I’ve spent so many years being unhappy with the characterization of Carnage, I haven’t really stopped to think about what I would actually want to see in the character that would make me happy. Going back to the days of the overly-long, ridiculously shallow “Maximum Carnage” crossover, I’ve thought of Cletus Kasady/Carnage as a one-note character who is visually stunning (and hearing Mark Bagley recently talk to Superior Spider-Talk about what a pain in the neck he is to draw only adds to my awe of the design), but poorly written.
In recent years, we’ve had Carnage-centric mini-series that have promised bold new takes on the character, but at the end of the day, it’s still whacky Cletus Kasady, mindless killing machine with a sense of humor straight out of a cheesy horror flick about a possessed doll. I’ve remained unimpressed.
What’s grabbed me about Superior Carnage through its first two issues is the fact that the Kevin Shinick/Stephen Segovia led-creative team has made real strides to reinvent the character by completely taking the now-lobotomized Kasady out of the picture and focusing on the chaotic, homicidal symbiote. In Superior Carnage #3, the symbiote is then bonded with Dr. Karl Malus, an evil genius who’s profile has now just been raised tenfold depending on what the Carnage character is up to at the end of this mini-series.
I’m sure there will be Kasady lovers out there who will be disappointed by the new Carnage’s lack of sense of humor, but I think if I’m going to invest in a comic book universe that HAS to feature a character like Carnage, this is the version of Carnage that I can accept and get used to. The Malus Carnage (who is being mentally controlled by the Wizard and held at bay by Klaw’s sonic blasts) features the violent brutality the character is long known for, but without the goofy campiness that I’ve clearly grown tired of. So there’s still a high body count but I don’t have to deal with a poor-Freddy Krueger knockoff while I’m taking it in.
Segovia’s character design actually reminds me a bit of the Punisher, which only raises my eyebrows since I’ve voiced my disinterest with Frank Castle’s one-note characterization many times over the years. At the risk of trying to justify my hypocrisy, I guess my comic book brain can more easily accept Carnage as being an oversized gun toting maniac in a trench coat and combat boots than a guy who’s been psychologically wrecked by the death of his family at the hands of organized crime. I’m sure someone much smarter than me can analyze what that says about me as a person.
But all this talk about Malus-Carnage distracts from this comic’s heart and soul, which is actually the Wizard and his sad descent into madness. Shinick has managed to do a masterful thing with the Wizard here in that the character is doing very bad things in trying to take over New York City (and THEN the world!!!) via any means necessary, and yet because the guy is clearly teetering on the brink of becoming mental mush, I’m pulling for him regardless. Watching the Wizard struggle to maintain his connection to reality, and thus his control of Carnage, is exhilarating because as a reader I just know that it’s inevitable that he’s going to fail. It then becomes a question of who’s closest to Malus-Carnage when the Wizard’s brain goes kaput that adds to the story’s intrigue and suspense.
And speaking of characters closest to Malus-Carnage (and the Wizard), Shinick’s Klaw is just plain fun. Given my first exposure to Klaw was during Secret Wars when he was Doctor Doom’s echo-inducing lackey, I’m really enjoying Shinick’s take on the character. Klaw is still a bit of pushover, but he’s not clueless and he knows he’s probably fighting on a losing team. Still, he’s standing by his long-time friend Wizard despite the impending doom that awaits him as a reward for his loyalty. It’s like some kind of twisted Greek tragedy unfolding where I know the bad guys can’t possibly win (even more so than usual), so instead I feel bad and don’t want to see them cut to pieces, or worse, by Malus-Carnage.
Without even talking about the very end of this issue, I was ready to declare Superior Carnage #3 the best entry in the series thus far. And then Shinick and Segovia manage to stick in the landing in a major way, revealing Spider Ock in J. Jonah Jameson’s mayoral office, awaiting the arrival of the Frightful Four and Carnage and ready to throw down.
Between Spider Ock, the Wizard, Jonah and Malus-Carnage, there’s so much hubris-fueled malice in that one room, I don’t know even know where things are going to pick up when Superior Carnage #4 is released next month.
All images from Superior Carnage #3: Kevin Shinick, Stephen Segovia & Dennis Crisostomo. Cover by Clayton Crain.
Maximum Carnage was actually a very interesting look at the darker and more violent nature in comics. It used Spider-Man, a hero whose main motivation is people who have the ability to do good have to use it thusly, to go on a journey where he has to work out how far he is willing to go in order to protect people.
After showing the conflict he goes through to underline what the characters was about, I find “lets give him Doctor Ocks brain so he can be a dick and shoot a guy” to be much shallower in comparison.
Clark, obviously to each their own with what you like from a comic but I would counter your defense of MC by saying while on paper, it’s an interesting concept, the execution of the story itself was about 11 chapter too long and was notorious for not actually evolving its thesis to any kind of meaningful conclusion. Yes Spidey/Peter was conflicted, but after a while, it was a big “so what” to me because nothing actually changed. What were the consequences of the story beyond the fact that everything was the same as it ever was when it ended. On a more superficial level, it didn’t help that the story was built exclusively around C and D-level villains … Shriek? the Doppelganger? Demongoblin? Carnage was a pretty cool creation at the time, but the character became very one-note for me after a while. I truly believe Marvel didn’t give me any reason to care about MC except that I was supposed to because they told me to.
As for your thoughts on Superior … I’ll argue the series is at its best when it acts on a referendum on what it means to be Spider-Man… which is what I think certain arcs have achieved. The story is most effective when it shows that Otto’s way is not Superior and that the world would be better off with Peter’s presence. Of course in order to do that, Otto has to wreak some havoc, which makes people uncomfortable. But yes, I would absolutely agree that when the story just focuses on Otto being an egomaniac with no consequences for his actions, the story falters, and I’ve called out all the individual issues where this narrative takes place on this site over the past 10 months. However, I’m very adamant about the fact that Superior at its best is far “superior” to Maximum Carnage at its best, and has a much richer story where we actually learn things about characters while simultaneously advancing the story.