Andi Benton sits down for breakfast with her father before they go about their day. She takes the opportunity to ask what she should do if she learned someone’s secret, because she feels like she could help that person by giving them someone to talk to. Her father tells Andi that secrets have a way of crushing or hurting people, and wishes that he could have talked to Andi’s mother about her secrets. He admits this isn’t the best advice, but Andi thanks her father anyway, saying that he’s doing the best he can.

Meanwhile, Agent Venom has disguised himself as an old lady so he can meet with Katy Kiernan. She finds this amusing, but Venom says it is necessary since Lord Ogre has put a bounty on his head. She understands his need to keep people safe but insists that they have to get the bounty hunters off the streets of Philadelphia, luckily she has managed to get the resources he needs to do the job. Through Kiernan’s connections through her job at the Daily Inquisitor, Agent Venom is provided with the high tech gear he needs to take down the super-villains that have been hired by Lord Ogre.[1]

He first clashes with Lady Octopus and an army of Hand Ninjas. After a tip from an informant, Venom fights with Lord Deathstrike in a meat packing warehouse. After buying some munitions, he then takes on Constrictor. Another informant leads Venom to the Brothers Grim. After some undercover work, Venom takes down Foolkiller in a warehouse. A hacker helps him get a line on some shadow ninjas. The whole time Agent Venom is dealing with these threats he is unaware that he is being observed by Jack O’Lantern, who is waiting for the right time to strike.

Later that evening, Andi Benton is watching gameshows on TV with her dad. However, he is taking it too seriously that Andi decides she is going to go up to the roof and get some fresh air. However, she decides to go knocking on the apartment belonging to Flash Thompson, to see if he wants to talk about his secret with her. However, the Jack O’Lantern answers the door and an army of automated rag dolls.[2] He tells the girl that Flash isn’t home but was about to leave a message. He decides that he will use the girl to leave this message and chases Andi out into the stairwell. Andi manages to get back to her own apartment and pleads with her father to call the police when Jack suddenly comes crashing in through the door.

However, before Jack can harm the Bentons, Agent Venom comes crashing in to stop him. Although Venom has the element of surprise, Jack’s ability to breath fire plays on the symbiote’s weakness. Before Jack can use his scythe to decapitate Venom, Andi’s father hits the villain over the head with a wrench. Venom tries to stop Jack from retaliating, but is too late to stop the villain from fatally stabbing Andi’s father. When Jack tosses some gas grenades, Flash commands the Venom symbiote to send out some tendrils to shield Andi from the gas. However, instead Andi is somehow enveloped in a symbiote of her own that looks identical to Venom, an unexpected development for everyone.[3]

Recurring Characters

Agent Venom, Mania, Katy Kiernan, the Hand, Lady Octopus, Lord Deathstrike, Constrictor, Brothers Grim, Foolkiller, Jack O’Lantern

Continuity Notes

1. Although it is not implicitly stated here, Flash is getting assistance from Jimm Z. Johnston who runs Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum. Flash first met him in Venom (vol. 2) #29.

2. The way Jack O’Lantern talks about knowing Flash Thompson is meant to imply that he is the same Jack that was hired by Crime-Master from Venom (vol. 2) #1-22. However, he is later revealed to be an impostor in issue #39.

3. How the Venom symbiote managed to split in two is not clearly explained until Venom (vol. 2) #42. It’s later revealed that the symbiote that Andi is wearing is actually the clone of the Venom symbiote that it consumed some time earlier. For more on this symbiote clone see Venom #1-18.