Reporter Alice Gleason has been kidnapped by the Sin-Eater. Carnage, made good by an axis spell, vows to save her no matter what.[1] That’s when two fighter jets fire missiles at him. The missiles hit him from behind and everything goes dark.

When Cletus wakes up he is a little boy in a cheap Carnage costume. He is also in heaven with an angel version of Alice. He tells her it’s not fair that they shot him in the back with missiles. She tries to explain that life isn’t fair, but all Cletus can do is think about how he could kill them all because he has great power. Alice then starts leading him to the pearly gates and tells him that with great power comes all kinds of stuff. That’s when a demonic version of the Sin-Eater grabs Alice. Alice tells Cletus to save her and be a hero. Carnage wakes up in a smoldering crater and pulls himself out. He once again vows to save Alice from the Sin-Eater.

Meanwhile, the Sin-Eater has taken Alice to his hideout located in a drainage pipe beneath an abandoned power station. There, Alice tries to appeal to her captor, telling him that she could use her position as a reporter to tell the world his story. However, the Sin-Eater calls her a liar and says nothing will save her, just like he couldn’t save himself. He then looks over a wall where he has taped up newspaper articles about the Sin-Eater and begins quoting scripture in order to compare himself to Jesus Christ. Looking at the clippings, Alice asks if the Sin-Eater is actually Emil Gregg. For a minute, she thinks that Eddie Brock was right about Gregg being the Sin-Eater but then reminds herself that the real Sin-Eater was actually a police officer named Carter who was caught by Spider-Man.[2]

Her kidnapped insists that he is the true Sin-Eater and she tells him to give her proof. He pulls off his balaclava, revealing a green glowing skull underneath. He tells her that he has been chosen to consume her sins, saying that his absolution will only cost her life. Alice declines the offer, but the Sin-Eater raises his shotgun at her and prepares to pull the trigger.

Meanwhile, Carnage has climbed to the top of the Empire State Building and stretches out his tendrils all over the city to search for Alice. Luckily, one of the tendrils is able to find the Sin-Eater’s hideout and pull Alice to safety before her captor can shoot her. Outside of the drainage tunnel, Carnage is waiting for her. Sin-Eater runs out and is quickly disarmed by Carnage. When the vigilante explains that he eats the sins of others, Carnage offers up his own willingly. These sins are many and the Sin-Eater drinks them all in, growing in size. With each sin lifted Carnage begins to feel free and good at last. Now massive in size, the Sin-Eater rips up a nearby smoke stack and tries to crush Carnage under it.

Carnage easily evades this and leaps up onto Sin-Eater’s face where he lets loose his final sin: he loved every evil thing he had done. This is too much for the Sin-Eater to contain and his body overloads, leaving nothing but a withered husk. Cletus thanks the Sin-Eater for absolving him of his sins and vows to do good from now on. As Sin-Eater’s body crumbles to dust, Alice picks up his shotgun and shoots Carnage in the head. As his head regenerates, Carnage can’t understand why Alice shot him. That’s when the police arrive on the scene and she runs to them. Cletus can’t believe that she would do this as she promised to help. That’s when Alice reveals she lied, telling him that people are not good all the time and hardly any of them are good all the time, and that’s her final lesson. Carnage is deeply hurt as he thought they could have had a life together and raised a family. Instead, Alice tells the police to shoot and kill Carnage. As the bullets start hitting him, Carnage thinks that Alice is teaching him that having a family would leave his loved ones vulnerable. Likening this to a moment of cruelty to convince an animal to return to the wild, Cletus realizes that the path of a hero has to be traveled alone and swings off.

… Axis continues in Axis #6.

Recurring Characters

Carnage, Alice Gleason, Sin-Eater

Continuity Notes

1. Carnage was made good by an axis spell in Axis #3 and has spent the last two issues trying to be a hero, with Alice Gleason an unwilling teacher.

2. There is a lot going on here. Let’s break it down:

   • The original Sin-Eater was actually Stanley Carter. At the time, Emil Gregg was his neighbor and would overhear his rants. Thinking that these were the voices in his head, Gregg confessed for the Sin-Eater murders, hampering the investigation. Spider-Man later caught the real Sin-Eater. See Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #107-110.

   • Eddie Brock was a reporter for the Daily Globe believed Emil Gregg’s story and did a series of interviews with him for the paper. When Spider-Man caught the real Sin-Eater, Eddie Brock’s career was ruined leading him down the path to becoming Venom. See Amazing Spider-Man #300 and Venom: Dark Origin #1-5.