Venom #17 is a great comic as part of the event. For those not checking that out, it doesn't quite work. But, there's still something to it in that being stalked/horror story way. Cates is consistently delivering an interesting Venom and even in an event tie-in finds new aspects to add depth to his world. Read Full Review

With great pacing and some really wonderful-looking pages, Venom remains a great read, made even greater by the event it's tying in to. Read Full Review

Don't expect a lot of Eddie in this one, folks. Or any type of Venom, Spider-Man, or even Carnage. It may sound like a tall order, but this is 100% a Venom/Carnage tie-in without virtually no Venom or Carnage. Its decisively a Dylan Brock/Maker installment of Absolute Carnage, but I dare say its worth a read. The art alone deserves to be seen, and this issue pairs well with the Absolute Carnage: Separation Anxiety issue. That said, it doesn't move the overall story as much as I had hoped. Read Full Review

This is too good...

This was a great read.

Nice seeing a good event with good tie ins. whichis obvious since Cates is writing it. Dylan still is a good addition to the Venom lore and I can't get enough of Maker.

A great tie-in. With nice art and surprises too.

But understanding this all requires you to read all other tie-ins too. So it's not a self-contained story that you can read with AC only.

Prelude:
Cates' Tie-in to his own main series, hopefully he can land the tone I've been craving from these tie-in books.

The Good:
About time that one of these tie-ins landed and especially with Cates on writing. Maybe it's the closer to the main story aspect combined with the art and colours but it's finally part of Absolute Carnage I can get behind that isn't the core story.

I love the emphasis on family here especially with the Symbiotes.

The Bad:
Not much happened when you look at it. The Maker has built a Codex removing machine that "might" work, and then they're attacked by the Symbiotes.

Conclusion:
A good tie-in to the main story of Absolute Carnage and finally one I can like. The more personal story works well here in contrast to the higher stakes of the main series but at the cost of little progression. more

"You... You child ! You smell of your father ! You reek of venom ! You, we kill for fun. The Goblin boy... He die for carnage !

Really good! While I hate tie-ins, I was already reading Venom because the quality was so good (except for the War of the Realms issues). This was great, I love the way Cates writes the Maker, he seems genuine in his care for Dylan and Eddie, but as we all know, that could turn on a dime real quick. Dylan also seems to be more than what meets the eye (HINT HINT HINT). But that isn't shown in this issue. This problem with this issue is it can't be read alone, you have to read the Absolute Carnage event that is going on. The last Venom issue had Eddie and Dylan walking off preparing for the event, and this issue just drops Dylan into the action with Eddie out of the picture. It would make any reader not reading the event a little confused. However, since I'm reading Absolute Carnage, it wasn't a deal breaker for me. The art is pretty good. more

Tie in issue but easy to follow. Great art as always from Iban Cohello. Very fast of a read but exciting the whole way through. Final page is exciting and leaves me wanting more.

Great tie in issue that feels like it adds enough to what Cates is doing. I feel a new appreciation for The Maker and I'm surprised to find him growing so much as a character here in Venom. Loved the art in the beggining with that badass fight scene but I didn't care for Dylans big anime look.

So the sub-plot for this title's share of the event is "Dylan learns his true parentage." Groovy, but I have doubts about the art's ability to handle character drama. It's great at Big Dumb Symbiote Fights, though!

This felt off to me