A good to great issue, the Shocker fight alone makes it worth your time, everything else is just a bonus. Totally recommend it if you like the character at all, maybe less so if you aren't already semi-interested, hard to recommend the last couple issues before a renumber. (Just ask me, proud owner of Batman issues 620-713, last 20 are basically pointless thanks to the new 52) Read Full Review

In the rare quiet interludes between crossover shenanigans, Mike Costa has crafted a fascinating take on the Eddie/Venom relationship. He's turned the symbiote into a separate character, one with its own agenda and secrets it keeps from its host. What happens when those secrets are laid bare to Eddie Brock? Venom #164 delivers a blockbuster of a revelation, and there are doubtless more surprises ahead. Unless you absolutely cannot stand introspective, character-driven Venom, you'll find this new evolution enthralling. Read Full Review

Solid, yet hurried, writing is to be found here, along with the excellent art work. This story arc closes out another chapter in the book of Venom. Had Costa had more time, the plot threads created in this arc could have gone on to produce great things. With the knowledge of Fresh Start on the horizon and Costa leaving the imagination to wander, the question is left to linger in the mind of readers as the comic hurtles towards a new era of Marvel: If Eddie and Venom can shift alignments and do good acts by will, are symbiotes nurtured to be evil or does nature play a part here? Perhaps Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman, the creative team behind the Fresh Start relaunch of Venom, can draw some inspiration from this run and answer this posed question with their run of the character. Read Full Review

While this issue deems itself the start of something epic, first impressions are anything but. Using the tired trope of another symbiote birth, it just feels as if this is a throwaway story for contractual purposes. The pencil and color work are done well, making Venom and his book look better than ever, but it feels like this path has been gone down before. By this point, what else can be done with Venom and Eddie? Costas answer is to usher in a new generation of symbiote antics, which hardly feels epic. Read Full Review

Venom is beginning to feel like a skipping record. Each issue plays out pretty similarly to the last. Read Full Review

Surprising action, scary nightmares, and the return of a (semi-) familiar face expose the big secret Venom has been keeping from Eddie. It works remarkably well considering how much time and space Mike Costa has had to surrender to crossover BS in recent months. Mark Bagley contributing a top-tier art job for this issue certainly helps. When he's fully engaged with the material, he has a near-magical ability to put any story firmly in the Heroic Age of the 2000s. He's definitely engaged here; so am I. I'm 10x more interested in Venom's expectant condition than I was in Venom Inc. and Poison-X.

The art in this book was really good. It looks really good with Bagley. The story itself is pretty good and has some interesting things to ponder for next issue.