Venomnibus, Vol. 1

Venomnibus

by David Michelinie, D.G. Chichester, Carl Potts

Spider-Man's symbiotic sparring partner goes solo as he heads to San Francisco - but is he a deadly villain, or lethal protector? Find out, along with the Punisher, Daredevil, Iron Man, Hulk, Darkhawk, Juggernaut, Spidey and more! Venom faces madness, vengeance and a bad case of separation anxiety - plus the ultimate symbiote showdown with the psychopathic Carnage! It's a Brock-buster volume that could only be called a Venomnibus!

COLLECTING: VENOM: LETHAL PROTECTOR 1-6, VENOM: FUNERAL PYRE 1-3, DAREDEVIL (1964) 323, IRON MAN (1968) 302, DARKHAWK 35-37, VENOM: THE MADNESS 1-3, VENOM: THE ENEMY WITHIN 1-3, INCREDIBLE HULK VS. VENOM 1, VENOM: THE MACE 1-3, NIGHTWATCH 5-6, VENOM: NIGHTS OF VENGEANCE 1-4, SPIDER-MAN: THE ARACHNIS PROJECT 6, WEB OF SPIDER-MAN (1985) 118-119, SPIDER-MAN (1990) 52-53, VENOM: SEPARATION ANXIETY 1-4, VENOM: CARNAGE UNLEASHED 1-4, MATERIAL FROM SILVER SABLE & THE WILD PACK 18-19, VENOM SUBPLOT PAGES

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Spider Man, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Ebooks, Fiction

1096 pages, Hardcover

First published July 3, 2018

Reviews

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay this is a huge book so if want my breakdown you can read my reviews on the Mini-series which I posted reviews for each of these stories.

This is 90's to the max. You have big hulking Brock going around the city talking like a weirdo saying "We will save the innocent people" while looking like he gonna eat you up. You have villains from knockoff Ghost riders, DemoGoblin which is similar to HobGoblin, you have The Mace User, who is just the guy from Predator. So in other words if you think big, lots of chains, huge guns, and 90's to the max, that is all the villains and most heroes in this comic.

The interesting thing is Venom never really had a ongoing series till much later. Now most of these Mini-series are like a month or two after each other. So in a sense he did have a ongoing but it probably sold more to do mini-series. Not a bad idea. And of course it ranges from decent fun stories, to over the top silly, to downright bad.

The best stories actually usually involve Spider-Man. Peter or Ben Riley, either one, both stories were solid. I also enjoyed the story focused on Venom dealing with his symbiote and the other people who are effected by them.

Best stories to read: Venom: The enemy Within, Incredible Hulk vs Venom, web of Spider-man, Venom Separation Anxiety (best one) and Venom Lethal Protector for the sake of getting to know the real venom.

Skip: Venom Carnage Unleashed (So stupid), Venom and SIlver Stable and the wild pack, and DarkHawk crossover as well as Nightwatch (The worst one of the bunch)

Overall I don't know if I can really give this a 4. On an enjoyment, and laughing at the stupidity of it all, it's a 4. But the actual content isn't really that. So I'll settle with a 3.

[Corban Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good compilation of Venom stories from the 90's from his beginnings to his encounters with Spider-Man, Iron-Man, Wolverine, and all the other Marvel characters you know and love. I found it fun to just examine the stories he was in and the artwork and how that changed over the years in the development of Venom, when you could tell that Marvel fell in love with him from the get go and almost seemed obsessed with putting him in every major (or minor) storyline. Aside from a few story duds, this huge hardbound omnibus was great. I really enjoyed it and have high hopes for Volume 2 when I get my hands on it in a future comic con or something, lol

[Crazed8J8 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lethal Protector - 4 stars, Classic Venom story with great Bagley and Lim artwork. Gives some insight into Eddie's past (which is later changed/retconned/retold) and show him changing his ways from violent villain to lethal protector. The first 3 books are beautifully drawn by Bagley, classic Venom and Spidey looks. Venom squares off against the Jury (weak) and meets the underground people of San Fran (who are a continuing plot point through most of this omnibus). 5 new symbiotes are introduced, and they end up having an impact in Venom stories yeasts later! Spider-Man guest stars throughout, and solid artwork make this a worthwhile read. The villains (LIFE Foundation and The Jury are both mediocre), but this was used, in part, for the 2018 live action film.

Funeral Pyre - 2 stars. Although it was cool to see Venom and the Punisher together (as both allies and opponents), the antagonist Pyre was poorly conceived and short lived. The art overall was okay, not bad, not great, the story though is easily passed over.

Silver Sable #18-19 - 3 stars. The story was mediocre and part of a larger crossover event. Cool to see Sandman and Sable square off against (and alongside) Venom. The artist draws Sable and Venom pretty well, but in general, doesn't do great faces. Easily a story to bypass, no lasting impacts.

Daredevil #321-323 - 2 stars. Part of the larger Fall From Grace story, this just highlights the Venom parts of the story. As with the Silver Sable story, you feel like you're coming into a story missing lots of background and leaving unresolved. The artwork is dark and gritty, which is cool, but I'm not a Daredevil fan, so again, this is another easily skipped story.

Iron Man #301-302 - 4 stars. 301 has a few pages you catch you up, and 302 is a full issue. The up side is that we get to see Venom fight Iron Man (not sure we've seen this pairing before) the downside is that there's no resolution. Good art, good fight sequences, poor ending.

Darkhawk #35-37 - 2 stars ... you come into this story not knowing the characters or what's going on. As the story moves on, Venom is introduced and the story focuses on him and Darkhawk and makes a little more sense. Some cheesy villains are introduced, the plot moves on, and Venom and Darkhawk part ways. The artist (Tod Smith) draws Venom decently (reminiscent of Ron Lim), but any partial Brock/Venom art is horrendous. A mediocre and unnecessary story, easily skipped.

Venom: The Madness - 3 stars
Dark and gritty, a violent story fearing the Juggernaut. The good, Venom, his protection of the innocents, and his descent and battle with madness. The bad, no real fisticuffs between Venom and Juggernaut, and even for the 90s, this story went to some pretty dark places (rape, murder, etc). The ugly, Juggernaut, the artwork on him was just bad, every time. Venom and the normal people were drawn well, Juggs, not so much. A dark story and decent and short read.

Venom: The Enemy Within - 3.5 stars
Short/fast read. Goblins are attacking the subways and people of San Francisco, and Venom tries to figure out what they are and where they came from. Morbius gets called in to be their leader, but wait, he and Venom team up against them. How about Demogoblin, he's a great fit to lead them, but can Venom and Morbius stop him? Do they want to? All said, interesting (albeit irrelevant) story, and pretty solid art (Bob McLeod) all around.

Incredible Hulk vs. Venom - 2 stars
Jim Craig art was not great on either Hulk nor Venom, not horrid, but just not very well done. The plot was very weak and the Hans and Frans skit was so totally 90s, it got an eye roll. Worth skipping, but a worthwhile investment of you can find the actual comic.

Venom: The Mace - 3.5 stars
Liam Sharp art was decent, really knew how to draw a massive Venom. The characters were weak (Mace, the Sunrise Society), but the normal humans had a little depth, and Venom was well done and learned some new skills. At this stage, he's still relatively bloodthirsty, but is learning.

Nightwatch 5 & 6 - 3 stars
Mark Tenney art was okay. He straws great faces and Nightwatch looks great (Spawn meets Batman), but the way he draws Venom's body is super blocky and oddly colored, not a great story either. Easily skipped, unless you're a Nightwatch fan (I am not).

Nights of Vengeance - 2.5 stars
I love the Ron Lim art, he epitomizes 90s comic art to me. Another c-list team of villains for Venom to square off against (Stalkers), but he gets a friend in Vengeance (who is basically a bulked up Ghost Rider). They have a great chemistry, and did I mention the awesome Lim artwork? Easy to skip but a fun and fast read.

Two one page appearances (Secret Defenders #20 & Silver Sable #30). Both are just a few panels of inconsequential Venom appearances, followed by The Arachnis Project part 6 (it slipped parts 1-5, since Venom wasn't in them.)
The Arachnis Project had several pages from earlier issues and the full issue #6. With art by Andrew Wildman (who draws a superb Spider-Man, but a mediocre Venom), this story is almost a direct sequel to Lethal Protector, as both the Jury and Life Foundation are back. 3 stars, because of weak storytelling and villains, but countered with great artwork.

Web of Spider-Man #118/119 and Spider-Man #52/53, where Ben Reilly faces of against Venom in The Exile Returns. - 4 stars
Art by Stephen Butler (WoS) and Tom Lyle (SM). Let me preface this by saying I hate the Clone Saga, it ruined Spider-Man for me and caused me to quit collecting at the time. This is just before they denounce Peter Parker though. The art is incredibly well done, both on Venom and on Ben Reilly. Butler might slightly edge out Lyle, but both calorie 5 things well, artistically. Scream (unnamed) makes he first appearance after Lethal Protector in these pages too, and Kaine makes his debut. All in all, a little too Scarlet Spider-centric (for a Venom collection) but a required and worthwhile read!

Separation Anxiety - 4 stars
Ron Randall art was okay. He drew the other symbiotes spot-on (he defines their style), but Venom and any human faces are lacking. Overall, the story picks up where Lethal Protector (glad I just re-read that before reading this and Exile Returns) and The Exile Returns left off. If those were books 1 & 2, this would be #3, and I highly suggest reading them in that order. This doesn't advance Venom's overall plot very much, and the other symbiotes (still unnamed, other than their human names) are weak. There is a lot of untapped potential here. There is one Venom plot-point that is major though, being separated, and how Eddie and the symbiote function without one another. That leads to huge issues in the future, and this is just the start.

Carnage Unleashed - 3.5 stars
Andrew Wildman only draws a mediocre Venom, and his Carnage is slightly different than "normal" versions. Not bad (on Carnage), but different. He draws women extremely well (think Bagley). So the art was okay, but not enough to compensate for a very odd story. Carnage escapes, both virtually and in reality, and goes on a small killing spree, only to be stopped by Venom. Larry Hama writes, but doesn't seem at the top of his game in this story. It was awkward and forced, and seems very dated by today's technology standards. Worth the read, but mediocre overall.

Excerpt from Spider-Man meets Spider-Man 2099 - only a few pages, no worth rating, but odd to come into the middle of a story and not know what is going on, and to leave before there is any resolution. Would have been best to skip this from inclusion in the book.

All in all, 3 stars, some great stories, some contrived/forced stories, but almost throughout, mediocre villains (no A-listers), which is really disappointing. I wish they would have featured more mainstream characters for Venom to square off against. Decent artwork on most, but not the top artists either. A fun and worthwhile read to see where Venom came from, but aside from a couple of books (Lethal Protector, Separation Anxiety, The Exile Returns, and maybe Carnage Unleashed), no lasting impact or ramifications to Venom's life.

[Reece Rodriguez · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a big fan of Venom, who did not grow up in the 90's and isn't biased by the nostalgia of reading these comics as a child, these issues are pretty bad.

I myself didn't even realize Venom had such a rough go in his own series. Of all the arcs in this collection I'd say Lethal Protector was the only arcs that I could say was good. The one Peter David Hulk issue was also good, but that's just one issue. Every other arc suffers from pretty much the same thing, throw Venom in a compromising situation and have him kill. That's cool a few times but there' no character development here for Venom. Most of these stories don't have any stakes, just one off stories with characters that are never seen again--and BAD stories too. None of them are interesting or go any deeper than "Venom fight bad guy". Almost every arc is also written by a new writer, so there's no consistency in the stories or Venom/Eddie Brock's character. They also all keep reintroducing venom as if we've never met him before. The first few pages of each 1st issue of a new arc reintroduces that Venom is vulnerable to sonics, or invulnerable to bullets or doesn't like Spider-Man. They don't even do this cleverly, Brock will just say "Oh no! Sonics! My symbiote is vulnerable and if I don't think quick they could kill Venom!" Or some other kind of god-awful-shove-down-your-throat exposition it's exhaustive.

There's potential for a good Venom run. His time in SF, protecting the people of an underground society sets up recurring characters that we can care about, but most of the time these characters are just used as set pieces or completely thrown away after 6 issues. The Mace is the only arc, other than Lethal Protector, that uses those underground characters, nearly at all. It wasn't even a very good arc.

THEN, Venom just comes back to NY from SF. Why? Who cares! He's back. he's abandoned the underground society he was protecting and ditched his very brief love interest. The entire SF storyline didn't even need to happen.

The last 13 issues with Scarlet Spider and Carnage are good. Venom does well with these characters around him, but Jesus why were there like 30 issues of nothingness before this? I bought this book expecting a greatest hits of his early appearances, when in fact I just got his early appearances. I know the 90's are a really bad decade for comics, especially when it comes to writing, and especially for Marvel, but because of Venom's popularity I figured his runs must be good, or he wouldn't have made it out of the 90's.

I was so wrong. This book and the large majority of these issues are bad. If you have the nostalgia of reading these issues as a kid, you'll probably love this, if not dont buy this book expecting good Venom stories (except Lethal Protector). As a collector it's nice to have, but again I would not recommend this if you're looking for good stories.

If you're a Venom fan who DOES want good 90's stories, go instead with the Spider-man vs Venom omnibus (Maximum Carnage drags on in the second half but it's still pretty good), or the David Micheline & Todd McFarlane omnibus.

[B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Golly, these are bad. No one seems to have any idea what to do with Venom to advance the character or create ongoing stakes. He's usually overpowering folks or being beat up. And virtually every time he gets walloped, he has long exposition about how people listening to his long exposition gave him time to recover.

Venom: Lethal Protector #1-6
This is actually a potentially OK beginning for an ongoing. It sets up a base of operations, some recurring characters, a potential long-running villain, and the core moral dilemma of the character: Should brains be eaten? But we only rarely come back to any of these.

Venom: Funeral Pyre #1-3
Venom and the Punisher, you aren't so different, you and I. And then this whole thing seems to set up a dumb villain no one ever cares about again.

Venom: The Madness #1-3
This sets up a really strange love interest. It also seems to want to be an Elektra assassin knockoff. High points: The Juggernaut is in the story; the Venom madness heads. Low points. Everything.

Venom: The Enemy Within #1-3
This book seems to require that you know and care about what's going on with the Demogoblin. Can't say that I do. It almost works otherwise.

DARKHAWK 35-37
NIGHTWATCH 5-6
No one wants these characters. Nightwatch is particularly painful because of how obviously it wants to be Spawn.

SPIDER-MAN: THE ARACHNIS PROJECT 6
Weird. Also, amazing how the Jury never really works even though they have big videogame stardom in Separation Anxiety (below)

Venom: The Mace #1-3
Another cool, brooding antihero/villain that just rides off into the sunset. They seemed to really want to use the Venom books to launch new characters when Venom is already on shaky ground.

Venom: Separation Anxiety #1-4
This might have been the biggest disappointment in the book. It was the attempted hot videogame so I thought it would have a big, big story (even if it ultimately failed). But this is a pretty small story where the atuors make the same mistake of creating too many symbiotes. How many named symbiotes are there in the Marvel Universe right now? 20?

Venom: Nights of Vengeance #1-4
So this was a combination of the Predator and the Borg/Phalanx. But it doesn't work because Venom and Ghost Rider refuse to be hunted. And they can usually just pound the bad guys, right? Also, what is this Ghost Rider?

Venom: Carnage Unleashed #1-4
This is actually an OK story that should have been more of a dig at the Maximum Carnage game. But it's in the (actually more readable) Carnage omnibus. So no surprises.

Daredevil (1964) #323
Web of Spider-Man (1985) #118-119
Spider-Man (1990) #52-53
Boy, I don't remember most of this, except how weird and out-of-continutiy Daredevil seemed to be.

The one really charming surprise story was the goofy Hulk/Venom one-off by Peter David. It couldn't bear a repeat performance but it really stands out.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had a buddy ask for me to make a review of this comic for his website, so I just copied from his source; thespideymansource.com - Title: “Venomnibus: A Love Letter to Chaos, Carnage, and the Burning Edge of Anti-Heroism”

★★★★★ 4.5/5

I didn’t realize how deep this infection had gone. Somewhere between Venom: Lethal Protector and Carnage Unleashed, the symbiote didn’t just bond with Eddie—it bonded with me. These collected arcs aren’t just pulp superhero stories—they’re a portrait of rage, redemption, and razor-edged loyalty that has become as much a mirror of my darker moods as it is an escape. The further I get into Peter Parker’s world, the less I relate to his sunny moral compass and teen angst, and the more I find myself nodding along with Eddie Brock’s sneer. And yeah… maybe that’s not a healthy thing. But damn if it isn’t honest.

💀 “We are Venom.” — Venom: Lethal Protector #1
Let’s start with Venom: Lethal Protector (1993), because this is where the real standalone mythology begins. Eddie’s moved to San Francisco, trying to be something more than a villain—but everywhere he turns, he’s forced to confront how society won’t let a monster heal. David Michelinie’s writing here is vintage in the best way, and Mark Bagley’s art gives you raw, muscular Venom in all his slobbering, sinewed glory. This is the arc where we meet The Life Foundation—the corporate devils who rip five new symbiotes from Venom’s flesh (Scream, Riot, Phage, Lasher, Agony). This is not just a turning point in Venom lore; it’s foundational.

This book knows what it is. It doesn’t try to be Batman. It doesn’t try to be Spider-Man. It’s Venom—and that means leaning into the grime and the gore with a wicked grin.

🔥 “They want me to follow their rules... I follow my rules.” — Venom: Funeral Pyre #2
Then comes Funeral Pyre, and suddenly we’re tossing Frank Castle into the symbiotic stew. The Punisher/Venom team-up shouldn’t work, and yet it absolutely does because it becomes a war of methodology. Castle is precise. Venom is chaos. When Eddie helps a runaway teen and uncovers a criminal conspiracy that even Castle has trouble stomaching, you feel Eddie’s twisted code begin to clarify. His empathy, though warped, is genuine.

This was also the arc that gave me that “burn” again—that feeling that Venom might fall into the worst kind of anti-hero trope, but instead veers hard into vigilante outlaw. A dangerous one, yes. But honest.

🧠 Madness and Monsters: The Madness, The Enemy Within, and The Mace
These next arcs (Madness, Enemy Within, Mace) are where things get strange. Venom vs. Juggernaut. Venom vs. demons. Venom vs. moral ambiguity. Madness dives deep into psychological horror—literally, as Venom’s mind is invaded by Darek Robertson’s truly trippy artwork and Anne Nocenti’s tight existential writing. Venom is infected with a hallucinogenic disease, and his mind fractures into internal war. It’s weird, unnerving, and filled with philosophical weight: is a monster still responsible for the horrors he sees when his mind is not his own?

The Enemy Within takes Eddie into a supernatural mystery with body horror, cults, and child sacrifice. Yes, it’s that dark. But it's a reminder: Venom has always existed at the border of superhero and horror.

💔 Separation Anxiety and the Growing Myth
Separation Anxiety (1994) is one of the most emotionally brutal arcs in the Venom saga. When the five Life Foundation symbiotes return, they come not as soldiers—but as orphans of a broken family. Venom is forced to fight the very beings born from him. There's a particularly haunting moment when Scream screams, “You were supposed to teach us!”

This is Venom as reluctant father figure. As consequence. You start to understand why Eddie is always angry. Why he fights so violently. It’s because every connection he tries to form ends in betrayal, in death, in regret.

🩸Carnage Unleashed: The Face-Melter
Then Carnage Unleashed (1995) hits like a thrash metal album. Cletus Kasady finds a way to digitize Carnage through a video game, which might sound ridiculous, but let me tell you: it is pure 90s madness and it works. Tom DeFalco knows exactly how to dial up the lunacy, and Kyle Hotz’s grotesque visuals match it note-for-note. This is one of those arcs that burns so hot it nearly scorches the lore—but somehow, just barely, it sticks the landing.

It’s not afraid to make Venom look less monstrous compared to what real evil (like Kasady) looks like when it's unchecked.

🕷️ Spider-Side Streets: Daredevil, Web of Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Darkhawk Crossovers
What makes this whole omnibus sing is how these issues interlace into the larger Marvel Universe. In Daredevil (1964) #323, Venom fights alongside the street-level heroes in the Fall from Grace storyline. There’s a beautiful brutality to seeing him on the same panel as Matt Murdock—two broken men wearing masks, trying to make sense of a world that keeps punishing the innocent.

The Web of Spider-Man and Spider-Man (1990) issues (#118-119, #52-53) introduce Scarlet Spider, Kane, and the messy legacy of clones. Venom becomes a wild card—neither villain nor ally—and there’s something electric about watching Peter and Ben Reilly navigate a world where even their worst enemies now have gray zones.

Even Iron Man and Darkhawk make appearances in Iron Man #302 and Darkhawk #35-37, which adds a tech-panic and street-justice angle to Venom’s usually organic, goo-dripping threats.

🕯️ A Decade of Lore, and Still the Flame Burns
Reading this collection across time feels like watching a beloved old VHS tape that just won’t quit—scratched, rewound too many times, but the sound and fury is still all there. You remember the slime. You remember the sneer. You remember that voice saying “We are Venom.” and realizing—yeah, maybe you are too.

Venom shouldn’t work. He’s part horror, part anti-hero, part dad, part demon, part addict, and part avenger. And yet somehow, the longer this chaotic, black-suited journey goes on, the more I admire it. Even when the stories burn too fast (The Mace, Enemy Within), they leave behind scars worth remembering.

💬 Favorite Quote to End:
“You call us monster. But we protect the innocent. We punish the wicked. And we do it with teeth.”
— Venom: Lethal Protector #6

If you’ve ever loved villains more than heroes…
If you’ve ever wanted your comics messy, meaty, and metal…
If you’ve ever felt like the hero’s world just doesn’t fit anymore…

This Venomnibus isn’t just worth reading.
It’s worth feeling.

[Marko Perisic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man, this was though.

This is an impressive collection of Venom stories from early 1990s. The fact that it exists is commendable as it seems Marvel tried capturing as much as they could. Seeing different Venom designs is always a treat.

Too bad that most of these stories are pure trash. I expected the issues to be just shallow beat-em-ups, but they were not certainly not of the entertaining kind.

As the story is non-existent, I tried latching onto the characters, but even our protagonist is just one great character design with little substance. In his very first appearances, Eddie Brock was not anything amazing, don't get me wrong, but he was serviceable as this sanctimonious prick. After he turned into an anti-hero, those qualities gave way to generic protagonist traits. I have yet to read the rest of Venom, but it seems that the best version of the character was in the 90s Spider-Man. Eddie was still a prick, but one that was built up, which his comic-book counterpart.

Another positive thing I could say about this omnibus is that the issues by Howard Mackie and Peter David, including everything starring Ben Reilly were not bad. The reads were breezy and fun. Nothing amazing, but I didn't expect anything amazing (I did hope for it). Compared to everything else in this omnibus, the adventures in these issues kept my interest and I wasn't finish them due to the sense of obligation.

[WORM · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, for most of this series I was just reading for the sake of finishing it, but it got pretty entertaining in the last three arcs, starting with the Scarlet Spider. After that there was more character development and introspection, as well as it diving into plot that was more personal to Venom himself. Before that it just felt like pointless action and crossovers. I enjoyed the Scarlet Spider as a character, as well as Venom's kids and what happened with Carnage. I do think it was a little silly that the Separation Anxiety arc alluded to Eddie and his symbiote needing to take some time apart so Eddie could think for himself, only for them to be back together like nothing happened in the next issue. Also it was funny to see Venom and Carnage fight as like, video game dudes. So lame, in a funny way.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm gonna get to the point.

Venom: Protector Lethal Protector 1-6: 4/5
Venom: Funeral Pyre 1-3: 3/5
Silver Sable and the Wild Pack 18-19: 3/5
Daredevil 323: 2/5
Iron Man 402: 4/5
Darkhawk 35-37: 1.5/5
Venom: The Madness: 3.5/5
Venom: The Enemy Within: 5/5
Incredible Hulk vs. Venom 5/5
Venom: The Mace: 3.5/5
Nightwatch 5-6: 3/5
Venom: Nights of Vengeance: 3/5
Spider Man: The Arachnis Project: 3/5
Web of Spider Man 118-119, Spider Man 52-53: 4.5/5
Venom: Seperation Anxiety 5/5
Venom: Carnage Unleashed: 4/5

[Sean Trimble · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the initial Lethal Protector Mini Series, the team up with Morbius, the battle with Punisher, the Dawkhawk crossover and the Scarlet Spider battle along with the arcs that came afterwards and those are like 3 or 4 stars. The rest of the omnibus contained stories that were not interesting or just boring. They added in small excerpts from other stories but they don’t make much of a difference. There was a six part Spider-Man storyline included and they only had the last issue in this collection because its the only one with Venom but you get zero context with the story.

[ComicBookCult Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 90s wasn’t a good time for mainstream comics, most publishers were failing and running out of ideas, the comics just didn’t have enough pizzazz anymore. This felt somewhat refreshing in parts but overall about 60% of this book felt very underwhelming, filler and boring. The art & writing are mediocre here mostly, this time for comics just isn’t for me really.

[Xroldx · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of Venom miniseries collected in this first volume. A mixed bag of art and of writing. There's not much to Venoms' character yet besides going on a rampage against mostly Marvels' D-list characters.

The Carnage storyline stood out in a positive way.

[Alexandre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Use to be my kinda of art, in the 90's . I'm not a fan of this book.

[Galen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do love me some Venom. It's made me realize something though - Eddy's kinda a dick.

[Dominik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the best stories about Venom, including The Lethal Protector saga.

[Matthew Ledrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once you kind of force yourself to accept it for what it is, there's a lot of fun to be had in this volume.

[Corrine · Rating 4 out of 5]

2+ months & 1k+ pages later.. I've finished!  The sacred texts (1992-1995) of anti-hero escapades + cameos. Mixed & inconsistent quality--I'd save $$$ and buy trades collecting these mini-series:

• Lethal Protector #1-6. // first solo entries
• Enemy Within #1-3. // horror-ish, large stakes and scale
• The Exile Returns #1-4. // Brock's regression & scarlet spider
• Seperation Anxiety #1-4. // reassement of self and symbiotic bond. 

This read meant a lot to my teenage self. Still love the character today, but as i mentioned earlier, Venom's 90s stuff is wildly inconsistent; the writer-artist rotation truthfully sucks, Brock matures and progresses in one arc..but suddenly it's two steps back to being an inexperienced man-child in the next.

The needle wasn't significantly moved until Cates and Stegman's run (2018-2020)  Pick up *that* omnibus if you're searching for a compelling story. Venomnibus Vol. 1 is good for the art and historical significance for the character.