Hey, I have that Lockjaw! Is that machine washable?

Despite having cleared my schedule a bit, and having stacks of them all over the damn place; I haven't been reading enough comics, which I'm going to blame on trying to watch as many scary movies as I can before the end of the month. So (the original) Halloween II is on in the background while I grab some from the pile, starting with this one 'cause it's got Jeff! From 2023, Extreme Venomverse #5, featuring "The Rhythm of the Night" Written by Kelly Thompson, art by Gurihiru; "Field of Screams" Written by Jordan Blum, pencils by Brian Crosby, inks by Scott Hanna; "Spider's Eclipse" Written by Jason Loo, art by Gavin Guidry and KJ Diaz; and "Full Symbiote Panic" Written by Cody Ziglar, art by Jim Towe and Dee Cunniffe.

I got most of this series from the dollar bin--and now I'm seeing issue #3 has Ty Templeton strips, so that'll be next--but this series was not unlike the assorted Spider-Verse stuff, just with Venoms. While Jeff's story is just him randomly getting a symbiote for an afternoon, most of the others were established in their realities, and there might have been an Agent Venom recruiting them, or a Carnage killing them. Maybe both! A baseball-themed Venom--an Eddie Brock whose origin might be the Natural--gets recruited; while in a sequel to another story, the Kingpin takes Venom so he can finally kill the Fantastic Four's Spider-Man but is instead killed by Carnage.

The last story is a Neon Genesis Evangelion-riff, with an old and maimed Flash Thompson still piloting Unit-1 against giant, Venom-infused kaiju. But, he might have more back-up now. I had to look midway through if Adam Warren did that one--he had done that in Marvel Mangaverse: Fantastic Four, but we can have another. The issue ends with an ad/tease for Death of the Venomverse #1, which features a Venom-killer that looks like McFarlane should've made it an action figure instantly, but it would be a pain in the ass to draw repeatedly.  

I'm a casual Venom fan--I say that, despite having a bin of him, and several of his old mini-series--but I bought a Venom sweatshirt the other day. It's so warm and snuggly! Probably more than a real Venom would be, I'm thinking.