Venom #28 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

So, I had actually dropped "Venom," but, for some reason, my LCS accidentally put a copy of issue #31 in my stack and I didn't discover it until I got home.  Figuring that it was some sort of sign (because I read too many comic books not to see it as a sign), I picked up issues #28-#30 just to see how this transition to Philadelphia went.  I'll say that I'm happily surprised.

First, we finally ditch the demons and the symbiotes.  When Katy first appeared on the scene, I thought that she had the potential to inspire some cool stories, tipping off Flash to any number of weird occurrences that he could help her investigate.  But, we never really got to see that potential fulfilled, since we wound up getting distracted by "Minimum Carnage" and the Hellstrom business.  But, Bunn uses her to great effect here.  She's definitely on the border of q distressed damsel, though Bunn wisely at least gives her Lois Lane's spunky attitude to make sure that we don't slip too far into '80s gender roles.

(Speaking of '80 gender roles, I've been re-reading some old "Avengers West Coast" issues and just ran across the statement from Mockingbird, about Hawkeye, in issue #24:  "I was a pretty 80's lady before we met, but I'm a real, old-fashioned wife when it comes to loving my man."  I know.  Words fail me, too.)

Meanwhile, Bunn brings back the U-Foes, who I love for reasons that I can't fully explain.  One of the things that I like about "Scarlet Spider" and "Venom" is that bad guys actually kill people and we see the U-Foes pretty gruesomely take out a number of people here.  Flash is going to have some trouble dealing with this failure, just as Kaine struggled after "Minimum Carnage."  But, it's a much more realistic story than we see in other series, such as Spider-Man insisting that no one would die under his watch.

So, I'm back.  I'm not guaranteeing that I'll be here for long, but so long as Bunn gives us more stories about Katy and Flash investigating weird conspiracies and fewer about Flash and his demons (literal and mental), I'll be here.  Plus, I wonder what the U-Foes did with Flash in the end...