City of Dreams

Eddie Brock hasn't been able to sleep for a few weeks, and he has gotten used to it. He feels as though this will allow him to work harder on protecting the innocent. He walks through a bad part of town where he is among pimps, drug addicts, perverts and the homeless. He sees them as the walking dead and tries to keep his distance from them as he doesn't want to be exposed to their despair. When a homeless man begs Eddie for change, Brock slaps the change cup out of his hand and shows his symbiotic other, frightening the man half to death. Brock then decides to go to a nearby theater to catch a movie. There, his enjoyment of the film is interrupted by a trio of men who begin to talk during the movie. When Eddie tells them to be quiet, the three men try to pick a fight with him. He then turns into Venom, frightening the three men. However, he webs them up to the ceiling as they try to flee and stops short of actually hurting them. Realizing that he pushed things too far, Venom decides to leave the theater.

Changing back to human form, Brock goes to a nearby bodega where he buys the only thing he can afford: junk food. When the clerk critiques his selection, Brock tells him to mind his own business, feeling his anger flaring up again. Eddie then returns to his hideaway in the sewers. There he tries to eat some of the junk food he purchased, but for whatever reason, it all tastes rotten to him. Ravenous, Brock turns into Venom to go looking for food that won't be offensive to his suddenly delicate palate. When back up on the surface, Venom returns to human form and enters a local biker bar. There, he informs the patrons that he just demolished the most expensive-looking motorcycle parked outside. As expected, the owner of the motorcycle is furious and easily beats Brock and tosses him out of a nearby window. However, Eddie was only playing with them and returns as Venom spoiling for a fight. The bikers inside the bar are more than happy to oblige, one of them warning Venom that they play for keeps. In his mind's eye, Venom sees these bikers as hideous monsters that need to be stamped out and easily beats them all into unconsciousness. The only man left standing is the biker whose motorcycle was destroyed. Venom sends him flying into a nearby support beam with a single blow. Seeing that the biker's head was cracked open and that he is bleeding all over the floor, Venom gets up close and the smell is so intoxicating. Unaware of what he is going on, Venom then begins eating the man's brain.

When one of the other bikers comes to, he finds Venom in the act and is horrified to see what he is doing. This snaps Venom out of his ecstasy and he realizes what he was doing, and is horrified. He has often said he would eat someone's brains, but this was always a joke to him. Now that he has caught himself actually doing it, Venom is disgusted and runs out into an alley to throw up. He is even more disgusted when he learns that his symbiote wants more. The symbiote explains that there is a chemical on the brain that it needs to feed upon, one that Eddie's own mind no longer produces and therefore it needs to get sustenance elsewhere. Eddie refuses to become a monster, but the symbiote is so hungry. That's when it separates from him, leaving Eddie behind and slinks away. Alone and naked in the alley, Eddie Brock begs for his other to come back, but when it doesn't he curls into the fetal position, trying to come to grips of what has just happened.

Recurring Characters

Venom, Dr. Thaddeus Paine