COMIC BOOK REVIEW: Minimum Carnage Omega
Writers: Christopher Yost, Cullen Bunn
Artist: Lan Medina
There’s so much buzz surrounding Amazing Spider-Man #698 (read our spoiler-free review HERE!) that people might forget about the OTHER comic book this week that features the rest of the spider-powered players in Peter Parker’s world. Which is a shame, considering that the current incarnations of Venom and Scarlet Spider have actually managed to break free from the shadow of Spider-Man and develop as heroes in their own right, albeit with very different superhero-ing styles.
Our heroes (and unfortunately, our villain as well) make it back from their trip to the Microverse in the concluding chapter of Minimum Carnage, Minimum Carnage Omega. A bloody confrontation between the tag-team of “not-Spider-Man” and “not-Venom” and the homicidal Carnage happens right in the middle of Houston, and as expected, there are casualties. While the emotional gravity of the situation does take a backseat, Cullen Bunn and Christopher Yost manage to write the dynamic combat scenes without necessarily losing the unique voices of the characters they each write in their respective solo titles. It’s also interesting how, in this equation, it’s Venom who tries to find a better way to deal with Carnage, and it’s the Spider-analogue who makes the decision to dispense brutal, eye-for-an-eye justice.
Lan Medina is no doubt a talented artist, and it definitely shows here in this issue. His art is well-suited for agile and fluid characters, and I’m impressed with the way he handled drawing hundreds of little Carnages literally flooding the place – that must have been quite a pain to pencil. I was hoping at first that they could get Clayton Crain to do the art for this one, though; the man seems to have a knack for illustrating symbiotes and other icky, slimy, disgusting things.
The fallout of Minimum Carnage will supposedly be seen in subsequent issues of Scarlet Spider and Venom, so you might want to follow those titles if you’re curious as to how the main characters in this crossover will deal with the repercussions of the choices they made here. This crossover wasn’t stellar and was a bit lacking in loudness and impact, but it’s a decent read, and it provides some really nice character development for the two newest heroes to wear the mantle of the Spider (in some way).
VERDICT: 3.5/5
Despite being relatively quiet in as far as hype is concerned, Minimum Carnage proved to be a fun-filled ride. While a TPB of the collected issues involved in this crossover would no doubt be released in the next few months, Omega is worth picking up, especially if you have the other issues that tie in with Minimum Carnage.
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