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Venom: Carnage Unleashed #1-4
Carnage Classic
Collects Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #361-363, 410, 430-431, Venom: Carnage Unleashed #1-4, Carnage: Mind Bomb #1, Carnage: It's A Wonderful Life #1, Sensational Spider-Man (1996) #3, Spider-Man (1990) #67, Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) #233, Peter Parker: Spider-Man (1999) #13, Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #13-14 and material from Amazing Spider-Man Annual #28. The serial-killing symbiote's sadistic spree starts here! As if Venom wasn't lethal enough, imagine what would happen if his symbiotic "other" had been joined to a murderous psychopath? That's where Cletus Kasady comes in, as Venom's symbiotic spawn transforms him into Carnage, Spider-Man's sickest foe! Killing on a whim, Carnage is a painful, twisted thorn in the sides of Peter Parker, Ben Reilly, Venom…even the Silver Surfer! An unstoppable force of nature, Carnage will unleash an onslaught of death - but as far as he's concerned, it's a wonderful life!
488 pages, Paperback
First published July 12, 2016
43 people are currently reading
225 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 11, 2021
It really does cover the early history of Carnage through the 90s. Unfortunately the art is almost all very 90s too.
December 20, 2025
Placeholder for issues 359-363 of Michelinie’s Amazing Spider-Man run. Cardiac and Hammer alone gave this a five, then Carnage rolled up and cemented the entire thing as mint.
November 25, 2021
Pues es puro material para conocer a Carnage, contiene sus primeras apariciones, su debut en un cómic de Spiderman y un par de historias más donde se vuelve el enemigo principal de Venom.
Puedo decirles que sin duda alguna lo más destacable en esta colección es el arte, los simbiontes se ven espectaculares y en historias como Mind Bomb destacan mucho pero todos los cómics tienen algo en común y es que flojean en el guion, Venom y Carnage son personajes de un solo chiste que se resume en ser super violentos y amenazarse con matarse entre ellos todo el tiempo, en este momento de la historia eran personajes muy planos la verdad.
Recomiendo este recopilatorio a los que sean fans del personaje que sin duda alguna quedaran satisfechos pues hay mucho material clásico que la verdad ya es difícil de encontrar y tambien creo que es una excelente introducción para alguien que quiere conocer a Carnage y ver sus primeros arcos en cronológico...
Puedo decirles que sin duda alguna lo más destacable en esta colección es el arte, los simbiontes se ven espectaculares y en historias como Mind Bomb destacan mucho pero todos los cómics tienen algo en común y es que flojean en el guion, Venom y Carnage son personajes de un solo chiste que se resume en ser super violentos y amenazarse con matarse entre ellos todo el tiempo, en este momento de la historia eran personajes muy planos la verdad.
Recomiendo este recopilatorio a los que sean fans del personaje que sin duda alguna quedaran satisfechos pues hay mucho material clásico que la verdad ya es difícil de encontrar y tambien creo que es una excelente introducción para alguien que quiere conocer a Carnage y ver sus primeros arcos en cronológico...
September 16, 2020
This was a good comic. There is no single narrative to hand on to and on occasion the internal logic of some of the decisions made feels forced but overall it was a solid and entertaining read.
As you would expect with any book that features different contributors I found that I liked different writers and artists more than others but none jarred so much they tool me out of the tale and some soared.
I liked the absolute negatively moral stance of the character. It was refreshing and interesting and raised the issue of how we deal with them. I was surprised no one had killed Carnage yet what with all the time he spent in isolation.
Overall it was OK. My enthusiasm was only dampened by the fact that it was clear that there could be no actual great change and the character was too hot a property for there to be risk of permanent death.
As you would expect with any book that features different contributors I found that I liked different writers and artists more than others but none jarred so much they tool me out of the tale and some soared.
I liked the absolute negatively moral stance of the character. It was refreshing and interesting and raised the issue of how we deal with them. I was surprised no one had killed Carnage yet what with all the time he spent in isolation.
Overall it was OK. My enthusiasm was only dampened by the fact that it was clear that there could be no actual great change and the character was too hot a property for there to be risk of permanent death.
February 19, 2018
None of these are great stories. Carnage is not a deep character. All of his defeats seem implausible.
But what's most interesting about this is the historical take. It seems that almost immediately the Marvel writers were aware of how ridiculous the character was and how unsavory the idea was that there would be fans of this character. That's kind of the early part.
And of course, Mindbomb is somewhat unforgettable (even if the "sequel" was an ambitious failure.)
By the end, it's interesting that the writers make stabs at caring about a continuity in the character. A little. There's this weird respect for the canon and total disrespect. They say things like, "How weird. I thought we left Venom or Carnage in X or Y, but here they are in Z."
They should have taken the financial hit and included Maximum Carnage. Oh, well.
But what's most interesting about this is the historical take. It seems that almost immediately the Marvel writers were aware of how ridiculous the character was and how unsavory the idea was that there would be fans of this character. That's kind of the early part.
And of course, Mindbomb is somewhat unforgettable (even if the "sequel" was an ambitious failure.)
By the end, it's interesting that the writers make stabs at caring about a continuity in the character. A little. There's this weird respect for the canon and total disrespect. They say things like, "How weird. I thought we left Venom or Carnage in X or Y, but here they are in Z."
They should have taken the financial hit and included Maximum Carnage. Oh, well.
September 23, 2020
I picked up this book from Amazon hoping that it contained the original carnage book that I got when I was a kid. It brought back memories from then as I sat on the floor of my room reading anything and everything that carnage and venom appeared in.
Some of the newer issues here were surprising and the concept of Cosmic Carnage was amazing. I hope that concept comes back some day as it was fascinating that the symbiote could bond with the silver surfer like that.
I'd highly recommend this book for anyone hoping to learn more of the back story from one of the most deadly and interesting villains in all of comics.
Some of the newer issues here were surprising and the concept of Cosmic Carnage was amazing. I hope that concept comes back some day as it was fascinating that the symbiote could bond with the silver surfer like that.
I'd highly recommend this book for anyone hoping to learn more of the back story from one of the most deadly and interesting villains in all of comics.
May 1, 2017
Ohhh, I hate Carnage! He's a horrible villain! And a bit one note, slightly dull to tell the truth. So I was surprised to find that I rather enjoyed the better part of this collection. Glad to have it as it collected some issues I was missing from Amazing 400's.
April 10, 2020
Probably shouldn't have started from the end but my first ever comic books ever! It was a bit difficult to understand some references but thats on me. Otherwise enjoyable and much different to what i usually read.
November 30, 2022
Reprints Amazing Spider-Man (1) #344-345, 359-363, 410, 430-431, Annual #28, Venom: Carnage Unleashed #1-4, Carnage: Mind Bomb #1, Carnage: It’s a Wonderful Life #1, Sensational Spider-Man (1) #3, Spider-Man (1) #67, Spectacular Spider-Man (1) #233, Peter Parker: Spider-Man (1) #13, and Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #13-14 (February 1991-March 2000). When Eddie Brock’s serial killer cellmate Cletus Kasady comes in contact with a symbiote spore of Venom, terror is unleashed on the world! Carnage has no remorse and no restraint. He kills to kill and both Spider-Man and Venom are in his targets. As Spider-Man fights to contain Kasady, he deals with his own identity crisis in the return of his clone Ben Reilly…and Carnage’s horror is just added danger.
Written by David Michelinie, Larry Hama, Warren Ellis, Dan Jurgens, Tom Defalco, Howard Mackie, Todd Dezago, and David Quinn, Carnage Classic is a Marvel Comics superhero comic book collection. The issues features art by Mark Bagley, Steven Butler, Andrew Wildman, Kyle Hotz, Dan Jurgens, John Romita Jr., Sal Buscema, Joe Bennett, Lee Weeks, Graham Nolan, and Art Nichols, and issues in this collection were also included in Spider-Man: The Many Hosts of Carnage, Venom: The Nativity, Spider-Man: The Ben Reilly Omnibus—Volume 1, Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection—Volume 23: The Hero Killers, and Spider-Man: Webspinners—The Complete Collection among others.
Venom was everything in the early 1990s. He was the creepy new villain, and like Wolverine and Ghost Rider, he seemed to star in every comic book…but Marvel tried to one-up Venom by making the more extreme Carnage. First appearing in Amazing Spider-Man (1) #361 (April 1992), Carnage was everything that Venom was plus no morals…and it felt kind of like a one-trick pony in many ways..
This is a tough period of Spider-Man. The beginning of the collection is a better time…it is kind of the transition period between old style comics and the new Image style of comic books. Carnage feels like a blending of those two style and as the collection continues, the stories get less and less coherent. While Venom was multifaceted, Carnage just felt like a killer with no personality.
The second half of the collection also gets marred in the Ben Reilly-Peter Parker Clone Saga which doesn’t help this collection read very easy. The story was so entrenched in the Spider-Man titles that there is a lot of extraneous events happening in the issues included in this volume that make little sense as stand-alone issues. While Ben Reilly being possessed by Carnage is interesting, there is too much going on in the actual Spider-Man story to explore it.
The art also is all over the place. Carnage’s basic design leads to the potential for cool and stylized art. The collection has some really nice looking page layouts and designs, but then the next issue (from a different title) will be below standards. It is hard to grab issues from multiple sources and have any consistency, but it feels really inconsistent here.
Carnage Classic is for fans of the character. I particularly like Maximum Carnage (which isn’t included in this), but it does have a lot of Carnage’s background and early appearances which are getting harder and harder to come by in the competitive comic book market. With “character centric” collection, you can probably find these issues in other collections, but Carnage Classic is a good stepping stone…just don’t go in with high expectations.
Written by David Michelinie, Larry Hama, Warren Ellis, Dan Jurgens, Tom Defalco, Howard Mackie, Todd Dezago, and David Quinn, Carnage Classic is a Marvel Comics superhero comic book collection. The issues features art by Mark Bagley, Steven Butler, Andrew Wildman, Kyle Hotz, Dan Jurgens, John Romita Jr., Sal Buscema, Joe Bennett, Lee Weeks, Graham Nolan, and Art Nichols, and issues in this collection were also included in Spider-Man: The Many Hosts of Carnage, Venom: The Nativity, Spider-Man: The Ben Reilly Omnibus—Volume 1, Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection—Volume 23: The Hero Killers, and Spider-Man: Webspinners—The Complete Collection among others.
Venom was everything in the early 1990s. He was the creepy new villain, and like Wolverine and Ghost Rider, he seemed to star in every comic book…but Marvel tried to one-up Venom by making the more extreme Carnage. First appearing in Amazing Spider-Man (1) #361 (April 1992), Carnage was everything that Venom was plus no morals…and it felt kind of like a one-trick pony in many ways..
This is a tough period of Spider-Man. The beginning of the collection is a better time…it is kind of the transition period between old style comics and the new Image style of comic books. Carnage feels like a blending of those two style and as the collection continues, the stories get less and less coherent. While Venom was multifaceted, Carnage just felt like a killer with no personality.
The second half of the collection also gets marred in the Ben Reilly-Peter Parker Clone Saga which doesn’t help this collection read very easy. The story was so entrenched in the Spider-Man titles that there is a lot of extraneous events happening in the issues included in this volume that make little sense as stand-alone issues. While Ben Reilly being possessed by Carnage is interesting, there is too much going on in the actual Spider-Man story to explore it.
The art also is all over the place. Carnage’s basic design leads to the potential for cool and stylized art. The collection has some really nice looking page layouts and designs, but then the next issue (from a different title) will be below standards. It is hard to grab issues from multiple sources and have any consistency, but it feels really inconsistent here.
Carnage Classic is for fans of the character. I particularly like Maximum Carnage (which isn’t included in this), but it does have a lot of Carnage’s background and early appearances which are getting harder and harder to come by in the competitive comic book market. With “character centric” collection, you can probably find these issues in other collections, but Carnage Classic is a good stepping stone…just don’t go in with high expectations.
November 7, 2018
It's safe to say that I am more of a Venom fan than I am Carnage fan. Yet, there is plenty to enjoy in this volume. There is some great artwork and some great stories. Some issues were a bit of a drag and not my favorite, but there were some that were pretty awesome and totally bizarre. I'll likely pick up a few of the more popular Carnage volumes at some point.
April 27, 2024
Hot 90s garbage. Does not include 'Maximum Carnage' story which makes it hard to enjoy on even a nostalgic level. You can clearly see the editorial edict to make Carnage the Joker of Marvel. There is some good art. He is a fun character to draw. And a Warren Ellis issue that was mostly a prose exercise.
January 28, 2022
Feels kind like an anthology considering the different stories are detached from one another. Some are really good and I would even argue amazing (especially in the art deoartment) while others are just meh.
October 15, 2022
A Great Read!
I love spidey and you should too 👍 Carnage kicks up quite the fuss in this collection. Plenty of pages for your eyeballs to chew through. Love these books on prime reading as well!
I love spidey and you should too 👍 Carnage kicks up quite the fuss in this collection. Plenty of pages for your eyeballs to chew through. Love these books on prime reading as well!
July 18, 2021
So basically Cletus Kasady is a psycho! Lol..good read nothing major, a collection of stories, some more interesting than others but it will give you an idea of how Carnage came to be.
October 3, 2021
Fun stuff!
October 24, 2021
4.5 - The origin of Carnage... cool...
Read
November 8, 2021It was not bad the only thing that was bad is that there was no action and there must have action for superhero books
December 15, 2021
everything about it is MID
August 28, 2022
El origen del simbionte sociópata Matanza. Todo un desafío para Spider-Man.
June 22, 2024
Comic entretenido, buenas historias de Spider-Man y Venom vs Carnage.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews