed to be the dead parents of Parker, Richard and Mary, are now found among the living again, making work even more difficult, beyond Mary Jane. and Aunt May. Especially since there are enemies who know who is behind the Spiderman mask.
And this is where Poison comes in, on his way straight to becoming the Lethal Protector. Eddie Brock knows the identity of Spiderman so the screenwriter David Michelinie took advantage of that position to put the Parkers in trouble. He does so by justifying the duality that Venom faces at the time. He has already been surpassed in evil by his descendants so that evolution, the result of his popularity, was entirely logical, leaving room for Matanza to be the most evil symbiote on this shore of the Hudson River. And not only twisted, psychopathic or murderous, it is truly terrifying just to read his speeches.
Before Maximum Kill
The numbers prior to the event that affected all the headwaters of the wall-crawler are quite improvable. They basically focus on the restart of Peter’s relationship with his parents while the smoking crisis suffered by Mary Jane is accentuated as a method of combating the anxiety generated by her husband’s activity as Spiderman. The main course is reserved for the second half of the volume, from Spider-Man Unlimited # 1 USA, the beginning of Matanza Máxima.
Until then, the Venom numbers that lead to the special that took place in the Amazing Spiderman # 375 USA hardly stand out. The two subsequent episodes and Amazing Annual # 27 gave David Michelinie and Mark Bagley a break before creating the first major series after creating Carnage, in the previous volume of this collection on Marvel Heroes. We could almost say that what was happening at that time in The Spectacular Spiderman, where the death of Harry Osborn took place, has more weight. But that story has not been included here, it will come when Panini resumes the reissue of the episodes in that header.
The arc that gives the volume its title
There is no doubt that Veneno had become a very popular character, to the point of enjoying a miniseries of his own. There was no doubt about exploiting the concept and giving it a handover in the most irrational way. If Venom was already a dangerous and important villain, his descendant was even worse. Just by being attached to Cletus Kasady, an unscrupulous assassin, he already had the signs of becoming a deranged and very dangerous enemy. If to this we add that Kasady is going to join with other characters whose lack of sanity is more than diagnosed, we have a perfect cocktail.
The entire saga will encompass a multitude of characters closely related to Spidey, from his closest environment, derivatives or frequent allies. We see the Black Cat, Cloak and Dagger, Morbius, Fire Star or Poison team up with Peter in front of a group of villains led by Carnage that includes the Demoduende, Carrion, Scream or the Spiderman Doppelganger from the War of the Infinite. And I’m not going to gut the cast that will pass through these pages any more, but our favorite arachnid hero will have more help.
Maximum Kill It is not a completely essential story in the history of Spiderman, a lot of effect typical of the nineties and colorful fights that lead to the confrontation that we all expected in three ways, with Venom and Spiderman facing Matanza. The work of David Michelinie and Mark Bagley in front of Amazing is complemented by JM DeMatteis, Terry Kavanagh and Tom de Falco as screenwriters and Ron Lim, Alex Saviuk, Tom Lyle and Sal Buscema in pencils. A good job where all that glitters is not gold.