Venom, Vol. 4: Devil's Pack

Venom (2011) (Collected Editions)

by Cullen Bunn, Thony Silas (Artist), Nelson DeCastro (Inker)

As the Avengers task Venom with bringing in Daimon Hellstrom, the Devil’s pact made in Circle of Four comes full circle — and Hell-Venom is unleashed! Can Flash regain his soul, or will he remain in Daimon’s thrall forever? Meanwhile, ace reporter Katy Kiernan makes a devastating discovery about Flash! It’s Venom vs. the Monsters of Evil with the fate of his soul in his hands! Plus: A rash of disappearances brings Flash and Katy to Philadelphia, but how are the U-Foes involved? In a race against time, can Flash Thompson rescue not just his friends, but also his newly adopted city, from an alien plot? Get ready for the most toxic ending in Venom history!

Collecting: Venom 23-25, 28-30

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Spider Man, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

136 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2013

About the author

Cullen grew up in rural North Carolina, but now lives in the St. Louis area with his wife Cindy and his son Jackson. His noir/horror comic (and first collaboration with Brian Hurtt), The Damned, was published in 2007 by Oni Press. The follow-up, The Damned: Prodigal Sons, was released in 2008. In addition to The Sixth Gun, his current projects include Crooked Hills, a middle reader horror prose series from Evileye Books; The Tooth, an original graphic novel from Oni Press; and various work for Marvel and DC. Somewhere along the way, Cullen founded Undaunted Press and edited the critically acclaimed small press horror magazine, Whispers from the Shattered Forum.

All writers must pay their dues, and Cullen has worked various odd jobs, including Alien Autopsy Specialist, Rodeo Clown, Professional Wrestler Manager, and Sasquatch Wrangler.

And, yes, he has fought for his life against mountain lions and he did perform on stage as the World's Youngest Hypnotist. Buy him a drink sometime, and he'll tell you all about it.

Visit his website at www.cullenbunn.com.

Reviews

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this volume we see the repercussions from the trip Venom took into Hell. Daimon Hellstrom is evil once again, and he's assembled a team of mythical monsters from around the world, and then possessed them with demons. However, Venom has a surprise that no one saw coming.

Next Venom takes on the U-Foes in a storyline much better than you'd think. Add in a guest appearance by the Valkyrie (sexy!) and you have another good volume.

[Aldo Haegemans · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5/5

[Alex Sarll]

It seems hard to believe now, but back in the heady days of 2012 sometimes a new writer would take over a Marvel book *without* a renumbering*. So after Rick Remender bonded the Venom symbiote to long-term Spidey supporting character Flash Thompson, he handed off to Cullen Bunn - like Remender, a writer who has some excellent work to his name but is nowhere near reliable. And at first, it seems like we have the bad Bunn here, as Agent Venom gets possessed by a demon and becomes even more nineties than Venom was in the first place - spiky bits all over the place and a return to that annoying habit of talking with his giant tongue out. But no, it settles down into good crazy rather than bad crazy, assuming you agree with my estimate that a demonically-possessed tiki rampaging through a zoo is good crazy. The second story has one utterly brilliant line (less effective without context, so I shan't spoil it here), but fails to alter my opinion that the U-Foes are among comics' most generic villains.

*That said, I recall that even then this was for a time their highest-numbered book. A number above 30 on the cover? Won't somebody think of the children?

[Jeff Lanter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this volume and felt the storyline had too many cliches and there was no character development here either. If you've read my other reviews, you could probably guess that leaving the Circle of Four event behind would have been a good idea for this series and going back to it and bringing back the most uninteresting character from it does not serve this series well. Even the art seemed rushed towards the end of this volume. Unfortunately, this seems like a character/series where there was a great idea/direction and over time, both of those are lost and the book wanders on until it is inevitably ended or cancelled. In this case, I'm not sticking around to see its painful demise.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Już w poprzednich zeszytach scenarzyści zaszaleli z konceptem piekieł, ale to była niezła okazja, aby wprowadzić całkiem niezły team i popuścić wodze wyobraźni. Tego głównie tutaj niestety brak.

Jedyną pozostałością z tamtych wydarzeń jest pentagram na klacie Thompsona i przeciwnik. Hellstrom, który tutaj gra złoczyńcę, a wszystko to, bo małym demonom mamy też opowiadają jakieś bajki i legendy na dobranoc... Jedna z nich ma dotyczyć istoty oznaczonej pentagramem, ale nie wiadomo której, bo nie tylko Venom takowy ma. I ta istota ma mocno zamieszać tam na dole. Venom jako Hellboy... Serio?

Potem mamy kilka fajnych aktów przemocy, do walki dołączają jakieś stworki z piekła. Flash jak zwykle w kryzysowej sytuacji na swoje szczęście traci panowanie nad Venomem i po chwili dowiadujemy się, że Venom (a z nim i Thompson) został opętany... Wtf?!

Dalej mamy małą wycieczkę do Filadelfii, by ratować przyjaciółkę Flasha, a która została uprowadzona w jakim celu przez grupę złoczyńców nazwaną U-foes... Tak. O czymś świadczy fakt, iż czekałem aż ktoś ich wykończy... Są przeraźliwie nudni. Cieszył fakt, że Venom w tej walce nie był osamotniony, bo dołączyła do niego inna fajna postać, ale w ogólnym rozrachunku ta część tomu wynudziła mnie okropnie.

Nie ma tu zbytnio miejsca na rozwój postaci. Jest za to dużo starć. Venom co i rusz schodzi z Flasha jak jakaś wylinka z węża i poza kilkoma fajnymi momentami prezentowana historia nie miała mi nic do zaoferowania. Ot, przeczytać i zapomnieć.

Szkoda, bo graficznie plansze prezentują się nieźle. Zwłaszcza przy tych momentach, w których na pierwszy plan wkracza ten "właściwy", wściekły Venom. Dobrze przynajmniej, że w odniesieniu do epilogu kolejny tom zapowiada się nieźle. (Toxic...)

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collects Venom issues #23-25 and #28-30

If this series had been coming out in 2017, the first issue in this collection would have been renumbered at #1 instead of continuing on from Rick Remender's run. Issue #23 is a good jumping-on point for readers as the new writer, Cullen Bunn, brings Agent Venom to a new hometown (Philadelphia) for his heroic adventures. There is a new supporting cast for Flash, and Eddie Brock is lurking around.

I typically like Remender as a writer better than Bunn, but this collection brought the series in a more interesting direction (in my opinion).

There are two issues missing from the run, which can be found in the Scarlet Spider/Venom crossover, "Minimum Carnage."

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a VERY weird story, but I guess they really wanted to develop the whole "Agent Venom has a demon inside him" story arc, so they brought in the likes of Hellstrom? It made for a strange arc and then followed-up but by another run-in with the U-Foes that tried to be tied to something bigger but felt flat to me in the end.

But hey, Flash is moving out of New York! Yay?

And the demon inside him is now utilizing the supposedly lobotomized symbiote without Flash's intervention, so we're back to the old chestnut of the suit controlling Flash when he's not conscious and such. Very classic black costume story concept, really.

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, this is a huge step back for the series. Flash dealing with demons and monsters is not nearly as interesting as seeing him spar with street level baddies. The supernatural isn't a great fit. Added to that are the lack of the old supporting cast and the addition of someone cliched and tied to the supernatural. This plot never hit home for me in any way. The art was also a step back from the previous series artists. Overall, a disappointing misstep.

[Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A proper continuation of Remender's run. Bunn takes the threads from Remender's run on Venom and Secret Avengers, bringing in Valkyrie and focusing more on the demon possessing Flash. A little rough around the edges, but I personally love seeing Venom being used as this flexible character for which a lot of genres can work.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable in a guilty pleasure kind of way. Nothing too groundbreaking, mostly just finishing a series I forgot about. 3/5.

[Deyth Banger · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting more...
Sonetimes they just ruin old original stuff.

[Bethany Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this graphic novel.

This is about Venom being tasked with bringing in Daimon Hellstorm by the Avengers. As he is trying to do this he still has to contend with the Devil's pact that started in the Circle of Four. And to make things worse Hell Venom is unleashed now Flash as to find a way to break out of Daimon's grasp. While this is going on a reporter named Katy Kiernan discovers something about Flash.

I really liked this story. It was interesting to see what what going to happen to Flash. I also wondered how he was going to deal with the thing with Daimon was going to play out. I was intrigued about the other characters and how they were going to work in this book.

I can't wait to see what is going to happen to Venom and Flash as things were progressing. It was a fun and entertaining story.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a lot of things being set up here that I don't think were ever resolved. It feels a little monotonous with the "What kind of monster am I?" dialogue over and over again without too much advancement toward resolution.

[Addison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great with its various action scenes and funny moments combined.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know, without Remender it just isn't quite the same. It isn't bad, just missing...something.

[G-E · Rating 2 out of 5]

Je n’ai pas embarqué dans cette histoire de démons. L’histoire ne mène à rien et reste en surface. De plus, les combats sont très chargés et pas très enlevants.