Venom #21 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Remender and Bunn have a challenge in this issue, since it's pretty clear that this arc has to end with the death of Crime-Master:  they need to make the road to this inevitable conclusion interesting.  Happily, they succeed.  They build the intensity as we watch Flash continue to barrel his way through the Savage Six.  After killing Death Adder and de-winging the Human Fly last issue, Remender and Bunn leave you wondering what Flash is going to do to the rest of the "team" in this issue.  You get some false hope that Flash is going to be spared too much bloodshed when Megatak is actually eliminated by Toxin and, for a moment, he appears to get a win by managing to remove Eddie Brock from the symbiote.  However, as usual for Flash, it all goes bad when the symbiote grabs Eddie, pulling him into the fire that Flash set to destroy it.  It's a chilling moment, for both Flash and the reader, as we watch a 20-year-old character burn.  It makes you wonder what Eddie's next chapter is going to be.  He's had so many -- from Venom to Anti-Venom to "Hero of Spider-Island" to Toxin -- that it's hard to say.  But, it's unlikely to be on the hero end of the spectrum, I'm guessing.  Flash is just as unsettled as we are by this turn of events, but he tries to maintain his focus, finally coming to the boss level, where he takes down Jack O'Lantern by letting him fall into a vat of acid.  Assuming he's dead (because, really, I don't think you get to live if you fall into a vat of acid), it leaves only Crime-Master (and, possibly, Human Fly, if he survived) knowing Flash's identity.  The battle between them is short and Remender and Bunn manage to keep you guessing until the end.

The fact that Betty pulls the trigger is surprising, but welcome.  I've previously complained that I'm tired of Betty constantly being the woman in a refrigerator, so it's nice to see her take a stand here, particularly since the authors don't have her fall to pieces after it.  As I mentioned as a possibility last issue, Betty acknowledges that Crime-Master came after Flash because of her, and, as such, forgives Flash for what he's had to do as Venom.  But, she ends it with him, again taking a stand that she really need to take.  As she says, Flash is selfish.  Throughout this series, Flash has had the opportunity on numerous occasions to ask for help and he refused to do so.  He often had excuses for why he didn't, but they rarely passed a common-sense test.  (Did he really think that the Avengers couldn't stop Crime-Master before he took revenge on Flash's family?)  In the end, it was Flash's need to do it himself that made bad situations worse, and Betty, thankfully, acknowledged that.  But, happily, Remender and Bunn allow Flash to acknowledge it, too, as we see on the last page, as he comes clean to the Secret Avengers.  It seems like we're all now ready to start the next phase.