Absolute Carnage continues to be a fun ride with issue #4. Certain elements may be challenging to follow for readers who aren't paying attention to the main Venom title. Still, the other tie-ins seem to be truly supplemental and unnecessary to understand the main story. 

This issue picks up immediately after the end of the previous, with the Venom symbiote having left Eddie Brock to bond with the Hulk in its battle against Carnage. Eddie, powerless, still manages to fight off Carnages drones and release Miles Morales from his possession by the symbiotes. Of course, the consequences of the Venom symbiote’s decision turn out to be dire.

Donny Cates is clearly having fun putting Eddie through the wringer, but in this issue, a fantastic thing happens. After bouncing Eddie against several more “heroic” figures--Peter Parker, Miles Morales, Captain America--Cates allows Eddie to really shine as a hero in his own right. In the midst of all the (dare I say) Lovecraftian doom and gloom, it’s Eddie Brock who turns out to be a ray of hope.

Penciler Ryan Stegman (with inks by Stegman, JP Mayer, and Jay Leisten) does great work on this issue. He paces the story masterfully, never giving the reader a moment to breathe as each catastrophe follows the last. His symbiotes are delightfully macabre, particularly a new form Carnage takes later in the issue. The coloring by Frank Martin is terrific as well and should be airbrushed on the side of a van. VC’s Clayton Cowles has his work cut out for him with the lettering, with all the different symbiotes having different balloon styles, but he juggles it well.

Absolute Carnage #4 isn’t deep. It’s not this generation’s Maus or American Splendor. Instead, it’s a gloriously over-the-top action comic, with notes of horror. It’s dumb action, and thank God for it.

Grade: A-