Comic Info
Comic Name: Venom: Space Knight
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Robbie Thompson
Artist: Ariel Olivetti
# of Issues: 6
Release Date: 2016
Venom: Space Knight #2
Reprints Venom: Space Knight #1-6 (January 2016-June 2016). Flash Thompson has been travelling space as a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. When he is contacted by a group called the Agents of the Cosmos, Flash and his Klyntar symbiote Venom find himself enlisted to right more wrongs around the galaxy…but being a hero means making enemies. With an agent named Lord Mercurio targeting Flash and his suicidal droid 803, Venom might have met his match!
Written by Robbie Thompson, Venom: Space Knight Volume 1: Agent of the Cosmos is a spin-off of the Guardians of the Galaxy. The collection features art by Ariel Olivetti.
Venom was huge when I was really starting to get into comics as a collector. If you bought something with Venom in it, it was like finding gold…especially as a kid. Venom was completely overplayed in the 1990s, and I lost interest in the character. While the Flash Thompson Venom kind of interested me, I didn’t read it…and this collection feels like a real throwback comic.
The series doesn’t have much meat to it, and in that sense, it feels like an older comic. Flash primarily jumps planet to planet for much of the collection and there is an over-arching Agents of Cosmos storyline that starts to develop. It doesn’t go far enough to be satisfying individual issues, but it also doesn’t feel like the larger storyline develops enough until the back half of this collection.
Venom: Space Knight #6
The second part of the collection does start to develop a rhythm with Flash teaming with the giant panda fighter Pik Rollo. It starts to develop a “team” for Flash and a supporting cast…something the series could use. Venom is a Spider-Man spin-off and part of what made Spider-Man great is that Peter had such a large supporting cast for stories and allowing interaction. Though Flash is part of the Guardians of the Galaxy, he’s pretty much left talking to the symbiote (and 803). It feels good to have potential “sidekicks” in the second half of this collection.
Ariel Olivetti definitely has a style. He has super realism (almost like a Norman Rockwell painting) mixed with painting and matte backgrounds that sometimes create a strange combination. I sometimes like his much more realistic face paintings, but sometimes I look at them and think more simplistic “comic book” drawings since the absurdity of comics don’t always mix well with realism.
Venom: Space Knight shows potential, but I can’t hang on to many comics today. With the threat of cancellation or relaunch facing most series, it hurts to “like” a series just to learn that it is cancelled in another issue, never happened because of a rewrite in comic continuity, or frankly out-prices itself for what it is. Venom: Space Knight feels like a comic that could be threatened by all of these outside factors…and that is a sad part of the comic book industry today. Venom: Space Knight 1: Agent of the Cosmos is followed by Venom: Space Knight 2: Enemies and Allies.
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