The Good
"Hey Gregg, do you want to read Carnage's new series?"
"Absolutely! I love me some symbiotes. What's it about?"
"Well, it's about Wizard and Klaw trying to manipulate a mostly incapacitated Carnage. So, I guess it's really just Wizard and Klaw with Carnage in the background."
"Never mind. I do not want to read that."
I imagine many of you would have the same reaction. Wizard and Klaw having the spotlight in a mini with Carnage's name slapped on the cover? It's tough to be optimistic about such a thing, but you know what? Writer Kevin Shinick is pulling it off thus far and it's pretty darn fun (despite being a totally bleak scenario). Wizard's decaying mind adds a unique layer to the premise, not to mention quite a few bits of amusing dialogue (loved the Black Tarantula bit). I don't find myself emotionally invested in the character's well-being, but enough is being done to make me legitimately curious about how everything will unfold for him. Klaw, on the other hand, seems like he's just there to be the dude who puts down Carnage whenever he steps out of line. It looks glorious each time and I did appreciate the scene which reveals why Klaw is loyal to this seemingly crazy man, but I'd like to see a little more depth given to the character.
Shinick does a more than able job making these less popular villains entertaining, but the real attention grabber is the magnificent artwork. Illustrated by Stephen Segovia and colored by Jay David Ramos, the duo does a killer job on each and every panel, offering detailed and dark characters with strong outlines. Klaw, despite his consistently silly appearance, comes off as looking formidable and -- dare I say it -- like a badass at times. That in itself is quite an accomplishment. The true visual treats of this issue has to be whenever Cletus is covered in the symbiote or whenever Klaw uses his sonics. The former is awesomely frightening and the latter is pure spectacle.
The Bad
Carnage isn't a character who has a problem with killing anything and anyone in his path. Even the first issue of this series made that clear when he slaughtered everything in his way with his terribly pointy tendrils. So, when Wizard survives a relatively extended encounter with the villain, I thought to myself, "Man, he has no idea how lucky he is." But then it turns out Carnage attacks him three more times. I can swallow Wizard being super lucky in one assault, but knowing he attacked Wizard a few more times and didn't impale him is just too tough for me to swallow, especially after the first issue showed he tends to slaughter people with no issue whatsoever.
I was wondering if this book could thrive without having Spider-Man appear, but it looks like that's not the case. It's unclear if SpOck will reappear, but I wouldn't be surprised if he did (most likely the finale in #5). At this point, it seems like he exists solely to fill in readers on Wizard's backstory. It definitely came off as forced and I'd much rather see the villains hold the weight of the panels on their own, but there's no denying the art team made Spidey look fantastic. As for his reaction: I understand he has priorities, but lobotomized or not, Carnage isn't a character you want to delegate to the authorities and Otto should be smart enough to realize that. Yes, he says he may have to eventually address it, but we're talking about a character who humiliated Spider-Man and Venom at the same time and he's now -- as far as Spidey knows -- potentially aligned with a villain who's going nuts, after all.
The Verdict
While this series probably won't turn you into a fan of Wizard or Klaw, Shinick has done a solid job creating a premise which has a nice grip on my attention. Carnage's lack of involvement is a tad disappointing, but I have a feeling that's going to change quite a bit over the next 3 issues. Throw in some truly impressive art and this is a limited-series that I'm definitely going to follow until the end.
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