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Maximum Carnage #1-14
Карнаж: Максимум резни
Карнаж. Человек-паук. Веном.
Отродье Венома собирает армию психически неуравновешенных врагов Человека-Паука (Падаль, Демогоблин, Визг и Доппельгангер Человека-Паука), дабы передать своё послание, предвещающее начало правления зла, хаоса и всепоглощающей резни. Оказавшись в меньшинстве, стенолаз должен собрать свою команду, чтобы дать отпор восходящей волне насилия. Его союзниками станут Чёрная Кошка, Плащ и Кинжал, Огненная Звезда, Капитан Америка, Дэтлок и... Веном?! Злейший враг Человека-Паука становится его ненадёжным товарищем в борьбе с безумным и жестоким Карнажем. Но когда начинаются ссоры с партнёрами по команде, желающими прикончить Карнажа и его банду раз и навсегда, Пауку приходится решить, нарушить ли свой личный кодекс чести или же избавить мир от чистого зла. Сможет ли паутиноплёт найти иное решение, пока ещё не слишком поздно? Любой выбор обернётся последствиями.
Включает выпуски комиксов "Удивительный Человек-Паук" #378-380, "Поразительный Челвек-Паук" #201-203, "Человек-Паук" #35-37, "Паутина Человека-Паука" #101-103, а также специальные выпуски "Непобедимый Человек-Паук" #1-2. Авторы: Том ДеФалько, Дж. М. ДеМаттейс, Терри Кавана и Дэвид Мишелини. Художники: Марк Багли, Сэл Бушема, Рон Лим, Том Лайл и Алекс Савюк!
Отродье Венома собирает армию психически неуравновешенных врагов Человека-Паука (Падаль, Демогоблин, Визг и Доппельгангер Человека-Паука), дабы передать своё послание, предвещающее начало правления зла, хаоса и всепоглощающей резни. Оказавшись в меньшинстве, стенолаз должен собрать свою команду, чтобы дать отпор восходящей волне насилия. Его союзниками станут Чёрная Кошка, Плащ и Кинжал, Огненная Звезда, Капитан Америка, Дэтлок и... Веном?! Злейший враг Человека-Паука становится его ненадёжным товарищем в борьбе с безумным и жестоким Карнажем. Но когда начинаются ссоры с партнёрами по команде, желающими прикончить Карнажа и его банду раз и навсегда, Пауку приходится решить, нарушить ли свой личный кодекс чести или же избавить мир от чистого зла. Сможет ли паутиноплёт найти иное решение, пока ещё не слишком поздно? Любой выбор обернётся последствиями.
Включает выпуски комиксов "Удивительный Человек-Паук" #378-380, "Поразительный Челвек-Паук" #201-203, "Человек-Паук" #35-37, "Паутина Человека-Паука" #101-103, а также специальные выпуски "Непобедимый Человек-Паук" #1-2. Авторы: Том ДеФалько, Дж. М. ДеМаттейс, Терри Кавана и Дэвид Мишелини. Художники: Марк Багли, Сэл Бушема, Рон Лим, Том Лайл и Алекс Савюк!
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
About the author
Tom DeFalco
2,410 books102 followersTom DeFalco is an American comics writer and editor, well-known for his association with Marvel Comics and Spider-Man.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 191 reviews
March 17, 2024
This is one of my faverite Spider-Man story arcs. It action packed from beginning to end and securely places Spider-Man as one of the big heroes in the Marvel universe. WHERE HE SHOULD BE!!!
As good as the action is there is also a good storyline between Mary Jane Parker and Peter. How he balances his life as Spider-Man and his personal life has to take a back seat in this time of crisis. I think there is a very powerful part in the of the book where Peter is out being the hero, but MJ is home worried and scared.
The other thing that is done really well, is team Carnage is pretty united, the heroes are changing between oppersite points of views on how to deal with Carnage from their two leaders Spider-Man and Venom. You see both sides of the debate.
Then there is how Spider-Man is held in high regard by other heroes and people. There is a great message of not giving up and doing better, which is what Peter Parker/Spider-Man has always been about before Disney devolved his character for me.
Great comic collection, action packed, great story and inspirational the way comics should be.
As good as the action is there is also a good storyline between Mary Jane Parker and Peter. How he balances his life as Spider-Man and his personal life has to take a back seat in this time of crisis. I think there is a very powerful part in the of the book where Peter is out being the hero, but MJ is home worried and scared.
The other thing that is done really well, is team Carnage is pretty united, the heroes are changing between oppersite points of views on how to deal with Carnage from their two leaders Spider-Man and Venom. You see both sides of the debate.
Then there is how Spider-Man is held in high regard by other heroes and people. There is a great message of not giving up and doing better, which is what Peter Parker/Spider-Man has always been about before Disney devolved his character for me.
Great comic collection, action packed, great story and inspirational the way comics should be.
October 8, 2019
Classic cheesy 90s crossover with Spidey, Venom, Black Cat, Morbius, Cloak & Dagger, Firestar, Iron Fist, Deathlok, Captain America and
Spawn... that's you?
Maybe not best Spider-Man's story ever but I had a lot of fun re-reading it after years... it was like watching a WWE Royal Rumble event on tv while drinking a cold beer.
August 11, 2019
I'm treating myself to a little Carnage. I kept seeing it around in bookstores back in the day and more recently here on GR and I even though I was insanely curious, I can't believe I never got around to it.
The good: Most of it! I really enjoyed how bats**t insane Carnage is and how he polarized past villains into helping out as heroes to stop the pure chaos he represented... or gathering them together to get the blood flowing. And it was pretty over-the-top. Shriek pulled in the insane from Carnage and gave it to the streets of New York, boiling blood everywhere, while Carnage did whatever Carnage wanted. Which was pretty damn random.
And all the while, Spidey teamed up with Venom and the big theme here was maybe overdone but not out-of-place. When is too much, too much? Is it sometimes valid to aim for an outright killing? We know Venom believes this, but then, there's Spidey. He's our conscience. When HE agrees with Venom, you know it's really bad.
I pretty much dug every little thing about this comic until ONE LITTLE TWIST. And then I was like... OHHH COME OOOONNNNNNNN.
Ignoring that. That one little hail-mary.
And I'm NOT talking about Captain America coming to the rescue fairly early on. Or Dagger.
That last one little thing was so outrageously meh that I wanted to tear up the funnies. But I didn't. I figure it would have taken an issue or two more to prepare THAT right, instead of as a, "oh, by the way" fix. *grrrr*
OKAY, ignoring that BAD, the rest was pretty awesome and I am very glad I read it. :) Classic Spidey.
The good: Most of it! I really enjoyed how bats**t insane Carnage is and how he polarized past villains into helping out as heroes to stop the pure chaos he represented... or gathering them together to get the blood flowing. And it was pretty over-the-top. Shriek pulled in the insane from Carnage and gave it to the streets of New York, boiling blood everywhere, while Carnage did whatever Carnage wanted. Which was pretty damn random.
And all the while, Spidey teamed up with Venom and the big theme here was maybe overdone but not out-of-place. When is too much, too much? Is it sometimes valid to aim for an outright killing? We know Venom believes this, but then, there's Spidey. He's our conscience. When HE agrees with Venom, you know it's really bad.
I pretty much dug every little thing about this comic until ONE LITTLE TWIST. And then I was like... OHHH COME OOOONNNNNNNN.
Ignoring that. That one little hail-mary.
And I'm NOT talking about Captain America coming to the rescue fairly early on. Or Dagger.
That last one little thing was so outrageously meh that I wanted to tear up the funnies. But I didn't. I figure it would have taken an issue or two more to prepare THAT right, instead of as a, "oh, by the way" fix. *grrrr*
OKAY, ignoring that BAD, the rest was pretty awesome and I am very glad I read it. :) Classic Spidey.
April 16, 2019
I'm giving Maximum Carnage five stars not for the same reasons I gave Kraven's Last Hunt or Death of Jean DeWolff five stars, since those two stories were better written and more nuanced than Maximum Carnage. Rather, this graphic novel deserves five stars for being one of the most fun and exciting stories in Spider-Man's catalog. And as an added bonus, Venom makes one of his greatest appearance across all mediums; he plays bad-cop to Spider-Man's much maligned good-cop, and I often found myself rooting for him over Spidey most of the time!
I love this story, for it is the embodiment of fun and care-free comic book writing without being the least bit corny. It was extremely fun to read the entire way through (and it isn't that short a graphic novel, mind you). I read a similarly lengthed Spider-Man graphic novel not that long ago and lost interest halfway through. This story had what any cool comic should have: tons of characters, great action sequences, awesome art with VIBRANT COLORS (which is becoming frighteningly less frequent in modern comics), and an interesting plot.
Sure, there were some things that bothered me, like why did the fights between the heroes and Carnage's gang have to go on for so many rounds? Why didn't Carnage just end it quickly by murdering everyone when he had the chance? I mean, his madness made him unpredictable and illogical, but even he should know better than to screw around with Spider-Man for too long instead of just killing him once and for all, which he was clearly capable of were it not for his uncharacteristic leniency...but I digress. Overall, I think it was a fun and cool story and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a good time without the need to take things so seriously. And if you do want to take this story seriously, I suppose there is enough substance there for you to get at least something of substance out of it, like the moral about doing the right thing even when it's not popular.
People seem to really pan this story and call it lackluster or even bad, but I can't see why. As long as you don't expect to get Shakespeare from this, I think you'll like it a lot – I know I did. Definitely one of my all-time favorite Spider-Man graphic novels to date.
I love this story, for it is the embodiment of fun and care-free comic book writing without being the least bit corny. It was extremely fun to read the entire way through (and it isn't that short a graphic novel, mind you). I read a similarly lengthed Spider-Man graphic novel not that long ago and lost interest halfway through. This story had what any cool comic should have: tons of characters, great action sequences, awesome art with VIBRANT COLORS (which is becoming frighteningly less frequent in modern comics), and an interesting plot.
Sure, there were some things that bothered me, like why did the fights between the heroes and Carnage's gang have to go on for so many rounds? Why didn't Carnage just end it quickly by murdering everyone when he had the chance? I mean, his madness made him unpredictable and illogical, but even he should know better than to screw around with Spider-Man for too long instead of just killing him once and for all, which he was clearly capable of were it not for his uncharacteristic leniency...but I digress. Overall, I think it was a fun and cool story and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a good time without the need to take things so seriously. And if you do want to take this story seriously, I suppose there is enough substance there for you to get at least something of substance out of it, like the moral about doing the right thing even when it's not popular.
People seem to really pan this story and call it lackluster or even bad, but I can't see why. As long as you don't expect to get Shakespeare from this, I think you'll like it a lot – I know I did. Definitely one of my all-time favorite Spider-Man graphic novels to date.
October 7, 2022
Masterfully drawn, amazingly told, and it kept me on the edge of my seat...but the entire series was rather freaky.
June 6, 2020
Masochistically read as part of my exhaustive prep for Absolute Carnage.
wow did I miss a lot when I stopped reading comics for all the 90’s!
They start it off in the most completely unsubtlest of 90’s ways - Kasady proclaiming, “I am the ultimate insanity! I am CARNAGE!” (complete with blood-soaked lettering).
Peter Parker’s parents? Total big hair and mullets on the females? MJ smoking? A six-armed Spider-monster just aimlessly swinging across the city, like no one’s trying to eradicate it? Harry Osborn dead-from-a-fatal-case-of-Green-Goblinitis? A freaking villain named Demogoblin?
How’s about that confusingly-blonde-for-one-panel MJ in issue 2?
Or the featured contributions from our very own don’t-do-drugs poster children, Cloak & Dagger?
Carnage in his early days was hilariously over the top - all razor-and-axe-wielding psychosis with a side of dripping-blood costume design, like something you’d see in an issue of Axe Cop (or any early Rob Liefeld). And couldn’t stop telling you what a badass chaos-addict he is, so that no one missed any of the finer nuances of his personality and upbringing.
Shriek (a bargain-basement cross between Harley Quinn and Black Canary) is a lame sideline to Carnage, and the doppelgänger spidey (with “barb wire webbing *giggle*) is just laughable.
Demo-goblin, with his roman catholic (?) backstory, artfully-ripped and bedangled-with-chain-bracelet costume and emo lingo, “it was meant to give you a taste of what all sinners must eventually face: the despair and unending hopelessness of eternal torment.”
And freaking Firestar, clad in her ridiculous half-waisted jacket?
I’m politely avoiding mentioning Black Cat’s Double D-hugging cutaway spandex - hell if she coughs she’s going to flash someone!
Later on Danny Rand show up and has the WORST LINES EVER:
“This fallen hero’s plight appeared to require the skills of Iron Fist, my friend...and man-made power is ever inferior to the power that makes a man!”
But as enjoyable as it is to laugh at terrible 90’s tropes, once the initial shock wears off, this 14-issue crossover event feels like 11 too many. Nothing inventive, plenty of repetition, all “oooh Carnage and his wilds are BAD” - but they’re fucking BORING bad, like no style, just rote psychos with no motivations. Like a ten-year-old wrote them.
So yeah, the middle of this fucking slog took me five tries to get through, and it was only my own pathetic bravado that kept me marching ever onwards.
Did it at least end well? Schlock no! How many times did spidey, venom and carnage get beat down, get up, threaten victory/death/murder and agonise over the outcome?
Talk about dragging out a weak premise for maximum sales. This could’ve been a 4-issue mini if they’d had any mercy on us in the 90’s, and that maybe would’ve made it 3 stars. This isn’t quite bottom of the barrel...is it?
Exhaustingly strained story.
Weak-ass characters a teenager would’ve given more depth.
No clear victory.
Weak trash, that contributed nothing to the Spidey mythos (murderous psycho villain, lots of other villains treading one-dimensional water, Venom doesn’t even get a pathos pass).
One star it is! Congratulations Carnage, a merit well deserved.
wow did I miss a lot when I stopped reading comics for all the 90’s!
They start it off in the most completely unsubtlest of 90’s ways - Kasady proclaiming, “I am the ultimate insanity! I am CARNAGE!” (complete with blood-soaked lettering).
Peter Parker’s parents? Total big hair and mullets on the females? MJ smoking? A six-armed Spider-monster just aimlessly swinging across the city, like no one’s trying to eradicate it? Harry Osborn dead-from-a-fatal-case-of-Green-Goblinitis? A freaking villain named Demogoblin?
How’s about that confusingly-blonde-for-one-panel MJ in issue 2?
Or the featured contributions from our very own don’t-do-drugs poster children, Cloak & Dagger?
Carnage in his early days was hilariously over the top - all razor-and-axe-wielding psychosis with a side of dripping-blood costume design, like something you’d see in an issue of Axe Cop (or any early Rob Liefeld). And couldn’t stop telling you what a badass chaos-addict he is, so that no one missed any of the finer nuances of his personality and upbringing.
Shriek (a bargain-basement cross between Harley Quinn and Black Canary) is a lame sideline to Carnage, and the doppelgänger spidey (with “barb wire webbing *giggle*) is just laughable.
Demo-goblin, with his roman catholic (?) backstory, artfully-ripped and bedangled-with-chain-bracelet costume and emo lingo, “it was meant to give you a taste of what all sinners must eventually face: the despair and unending hopelessness of eternal torment.”
And freaking Firestar, clad in her ridiculous half-waisted jacket?
I’m politely avoiding mentioning Black Cat’s Double D-hugging cutaway spandex - hell if she coughs she’s going to flash someone!
Later on Danny Rand show up and has the WORST LINES EVER:
“This fallen hero’s plight appeared to require the skills of Iron Fist, my friend...and man-made power is ever inferior to the power that makes a man!”
But as enjoyable as it is to laugh at terrible 90’s tropes, once the initial shock wears off, this 14-issue crossover event feels like 11 too many. Nothing inventive, plenty of repetition, all “oooh Carnage and his wilds are BAD” - but they’re fucking BORING bad, like no style, just rote psychos with no motivations. Like a ten-year-old wrote them.
So yeah, the middle of this fucking slog took me five tries to get through, and it was only my own pathetic bravado that kept me marching ever onwards.
Did it at least end well? Schlock no! How many times did spidey, venom and carnage get beat down, get up, threaten victory/death/murder and agonise over the outcome?
Talk about dragging out a weak premise for maximum sales. This could’ve been a 4-issue mini if they’d had any mercy on us in the 90’s, and that maybe would’ve made it 3 stars. This isn’t quite bottom of the barrel...is it?
Exhaustingly strained story.
Weak-ass characters a teenager would’ve given more depth.
No clear victory.
Weak trash, that contributed nothing to the Spidey mythos (murderous psycho villain, lots of other villains treading one-dimensional water, Venom doesn’t even get a pathos pass).
One star it is! Congratulations Carnage, a merit well deserved.
October 8, 2019
So this is the classic Carnage everyone seems to rave about, huh? It’s alright.
What’s it about?
Carnage breaks out of jail and he’s ready to fuck shit up! He teams up with some other villains to cause absolute mayhem and well... carnage. Spider-Man can’t just let this happen so he teams up with some other heroes and even some... not so heroic characters to stop these villains.
Pros:
The story is interesting. Not necessarily anything particularly deep but a fun superhero adventure for sure.
The art is pretty damn good for most of the comic!
The characters are pretty cool. So we got Spider-Man (the character that got me into comics), Venom (one of my favorite Marvel villains... or sometimes anti-hero), Black Cat and more hero(ish) characters fighting the villains! Some of the non-hero characters are interesting too.
The action scenes are nearly nonstop and super intense!
Some humorous bits are in this comic. Most Marvel fans will know that these characters are at times pretty quippy and it certainly works.
The villains are pretty cool. Carnage is one of my favorite Marvel villains, Shriek is very well written and interesting here, the Spidey doppleganger is a nice touch. The only one I was particularly “eh...” about is Demogoblin, some of his motivation doesn’t even make sense.
I know I probably shouldn’t have been but I was actually interested in the Carnage/Shriek relationship.
Cons:
Very predictable. Sure there were some good twists but for the most part... yeah, predictable.
The dialogue is iffy at times. Maybe it just doesn’t age well? I mean, it’s not terrible just often very iffy.
Spidey’s goody two-shoes thing gets kinda obnoxious. I mean yeah, I get that he’s not the killer type but he refuses to kill these villains despite some others (especially Venom) really wanting to which just fucked things up for the heroes of the story several times and probably caused a bunch of innocent people to die. Also calling it “murder” when it’s to defend yourself or others is honestly stupid.
Some parts are kinda boring. Spider-Man can sometimes go into drama-y stuff which is fine and all but I couldn’t help but just be like “shut up and get back to the Carnage stuff”.
I know this isn’t really the fault of the creators of this but it is a bit too censored. I mean yes, it is Spidey but it literally has CARNAGE right in the title of this.
Chapter 13 (forget what the exact issue is due to this being a crossover event... hey I get the whole event in this!) is kinda lame TBH.
Ending is a bit weak.
Overall:
This is a classic to many and if you’re a Spidey fan it’s probably worth a read for that alone. It’s not a bad book but it’s too flawed for me to think it deserves a 4-star rating.
I was entertained, sure but by the end I was glad it was over. It’s a book that’s okay and worth adding to the ol’ reading list if you’re a fan of Spider-Man but is ultimately overrated.
3/5
What’s it about?
Carnage breaks out of jail and he’s ready to fuck shit up! He teams up with some other villains to cause absolute mayhem and well... carnage. Spider-Man can’t just let this happen so he teams up with some other heroes and even some... not so heroic characters to stop these villains.
Pros:
The story is interesting. Not necessarily anything particularly deep but a fun superhero adventure for sure.
The art is pretty damn good for most of the comic!
The characters are pretty cool. So we got Spider-Man (the character that got me into comics), Venom (one of my favorite Marvel villains... or sometimes anti-hero), Black Cat and more hero(ish) characters fighting the villains! Some of the non-hero characters are interesting too.
The action scenes are nearly nonstop and super intense!
Some humorous bits are in this comic. Most Marvel fans will know that these characters are at times pretty quippy and it certainly works.
The villains are pretty cool. Carnage is one of my favorite Marvel villains, Shriek is very well written and interesting here, the Spidey doppleganger is a nice touch. The only one I was particularly “eh...” about is Demogoblin, some of his motivation doesn’t even make sense.
I know I probably shouldn’t have been but I was actually interested in the Carnage/Shriek relationship.
Cons:
Very predictable. Sure there were some good twists but for the most part... yeah, predictable.
The dialogue is iffy at times. Maybe it just doesn’t age well? I mean, it’s not terrible just often very iffy.
Spidey’s goody two-shoes thing gets kinda obnoxious. I mean yeah, I get that he’s not the killer type but he refuses to kill these villains despite some others (especially Venom) really wanting to which just fucked things up for the heroes of the story several times and probably caused a bunch of innocent people to die. Also calling it “murder” when it’s to defend yourself or others is honestly stupid.
Some parts are kinda boring. Spider-Man can sometimes go into drama-y stuff which is fine and all but I couldn’t help but just be like “shut up and get back to the Carnage stuff”.
I know this isn’t really the fault of the creators of this but it is a bit too censored. I mean yes, it is Spidey but it literally has CARNAGE right in the title of this.
Chapter 13 (forget what the exact issue is due to this being a crossover event... hey I get the whole event in this!) is kinda lame TBH.
Ending is a bit weak.
Overall:
This is a classic to many and if you’re a Spidey fan it’s probably worth a read for that alone. It’s not a bad book but it’s too flawed for me to think it deserves a 4-star rating.
I was entertained, sure but by the end I was glad it was over. It’s a book that’s okay and worth adding to the ol’ reading list if you’re a fan of Spider-Man but is ultimately overrated.
3/5
October 7, 2021
This was a big and bombastic read!
Its mostly about Carnage getting free and terrorizing NYC and well its upto Spider-man to stop his crimson foe and he teams up with Black Cat, Venom, Deathlok, Morbius and even Cap and Iron fist to stop this guy and his other enemies like: Shriek, Demogoblin, Doppelganger and Carrion.
Its an epic story with so many twists and turns and well a lot of it is filler and it could have been done in 7 issues instead of 14 but then again its still pretty solid read and has such great moments like establishing the relation of Pete and Eddie and it shows the struggle of MJ worrying for her husband and manages to shine a light on their relation and even has his dad and shows the struggle that this man has and its fun and well explored.
The final battle feels a little anti climactic but just shows that even with all the havoc that Carnage caused that Pete won't let him die and take him down the right way and its an epic battle showcasing Pete and Eddie, two arch-nemesis against their foe Carnage and its fun and well done i guess.
Overall its a good story and takes a bit of time to get rolling get everything into place but when all is set and established its a big war and yes its a memorable story and the constant art changes can be annoying it's still good and a fun and a definitive carnage story! A must read for sure!
Its mostly about Carnage getting free and terrorizing NYC and well its upto Spider-man to stop his crimson foe and he teams up with Black Cat, Venom, Deathlok, Morbius and even Cap and Iron fist to stop this guy and his other enemies like: Shriek, Demogoblin, Doppelganger and Carrion.
Its an epic story with so many twists and turns and well a lot of it is filler and it could have been done in 7 issues instead of 14 but then again its still pretty solid read and has such great moments like establishing the relation of Pete and Eddie and it shows the struggle of MJ worrying for her husband and manages to shine a light on their relation and even has his dad and shows the struggle that this man has and its fun and well explored.
The final battle feels a little anti climactic but just shows that even with all the havoc that Carnage caused that Pete won't let him die and take him down the right way and its an epic battle showcasing Pete and Eddie, two arch-nemesis against their foe Carnage and its fun and well done i guess.
Overall its a good story and takes a bit of time to get rolling get everything into place but when all is set and established its a big war and yes its a memorable story and the constant art changes can be annoying it's still good and a fun and a definitive carnage story! A must read for sure!
August 29, 2017
This series is the equivalent of a youngster gathering all of his action figures together and making up a story while he's banging them all together. "Maximum Carnage" isn't bad by any means but suffers from a number of problems that continually plague crossover events such as this. The series is significantly padded, as evident by the first seven issues barely moving the plot forward. It's almost as if the series was proposed and then the head honcho said I need you to make it twice as long. There also isn't any real character development for anybody. All the characters play out their respective roles with business as usual. But what may be the series worst problem is that nothing has really changed by the end. Every character is essentially in the same position as they were at the beginning.
That being said, this is the kind of story line I would have eaten up as a kid with a large group of heroes and villains duking it out through New York City. It's not "Justice" or "Old Man Logan", but then again it wasn't trying to be.
That being said, this is the kind of story line I would have eaten up as a kid with a large group of heroes and villains duking it out through New York City. It's not "Justice" or "Old Man Logan", but then again it wasn't trying to be.
November 2, 2021
Maximum Carnage bleeds 90s with its artwork and writing. It boasts an impressive premise, some amazing battles, but suffers from stretched plotline.
November 1, 2022
So, I did my best to read this with perspective that it was of a time and place. And I jumped that hurdle enough to enjoy this. However, it definitely has plenty of sour spots that simply don't hold up.
The art is indulgent and fun. Carnage's design has always been a favorite of mine. That's one of the high points. I'm also a sucker for team-ups and we get a few of those here.
On the other side of the coin, a few of the characters are written pretty poorly here. Mary Jane is terrible. Also, they essentially use Venom as a sounding board for the same idea ad nauseum.
That becomes my biggest criticism of this arc. The repetitiveness. There is WAY too much "it doesn't matter if you fail, you gotta try!" just vomited into every issue OVER AND OVER AGAIN. It's straight up awful.
The other part that sucks is anything doing with the citizens of New York rioting and becoming like a secondary antagonist. Just plain bad. They defeat them by...giving pep talks? At one point the good guys use a positivity beam as a weapon. No joke. It's total clownshoes.
Overall, despite my gripes, I liked watching Spidey go toe to toe with a pretty awesome cavalcade of villains. I also understand that comics were different at this time, and I give this story credit for being so ambitious and keeping a tight enough focus to make it more enjoyable than not.
The art is indulgent and fun. Carnage's design has always been a favorite of mine. That's one of the high points. I'm also a sucker for team-ups and we get a few of those here.
On the other side of the coin, a few of the characters are written pretty poorly here. Mary Jane is terrible. Also, they essentially use Venom as a sounding board for the same idea ad nauseum.
That becomes my biggest criticism of this arc. The repetitiveness. There is WAY too much "it doesn't matter if you fail, you gotta try!" just vomited into every issue OVER AND OVER AGAIN. It's straight up awful.
The other part that sucks is anything doing with the citizens of New York rioting and becoming like a secondary antagonist. Just plain bad. They defeat them by...giving pep talks? At one point the good guys use a positivity beam as a weapon. No joke. It's total clownshoes.
Overall, despite my gripes, I liked watching Spidey go toe to toe with a pretty awesome cavalcade of villains. I also understand that comics were different at this time, and I give this story credit for being so ambitious and keeping a tight enough focus to make it more enjoyable than not.
May 11, 2020
Carnage uteče z blázince a začne vraždit. Spider-Man s Venomem ho musí zastavit a celou dobu se hádají, jestli ho zabít. To celé je roztažené na neúnosnou délku 14 sešitů, takže se "příběh" natahuje a do konfliktu vstupují obskurní devadesátkové postavy.
Maximum Carnage je docela pitomost. Celý komiks neustále točí to samé dokola -> dojde k suprácké bitvě, záporáci zdrhnou, obě strany naberou posily, pohádají se a dojde k bitce... Chování postav je přitom místy strašně nelogické, takže záporáci mnohdy prchají z vyhrané bitvy a klaďasové se vrhají do souboje, který nemůžou vyhrát. Vážně bych chtěl vidět ty myšlenkové pochody: "Když nás bylo 5, prohráli jsme. Teď jsme jen 2, to určitě vyhrajeme."
Hlavním motivem příběhu jsou morální standardy a zda jde člověk v jádru dobrý nebo špatný, realizace je bohužel extrémně nudná.
Celé je to navíc crossover mezi 5 sériemi, neustále se tak střídají kreslíři a celkový vizuál. Někdy vypadá Carnage fakt drsně, někdy jako hora červeného slizu.
Maximum Carnage je docela pitomost. Celý komiks neustále točí to samé dokola -> dojde k suprácké bitvě, záporáci zdrhnou, obě strany naberou posily, pohádají se a dojde k bitce... Chování postav je přitom místy strašně nelogické, takže záporáci mnohdy prchají z vyhrané bitvy a klaďasové se vrhají do souboje, který nemůžou vyhrát. Vážně bych chtěl vidět ty myšlenkové pochody: "Když nás bylo 5, prohráli jsme. Teď jsme jen 2, to určitě vyhrajeme."
Hlavním motivem příběhu jsou morální standardy a zda jde člověk v jádru dobrý nebo špatný, realizace je bohužel extrémně nudná.
Celé je to navíc crossover mezi 5 sériemi, neustále se tak střídají kreslíři a celkový vizuál. Někdy vypadá Carnage fakt drsně, někdy jako hora červeného slizu.
Want to read
July 18, 2022I don't think I enjoy traditional superhero comics anymore. I have read some less traditional comics recently I loved like Dorohedoro, Saga, and Metabarons, but Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage did not work for me. I'm not a huge fan of extended fighting in fiction because it is boring. The dance of death can only last a few sentences before my eyes glass over.
I read hundreds of Spider-Man comics as a kid, and while I once loved it, the formula is burnt out in my mind. It's great that all these great Marvel and DC stories are being preserved and kept alive for new audiences. All kids should have a chance to experience them, and I think this is probably the best audience for Maximum Carnage.
I read hundreds of Spider-Man comics as a kid, and while I once loved it, the formula is burnt out in my mind. It's great that all these great Marvel and DC stories are being preserved and kept alive for new audiences. All kids should have a chance to experience them, and I think this is probably the best audience for Maximum Carnage.
April 28, 2021
One of my all-time favorites, along with the Infinity Gauntlet, ranks among the best of the 90s.
June 3, 2018
"If the Dalek gets out, it'll murder every living creature. That's all it needs."
"But why would it do that?"
"Because it honestly believes they should die."
There's a Doctor Who episode from the first series of the 2005 relaunch - back when Christopher Eccleston had his big shot as the Doctor - called "Dalek". In it, they find a single Dalek; they were popular Doctor Who foes, introduced in the 60s. Without any orders - a soldier without command - the Dalek reverts to a prime directive (or previous orders), which basically subsists of "kill everyone". The Doctor and the Dalek have history, as the Dalek is the last remaining unit of the species that wiped out his entire race. Now the Dalek is cutting through this underground facility, using its immense and unflinching intelligence to find the most efficient ways to murder hundreds of people, using the Doctor's friends as hostages to ensure it can get out and murder hundreds, thousands, millions more. So the Doctor, watching, boiling, as this massacre is played out, finds a big-ass space gun (it's a silly show) and faces the creature in a showdown. Finger on the trigger. Ready to destroy this barely-living monster and end what could well be the wholesale slaughter of all life on Earth. And, faced with a decision that could break his moral code for good, the Doctor... lays down his weapon. He can't do it.
Now, this is thrilling, award-winning sci-fi television. It cleverly, integrally meshes character study and pitch-perfect action pacing to create a morality play with genuine stakes and personal impact. It has nothing, really, to do with Maximum Carnage, because Maximum Carnage is crap from a stinky toilet. However, it does have very similar set-up and moral cues. On the surface, Carnage is the Dalek, Spider-Man is the Doctor; a creature that knows nothing but killing meets a man who will have to decide if stopping that killing is worth scarring his soul. It could've worked. We could argue all day of Spider-Man is the proper vehicle for this kind of conflict, but it could've worked. Brevity is the key - Dalek clocks in at just under three quarters of an hour. Maximum Carnage would, optimally, be three, maybe four issues long.
It's fourTEEN.
Oh.
So, Maximum Carnage is kneecapped, not by its premise, but by its length. Its obligation to the sort of brainless comic book action that acts as little more than padding between character moments, and character moments that have to be stretched thin so as not to waste what little narrative twists there are in one fell swoop. The first few issues consist of bouts between teams of characters that register as little more than white noise. The middle few issues finally let the morality play come to a head, and then, weirdly, we go back to that white noise. It's frustratingly predictable, but it's also bad in some really fascinating ways. Especially considering the mission statement laid out in the foreword, a Den of Lies that seems to imply that the many, many creators working on this project thought they were doing something special, unique, and worthwhile with this half-assed morality play.
Most pressingly, the morality play is busted. Carnage has assembled a team of villains, including new character, Shriek, a sort of evil Black Canary type, and they have one simple goal: kill everyone in New York. This is framed as "anarchy" - rules are for losers, Carnage quips, and so here we go a-murderin'! Carnage is practically a redneck Joker in a spiky red Venom outfit, so it's sort of ripping a page out of late-80s Batman in making a villain that is irredeemably evil through their outright insanity - laughing as they slaughter millions of innocents, Carnage is just crrrrrazy! Spider-Man has assembled a team of heroes (except, whoa, look out! Venom's on the team!), and they have one simple goal: stop Carnage. This is framed as "order". So we have this dichotomy here. Anarchy = murder = bad. Order = not murder = good.
Ignoring for a second that this is provably not the case in the real-world in any manner of truth... what? Anarchy is bad, order is good? This does frame Spider-Man as wanting to stop murders not because he believes life is sacred, but because the LAW told him to do it, but moreover, there's a narrative wrinkle: Cletus Kasady, the man who is Carnage, has his backstory revealed, and it's that his childhood was dogged by systemic bullying. Carnage is actually enacting revenge on "order" - the same order that Spider-Man wants to uphold - because it failed him, as an orphan sent to a broken home. Since we're playing by Batman rules, this is what "made him insane!" - what turned him into Carnage - but the fact that this is never redressed is mind-boggling. (Well, Venom manages to exploit it when he fights Carnage one-on-one, but it really should have factored into Spider-Man's character arc, because, well, his is the important one, but also Venom is bleh.)
Combined with the restrictive, PG nature of the violence you can actually depict in a Spider-Man book, and the literal massacre is depicted rather tamely. We see very few people actually die, and while I don't really want to have seen this book cater even further to the nihilistic, vapid tropes of insanity-driven mass-murder, the result is rather counter-intuitive: the stakes appear less pressing, because we're never shown them, and this, in turn, trivializes death itself. There's a reason folks are more shocked by a single death than hundreds, and it's because statistics are interpreted as collateral. So Carnage is well on his way to killing every living person in New York, but New York as we see it appears to be ticking along just fine. Even a simple, bloodless, visual representation of their progress, like maybe symbiote tentacles being left behind and sprouting around buildings, signs, cars, etc., would have gone a long way to making the entire point of the character - that he can and will murder all life on Manhattan island and beyond - feel like there was any actual weight.
So slow is the book, Spider-Man doesn't have a moral anchor. Instead, he has three. Aunt May, Mary-Jane (now his wife), and his dad (now... back, for reasons). Mary-Jane is done the least justice; I think they were trying to go for an angle where she's worried that Pete will die, as a way of ramping up the tension. Instead, she just seems to hound him about how he can't keep going out and being Spider-Man all the dang time, which makes her into less of a worried companion and more of a doting, nagging ball-and-chain. It's a bad time.
Aunt May is there being Aunt May - people are good, she tells Spider-Man. Pete's dad is there being a jerk? People are bad, he tells Spider-Man.
It takes fourteen issues of Spider-Man going back-and-forth-and-back on these three points before he decides to ignore ALL THREE an just go with his gut. So... like, I appreciate the illusion of narrative depth as much as the next superhero fan, but, what. What. WHAT.
Anyway, this all comes to a head. Spider-Man and his morally grey team (Remember: Venom! Ooooh! Can he trust him?) realize that Carnage, Shriek, and the rest of them need to be stopped at any cost, by any means. So Spider-Man, watching, boiling, as this massacre is played out, finds a big-ass sonic gun (it's a silly comic) and faces Carnage in a showdown. Finger on the trigger. Ready to destroy this barely-living monster and end what could well be the wholesale slaughter of all life on Earth. And, faced with a decision that could break his moral code for good, Spider-Man... lays down his weapon. He can't do it.
Nah, Venom does it for him. Then it turns out it doesn't even work. An- ...wait, there's still HOW MANY issues left?
...yeah, look, the conflict at the core of Maximum Carnage is pretty simple. Spider-Man's morality is on the line. And, geez, even if I disagree with the whole "well, anarchy is bad because it means people will just kill each other without consequence" angle, I can accept it for the sake of upholding comic book surrealism. Roll with it. Anarchy bad, order good. Reductive to the point of being wrong, but simplicity is the lifeblood of these sorts of tales. There's an excuse for that. What there is no excuse for is getting to the climax of Spider-Man's identity crisis in the first third of the book and then spinning your wheels on letting it play out over and over again. Whatever point Maximum Carnage had is lost - not in the fights, as much as they are barely fluff - but in repetition.
This kind of story has worked before. Not just in Doctor Who, either - any series that has a villain has had a homicidal maniac for a villain. More often than not, that maniac acts as little more than a mirror into our protagonist's soul. It's an easy proposition, and it takes little effort to bend established rules before they're uncomfortable in thought-provoking ways. Maximum Carnage might be one of the most blatant examples of how not to write this kind of story - it breaks the established rules, points at them laughing saying, "ha, look at that!", takes FOREVER to do what it has to do, then, at the end, it glues the rules haphazardly back together and solemnly exclaims that the goodness was in our hearts all along. You know that conflict with Peter's dad thinking humanity is bad? Eventually, Pete confronts him, says "I don't agree," and he walks away. That's the extent of that narrative lead. It's all such empty, shallow posturing, and y'know, like I said, at four issues, it might not have been a problem, but to keep it up for so, so long, a gentle breeze knocks the thing over and sets it on fire. Not even the endless procession of cameos and guest appearances makes the back half of the book feel any fresher than the front half, shitty red Joker basically making the same jokes, Spider-Man having the same ethical dilemma, Venom doing the same "just kill this ONCE" devil-on-Spidey's-shoulder act. It's bad enough, without adding in the very 1990s attitudes to lawfulness, mental illness, and, err... humour (at one point, Spider-Man quips, "too late!" before moving on and declaring, "too LAME!"). Yeesh.
Maximum Carnage thinks it's really very mature and epic, but really, it is crap from a stinky toilet, and I recommend it only to big doo-doo heads.
"But why would it do that?"
"Because it honestly believes they should die."
There's a Doctor Who episode from the first series of the 2005 relaunch - back when Christopher Eccleston had his big shot as the Doctor - called "Dalek". In it, they find a single Dalek; they were popular Doctor Who foes, introduced in the 60s. Without any orders - a soldier without command - the Dalek reverts to a prime directive (or previous orders), which basically subsists of "kill everyone". The Doctor and the Dalek have history, as the Dalek is the last remaining unit of the species that wiped out his entire race. Now the Dalek is cutting through this underground facility, using its immense and unflinching intelligence to find the most efficient ways to murder hundreds of people, using the Doctor's friends as hostages to ensure it can get out and murder hundreds, thousands, millions more. So the Doctor, watching, boiling, as this massacre is played out, finds a big-ass space gun (it's a silly show) and faces the creature in a showdown. Finger on the trigger. Ready to destroy this barely-living monster and end what could well be the wholesale slaughter of all life on Earth. And, faced with a decision that could break his moral code for good, the Doctor... lays down his weapon. He can't do it.
Now, this is thrilling, award-winning sci-fi television. It cleverly, integrally meshes character study and pitch-perfect action pacing to create a morality play with genuine stakes and personal impact. It has nothing, really, to do with Maximum Carnage, because Maximum Carnage is crap from a stinky toilet. However, it does have very similar set-up and moral cues. On the surface, Carnage is the Dalek, Spider-Man is the Doctor; a creature that knows nothing but killing meets a man who will have to decide if stopping that killing is worth scarring his soul. It could've worked. We could argue all day of Spider-Man is the proper vehicle for this kind of conflict, but it could've worked. Brevity is the key - Dalek clocks in at just under three quarters of an hour. Maximum Carnage would, optimally, be three, maybe four issues long.
It's fourTEEN.
Oh.
So, Maximum Carnage is kneecapped, not by its premise, but by its length. Its obligation to the sort of brainless comic book action that acts as little more than padding between character moments, and character moments that have to be stretched thin so as not to waste what little narrative twists there are in one fell swoop. The first few issues consist of bouts between teams of characters that register as little more than white noise. The middle few issues finally let the morality play come to a head, and then, weirdly, we go back to that white noise. It's frustratingly predictable, but it's also bad in some really fascinating ways. Especially considering the mission statement laid out in the foreword, a Den of Lies that seems to imply that the many, many creators working on this project thought they were doing something special, unique, and worthwhile with this half-assed morality play.
Most pressingly, the morality play is busted. Carnage has assembled a team of villains, including new character, Shriek, a sort of evil Black Canary type, and they have one simple goal: kill everyone in New York. This is framed as "anarchy" - rules are for losers, Carnage quips, and so here we go a-murderin'! Carnage is practically a redneck Joker in a spiky red Venom outfit, so it's sort of ripping a page out of late-80s Batman in making a villain that is irredeemably evil through their outright insanity - laughing as they slaughter millions of innocents, Carnage is just crrrrrazy! Spider-Man has assembled a team of heroes (except, whoa, look out! Venom's on the team!), and they have one simple goal: stop Carnage. This is framed as "order". So we have this dichotomy here. Anarchy = murder = bad. Order = not murder = good.
Ignoring for a second that this is provably not the case in the real-world in any manner of truth... what? Anarchy is bad, order is good? This does frame Spider-Man as wanting to stop murders not because he believes life is sacred, but because the LAW told him to do it, but moreover, there's a narrative wrinkle: Cletus Kasady, the man who is Carnage, has his backstory revealed, and it's that his childhood was dogged by systemic bullying. Carnage is actually enacting revenge on "order" - the same order that Spider-Man wants to uphold - because it failed him, as an orphan sent to a broken home. Since we're playing by Batman rules, this is what "made him insane!" - what turned him into Carnage - but the fact that this is never redressed is mind-boggling. (Well, Venom manages to exploit it when he fights Carnage one-on-one, but it really should have factored into Spider-Man's character arc, because, well, his is the important one, but also Venom is bleh.)
Combined with the restrictive, PG nature of the violence you can actually depict in a Spider-Man book, and the literal massacre is depicted rather tamely. We see very few people actually die, and while I don't really want to have seen this book cater even further to the nihilistic, vapid tropes of insanity-driven mass-murder, the result is rather counter-intuitive: the stakes appear less pressing, because we're never shown them, and this, in turn, trivializes death itself. There's a reason folks are more shocked by a single death than hundreds, and it's because statistics are interpreted as collateral. So Carnage is well on his way to killing every living person in New York, but New York as we see it appears to be ticking along just fine. Even a simple, bloodless, visual representation of their progress, like maybe symbiote tentacles being left behind and sprouting around buildings, signs, cars, etc., would have gone a long way to making the entire point of the character - that he can and will murder all life on Manhattan island and beyond - feel like there was any actual weight.
So slow is the book, Spider-Man doesn't have a moral anchor. Instead, he has three. Aunt May, Mary-Jane (now his wife), and his dad (now... back, for reasons). Mary-Jane is done the least justice; I think they were trying to go for an angle where she's worried that Pete will die, as a way of ramping up the tension. Instead, she just seems to hound him about how he can't keep going out and being Spider-Man all the dang time, which makes her into less of a worried companion and more of a doting, nagging ball-and-chain. It's a bad time.
Aunt May is there being Aunt May - people are good, she tells Spider-Man. Pete's dad is there being a jerk? People are bad, he tells Spider-Man.
It takes fourteen issues of Spider-Man going back-and-forth-and-back on these three points before he decides to ignore ALL THREE an just go with his gut. So... like, I appreciate the illusion of narrative depth as much as the next superhero fan, but, what. What. WHAT.
Anyway, this all comes to a head. Spider-Man and his morally grey team (Remember: Venom! Ooooh! Can he trust him?) realize that Carnage, Shriek, and the rest of them need to be stopped at any cost, by any means. So Spider-Man, watching, boiling, as this massacre is played out, finds a big-ass sonic gun (it's a silly comic) and faces Carnage in a showdown. Finger on the trigger. Ready to destroy this barely-living monster and end what could well be the wholesale slaughter of all life on Earth. And, faced with a decision that could break his moral code for good, Spider-Man... lays down his weapon. He can't do it.
Nah, Venom does it for him. Then it turns out it doesn't even work. An- ...wait, there's still HOW MANY issues left?
...yeah, look, the conflict at the core of Maximum Carnage is pretty simple. Spider-Man's morality is on the line. And, geez, even if I disagree with the whole "well, anarchy is bad because it means people will just kill each other without consequence" angle, I can accept it for the sake of upholding comic book surrealism. Roll with it. Anarchy bad, order good. Reductive to the point of being wrong, but simplicity is the lifeblood of these sorts of tales. There's an excuse for that. What there is no excuse for is getting to the climax of Spider-Man's identity crisis in the first third of the book and then spinning your wheels on letting it play out over and over again. Whatever point Maximum Carnage had is lost - not in the fights, as much as they are barely fluff - but in repetition.
This kind of story has worked before. Not just in Doctor Who, either - any series that has a villain has had a homicidal maniac for a villain. More often than not, that maniac acts as little more than a mirror into our protagonist's soul. It's an easy proposition, and it takes little effort to bend established rules before they're uncomfortable in thought-provoking ways. Maximum Carnage might be one of the most blatant examples of how not to write this kind of story - it breaks the established rules, points at them laughing saying, "ha, look at that!", takes FOREVER to do what it has to do, then, at the end, it glues the rules haphazardly back together and solemnly exclaims that the goodness was in our hearts all along. You know that conflict with Peter's dad thinking humanity is bad? Eventually, Pete confronts him, says "I don't agree," and he walks away. That's the extent of that narrative lead. It's all such empty, shallow posturing, and y'know, like I said, at four issues, it might not have been a problem, but to keep it up for so, so long, a gentle breeze knocks the thing over and sets it on fire. Not even the endless procession of cameos and guest appearances makes the back half of the book feel any fresher than the front half, shitty red Joker basically making the same jokes, Spider-Man having the same ethical dilemma, Venom doing the same "just kill this ONCE" devil-on-Spidey's-shoulder act. It's bad enough, without adding in the very 1990s attitudes to lawfulness, mental illness, and, err... humour (at one point, Spider-Man quips, "too late!" before moving on and declaring, "too LAME!"). Yeesh.
Maximum Carnage thinks it's really very mature and epic, but really, it is crap from a stinky toilet, and I recommend it only to big doo-doo heads.
November 29, 2021
It's true what they say: you can never go back home. Yet it is also true that an honest feeling endures past anything else.
This is not a great comic for a thinking adult. There is no real story, except "Carnage and Co. massacre everything in their way, endless improbable fisticuffs ensue, good guys come out triumphant". The art, although occasionally toeing the strained line of Euclidian geometry, is still so compelling, so cool just because all these legends gave it their all while playing to their strengths, still not without weaknesses.
But more than anything, having read the separate issues as a child, I remember getting goosebumps when Cap appears to a broken Spider-Man and says: "How 'bout a hand, son? Looks like you could use it." After the incessant Carnage (sic), having Starfire almost kill him but Spider-Man stopping her at the last moment, despite his misgivings, Venom acting his usual crazy self and generally the rather rag-tag heroes and their less than heroic allies getting a beating, Cap brings this calm, wise old soldier vibe, this feeling that somehow things will get better.
Then there's the ending, with the undeniable silliness of the (weaponized) power of light and love, and yet, and YET... this cynic 39-year-old choked like when he was a child.
This is not a comic that has aged well for a comprehensive reading, but the feeling is as solid as it was 30 years ago, and really, that is what the creators were aiming for.
This is not a great comic for a thinking adult. There is no real story, except "Carnage and Co. massacre everything in their way, endless improbable fisticuffs ensue, good guys come out triumphant". The art, although occasionally toeing the strained line of Euclidian geometry, is still so compelling, so cool just because all these legends gave it their all while playing to their strengths, still not without weaknesses.
But more than anything, having read the separate issues as a child, I remember getting goosebumps when Cap appears to a broken Spider-Man and says: "How 'bout a hand, son? Looks like you could use it." After the incessant Carnage (sic), having Starfire almost kill him but Spider-Man stopping her at the last moment, despite his misgivings, Venom acting his usual crazy self and generally the rather rag-tag heroes and their less than heroic allies getting a beating, Cap brings this calm, wise old soldier vibe, this feeling that somehow things will get better.
Then there's the ending, with the undeniable silliness of the (weaponized) power of light and love, and yet, and YET... this cynic 39-year-old choked like when he was a child.
This is not a comic that has aged well for a comprehensive reading, but the feeling is as solid as it was 30 years ago, and really, that is what the creators were aiming for.
January 21, 2022
I would have gave it four stars but Shriek was just a really annoying character for me.
November 14, 2020
Me tomó mucho tiempo leer esta serie y eso que la publicaron en un tomo hace como diez años aquí en México, pero por alguna razón no la adquirí. Después la publicaron en dos pastas blandas de precio bajo y tampoco la adquirí. La publicaron nuevamente en un tomo de tamaño mayor y a un precio más elevado que el de la primera vez pero no la adquirí. Ahora me encontré ese último tomo a mitad de precio y no pude dejarlo pasar. En retrospectiva estoy leyendo casi todo lo icónico de Spider-man. Así que no podía dejar pasar esta serie una vez más.
Esperaba más. Pensé que esta era la serie donde aparecían más simbiontes y Carnage unía a esos simbiontes contra Spidey y compañía. La trama es muy simple en realidad y es innecesariamente larga. Carnage escapa de Ravencroft y se da cuenta que el simbionte mutó y ahora lo tiene dentro de la sangre, así que escapa y se lleva a una demente que también estaba internada llamada Shriek. Ellos se unen a más villanos desquiciados a lo largo del tomo de 14 partes y enfrentan a los héroes que también se unen.
El tema central es la ambigüedad moral y mantenerse fiel a sus principios. Eso es interesante y es lo que más rescato de la serie, porque vemos a Spiderman pensando en sacrificar sus principios para detener a Carnage de una vez y por todas.
El tomo es muy largo y se vuelve tedioso porque la fórmula es la misma una y otra vez. Carnage y sus villanos realizan una masacre, llegan los héroes, se enfrentan, pierden, se lamen las heridas, aparecen más héroes, repite. Así hasta el final. Hay algunos giros usando a Cloak y Dagger para el final de la serie que me gustaron pero tampoco es que variara tanto el último conflicto a todos los que vimos durante los 14 números.
La relación que tienen Spidey y Venom también es interesante. El venom que vemos aquí es el de Protector Letal, osea ya es un anti héroe, y de esa manera quiere hacer lo correcto aunque para él matar está permitido. Verlo enfrentarse a Spidey, no sólo físicamente sino también moralmente, son de los highlights del evento.
Entiendo porque este tomo es icónico del lanza redes pero creo que es demasiado largo sin un propósito verdadero y no creo que sea una historia que vuelva a leer pronto.
También quería aprovechar para compararlo con el evento reciente de Marvel: Absolute Carnage, que es escrito por Donny Cates. Las referencias de este evento moderno al evento original que estoy reseñando aquí son obvias. Leí muchos comentarios que Maximum era mejor que Absolute pero creo que mi veredicto final es que disfruté más Absolute. Es cierto que para el trabajo al que nos tiene acostumbrados Donny Cates, no fue tan buena, pero si comparo ambas obras, me gustó más la trama de Absolute, es más compleja, tiene algunos elementos religiosos y de culto que son perturbadores además del tema de cazar ex huéspedes de simbiontes que le da un propósito mayor a las matanzas.
Esperaba más. Pensé que esta era la serie donde aparecían más simbiontes y Carnage unía a esos simbiontes contra Spidey y compañía. La trama es muy simple en realidad y es innecesariamente larga. Carnage escapa de Ravencroft y se da cuenta que el simbionte mutó y ahora lo tiene dentro de la sangre, así que escapa y se lleva a una demente que también estaba internada llamada Shriek. Ellos se unen a más villanos desquiciados a lo largo del tomo de 14 partes y enfrentan a los héroes que también se unen.
El tema central es la ambigüedad moral y mantenerse fiel a sus principios. Eso es interesante y es lo que más rescato de la serie, porque vemos a Spiderman pensando en sacrificar sus principios para detener a Carnage de una vez y por todas.
El tomo es muy largo y se vuelve tedioso porque la fórmula es la misma una y otra vez. Carnage y sus villanos realizan una masacre, llegan los héroes, se enfrentan, pierden, se lamen las heridas, aparecen más héroes, repite. Así hasta el final. Hay algunos giros usando a Cloak y Dagger para el final de la serie que me gustaron pero tampoco es que variara tanto el último conflicto a todos los que vimos durante los 14 números.
La relación que tienen Spidey y Venom también es interesante. El venom que vemos aquí es el de Protector Letal, osea ya es un anti héroe, y de esa manera quiere hacer lo correcto aunque para él matar está permitido. Verlo enfrentarse a Spidey, no sólo físicamente sino también moralmente, son de los highlights del evento.
Entiendo porque este tomo es icónico del lanza redes pero creo que es demasiado largo sin un propósito verdadero y no creo que sea una historia que vuelva a leer pronto.
También quería aprovechar para compararlo con el evento reciente de Marvel: Absolute Carnage, que es escrito por Donny Cates. Las referencias de este evento moderno al evento original que estoy reseñando aquí son obvias. Leí muchos comentarios que Maximum era mejor que Absolute pero creo que mi veredicto final es que disfruté más Absolute. Es cierto que para el trabajo al que nos tiene acostumbrados Donny Cates, no fue tan buena, pero si comparo ambas obras, me gustó más la trama de Absolute, es más compleja, tiene algunos elementos religiosos y de culto que son perturbadores además del tema de cazar ex huéspedes de simbiontes que le da un propósito mayor a las matanzas.
August 31, 2021
Devadesátková slátanina roztahaná na 14!!! sešitů, kde se prakticky v každé kapitole odehrává úplně to stejné. Spidey se někdy chová jako úplný kretén (a není jediný). Za každých 5 stran vyskočí odněkud nějaká bizarní 90’s postavička, aby nakonec do děje nijak nepřispěla a vytratila se stejně náhle jako se objevila. Kresba je občas super (Bagley) a občas se na ni nedá dívat (Buscema, Lyle). Tenhle event určitě nedoporučuji a s Carnagem si radši přečtěte něco jiného.
January 4, 2022
"Peter, I felt the way May did once, before I was locked away in the Soviet prison for nearly twenty years. Before I met the devil--face to face. Strip away the veneer of society and civilization and you'll find a devil inside all men. We try to hide it, push it down. But the truth is, it's closer to the surface than any of us would dare admit. That prison was overrun with devils, Peter. Sadistic, evil men who'd do anything--no matter how twisted, how immoral--to break a man down, destroy his soul."
"Look--if this is too painful for you--you don't have to--"
"No. You need to hear this. However well intentioned Ben and May were, they were wrong to fill your head with fairy tales about the goodness and decency of the human heart. Oh sure--there are good men in the world. Your uncle was one of them, and look where it got him--dead, shot down like a dog. And knowing my brother, he was probably looking up at the scum who did it trying to understand why. But when it comes to the devils, Peter--there is no why. No rhyme or reason. I don't know exactly what your problem is, but it's a bleak hard world out there. The devils will consume you if you let them. That's why you've got to fight fire with fire!"
Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage possesses all the attributes that tarnished comic books put out in the 1990s: crossover of minor, poorly-created characters into mainstream comics, female leads whose breasts and costumes defy the laws of physics, male heroes are all Arnold Schwarzenegger beneath the neck, increasing the violence in a genuine attempt to give the saga edginess. Yet, at its heart, Maximum Carnage is the same Spider-Man story told since the 60s: Peter Parker should rely more on his heart than his powers when combating evil. The interplay between "chaos embracing Carnage" and the array of characters against him, ranging from anti-heroes like Venom and Morbius to stalwart heroes like Captain America and Spider-Man, makes for interesting reading and plotting. Even so, the pacing is leaden: The bad guys continue to escape issue after issue so another comic book can arrive next month with another array of heroes to fight them until, suddenly, there's only one comic left and, suddenly, the evil ones are soundly defeated without any rhyme or reason as to why it took this long so long to accomplish in the first place.
While it is difficult to overlook its excesses, the work is worth a read. Better comic book sagas exists, but Spider-Man has a special place in the pantheon. This comic attempts to provide grounds he should change, should fight "fire with fire," but, in the end, he refuses to give up hope or kill.
"Look--if this is too painful for you--you don't have to--"
"No. You need to hear this. However well intentioned Ben and May were, they were wrong to fill your head with fairy tales about the goodness and decency of the human heart. Oh sure--there are good men in the world. Your uncle was one of them, and look where it got him--dead, shot down like a dog. And knowing my brother, he was probably looking up at the scum who did it trying to understand why. But when it comes to the devils, Peter--there is no why. No rhyme or reason. I don't know exactly what your problem is, but it's a bleak hard world out there. The devils will consume you if you let them. That's why you've got to fight fire with fire!"
Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage possesses all the attributes that tarnished comic books put out in the 1990s: crossover of minor, poorly-created characters into mainstream comics, female leads whose breasts and costumes defy the laws of physics, male heroes are all Arnold Schwarzenegger beneath the neck, increasing the violence in a genuine attempt to give the saga edginess. Yet, at its heart, Maximum Carnage is the same Spider-Man story told since the 60s: Peter Parker should rely more on his heart than his powers when combating evil. The interplay between "chaos embracing Carnage" and the array of characters against him, ranging from anti-heroes like Venom and Morbius to stalwart heroes like Captain America and Spider-Man, makes for interesting reading and plotting. Even so, the pacing is leaden: The bad guys continue to escape issue after issue so another comic book can arrive next month with another array of heroes to fight them until, suddenly, there's only one comic left and, suddenly, the evil ones are soundly defeated without any rhyme or reason as to why it took this long so long to accomplish in the first place.
While it is difficult to overlook its excesses, the work is worth a read. Better comic book sagas exists, but Spider-Man has a special place in the pantheon. This comic attempts to provide grounds he should change, should fight "fire with fire," but, in the end, he refuses to give up hope or kill.
June 27, 2021
Pff pues no creía que podía encontrar este nivel de epicidad en un cómic clásico y ni se diga del nivel de violencia, muerte y destrucción que sale en Maximum Carnage.
La verdad es que los escritores no se rompieron mucho la cabeza y no hay una historia como tal, Cletus Casaddy escapa del manicomio de Ravencroft gracias a su fusión única con un simbionte que ahora vive en su torrente sanguíneo e inicia una matanza sin precedentes y sin sentido mientras se va aliando con otros psicópatas en el camino y convirtiendo a New York en una zona de guerra con cientos de cuerpos en las calles. Por otro lado Spider Man se alía con Venom, algunos antiheroes y otros personajes que con el paso de los 14 números se irán uniendo en su cruzada para detener a Carnage.
El evento no pretende ser nada profundo y los escritores estan perfectamente concientes de lo que es, una pelea de 14 números donde veremos a los simbiontes en su máximo explendor y la locura de Cletus desatada al máximo.
El arte es alucinante y Venom y Carnage se ven muy intimidantes y ni que decir de las peleas que se ven excelentes al punto de que hay algun que otro panel que se ve muy cinematográfico, tanto asi que hay imagenes que de verdad me gustaría convertirlas en playeras.
Recomiendo Maximum Carnage si y solo si eres fan de los simbiontes y quieres ver de lo que son capaces en una lucha sin sentido a lo largo de 14 números, el evento en ese aspecto la verdad es que no tiene desperdicio pero como dije antes, no busques una gran historia y mucho menos un cómic convencional de Spider Man pues este último aunque es un personaje importante en ciertos momentos queda relegado a un segundo plano por la cantidad de personajes que salen en la trama, a mi el evento me gustó y fue una historia ideal para apagar el cerebro un rato.
La verdad es que los escritores no se rompieron mucho la cabeza y no hay una historia como tal, Cletus Casaddy escapa del manicomio de Ravencroft gracias a su fusión única con un simbionte que ahora vive en su torrente sanguíneo e inicia una matanza sin precedentes y sin sentido mientras se va aliando con otros psicópatas en el camino y convirtiendo a New York en una zona de guerra con cientos de cuerpos en las calles. Por otro lado Spider Man se alía con Venom, algunos antiheroes y otros personajes que con el paso de los 14 números se irán uniendo en su cruzada para detener a Carnage.
El evento no pretende ser nada profundo y los escritores estan perfectamente concientes de lo que es, una pelea de 14 números donde veremos a los simbiontes en su máximo explendor y la locura de Cletus desatada al máximo.
El arte es alucinante y Venom y Carnage se ven muy intimidantes y ni que decir de las peleas que se ven excelentes al punto de que hay algun que otro panel que se ve muy cinematográfico, tanto asi que hay imagenes que de verdad me gustaría convertirlas en playeras.
Recomiendo Maximum Carnage si y solo si eres fan de los simbiontes y quieres ver de lo que son capaces en una lucha sin sentido a lo largo de 14 números, el evento en ese aspecto la verdad es que no tiene desperdicio pero como dije antes, no busques una gran historia y mucho menos un cómic convencional de Spider Man pues este último aunque es un personaje importante en ciertos momentos queda relegado a un segundo plano por la cantidad de personajes que salen en la trama, a mi el evento me gustó y fue una historia ideal para apagar el cerebro un rato.
September 22, 2017
Let’s get something out of the way before we dive too deeply into this massive story: How many of you out there heard the music from the video game adaptation of this story in your heads while reading this book? I swear, as soon as I got to the first panel of Cletus Kasaday being wheeled through a prison Hannibal Lector-style I was hearing those Green Jelly sound bites like my old SNES was right next to me. Don’t worry though; you’re only in real trouble when you see the images on the page move around slightly like they did in the game.
Alright, with that out of the way, let’s dive into this monster of a book; Maximum Carnage is a Spider-Man crossover event that spanned the entire line of Spider-Man books in the 90’s, plus one that was introduced during this crossover. The story revolves around Spidey’s not-so-long-time foe Carnage breaking out of prison with upgrades to his Symbiote suit, all while Peter is dealing with the death of his best friend who also happened to become one of his greatest enemies, his parents returning to his life after being held in a Russian Gulag for decades, and his wife, Mary Jane, constantly hounding him to stop risking his life and stay home with her and her smoking habit. Confusing? Yeah, that was the biggest problem with this book’s structure, as it takes place smack dab in the middle of several ongoing stories spanning the entire Spider-Man library and gives little context as to what is being referenced aside from editor’s notes saying “Go check out this issue!” Good news is that a majority of this story can be understood without going hunting for those stories, because once the fighting starts it focuses squarely on that for 90% of the book. The main focus is on Spider-Man assembling a ragtag team of heroes and anti-heroes, including Venom, Black Cat, Cloak and Dagger, Deathlok, Iron Fist, Firestar, Morbius, and Captain America, to take on Carnage and his new “family” of psychotics: Shriek (invented just for this story), Doppelganger (a monstrous Spidey clone from the Infinity War storyline), Demogoblin, and Carrion.
While Carnage’s name may be on the book, the true threat in this story is Shriek, as she has not only a sonic blast ability, but she can also (for the sake of plot convenience) psychically project negative thoughts and emotions into the people around her. In a nutshell, she can bring out the worst in people and incites riots all throughout New York without even really thinking about it. This leads to some cool moments, particularly involving Spider-Man and Iron Fist, where the heroes have to deal with a crowd of innocents out to kill them.
After that, you’ll notice that this book is absolutely massive, with 14 chapters, and that there are a good four distinct teams with some change of creators tied to this book; well that’s because this is what the creative teams of crossovers looks like, especially old-school crossovers that only involved one corner of the Marvel Universe as opposed to the whole slate. This also, however, illustrates one of the most glaring flaws in big crossovers like this one: the quality is all over the spectrum. The writing, while staying on-point for the most part, fluctuates from chapter to chapter with some inconsistencies here and there, but the art is another story entirely. The art in this collection varies from really good (when Mark Bagley is in charge) to really bad (Sal Buscema’s looks-like-a-cheap-knock-off-of-Tim-Sale’s-work style), with a whole lot of “meh” in-between. There are inconsistencies between chapters here, too, such as both Peter Parker and Eddie Brock having short hair at the end of one chapter and mullets at the beginning of the next, or MJ being in a nightgown at the end of one chapter and fully clothed in business attire at the start of the next chapter (both of these points are referencing the same transition between chapters 3 and 4, by the way).
My biggest gripe with this book, however, lies in the penultimate chapter, and beware of spoilers for this part of the story.
(SPOILERS!! RANT INCOMING!!) The way the heroes take out the bad guys in this book infuriates me to no end; throughout the book, the moral dilemma of taking one life to save hundreds is front and center, which can make for some quality storytelling with morally-sound heroes like Spider-Man, and the titular hero stands his ground by the end to show that goodness and love wins out over all, last stand-style. Cool, up until the team comes back with a GUN THAT SHOOTS HAPPY RAYS AT THE BAD GUYS!! Or, as Spidey himself describes it in the book: A F*****G ‘GOOD BOMB!!’ Are you freaking serious?!?! THAT’S all you could come up with in that weekend conference at a New York hotel that you bragged about in the introduction?? A F*****G…GOOOD…BOMB?!?!?! And as if adding insult to injury, this infuriating plot point takes place during one of Buscema’s chapters, so the art is terrible to boot!! (SPOILERS ENDED!! RANT [maybe] OVER!!)
…*whew* Okay, now that that’s out of my system, let’s move onto some of the positives about this story. Like I said in the spoilers section, the moral debate over taking one life to save hundreds is pretty well-done here, with ol’ Web-Head torn between the two sides for a good chunk of the book. Once Cap shows up on-scene, though, there’s no debate over which side is right for Spidey, as it should be; the Sentinel of Liberty is and should always be a shining example of the moral high ground. Another thing I liked about this book was the character progression for Venom, especially in the final chapter. Throughout the book, he has only one goal in mind: kill Carnage; in the end, though, he accepts that Spider-Man may have a point about Kasady being a victim as much as the one’s he’s killed due to his childhood trauma, and decides to try it his way for a time. Finally, it was really nice to see so many characters slugging it out for fourteen chapters, like dumping out the whole toy chest and just going to town for an afternoon.
All in all, I’m very glad that this story inspired one of the beat-‘em-up games I played to death as a child, and the story had some good qualities to it. Overall, though, this story is a true 90’s-era mess that didn’t really need to happen with an infuriating penultimate chapter (oh, look, here comes a Red Lantern ring). If you’re a tried-and-true Venom and Carnage fan, you likely already own this, but otherwise, you can skip it and not miss much.
2 out of 5 stars.
Alright, with that out of the way, let’s dive into this monster of a book; Maximum Carnage is a Spider-Man crossover event that spanned the entire line of Spider-Man books in the 90’s, plus one that was introduced during this crossover. The story revolves around Spidey’s not-so-long-time foe Carnage breaking out of prison with upgrades to his Symbiote suit, all while Peter is dealing with the death of his best friend who also happened to become one of his greatest enemies, his parents returning to his life after being held in a Russian Gulag for decades, and his wife, Mary Jane, constantly hounding him to stop risking his life and stay home with her and her smoking habit. Confusing? Yeah, that was the biggest problem with this book’s structure, as it takes place smack dab in the middle of several ongoing stories spanning the entire Spider-Man library and gives little context as to what is being referenced aside from editor’s notes saying “Go check out this issue!” Good news is that a majority of this story can be understood without going hunting for those stories, because once the fighting starts it focuses squarely on that for 90% of the book. The main focus is on Spider-Man assembling a ragtag team of heroes and anti-heroes, including Venom, Black Cat, Cloak and Dagger, Deathlok, Iron Fist, Firestar, Morbius, and Captain America, to take on Carnage and his new “family” of psychotics: Shriek (invented just for this story), Doppelganger (a monstrous Spidey clone from the Infinity War storyline), Demogoblin, and Carrion.
While Carnage’s name may be on the book, the true threat in this story is Shriek, as she has not only a sonic blast ability, but she can also (for the sake of plot convenience) psychically project negative thoughts and emotions into the people around her. In a nutshell, she can bring out the worst in people and incites riots all throughout New York without even really thinking about it. This leads to some cool moments, particularly involving Spider-Man and Iron Fist, where the heroes have to deal with a crowd of innocents out to kill them.
After that, you’ll notice that this book is absolutely massive, with 14 chapters, and that there are a good four distinct teams with some change of creators tied to this book; well that’s because this is what the creative teams of crossovers looks like, especially old-school crossovers that only involved one corner of the Marvel Universe as opposed to the whole slate. This also, however, illustrates one of the most glaring flaws in big crossovers like this one: the quality is all over the spectrum. The writing, while staying on-point for the most part, fluctuates from chapter to chapter with some inconsistencies here and there, but the art is another story entirely. The art in this collection varies from really good (when Mark Bagley is in charge) to really bad (Sal Buscema’s looks-like-a-cheap-knock-off-of-Tim-Sale’s-work style), with a whole lot of “meh” in-between. There are inconsistencies between chapters here, too, such as both Peter Parker and Eddie Brock having short hair at the end of one chapter and mullets at the beginning of the next, or MJ being in a nightgown at the end of one chapter and fully clothed in business attire at the start of the next chapter (both of these points are referencing the same transition between chapters 3 and 4, by the way).
My biggest gripe with this book, however, lies in the penultimate chapter, and beware of spoilers for this part of the story.
(SPOILERS!! RANT INCOMING!!) The way the heroes take out the bad guys in this book infuriates me to no end; throughout the book, the moral dilemma of taking one life to save hundreds is front and center, which can make for some quality storytelling with morally-sound heroes like Spider-Man, and the titular hero stands his ground by the end to show that goodness and love wins out over all, last stand-style. Cool, up until the team comes back with a GUN THAT SHOOTS HAPPY RAYS AT THE BAD GUYS!! Or, as Spidey himself describes it in the book: A F*****G ‘GOOD BOMB!!’ Are you freaking serious?!?! THAT’S all you could come up with in that weekend conference at a New York hotel that you bragged about in the introduction?? A F*****G…GOOOD…BOMB?!?!?! And as if adding insult to injury, this infuriating plot point takes place during one of Buscema’s chapters, so the art is terrible to boot!! (SPOILERS ENDED!! RANT [maybe] OVER!!)
…*whew* Okay, now that that’s out of my system, let’s move onto some of the positives about this story. Like I said in the spoilers section, the moral debate over taking one life to save hundreds is pretty well-done here, with ol’ Web-Head torn between the two sides for a good chunk of the book. Once Cap shows up on-scene, though, there’s no debate over which side is right for Spidey, as it should be; the Sentinel of Liberty is and should always be a shining example of the moral high ground. Another thing I liked about this book was the character progression for Venom, especially in the final chapter. Throughout the book, he has only one goal in mind: kill Carnage; in the end, though, he accepts that Spider-Man may have a point about Kasady being a victim as much as the one’s he’s killed due to his childhood trauma, and decides to try it his way for a time. Finally, it was really nice to see so many characters slugging it out for fourteen chapters, like dumping out the whole toy chest and just going to town for an afternoon.
All in all, I’m very glad that this story inspired one of the beat-‘em-up games I played to death as a child, and the story had some good qualities to it. Overall, though, this story is a true 90’s-era mess that didn’t really need to happen with an infuriating penultimate chapter (oh, look, here comes a Red Lantern ring). If you’re a tried-and-true Venom and Carnage fan, you likely already own this, but otherwise, you can skip it and not miss much.
2 out of 5 stars.
February 14, 2024
I bought this book simply due to the nostalgia factor and the striking cover. I got a great deal on it so I can’t complain, but I can’t recommend anyone getting this at full price today.
The story was packed with characters (I counted 27). It seemed every issue added a few more into the mix. It didn’t get confusing, but it did make things convoluted. Character A joins a battle, they get hurt, they leave. Character B takes their spot. Over and over.
I did enjoy the overarching story and the art was pretty good throughout. The art was also quite homogenous considering there were 5 different artists involved. Really made it feel like 1 complete work.
This is easily a 4 star book if a handful of fights (or even full issues) were removed.
The story was packed with characters (I counted 27). It seemed every issue added a few more into the mix. It didn’t get confusing, but it did make things convoluted. Character A joins a battle, they get hurt, they leave. Character B takes their spot. Over and over.
I did enjoy the overarching story and the art was pretty good throughout. The art was also quite homogenous considering there were 5 different artists involved. Really made it feel like 1 complete work.
This is easily a 4 star book if a handful of fights (or even full issues) were removed.
April 1, 2024
Finally finished this after 30 years.
July 13, 2022
Read as Official Marvel Graphic Novel Collection volumes 217-218
October 18, 2018
What to say.
Hmmm
So... listen. You have to really like cornball Marvel shit to like this.
Here are some excerpts;
Black Cat: “It aint over till the cat lady springs!”
Carnage: “You know what they say... no pain, no reign... of terror, that is”
🤦🏻♂️
The story is fast paced and fun. The combat is constant. The emotional beats are sometimes powerful, and sometimes they fall very, very flat.
The end is a little too koombiyah for my tastes. Seriously... it’s one of those “the greatest power is love” kind of deals 🤮. The second act is pretty damn dark.
Venom is a bonefied badass. Carnage and Shriek are awesome characters... imagine an angrier and more powerful version of Joker and Harley Quinn.
Also, for some reason, the Spiderman doppelgänger from Starlin’s Infinity Wars is here. Why? ::shrug:: I dunno. But there he is.
Cloak and Dagger also play a large role. I like them, even if Cloak looks really fuckin dumb.
Now here’s the weird part; Marvel had this character. His name is Nightwatch... he randomly appeared in this story and I shit you not, he is a pound for pound ripoff of Spawn. Like... down to the costume and the cape that thinks for itself. It’s bizarre. How could they think we wouldn’t notice?
There are a couple laughs, some great fights... I only recommend this for people who have a high threshold for early 90s comic book nonsense. If you like serious, thought provoking, artistic shit... go ahead and skip this shit show. If you don’t mind having some mindless fun, have at it!
Hmmm
So... listen. You have to really like cornball Marvel shit to like this.
Here are some excerpts;
Black Cat: “It aint over till the cat lady springs!”
Carnage: “You know what they say... no pain, no reign... of terror, that is”
🤦🏻♂️
The story is fast paced and fun. The combat is constant. The emotional beats are sometimes powerful, and sometimes they fall very, very flat.
The end is a little too koombiyah for my tastes. Seriously... it’s one of those “the greatest power is love” kind of deals 🤮. The second act is pretty damn dark.
Venom is a bonefied badass. Carnage and Shriek are awesome characters... imagine an angrier and more powerful version of Joker and Harley Quinn.
Also, for some reason, the Spiderman doppelgänger from Starlin’s Infinity Wars is here. Why? ::shrug:: I dunno. But there he is.
Cloak and Dagger also play a large role. I like them, even if Cloak looks really fuckin dumb.
Now here’s the weird part; Marvel had this character. His name is Nightwatch... he randomly appeared in this story and I shit you not, he is a pound for pound ripoff of Spawn. Like... down to the costume and the cape that thinks for itself. It’s bizarre. How could they think we wouldn’t notice?
There are a couple laughs, some great fights... I only recommend this for people who have a high threshold for early 90s comic book nonsense. If you like serious, thought provoking, artistic shit... go ahead and skip this shit show. If you don’t mind having some mindless fun, have at it!
November 6, 2019
Compre y leí este cómic por ciertos comentarios que oí de él alguna vez hace ya más de 20 años. Puros comentarios buenos sobre la trama y la manera en que PP debía enfrentar a un complejo lunático aterrorizado NY.
Pésima elección.
Es absurdo el planteamiento o surgimiento de todo el problema, la forma en que surge Carnage después de estar encerrado en lo que resulta una burda imitación de Arkham.
Absurdo también la forma en que se hace de sus compinches de manera tan casual como ir caminando por la calle y pedirles q los acompañen.
Absurda la manera en que nadie hace nada y los pocos que hacen no sirven para nada. Tan solo para ampliar los números de esta absurda historia.
Después aparece un grupo extra de héroes, en una ciudad plagada de ellos pero que simplemente no hacen nada, tan solo para que toda la responsabilidad caiga en el inútil de PP.
Y el final de lo peor. El poder del amor es más fuerte que la insanidad de la cruda realidad. Por favor.
Estuve a punto de dejarlo. Me arrepiento de haber desperdiciado tanto tiempo en su lectura y para colmo casi la mitad de toda la saga con dibujos más que mediocres.
Pésima, pésima lectura.
Pésima elección.
Es absurdo el planteamiento o surgimiento de todo el problema, la forma en que surge Carnage después de estar encerrado en lo que resulta una burda imitación de Arkham.
Absurdo también la forma en que se hace de sus compinches de manera tan casual como ir caminando por la calle y pedirles q los acompañen.
Absurda la manera en que nadie hace nada y los pocos que hacen no sirven para nada. Tan solo para ampliar los números de esta absurda historia.
Después aparece un grupo extra de héroes, en una ciudad plagada de ellos pero que simplemente no hacen nada, tan solo para que toda la responsabilidad caiga en el inútil de PP.
Y el final de lo peor. El poder del amor es más fuerte que la insanidad de la cruda realidad. Por favor.
Estuve a punto de dejarlo. Me arrepiento de haber desperdiciado tanto tiempo en su lectura y para colmo casi la mitad de toda la saga con dibujos más que mediocres.
Pésima, pésima lectura.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 1, 2019
I was ten when the Maximum Carnage story arc began. It was also first story arc I was ever introduced in the world of graphic novels - ahem! comic books. (The second taking place a few years after with the Age of Apocalypse.)
Looking at it now, I can remember what I loved about the arc. However, it's not the same feeling I got when I was ten - go figure. It seems that the story gets too wordy - for instance, Spider-Man's internal monologue gives us the information rather than letting us come up with it alone. And the moral - for lack of the better word - is what you find in a lot of the old story arcs - despite all that surrounds us, there is still good in the world and it's worth fighting for (whoa! talk about Lord of the Rings). All in all, the book is still a fun read.
Looking at it now, I can remember what I loved about the arc. However, it's not the same feeling I got when I was ten - go figure. It seems that the story gets too wordy - for instance, Spider-Man's internal monologue gives us the information rather than letting us come up with it alone. And the moral - for lack of the better word - is what you find in a lot of the old story arcs - despite all that surrounds us, there is still good in the world and it's worth fighting for (whoa! talk about Lord of the Rings). All in all, the book is still a fun read.
January 18, 2016
Maximum Carnage es un clásico y como clásico debemos respetarlo, sin embargo, tiene un gran problema: los personajes actúan en un nivel "malo legal", y los héroes son buenos legales.
Lo interesante es saber porqué Carnage está tan pendejo. Venom se lleva las palmas, Spiderman es un idiota y Mary Jane sigue tan sabrosa como siempre.
Totalmente recomendable, pero no esperen un Civil War.
Lo interesante es saber porqué Carnage está tan pendejo. Venom se lleva las palmas, Spiderman es un idiota y Mary Jane sigue tan sabrosa como siempre.
Totalmente recomendable, pero no esperen un Civil War.
July 23, 2020
Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage Review:
Maximum Carnage is a Spider-Man event back in the 90's. It is a 14 issue across different Spider-Man titles. The plot is very simple as Spider-Man and some D-list heroes battles Carnage and other D-list villains across Manhattan. It is an event that is purely nostalgia imo, but I didn't read as a kid so I have no connection to it.
Although, I've always wanted to read it and now I do and it's not good. I think that this one felt way too long. This could have been a 4 or 5 issues instead of 14. This one didn't ahed very well, like the dialogue in it. The hero and villain interactions though were really entertaining. Especially the villains, which is my fave part of the book.
The action scenes were also entertaining, but again, the story felt too long. So it does get very repetitive real fast around issue 5. The characters here aren't really that hood here, especially Mary Jane. I absolutely hated the characterization for MJ here, as all she does is just annoyed Peter ti death. Shriek is suprisingly a fun character though.
The art as well is very inconsistent as there are different artists who work here. Sometimes it was decent or good, but sometimes it is very bad. Around halfway and during the last few issues of the book, I really didn't liked the artwork. A very noticeable error here is Cloak's hand or even Cletus' color of hair.
The book is also just really forgettable for me. Like some of the characters that appeared in it. Like there is a character here that looks so similar to Spawn apparently. Again, it is also very repetitive imo as it does get old real fast like its action scenes. Although, they are fun at times and I just can't stand MJ here.
There are some fun moments here, like some scenes were decent. But again, it is just a forgettable story in the end. So overall, Maximum Carnage isn't really that good. It is kind of a mess and one that is way too long imo. It is one that should have been a 4 or 5 mini series. I have mixed feelings with it as it was just whatever.
5/10
Maximum Carnage is a Spider-Man event back in the 90's. It is a 14 issue across different Spider-Man titles. The plot is very simple as Spider-Man and some D-list heroes battles Carnage and other D-list villains across Manhattan. It is an event that is purely nostalgia imo, but I didn't read as a kid so I have no connection to it.
Although, I've always wanted to read it and now I do and it's not good. I think that this one felt way too long. This could have been a 4 or 5 issues instead of 14. This one didn't ahed very well, like the dialogue in it. The hero and villain interactions though were really entertaining. Especially the villains, which is my fave part of the book.
The action scenes were also entertaining, but again, the story felt too long. So it does get very repetitive real fast around issue 5. The characters here aren't really that hood here, especially Mary Jane. I absolutely hated the characterization for MJ here, as all she does is just annoyed Peter ti death. Shriek is suprisingly a fun character though.
The art as well is very inconsistent as there are different artists who work here. Sometimes it was decent or good, but sometimes it is very bad. Around halfway and during the last few issues of the book, I really didn't liked the artwork. A very noticeable error here is Cloak's hand or even Cletus' color of hair.
The book is also just really forgettable for me. Like some of the characters that appeared in it. Like there is a character here that looks so similar to Spawn apparently. Again, it is also very repetitive imo as it does get old real fast like its action scenes. Although, they are fun at times and I just can't stand MJ here.
There are some fun moments here, like some scenes were decent. But again, it is just a forgettable story in the end. So overall, Maximum Carnage isn't really that good. It is kind of a mess and one that is way too long imo. It is one that should have been a 4 or 5 mini series. I have mixed feelings with it as it was just whatever.
5/10
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