REVIEW: Carnage #10
Forged In A Star
Carnage #10 opens with an old dwarf, a master smith excited to forge a godly weapon known only as the Codex. He looks over the blueprints that the villainous Carnage has brought him and secretly plans to destroy the murderous Symbiote with the starlight drawn into the forge during the creation process. The dialogue used to describe his plans and the unearthly weapon is more medieval than modern superhero evoking thoughts of Lord of The Rings rather than Marvel’s New York City. Carnage grows impatient as the rest of the cast prepare to burn it alive while we cut to a detective hot on the trail of Carnage guided by the voice of its previous host.
Menacingly Metal
The book’s visuals speak for themselves, starting with the cover that looks like a heavy metal album’s artwork with a demonically formed carnage towering atop the corpses of its enemies, forging the godly blade out of molten metals with his writhing tendrils. Seeing the classical Spider-Man villain in this new form is quite a surprise and a major departure from his iconic twisted Spider-Man look, but that’s to say it seems to fit the more grandiose medieval tone this book is going for. Carnage appears to be more demon lord rather than an alien parasite. The artwork of the book itself is well executed by Francesco Manna, and it melts really well with the crimson colours and dark shading by the colourist Erick Arciniega; it pops, carrying your eyes across the forging of his godly blade perfectly capturing Carnage’s sadism and wild mania.
Killing Carnage
The thought that long-time Spidey villain and spawn of Venom could possibly meet his end here on a galactic forge as opposed to the hands of the web-slinger or his dark reflection Venom is an odd concept given the character’s intertwined origins and histories. Still, here we are with a dwarf of all things just one step away from annihilating every trace of Carnage from the Marvel Universe. For the midpoint of a floppy, that’s quite a huge concept to play with that is sadly quickly undermined by a somewhat contrived plot device in which a piece of Carnage in another host manages to break a barrier that was previously only stated to be broken by a magical metal that Carnage somehow drags out of bodies littering the forge. I think the death of Carnage would have been a fascinating idea to play, but he ends up reborn and even stronger with a new demonic look.
To some up, it’s a pretty looking issue with a fun concept, but it’s wasted being quickly walked back, only serving to give Carnage a power boost and tie into the next part of the narrative; overall, it’s a weak story that is well written but not given enough time for its ideas to breath.
SCORE:
2/5 Stars
“A treat to look at but not much depth to Carnage’s rise from parasite to demon lord.”
WRITER: Ram V
ARTIST : Francesco Manna
COLORS: Erick Arciniega
PUBLISHER: MARVEL
Author Profile
- Australian Article/Comic Book Writer, Co-Creator of RUSH!, Comic Crusaders Contributor and Bit⚡Bolt on YouTube.
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