Venom (vol. 2) #5
Father’s Day
The Human Fly has taken to eating people in order to get the nourishment he needs to survive. However, he makes the mistake of kidnapping a senator’s daughter which prompts the military to assign Agent Venom onto the case. He catches the Fly in a bell tower and fight him. Venom is briefy disorientated when he is knocked into the bell, it’s ring affecting the symbiote. Ultimately, Agent Venom ambushes the Human Fly and leaves him webbed up. When he reports back to Kate Glover, he tells her that his mission was a success but he’s likely to make the news since he was witnessed and photographed by people on the street.
After having the symbiote extracted and getting reemed out, Flash returns home, thinking about his troubles. He still decides not to tell his handlers about how his identity was compromised by Crime-Master. However, he refuses to do so as it will would mean getting pulled from Project Rebirth. Although this would mean he could stop lying and make Betty happy, Flash refuses to give this up and end up being reduced to finding some menial job, like becoming a used car salesman.
When he returns home, Flash ignores the ringing phone. When the voice mail kicks in he hears his mother asking for his help because he father has started drinking again and has been away from home for a few days and she is worried.[1] Hearing about his father going back to his old ways angers Flash and he throws his phone across the room.
Flash goes outside and begins thinking about his abusive upbringing. He remembers how his father always called him “Sonny Boy”. When he was sober this nickname was endearing but when Harrison Thompson was drunk it convinced Flash how much his father hated him. He remembers how in the 5th grade, his father coached his football team and pushed him harder than anyone else on the team. Still, he prefered this attention to the beatings his father used to give while he was drunk. Flash thinks about how no matter how hard he tried he never earned his father’s respect. He turned this anger and resentment to bullying kids at school. He found that he enjoyed the approval he received from his classmates and even some of the adults at school too. Still, none of this replaced the praise he sought from his father.
He recalls how joining the military was the only decision he made for himself and was one of the only things he’s done that made his father proud of him. He remembers how the last time they met, his mother pleaded with him to bury the hatchet with his father as he had stopped drinking and had been sober for two years.[2] He remembers how he too fell down the rabbit hole of addiction, drinking and doing drugs to dull his insecurities. He decided to rejoin the military because he vowed never to become like his father.[3] As has decided that his father is dead to him now that he has started drinking.
He soon arrives at Betty Brant’s apartment for their dinner date. She is in a good mood because her blog is getting a lot of hits after her story about the Kingpin’s return to New York.[4] Flash apologizes for not being around as often as she should. She warns him that he is absent he’s not there and the least he could do is call and warns him that one of these days when he does call she won’t be there to answer. He promises Betty he’ll do better when he gets another call from his mother. He doesn’t care that his father is missing and tells her that he doesn’t want anything to do with his father as long as he’s drinking. However, he gives in and agrees to go looking for his father when his mother starts crying. When Betty offers to come with him, Flash ignores her and goes out to look for his father without her.
Instead, he calls Peter Parker to help him look for his father. They search in bars all over the city but nobody has seen Harrison Thompson all night, much to Flash’s frustration. When Peter tries to get Flash to think about the places his father would drink when he was young, Thompson loses his temper and snaps at him. Flash catches himself and realizes that he’s not that different from his father. Peter disagrees with this assessment. That’s when Flash gets a call telling him where his father is located. Flash and Peter go down to the police precinct where Harrison Thompson used to work. There they find Harrison drunk and going on about the old days and how he’d change things if he was still a cop. Seeing his son, Harrison realizes one of the cops ratted him out.
He tells his son that he doesn’t need someone worrying about him when Flash says that he’s not worried about his father, but his poor mother who is worried sick about him. Harrison then starts calling his son a loser and a cripple angering Flash. When his father gets in his face he and hits him, Flash is about to fight back but decides against it. Harrison is so drunk he falls on the ground backing away from his son, breaking his bottle of booze as he goes down. He insults his son the whole way down until be blacks out.
Harrison is rushed to St. Vincent’s Hospital where Flash meets up with his mother. There they learn that Harrison is suffering from Cirrhosis of the liver after all his years of drinking. Flash stick arounds to comfort his mother and she eventually convinces him to come into his father’s hospital room with her. However, when Harrison calls out to his son, Flash turns around and leaves. Outside in the parking lot Flash runs into Betty who he hugs so hard he falls out of his chair. As they embrace his phone begins to wring. Flash answers it. It’s General Dodge and he has another mission for him. He understands his orders and tells Dodge that he’ll be there.
Recurring Characters
Agent Venom, Harrison Thompson, Rosie Thompson, Betty Brant, Peter Parker, Human Fly
Continuity Notes
Harrison Thompson has been a life long alcoholic. This was first explored in Spectacular Spider-Man #-1.
Flash was reunited with is father and learned of his recent sobriety in Amazing Spider-Man #622.
Flash has had his own bouts with addiction dating back to Spider-Man: Redemption #1.
At the time of this story, the Kingpin retook his position as the leader of organized crime following Shadowland #5. He had been previously ousted back in Daredevil #500.
Continuity Errors
Flash states here that he joined the military after his drinking problems. However, this is not the case. Flash joined the military back in Amazing Spider-Man #43. He rejoined the army later, prior to Amazing Spider-Man #574 which resulted in him losing his legs in combat.
