This one, unlike the first volume, didn't hold my attention as much. Probably because the focus was much more on Eddie Brock, a character I literally know diddly-squat about, so any revelations about his past and how it was so much different than he expected? Yeah, fell flat for me.

That's likely more a reflection on my active attempts to ignore Venom over the years than anything. Venom/Carnage and their ilk do nothing for me.

Still, I got to enjoy the lovely art (well, up to the point where Cassara took over, and the quality plummeted), and I found the storyline more of a standard run-of-the-mill comic book plot where an evil entity has to get something out of the hero and unexpectedly uncovers more about that hero than even the hero knew.

Once again, Cates' innate writing ability levels up a rather bland story to something fairly enjoyable. ( )

The second Volume of Cates's Venom wasn't quite as incredible as the first-- it's climax didn't live up to the incredible power of a symbiote dragon. It may have been because I waited so long for Issue 12 that the momentum was lost, but that's Marvel Ultimate's fault and not mine. ( )