Sometimes I love that (Spawn, Sam and Twitch) and other times it just seems to not work so well (some of the Spectacular Spider-man stuff recently). Sitting and talking with him for a brief period of time, I got the chance to skim through his pages. His works. And I was just deeply impressed by the expertise he has. Beyond that, he was doing quick sketches for his fans for free. Head sketches only, but at a con perpetrated by the likes of Tony Moore and Dave Finch charging at least 20 bucks a pop, an artist who has been working for at least 15 years doing free ones was a sight to behold. Better yet, while drawing my bitching Deathlok head sketch (forever one of the things hanging from my wall til the day I die), he busted out the first splash page of Eddie as Venom, not yet seen in this comic. His excitement was perfectly matched with our excitement to see the book, and it just made us want to salivate on the page with our wagging tongues as his Venom is a sight to see. So immediately following my Deathlok, my friend asked for a Venom sketch, tongue and all, and we were on our way. Truly a great guy, and now in my stable of artists I will watch on anything and everything.

To the actual book itself:

Eddie Brock's mother died during childbirth and Eddie has to live with that torment. So he searches for ways for people to love him. He steals a cat from a neighbor girl that he has a crush on, inflicting numbers of scratches and pain just to be seen and talked to by a girl after he brings home her favorite pet.

He watches television footage of Nixon during the hearings and knows that he is lying, and knows that he will be a journalist at this point in his life because they make the truth.

In high school, he steals a pom-pom from a cheerleader and a letter jacket from the star wrestler just so that he can talk to her and let her know, he too is a jock. When in reality, he's the towel-boy and the team torments him.

In college, he lies about an internship he had for a San Francisco newspaper so that he can get into the journalism program, and while attempting to complete the lie and save his skin, he happens upon a young woman and begs her for help getting around the campus, only managing to take them down a dark alley and have a gang attack them.

But thank goodness for Spider-man saving the day. Only the girl didn't see it, so Eddie gets to lie again.

That's the book in a nutshell. A series of moments leading up to the fateful meeting of Eddie's life and the road that took him down that path. And I'm already at the point where I wish this was an ongoing, because it sure feels like classic Venom to me without having to involve a certain Brand New Day.

Zeb Wells was the one writer who joined the brain trust for Spidey that I wanted to follow. I read through his arc with Bachalo and was surprised that it made no sense, but it just didn't feel like Spider-man. For the couple of pages he's in this book, you know this is Spider-Man. You just feel it.

And Zeb gets a good hold of Eddie as this sick little scumbag, and we don't want to root for him, but we do. Just like Zeb did to us in his New Warriors mini that lead into Civil War, he gets a feel for this world and this person and this little bastard that is just scum of the Earth, but we feel for him because we know where he's coming from. Anyone who's ever been an outsider in any fashion will know what Eddie is dealing with and know that we have done something similar or felt something similar.

Just great.

And what can be said about Angel. Not only does Venom not show up in this issue at all, but you don't care. There is a strong sense of tension in all of the artwork, and you feel him creeping along the pages with you. Even in the brightest light scenes on the college campus and the neighborhood street, there is still something underlying the surface.

Even the tiny little nuances of Eddie's dad can be felt. The power portrayed here is just, plain and simple, astonishing. It seems like this was the book Angel was born to draw, and it's just all kinds of amazing. Pure and simple.

The one thing I didn't like about his Spectacular run was how light some of the scenes were and how his art doesn't play so well with the bright, shiny types. But it works. The colors pop off the page. The sadness, shame, and emotion from each character can be felt so immensely that you feel for Eddie and you know where he's going, but you want to save him.

This is an amazing book. I feel sorry for you having wasted 3 dollars on Wolverine 67 or War Heroes or whatever crap you may have purchased when you could have bought this. You could have bought this and seen the beginning of something amazing.

I just hope I get to see Angel again to thank him for this great piece of art that I hold in my hands.