Today we are doing a full King in Black review which was written by Donny Cates with art by Ryan Stegman and this is the duo’s farewell project to the Venom book which they will be stepping off on after doing 30+ issues already and moved Eddie Brock from the lethal protector to a human who has become the god of the symbiotes.

Cates and company brings the climax to the story they started telling when they took over Venom which was the eventual clash between Venom and his other and the symbiote god Knull. The rest of the stuff involving the Avengers and the X-Men were pretty much gravy.

And while it looked and read good on paper, translating some stuff from concept to actual product was kind of off-putting. They out threats in the story that was just there to really make either Venom or Knull or Iron Man cool but not really last long.

Like the symbiote Celestials. They were scary and all that but after the initial shock and awe, they were useless. Maybe they jobbed to Iron Man who also did some insane and very out of character stuff. But still, that alone could have been a strong point or maybe have them just be stationed outside of Earth, I dunno. The point is, it was squandered for a page or two throughout the series.

I also want to react to the whole concept of Eddie Brock not just getting the power of both Thor and Silver Surfer as well as the Enigma Force aka becoming Captain Universe. Too OP’ed if you ask me. Again, I like the battle axe and all that…

Still, it could have been better.

Also the sight of Knull just running away after Venom returns just beat the whole persona they were trying to build. Made him really look like a coward.

If there’s one thing I truly liked about “King” it would have be closing one chapter in the life of Eddie’s son Dylan Brock. Dylan’s far better and stronger now more than when we got introduced to him in the “Venom” books as well as during Absolute Carnage.

The ending has potential for new things although its not something we haven’t seen before. In fact, wasn’t it just a few years ago when Marvel creative turned Flash Thompson into some kind of Space Knight?

And now he could be zooming back to space again? Well, this would still depend on how the next writer and creative team frames it.

King in Black Review – Verdict

6/10

Could have been good but they just made it into a big fanservice thing for Venom and dropped the ball on making Knull a good villain. Good points though in finally giving a definite answer on what the Enigma Force is and hopefully this lore sticks and not get cut down by future writers for future projects.

So that’s it for my King in Black review. What did you think of the miniseries so far? Love it or hate? Leave a comment below and Follow me on Facebook and Twitter for more geek news and updates!