I have to wonder if the sales were back around the 100,000 mark.

When he first guest-starred in this book, I don't think Venom was in every third Marvel title; but by this appearance? Yeah, probably. From 1994, Darkhawk #35, "Operation: Symbiote, part 1: the Trap" Written by Danny Fingeroth, pencils by Tod Smith, inks by Ian Akin.

I'd have to check Darkhawk #13 again, but this time around Venom doesn't show up until page 16; partially because the title already indicates they were going for a multi-parter here, partially because the book's usual plots were stacked up on the front end. Chris's younger brother Jason has a serial killer mentor, trying to push him into killing his family, but he's just smart enough to avoid that. Meanwhile, his dad had been believed dead, but was being held in San Francisco: his captors left him an opening to make a call, in the hopes of getting intel, but Mike called his family and got the machine instead. Chris gets his mom to let his 'contact' look for his dad, namely Darkhawk.

Of course, Venom was based out of San Francisco at the time; which seems like a popular choice for Marvel writers trying to set a book somewhere other than New York City: Daredevil, the X-Men, and I thought Spider-Woman all did stints there. This was during his "Lethal Protector" phase, and word on the street was someone was gunning for him--or them, I guess. Venom follows a lead, of course to the same house Darkhawk is checking out, and while they scuffle briefly, they are interrupted by a sonic blast, from the armored Seekers! Who resemble background Spaceknights from ROM, both in design and color scheme.

I maybe read an issue or two of Darkhawk when it was coming out, but this is the second Venom crossover, and I only have the first part of each! And this one was a three-parter: I'd guess the subplots eat up some space in the next issue, since those Seekers did not look a full issue worth of tough.