REVIEW: venom 13-14

It is hard to believe that it has been a year since Flash acquired the Venom symbiote and the first issue Venom was released.  Yet here we are- a year later and the first Venom event has concluded, but was Circle of Four the blockbuster event it was built up to be?

The Story: Blackheart has opened a portal to Hell and it is up to The Circle of Four - Venom, Red Hulk, Ghost Rider, and X-23 to prevent it from spreading.

The Good: The Art - I was a little skeptical when I first heard that each issue would be handled by a different artist/writer team.  While I didn't care for all of the writing, the art was amazing in each book.  I was already familiar with Medina and Moore's art, so I was glad to see them finish off the arc in 13.4 and 14 respectively. Venom & Red Hulk - While I don't like Venom on a team, I sort of enjoyed his teamwork and interactions with Red Hulk.  I don't know if it is because they are both army dudes or if Flash is better at 'playing nicely' with others than Eddie was, but I would like to see another Venom/Red Hulk team-up in the future.

The Bad: A Venom Event - This was not my favorite arc.  I think a main reason is because it was told in between the covers of Venom and not Ghost Rider.  I know very little about Ghost Rider, but Blackheart, Mephisto, Hell on Earth, and all of the issues Alejandra was having in this event seemed to be more related to the Ghost Rider's history more than Venom's.  I was in unfamiliar territory all throughout this arc and I didn't like it!  Antithesis - Let's be honest, they were all cheesy - a cheerleader, a brain-man, a preacher, and a four-eyed angel.  I don't think the concept was bad, just the presentation.  I would of preferred to let Moore create some bad ass demons that had the same powers or some sort of inverse creations that kept the same basic look as our heroes.

The Overall: 3 outta 5.  I love the issues that Remender wrote, but the others seemed to drag and definitely brought my option of the entire arc down.  While I never favor Venom in a team, this one was small enough that he didn't become a background character.  So while this story was not my cup of tea, I do like the idea of Mephisto bringing them back to try it again (hopefully in a different way) in another story.  (Fingers crossed that The Venom-Hulk-Rider returns as well!)