Venom made an army of babies to save the universe

I’ll level with you: While Venom did make an intergalactic army of human babies, seeding “thousands of worlds with billions of new human(oid) hosts recreated from its genetic codex,” “Living-Planet Venoms” that teemed “with reconstituted biolife born into Venomized symbiosis” in “the era of Venom the Meatgardener” — Venom didn’t do all that in the main Marvel Comics universe.

All this month, Marvel Comics is releasing one-shot issues that each try to imagine the final story of one of the company’s biggest heroes. Some of them, like Miles Morales: The End, only venture into the next few decades of time. But Venom: The End shows us the end of everyone’s favorite goo monster on a trillion-year scale, when the symbiote becomes the last creature in the universe and decides to wage war on the singularity of machine minds set on devouring all matter.

Venom: The End is high-concept, deeply weird, and extremely funny, despite how complicated and dense its storytelling is. Writer Adam Warren and artist Jeffrey Cruz really strut all kinds of stuff in the issue. There’s a part where — well, I’m getting ahead of myself.

What else is happening in the pages of our favorite comics? We’ll tell you. Welcome to Polygon’s weekly list of the books that our comics editor enjoyed this past week. It’s part society pages of superhero lives, part reading recommendations, part “look at this cool art.” There may be some spoilers. There may not be enough context. Let’s get started!

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Venom: The End

Image: Adam Warren, Jeffrey Cruz/Marvel Comics

There’s a part in Venom: The End where Venom uses mutant genomes to unlock the secret of time travel and deploys Jamie Madrox’s multiplying powers to go back in time and merge with every being who has ever lived. Look how proud he is of this achievement.

The Batman’s Grave #4

Image: Warren Ellis, Bryan Hitch/DC Comics

Ellis and Hitch are providing some really top-notch Alfred characterization in The Batman’s Grave, but let it not be said that they aren’t delivering in other ways as well. This past issue was nearly all a single fight scene, and the two kept it totally comprehensible and engaging all the way through with barely any dialogue.

Dragon Age: Blue Wraith #1

Image: Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir, Fernando Heinz Furukawa/Dark Horse Comics

As noted Dragon Age Trash myself, I thought you might like to know that there’s a new Dragon Age comic miniseries, and ya boy Fenris is in it, and he has a new haircut.

The Red Mother #2

Image: Jeremy Haun, Danny Luckert/Boom Studios

The Red Mother is a Boom Studios series about a woman who starts wearing a glass eye after a terrible accident and begins to see strange visions through it. Like this monster who, I, a giant wimp, absolutely hate.

Legion of Super-Heroes #3

Image: Brian Michael Bendis, Ryan Sook, Travis Moore/DC Comics

It took me a few issues to figure out the tone of Legion of Super-Heroes, but with #3, I think I’ve got it: It’s a bunch of teens from the future who heard about superheroes and are trying to bring the whole thing back. The problem, of course, is that they’re teens, and therefore absolutely useless.

Steeple #5

Image: John Allison/Dark Horse Comics

I will stop putting Steeple in the roundup when it stops giving me at least one good guffaw per issue.