Per the recap, the Flash Thompson Venom--usually Agent Venom, if you're an action figure fan--had recently beat Carnage and Daimon Hellstrom, but may be becoming concerned about a growing inner darkness. He's also dating Valkyrie, but gets called away to help his reporter friend Katy, who had discovered the U-Foes were kidnapping people in Philadelphia. Flash tries to find her, but is seemingly killed: he had used a "gimmick play," namely playing possum. I've mentioned before that Flash likes his sports metaphors, and he notes it himself here, berating himself for doing so when real people had just died.
Meanwhile, in their warehouse hideout, the U-Foes are about to subject Katy to an experiment: they may have found a pile of tech from the fabled Philadelphia Experiment. Team leader Vector had been an industrialist, I think; but he was no Reed Richards: his experiments have been largely trial and error. Some test subjects were now his crew, but several had died. Katy's test appeared to be "some sort of memory machine, hmm?" Vector opts to leave her in it, just to see what'll happen.
Trailing back through Katy's sources, Venom is able to find the warehouse's neighborhood, which is close enough for the U-Foes to give killing him another try. Venom didn't come alone--well, actually, he did, but he brought a sword, which serves as a beacon for Valkyrie! Who seems rather put off by being introduced as "my girlfriend," which Flash hadn't planned on, it just slipped out. Still, they've bitten off more than they could chew, and Vector downs them both. As Flash struggles to get up, a voice says "No. You can't."
If I'm not mistaken, this turn wasn't unexpected, and may have set up the next step for them: while Flash used the symbiote, I don't think they were necessarily partners up until now. After maybe a bit of (tongue) lashing out, Venom might be closer to him. I could very well be wrong about this, and I'm not going back to look; but I swear Marvel relaunched so many titles that for a brief stretch, Venom had the highest numbering across all their titles! Several have since gone back to their 'legacy' numbering, but still.
I didn't know they used to date as I assume they're no longer an item now. Makes sense in a way since they were both coworkers together during their stint in the Secret Avengers.
ReplyDeleteI've only read a bit of Remender's Venom run, but I know he kept sedatives handy which he ate, but they kept the symbiote drugged so Flash could control it. Seems weird they wouldn't affect Flash, too. When he joined the Secret Avengers Hanks Pym and McCoy came up with a better system. I'd be annoyed they were so casual about taking away a sentient creature's autonomy, but it's Hank Pym and Hank McCoy. That's not in the Top 50 messed-up things those two have pulled.
ReplyDeleteI bought Remender's Secret Avengers run, though I didn't keep it. I know they were doing the friends with benefits thing, I didn't realize they were ever officially dating. Valkyrie definitely seems out of Flash's league, but so did Felicia Hardy.