The Four Color Media Monitor

The AP/Entertainment Weekly's reporting that Venom, or his current host, Flash Thompson, is moving to Philadelphia after the abuse Flash has already suffered by losing his legs:

Philly’s getting a new fan in the pages of Marvel Comics, but whether the City of Brotherly Shove takes to anti-hero Venom remains to be seen.

Marvel Entertainment LLC says that Venom — a brute with big teeth and an elongated tongue who’s made a habit of sparring with Spider-Man — is leaving New York City to start fresh, and maybe learn to be a hero on the streets of Philadelphia.

Writer Cullen Bunn and Editor Tom Brennan, an alum of Philadelphia’s Drexel University, said it’s time Philly had a hero of its own, putting it in the same league as Los Angeles and New York, among other real-life cities that populate the fictional world of Marvel.

But is Venom — an alien symbiote bonded to Peter Parker’s one-time high school rival Eugene “Flash” Thompson — the hero that Philly wants or needs?

I think not. And Flash doesn't need to be lacking in his own legs either. Here's the reason he's let the symbiote take him over:

Flash, who lost his legs in Iraq, has taken control of Venom to be able to walk again and work as a super-powered soldier and spy for the U.S. government. But his alcoholism and habit of lying to his teammates has him at the bottom of a deep hole.

“Now, he’s trying to do the right thing. He’s reassessing what it means to be a hero. And he’s looking for a fresh start,” said Bunn. “This means a lot of things for Flash. He’s surrounding himself with new people — such as tabloid journalist Katy Kiernan and his new love interest, the Asgardian Valkyrie. He’s changing his approach to being a superhero. And he’s looking for a change of scenery.” [...]

“We’re not just moving Venom to Philly in hopes of getting free hoagies, though we’ll take them. Flash Thompson has been on an emotional roller coaster. His superhero career almost cost him everything,” said Brennan. “This is a good man with a troubled past who needed a fresh start, and thought the City of Brotherly Love was the perfect place for him to take his next steps in becoming the hero he was born to be.”

Oh, so now Flash has been added to the number of former supporting cast members who've become superheroes instead, or even anti-heroes. And his love interest now is Valkyrie, who'd once been a member of the Defenders, because that's probably the only kind of girl he can expect to lead a steady relationship with now that he's got, ummm...a superpower. In other words, Flash has become a victim not just of an injury that likely stemmed from a story laced with anti-war traces, but also of the insular trend now devouring mainstream comics.

And the whole Venom story should've been put to bed long ago.

Labels: golden calf of villainy, marvel comics, msm propaganda, Spider-Man