WebShooters- King in Black

King in Black 3

King in Black 3

Creators: Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman, Frank Martin, VCs Clayton Cowles

Story: Eddie has been stripped of Venom. Eddie is “dead.” Time for Dylan to join the fray with some friends in tow. Knull continues to rampage through the MCU.

Steve: King in Black 3 is a cinematic issue if there ever was one. The seeds have been planted and now we are seeing the payoff in big, explosive action. Dylan sees action for the first time in this event as he blasts Captain America, takes his shield and frees him from his symbiote. However, not all is great for Dylan. He is a kid after all. While being very powerful, and likely the answer to stopping Knull, he is overwhlemed here with the sheer number of symbiotes swarming around. Luckily for Dylan, Thor show up for a brilliant showdown with Knull. It is give and take for a bit before Knull finally……well, I won’t spoil it here, but it’s definitely worth reading. Finally, when all seems lost Tony Stark shows up riding a symbiote dragon infused with Extremis. Finally, something is going well for the heroes….. for now.

What’s not to like about this issue. It’s light on character work, but this is the payoff of a 32 issue run in Venom leading to this momentous occasion. Knull was teased for 28 of those and now the reader sees how destructive and dominant he truly is. Only a few issues left; can’t wait to see how the heroes, Eddie and Dylan take him down. If you aren’t reading this, find them now.

Glenn: With a relative cool down last issue (in terms of how things are going), we ramp things right up again, as the heroes still try to regroup and mourn the death of Eddie Brock, Thor shows up. It seems like Thor might be the one to save the day and there is a massive fight between him and Knull. Trouble is, however, that way back at the start of Aaron’s run, Thor got his butt kicked for many thousands of years, and it took three of him to beat Gor, the God Butcher. Why am I mentioning this? Because Cates made Gor connected to Knull and only had a small inkling of the Symbiote god’s power. That means that although it seems like he’s getting somewhere, Thor is way outmatched here. I’ve not been reading Cates Thor because I still have to finish Aaron’s run, but he writes the character really well and that is where the majority of the focus is this issue. In fact, Venom and Eddie don’t appear here at all which I like because it means that if you want to know what’s going on there, you have to check out Venom’s own title which makes that book more than a throwaway tie-in. So instead this is now a full blown Marvel event and things continue to go poorly for the heroes. However much like Episode IV, a new hope is on the way as Cates manages to connect another story thread from one of his OTHER Marvel stories to this one. The web (pun intended) that Cates has been spinning for years is a wonder to behold and its very satisfying to see all these domino’s he’s been setting up under our noses get knocked down one after the other. This continues to be a massive event that for a change is living up to the hype and we still have two issues to go!

Art:

Glenn: Stegman really shines in the epic confrontation between Thor and Knull here. He can draw any character Cates throws at him and once again the scale of the art here is perfectly in sync with the scope of the story being unfolded before us. Of course that is the main part of the issue, but the scenes at Eddie’s apparent deathbed are just as compelling with Stegman also delivering the emotional weight that this event warrants. I also love stuff like how casually Dylan catches Cap’s shield because of all the stuff going on with him. Every panel on every page is just a delight and if the fight this issue seemed epic I can only imagine what Stegman is going to deliver when it’s the apparent saviors turn next issue! Here comes the King in Black.

Steve: I’m not sure there are any superlatives left to describe Stegman’s art. He was simply meant to work with Cates and on these characters. The art is gorgeous and brutal. I hope they work together following their last issue of Venom in April.

Grade: 

Glenn: A+

Steve: A

For more King in Black reviews, head to the “pop culture” tab at Wanderingsandwoolgathering.com.

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