The comic might be a spoiler, but you have to go to the movie to get it. Or see some here, I guess.

I took both my sons to go see Venom on Saturday: I had some free tickets, then sprung for the upcharge to 3D, which may not be 100% necessary. (I think about halfway through a 3D feature I've already forgotten about the gimmick!) And we also received this little freebie Venom comic, written by Sean Ryan, art by Szymon Kudranski, color art by Ian Herring.

The reviews were between middling and dire, but for basically free? Not bad. I know Sony probably figured they would get more return with a PG-13 instead of an R rating, but it feels a bit sanitized. There are a few scenes should be just dripping with gore, and aren't. This version of Eddie Brock is far more likeable than he ever was in the comics; and the symbiote is more personable as well: Venom could have easily been a horror movie, but instead they went with buddy action flick. Which is a perfectly valid choice and even entertaining, but...man, a straight-up horror version would have been something, wouldn't it? I know Sony is trying to get Morbius going for a movie, and it raises the question of how far they might be willing to take that, or if the Living Vampire will, in the same vein, be cleaned up.

Venom's internal dialog, between Eddie and the symbiote, made me think they stole Deathlok's old bit, since he used to argue with his onboard computer constantly. (There was a version of Deathlok in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. but I don't think it got into that.) Or, check out the Bruce Campbell classic, Man With the Screaming Brain! I had to look it up later, but Tom Hardy also did the symbiote's voice, so good for him.

It did make me kinda wish I had sprung for the Monster Venom Build-a-Figure; but Carnage, Poison, and Shriek Scream have disappeared locally. My drawer of BAF pieces is filling up...