Amazing Spider-Man #361
Savage Genesis
Serial killer Cletus Cassidy, now the symbiote-powered Carnage, arrives at the Agro-Lab at Empire State University in search of his next victim. He finds Chip, a classmate of Peter Parker. Chip starts to run away from Carnage, but Carnage picks up a sink and throws it at Chip making him not able to leave the room. Carnage heads over to Chip picks him up by the throat and extends his fingers, killing chip. Before his death he asked why he is going to be killed, only to have Carnage reply with "...'cause I can".
In the home of May Parker, we find Peter and Aunt May, just as Peter finishes fixing her heater.[1] Aunt May's phone rings only to find out it is for Peter. Peter answers the phone and is told that a classmate of his, Chip, had been murdered. Spider-Man heads to the lab where Chip had been killed and hides in the air conditioning vents to find out information. He evesdrops in on a reporter questioning Professor Evert. She mentions the murderer had "living skin", also that his arm had grown a rope and he swung away. Leading Spider-Man to think the killer is Venom. Because of this development Peter Parker is late meeting his wife Mary Jane Watson-Parker in Central Park.[2] Peter tells Mary that Chip had been killed and tells her he suspects that it is Venom who is the source of this. He recounts how he first got the Venom Symbiote on Battleworld during the Secret Wars.[3] After learning that it was trying to permanently bond to him he later used the loud peals of cathedral bells to seemingly destroy it.[4] The symbiote survived and bonded to someone with as much hatred for Spider-Man as it did...Eddie Brock. Bonding with the symbiote, Brock became Venom, one of Spider-Man's most powerful foes.[5] Peter then recalls how he faked his own death at the hands of Venom during their last encounter, prompting Venom to remain on the Carribean Island where they fought.[6] Mary Jane tells him he should leave it to the police, the Avengers, or the Fantastic Four. He can't do that, however, because he blames this on himself. He feels he is the only one who should stop these killings, reminding Mary Jane that she knew what she was getting into when they got married.
Going to the Daily Bugle, Peter goes through the newspaper's computer archives to retrace the activities of Eddie Brock prior to their last battle. He discovers that Eddie's had a cellmate at Ryker's Island. This cellmate was Cletus Kasady, an unrepentant mass murder who was convicted with eleven life sentences.[7] He also discovers that Cletus had just escaped from his cell, murdering one of the prison guards in the process.[8] He starts doing a background check on Cletus and discovers that Kasady lived at St. Estes Home For Boys, an orphanage that was ravaged by a fire with the disciplinarian administrator's dead body found within it, her skull smashed in. Peter wonders if this was the first murder committed by Cletus, and what kind of monster he is dealing with now. Digging deeper, Peter travels the entire city in search of people who knew Cletus in order to get more information about him. Everyone has very little to say about Kasady, but it appears that he was always present during some tragic event or another. Peter's last stop is to a psychologist who cannot divulge information about his former client but warns Parker to avoid Kasady at all costs.
That evening, Spider-Man goes to the ruins of the St. Estes Home For Boy to search for clues. He hears someone talking to themselves there. At first, Spider-Man thinks its a child but discovers that it is Cletus himself. The deranged lunatic is stark naked sitting before a fire talking to a teddy bear he calls Binky. When the wall-crawler tries to get in closer, he reveals his presence to Kasady. Looking at the wall-crawler, Cletus suddenly transforms into Carnage, ripping the teddy bear to shreds with his bare hands. Carnage stretches his arm to punch Spider-Man reminding him of fights with Venom. Spider-Man shoots a web at Carnage's face, while Carnage wraps his symbiote around the web in his face and grabs hold of Spider-Man and throws him into the wall. Spider-Man throws a giant piece of wood at Carnage who catches it and breaks it in half. Carnage then solidifies an ax from his hand and throws it at Spider-Man who barely dodges it. After watching it turn to dust, Spider-Man looks to notice Carnage has disappeared. Carnage's symbiote makes tentacles seep through the wall and grab hold of Spider-Man and ripping him through the wall to the floor. As this is going on officers arrive on the scene soon arrive to check out noise complaints. They burst into the room and Carnage shoots projectiles at one from his fingertips hitting him.
Spider-Man grabs hold of his tentacles and throws him then goes to check on the injured officers. While the wall-crawler is distracted, Carnage throws an oven at the other cop, prompting Spider-Man to push the officer out of the way. However, the wall-crawler is struck over the head, staggering him long enough for Carnage to escape. Searching the ruins for Carnage, Spider-Man discovers a parting message from his foe, the words "Carnage Rules!" painted in blood on a wall. Examining the blood, the wall-crawler notices that it is still fresh and realizes, much to his disgust, that Kasady used his own blood to write this message.
The following morning, Peter tells Mary Jane about how he has already tried to get the assistance of Avengers or the Fantastic Four of this new enemy, but they all seem to be dealing with their own planet-threatening problems. While expressing his frustrations, Peter accidentally knocks over Mary Jane's purse to the floor and discovers a pack of cigarettes among the contents. Mary Jane admits that they are hers, and that she used to smoke when she was younger. She managed to quit years ago, but took up the habit again recently in order to deal with the stress of Peter being Spider-Man. Before she can fully explain herself, Peter shushes her so he can hear a news bulletin about Carnage killing an entire family, including three children. Horrified by this, Peter realizes that he has no choice now, he has to find Venom an enlist his aid in stopping Carnage once and for all.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Aunt May, Mary Jane Watson, Carnage
Continuity Notes
Peter mentions how Aunt May has been looking after him since his parents died. Peter's parents were killed in action on a mission for the CIA, as revealed in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5.
Peter and Mary Jane are referred to as husband and wife here. However, years later, their marriage is erased from existence by the demon Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. As such they should be considered a common-law couple here.
Spider-Man obtained the Venom symbiote in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8.
Spider-Man discovered that the symbiote was alive and trying to bond with him in Amazing Spider-Man #258. Ultimately he was forced to destroy it in Web of Spider-Man #1. Although the symbiote was near death, it was later revealed in Fall of the Hulks: Alpha #1, that it was revived by the Intelligencia.
As explained in Amazing Spider-Man #300, Brock lost his job at the Daily Globe after his exclusive interviews with the serial killer Sin-Eater were exposed as fake when Spider-Man caught the real Sin-Eater in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #107-110.
Venom was tricked into thinking that Spider-Man was dead in Amazing Spider-Man #347.
After the Venom symbiote was seemingly killed in Amazing Spider-Man #333, Brock was incarcerated at Ryker's with Kasady, as revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #344.
Kasady broke out of prison thanks to his own symbiote in Amazing Spider-Man #359.
