Carnage is back and every symbiote can hear his call. Can Flash Thompson and Andi Benton stop Carnage in time? Find out in Extreme Carnage: Lasher #1 by Marvel Comics!
EXTREME CARNAGE: LASHER #1
Writer: Clay McLeod Chapman
Artist: Chris Mooneyham and Danilo S. Beyruth
Colorist: Marcio Menyz and Jim Campbell
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Editor: Devin Lewis
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: August 4th, 2021
Previously in Extreme Carnage: The Carnage Symbiote is back and has been reaching out to its siblings, the Life Foundation Symbiotes. Every symbiote can hear the call and it even caused Andi Benton’s symbiote, Scream, to abandon Andi. This forces Andi to use her Hell-Fire to burn Scream alive, leaving only a small part of Scream left. Now Andi is captured by Alchemax and being attacked by Symbiote Phage. Flash Thompson is there trying to save her before it is too late.
THE GOOD AND THE BAD
Extreme Carnage: Lasher #1 continues the story from last issue where Andi was stabbed with Phage’s claws. Alchemax intervenes, and Phage turns its attention to the guards shooting, killing them easily. Agent Anti-Venom grabs Andi and tries to run to Doctor Steven for help. Andi’s only chance of survival is to bond with part with what is left of Scream and combine them with the antibodies of Agent Anti-Venom. Andi ignores this advice, and just decides to free Scream and turns into the symbiote of Silence. Silence is able to defeat Phage, but Phage is seemingly able to escape.
Lasher returns and takes on an older gentleman as a host. He is able to resist the call of Carnage, but Carnage decides to target his host instead. Lasher goes on a killing spree and heads to the capital. At the capital, he deposits the body of his host and causes a scene. Additionally, Bren Waters sees that the Alchemax building was under attack and uses his symbiote Toxin to help his father who works there.
TOO MANY CHARACTERS
I think I was on board for Extreme Carnage: Lasher #1 up until the point that Toxin was introduced. I understand that he is a player that needs to be introduced but we got Lasher, Silence, and Toxin all in one issue. This single page that focused on Toxin made the comic go from decent to slightly overwhelming. Unfortunately, when you introduce a symbiote you are introduce both the symbiote and the host. Meaning we are getting two characters for the price of one. It almost feels like you need to be extra familiar with the King in Black event and the Absolute Carnage event. I understand if every comic can’t be designed to be a jumping on point, but at minimum every event should be.
There is something dark and sinister about the creation of Silence. While we have seen symbiotes take on dying/dead hosts. There is something visceral about Andi Benton dying and becoming this symbiote and we don’t have a clear explanation yet of why Silence was created. This is probably the storyline I am most interested in following in this event. What happened to Andi Benton?
BOTTOM LINE: A BIT OVERWHELMING
The Venom symbiotes are always engaging to look on the page and the art team does an excellent job portraying these creatures as scary and violent. But there are a lot of symbiotes and not a lot of time to include them in this event and that is Absolute Carnage: Lasher #1 folly. Regardless, I think this is a solid 4 out of 5 and I’m looking forward to next issue!
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Absolute Carnage: Lasher #1
The Extreme Carnage event has had a lot of good moments but suffer from a lot of characters that don't always feel necessary at the moment they are introduced.
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Christopher Rondeau is a storyteller based in Tulsa, OK. Finding himself with little work, he ended up creating a job as a Game Master full time on the internet. Chris spends most of his days reading everything he can, writing bad fiction, and watching old Digimon cartoons with his daughter. Sometimes you can find him Dungeon Mastering a podcast or streaming on twitch. Recently, he has completed his Master's degree with a focus on collaborative storytelling. Find out more at https://rondeaucreator.com