Road Trip Part Two

Eddie Brock is a hero after his part in curing everyone of the spider-plague during Spider-Island.[1] However, he has reaped no rewards and now lives in a supply closet with no money or a job. However, he has amassed weapons because he has now dedicated his life to destroying all of the symbiotes that are loose in the world, starting with Venom.

At that moment, Flash Thompson is on the run after stealing the symbiote from Project Rebirth. He calls his girlfriend, Betty Brant, from a payphone at a roadside diner to check in on his family. He assures Betty that he’s not in any trouble, but has been called away on business for Veteran Affairs. Betty is not happy to hear this, saying his mother needs him there in her time of grief following the death of his father, Harrison.[2] She suggests that if the VA Office can’t cut him some slack he should look for another job. Thinking about how he killed the Hijacker recently, Flash admits that she’s right and then tells her he has to go.[3] Flash hates leaving his family alone during this time, but he is being blackmailed by the Crime-Master and can’t return to them until he has dealt with this threat. Part of this plan involves collecting the thing that Crime-Master sent him out to Las Vegas to collect.[4]

Returning to his motel room, Flash is surprised to find Jack O’Lantern is waiting for him with. Flash turns into Venom and is prepared for a fight, but Jack explains that he is there to assist him on his mission for Crime-Master. Jack explains that only he knows what they have to collect and he is needed on this mission. He then offers Flash a drink, but Thompson tells him he doesn’t drink, something that Jack knows perfectly well.[5] When he mocks Flash and his father’s struggles with alcoholism it angers Flash and he threatens to harm him, but Jack reminds him to keep his temper in check and decides to leave him to get some rest, saying they can get moving in the morning.

Meanwhile, Captain America briefs the Red Hulk on Agent Venom, explaining that he has gone AWOL and needs to be brought back in because they don’t believe he can control the Venom symbiote. The Red Hulk, a military man himself, understands the seriousness of the problem and promises to bring Agent Venom back in.

The following morning, Flash is enduring Jack’s incessant rambling about charisma as they drive toward Las Vegas. Flash eventually turns on the radio where and hears a report about a cave in at a mine owned by Roxxon Oil in the town of Elko. Flash turns their car around because they had just past the town and insists they go back and help the miners that are trapped.

With his symbiote, Flash helps dig out the minors, noting that the foundation of the mine was faulty. As the trapped minors leave, they quickly learn that one of them has been seriously injured. When one of the uninjured minors refuses to leave his friend so Jack decides to eliminate the problem by shooting the injured minor in the head, much to the horror of Flash. With everyone else in the mine freed, Flash and Jack push past the media and make a quick escape. Flash is furious that Jack killed the injured man, but Jack insists that he is a hero who had to make a tough decision, just like when Flash chose to kill the scientist in Nrosvekistan.[6]

When Jack says he’s hungry they stop at a roadside diner. There, Jack begins berating the staff after the waitress is startled by his mutilated face. Flash quickly diffuses the situation and orders. In order to keep Jack from harassing people further he asks his unwanted companion to talk about his life. Jack explains that as a kid he loved dressing up for Halloween. One year he disobeyed his parents rules to stay on their street while trick or treating. One of the houses he went to was occupied by the Crime-Master who gassed him. The Crime-Master then began raising Jack and he eventually came to believe that the mobster was his real father. After he was full indoctrinated in the Crime-Master’s anarchistic worldview he was then trained to be an assassin. Jack fondly remembers how his first lesson was to insert a bomb in a house cat. Although Jack doesn’t know what happened after they let the cat go, he couldn’t help but imagine how happy the cat’s owners would have been that their cat returned home only to get blown up by the a bomb packed with nails and broken glass.

Once his training was complete, Jack was sent back to emliminate his biological parents. That’s when he developed his signature of following out his victim’s heads and placing candles inside their heads inside like grotesque jack o’lanterns. Finishing his story, Jack decides to go to the bathroom, leaving Flash to wonder what kind of psychopath he is stuck travelling with. He debates seeking out Captain America or Spider-Man for help and turning himself in, but decides against it because he is finally admitting that he has become dependant upon the Venom symbiote. Jack comes back and the two leave. As they get into the car, Flash hopes that Jack left a decent tip. Jack assures Flash that he took good care of them, not revealing the fact that he murdered them and carved up their heads just like he did to his family so many years earlier.

Recurring Characters

Agent Venom, Betty Brant, Jack O’Lantern, Crime-Master, Eddie Brock, Rosie Thompson, Captain America, Red Hulk, Roxxon Oil

Continuity Notes

1. Remember Spider-Island? See Amazing Spider-Man #666-673 and Venom (vol. 2) #6-8.

2. Flash, as Venom, killed the Hijacker in Venom (vol. 2) #9.

3. Harrison Thompson died of cirrhosis of the liver in Venom (vol. 2) #7.

4. Crime-Master has been blackmailing Flash since he discovered Agent Venom’s true identity in Venom (vol. 2) #2.

5. Flash has struggled with Alcoholism since Spider-Man: Redemption #1. His father’s history with substence abuse was first explored in Spectacular Spider-Man #-1.

6. Agent Venom went on a mission to Nrosvekistan in Venom (vol. 2) #1.