Carnage: Minimum Carnage (Marvel) Review

Carnage: Minimum Carnage

Venom and Scarlet Spider really
come off as uncles to Carnage in this
cover.

Writers: Cullen Bunn and Chris Yost

Artists: Lan Medina, Khoi Pham and Declan Shalvey

Collects: Minimum Carnage: Alpha and Omega, Venom #26-27 and Scarlet Spider #10-12

Background Information

Oh, Carnage! For a character that’s really pretty basic, you sure do get a lot of love. From video games, to cartoon appearances to even more comics devoted to your name than Venom, you have popped up everywhere except the silver screen.

Maybe it’s because you’re so basic- the basic offspring of the Venom symbiote attached to serial killer Cletus Casady, your character doesn’t get more complicated than “I kill guys”. In most cases, that would be a bad thing, but here, it actually makes you pretty versatile. So it’s understandable that in an era that features two new Spider-Man-related characters, you’d pop your head up again.

Review:

Okay, I got this volume because it contained the only three issues of Scarlet Spider that I haven’t read yet (expect a retrospective review, where I’ll take on the whole series). But I’m glad I did, since it’s one of the most enjoyable Marvel books I’ve ever read and easily up there with the best of them.

So Carnage has escaped from prison again and escaped into a little kingdom of elves and fairies.

…

Hey, look! It's... it's... umm...

Sorry, I meant to say: a micro universe of very tiny aliens.

…

And fairies.

It falls to Scarlet Spider and Venom to track him down and stop him before ol’ Carnage kills everything around him.

Scarlet Spider’s tale of redemption really started with Spider Island more than his own book. It was a fairly silly affair that wasn’t afraid to point out how silly it actually was. In that light, it’s fun to see that Minimum Carnage is also a story that delights in its own silliness. A miniature universe? Silly as anything! So let’s not pretend that this is The Dark Knight-level serious and just have fun creating an out-there story.

That’s the philosophy of Minimum Carnage and it pays off in spades. Admittedly, Yost’s Scarlet Spider chapters pull this off a little better than the Venom ones, which tend to be more melodramatic, but the story is still insanely fun and offers plenty of ridiculous, even laughable moments.

It’s peppered by these great moments where both Venom and Scarlet Spider really let their personalities shine. Venom’s introspective, spends a lot of time trying to emulate Spider-Man while keeping his own demons in check. Scarlet Spider’s got his demons too, but he’s not trying to keep them in check; he’s unleashing them on everything that gets in his way. Both characters clearly aren’t fond of each other, and their opposite views on pretty much everything make Venom and Scarlet Spider a great Good Cop/Bad Cop duo.

Carnage reveals his true origin as a
glob of tinned spaghetti.

The big mistake made by the writers here is that they force that great duo apart so quickly, and it’s here that Minimum Carnage loses its momentum. It’s a short window of time, but the difference becomes felt very quickly.

Aside from that, Carnage just isn’t terribly compelling. I can see the appeal; he kills lots of people, so he’s obviously a bad guy. As a character, though, he’s incredibly shallow. I don’t see the appeal in making multiple mini-series for him, and I don’t know why it wouldn’t have been just as fine to use any other bloodthirsty villain in this series.

The art, of course, is spasmodic. That’s to be expected from a book that shoe-horns two different ongoings and two one-shots together. Thankfully, it’s all very good. The art shift tends to represent more of a tonal shift than anything, which is nicely reflected in the story as well.

Look, Minimum Carnage is really silly, but don’t let that turn you away. It gets a three and a half elves and fairies.

*** ½

+ Plenty of fun.

+ Venom and Scarlet Spider make a pretty sweet team-up.

- It’s not as fun when they’re not together.

- Carnage just isn’t terribly compelling.

Alternate Option: Spider-Man: Spider Island

If you really want to see more of Kaine and Venom together, this is a pretty good way to do it.

Scarlet Spider Vol. 4: Into The Grave (Review

Scarlet Spider Vol. 4: Into The Grave

World's greatest hunter can't spear
a guy who's a foot in front of him...

Writers: Chris Yost and Eric Burnham

Artists: David Baldeon and Carlo Barberi

Collecting: Scarlet Spider #21-25

Background Information:

Ever since Spider Island, Peter Parker’s formally evil clone, Kaine, has been on a mission of redemption. Cured of a genetic flaw that was slowly killing him, Kaine decided that he was going to live for something better. He’s been a fun character to follow; rejecting the notion that he’s a super-hero and trying his best to fight his demons. Those demons have won more than once and, the be fair, Kaine hasn’t exactly been successful at living a new life, but his devotion to protecting the hilarious Aracely (alias Hummingbird) and doing everything a spider can with a little more bloodlust than certain scientific web-heads we all know.

Review:

Let’s face it, it was never going to end well for Yost’s Scarlet Spider. It’s a pity that this series was seriously cut down in its prime, but when your previous volume features Wolverine as a guest star, your series is likely going to be cancelled. When your previous volume features Spider-Man (even the Superior Spider-Man), your series is likely going to be cancelled. When your previous volume features Wolverine and Spider-Man… You’d better start digging your grave.

And make it shallow- you won’t have time to dig a full six feet.

"Ha! Did you hear Scarlet Spider's book got cancelled?
What a loser.... He's right behind me, isn't he?"

That pretty much sums up my feelings on Into The Grave. Despite a very entertaining first three issues. This

is a cancelled series and Yost’s otherwise entertaining run on Kaine reads like a cancelled series. As such, it ends in a way that is both rushed and thoroughly unsatisfying.

Throughout the series, Yost has been teasing the involvement of Kraven the Hunter in Kaine’s troubles and here, Yost finally makes good on the set-up. Kraven and his demented daughter have captured everyone that means something to Kaine and the results are disasterous.

This story links into a Spider-Man story-arc from last decade called Grim Hunt. Reading Into The Grave, though, I was thankful that Yost hadn’t made reading Grim Hunt absolutely necessary. If you don’t know the story, don’t worry. Yost explains enough of the back story to bring you up to speed without making it feel out of place. The fight between Kaine and Kraven is thoroughly enjoyable, allowing us to see Kaine successfully fight off everything he’s been trying not to become and resist the urge to kill the hunter.

Aracelly is great as always in this volume, but she’s used less than she has been in other volumes and that feels like a wasted opportunity. She’s been the source of most of this series’ humour and also a source of mystery, so it’s sad to see her with less exposure than we’re used to seeing.

But what’s really disappointing is the second story arc in this trade. See, it’s about…

Um…

Er…

Well…

And things stop making sense right about... here!

Okay, I have no idea what it’s about, because it honestly tries to do too much in too short a time. In the last two issues collected, Yost tries to deal with the fallout of the first arc, introduce a monster that was hinted at in the first volume and finish the series. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that this results in a final arc that feels rushed. The worst part, though, is that by the end of the series we still have no idea what Aracely’s deal is. She’s still hearing the “Mictlan rises” message and the fact that we know this isn’t going to be resolved doesn’t help anything.

The art here is fine. Artists change a fair bit here, so it’s not consistent artwork by any means, but the art here looks good, so that’s not a problem. The problem is that the art doesn’t compensate for the lackluster ending.

We know Yost is taking over New Warriors for Marvel NOW!, so it’s possible a lot of the abandoned plot strands will be taken up in the new series, but it’s still disappointing that Scarlet Spider fizzles out so much. Overall though, it’s still a volume you want to read, but only for that first arc. Into The Grave gets a three out of five shallow graves.

***

+ Great first arc.

+ Yost makes sure you don’t need to know Grim Hunt to understand what’s going on.

- Fizzled-out ending

Alternate Option: The other Scarlet Spider trades

It’s a good story, but I’d suggest reading the other three volumes.