Jon Shayde is having a memory of childhood. It’s not a good memory, but it more or less fits the fact that he’s drowning. He isn’t drowning in the physical sense, though. Not in water, anyway. He’s drowning in something else entirely. It’s something that’s trying to taste his consciousness. It’s feeding on his mind, and this is only the beginning of Web of Carnage #1. The writing team of Ram V and Christos Gage tell a tale that splatters across the page courtesy of artists Francesco Manna and Zé Carlos. Colorist Erick Arciniega adds style and atmosphere to the darkness.

Carnage and Shayde drift through deep space, but there’s something calling to both of them back on Earth. They’re there to meet with a guy who eats spiders. One would have expected perhaps a bit more of a formidable force to pull them across lightyears through the cold, unforgiving void of space, but some guy eating spiders? That’s interesting. There’s a little more to the bug eater than meets the eye, though. There’s a conflict brewing somewhere in the city at night. It happens to involve something of a relative of Carnage, known only as Venom. 

“You are like us, but not like us,” says Venom. “We despise trademark infringement. So you DIE!” Ugh. It’s not like Ram V isn’t a good writer. Christos Gage has done some good things in the past as well. The issue with THIS issue is the fact that it’s not exploring the deeper psyche of...anyone the way it seems to think that it is. There are moments of deep introspection going on in and amongst the various characters that inhabit the pages, but it’s just a lot of lifeless therapy for them before the big slug and slashfest that is Venom and Carnage and company going at it.

The action smears itself across the page like a thick mucus. It’s charming. Really. Seriously. The overall design for both Carnage and Venom is a really, really cool one. And it’s a lot of fun to see them squishily slicing at each other like giant streams of razor snot in the glittering darkness of another night in Marvel Manhattan. Manna, Carlos, and Arciniega do a beautiful job of making it look like elegantly weird and slimy wallpaper. Without truly engaging drama, 90% of the appeal of the issue lies simply in watching the aggression slide and slap around on the page with balletic poise. It’s pretty stuff. 

Once it’s over and the final panel crosses the final page, you kind of have to reach for a tissue. It’s all been a lot of fun and everything, but it’s time to clean up and get on with the process of figuring out just what the hell it was all about. There was a lot of suffering and slime and slashing and such. And it’s not like there isn’t SOME appeal to the deeper drama, but there’s just way too much mucous on the page in a conflict between Carnage and Venom. Honestly...the upcoming Carnage #1 might be a lot of fun if the title character is given something less...slimy to contrast against. 

Grade: D