Symbiotes spread Carnage across the pages of Marvel comics. In the midst of “King in Black,” Knull gets upstaged by two of his more famous progenies—Carnage and Scream. However, Knull still makes the most of his two appearances by earning a 15 point review score. The symbiote god pursues his wayward child in Clay McLeod Chapman and Garry Brown’s tie in book King in Black: Scream only to be be spurned by Andi Benton’s hellfire. In Gerry Duggan and Kev Walker’s latest Savage Avengers, Conan and Deadpool team with the Marauders in an unsuccessful attempt to free two of Krakoa’s captains—Cyclops and Storm—from Knull’s possession. Shriek, Carnage’s former lover, makes her first appearance since 2019’s “Absolute Carnage” event and is one of three characters to get added to the Fantasy Comic League database. The demon N’astirh—who has his own connection to the symbiotes through Demogoblin—and the Rayshaun Lucas version of Patriot get added as well.

Book the Week – Black Panther #24 (Review score: 120 points; 26 characters). Rayshaun Lucas’ appearance comes alongside the Young Avengers’ Patriot, Eli Bradley, as two of the two dozen characters defending Wakanda from Killmonger’s intergalactic invasion. With one issue left to go in Ta-Nehisi Coates’ epic Black Panther run that sprawled across time and space, the fate of Wakanda comes down to longtime rivals T’Challa and Killmonger.

Hero of the Week – Scream/Andi Benton (Review score: 19 points; 19 Pts/App). Andi Benton, no stranger to symbiote suspense, literally stretches her wings as the new Scream and lets loose with 16 various power usages in her King in Black: Scream one-shot book. She uses her symbiote’s Hair/Appendage and Sonic powers to keep the pressure on Demagoblin and when Knull appears, she runs him off with her hellfire powers. The surprise comes when she Morphs her body to form wings and earn a Flight, a power becoming all too common for symbiote-based characters.

Antagonist of the Week – Carnage (Review score: 16 points; 16 Pts/App). Carnage’s first issue of his Black, White & Blood series begins with a brief scene from “Maximum Carnage” before diving into a period piece of the Carnage symbiote terrorizing a western town. This untold tale, though ambiguous on its timing, gives the symbiote a chance to earn a few uncommon powers, such as Flames and Guns, before earning him a Defeats Antagonist when killing the U.S. Marshal who happens to be hunting him.

Performance of the Week – Demagoblin/Demogoblin/Shriek (Review score: 17 Points; 5.67 Pts/App). An unusual Performance of the Week for an unusual character. Though Demagoblin did not earn the top Points or Points/App, she gets 11 points when appearing as Demagoblin in Scream. And since Carnage created Demagoblin by bonding the demon with Shriek’s corpse during “Absolute Carnage,” we might as well acknowledge their strange connection when the two characters appear in the “Maximum Carnage” story in Carnage: Black,White & Blood.

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Key: TU – Team-Up; LT – Lead Team; SC – Save Civilian; CD – Character Development; DA – Defeat Antagonist.

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Categories: Reviews

Tags: Avengers, Black Panther, Cable, Carnage, Comics, Demagoblin, Excalibur, Fantasy Comic League, Guardians of the Galaxy, Knull, Maestro, Marvel, Miles Morales, Scream, Spider-Man, Taskmaster, X-Men