Queen In Black: Venom Unchained #2 – How Does It Feel?

The jailbreak is on. As a battle rages for control of Earth between the Queen In Black and the God of Light, Eddie Brock has found himself in prison. Now, with Sleeper, one of Venom’s children, staging a jailbreak, it may be just the chance Eddie needs to get back into the game. Can Eddie manage the symbiote this time? Will he even be able to make it to Earth in time to help in the fight against light and dark?

This review is brought to you by Nerd Initiative’s Eda and Shawn!

Creative Team

Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Juanan Ramírez
Color Artist: Erick Arciniega
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Cover Artist: Leinil Francis Yu
Cover Color Artist: Guru-eFX

Writing

Eda: I’d like to first give a warning that, if you’re an animal lover, this might be a hard issue for you within this event. However, when it comes to the writing overall, Soule managed to get this nearly perfect. One of my favorite things about this issue is that it gives us a much closer look at Eddie after Carnage and the “Death Spiral” event. Here, he’s almost like Peter, where he’s at his wits end and down on his luck, jailed and unsure of what to do. What Soule manages to do with that premise is just so very good. He takes it and forces a new purpose upon Eddie, right when he least expects it. This makes for not just an intense ride, but a fun one, though given what happens, I can’t help but feel like this was meant to come out before last week’s “Queen in Black #3”.

Shawn: High octane from beginning to end. Charles Soule brings Eddie back into the mix masterfully in Queen In Black: Venom Unchained #2. Soule wants to establish that Eddie fully understands how these symbiotes operate and that they don’t simply do anything out of a sense of altruism. That said, Soule also shows that Eddie has a command of that and realizes that if he can maintain some semblance of control, there could be a chance to change his stripes and be a hero. I really loved the “fight fire with fire” motif that Soule seems to have built this issue around.

The action gives way to a rather frank discussion between Sleeper and Eddie about what exactly has happened while Eddie has been locked up. Queen In Black: Venom Unchained #2 really helps to sell to readers how important it is that Hela is not allowed to succeed. Soule having this communicated through symbiotes not subservient to Hela was a nice touch. I loved that the issue wrapped up on a cliffhanger because it sets the stage for what could be a devastatingly emotional next issue.

Art

Eda: Juanan Ramírez and Erick Arciniega both absolutely rocked the house here. Ramírez’s grand reveal of the destroyed city was jaw-dropping. Something that I particularly loved as well was the different angles we got of said city. Whether it was narrow alleyways or high atop skyscrapers, he did a fantastic job of really putting readers into that environment through his use of POV and space.

As for Arciniega’s colors, they were gorgeous. The way he managed to capture the colors of a city in dire straits was amazing. Everything from the orange hues of flame to the shadows cast by them really helped set the tone for the entire issue.

Shawn: Juanan Ramírez, Erick Arciniega, and Travis Lanham really captured the spirit of this story. It almost feels like a story in two parts, and I felt like they did a great job of capturing that. Juanan Ramírez gives us a truly terrifying symbiote in Sleeper. I guess I had never really considered the concept of a cat symbiote, but now that Ramírez has brought it to life, it’s absolutely terrifying. The line work Ramírez does, particularly in backgrounds, is spectacular. He blends clean, crisp lines for Eddie and Sleeper with round, varying-thickness lines of the background.

Erick Arciniega really steals the show in a few panels with the colors. When we finally get to welcome Eddie back, the panel works in part as well as it does because of how beautifully it is colored. I’m always impressed at color artists’ ability to handle shading and coloring on predominately black and white characters because it really takes a deft touch to be able to capture the details and definition. Through shading and highlighting, Arciniega does that to a high level. Travis Lanham really handles the multiple voices, shall we say, in this issue perfectly from a lettering standpoint. The outlines and change in color for each voice really make it easy to flow through the comic and understand who is speaking and to whom.

Final Thoughts

Eda: 10/10.Queen in Black: Venom Unchained #2 is an absolute marvel from start to finish. From Soule’s amazing character work to the spectacular art & colors of Ramírez & Arciniega, you won’t be able to put this down.

Shawn: 9/10. Another solid entry into the Queen In Black series, Queen In Black: Venom Unchained #2 feels a little like two separate stories wrapped into one. While Soule does an amazing job, it feels like, with the Queen In Black story already so far into the arc, there was a need from editorial to get Eddie to the ball before midnight.

Overall Grade: 9.5/10

Where does Venom Unchained fit in your Queen in Black series rankings? Let us know in the comments