Carnage: Family Feud

The story hinges upon Carnage’s rebirth. After Michael Hall, industrialist and apparently tech-savvy genius utilizes a machine to harvest pain and suffering which is run by an intimate connection to a symbiote he’d recovered in space (where Carnage was essentially ripped in half by Sentry – his take on this is depicted at the beginning of Pt. 4) soon his prosthetic inventions turn against the persons they’re grafted to because they’ve been infused with bits of the symbiote. Carnage seeks out the nearly bionic Cletus Kasady. Again joining forces they square off against Iron Man, Spider-Man, the ‘Iron Rangers’, Shriek and Doppelganger.Again, per the usual Crain artwork / art-style, it is very well done in this vein. Deep dark blacks and reds, astonishing contrast within panels, a plethora of action and gore, blood and grime – Crain paints one of the most vivid pictures available to the comic book world. There’s one panel in ‘part 1’ in which Hall is holding his techno-chip – the detailing is so fine that we can literally get a feel for what Hall’s actual finger-print would look like! And the Carnage art alone is just amazing, poster worthy material. This is a comic which could be nearly accurately judged by its cover work. Again, all the art work: just simply astounding.Overall, and at the end – I feel so much more could have been done with this arc. Case-in-point: Carnage is an arch-supervillain, yet the guy only gets 2 installments worth of fight-time. The rest of the episodes build up to his actual release from stasis. AND as it regards the fight scenes, while they’re astounding on Carnages end (absorption and assimilation of all 5 Iron Rangers – Pt. 4; having each of the heroes down for a kill-shot – Pt. 4 Spider-Man & Pt. 5 Iron Man) they are also pithy and very lackluster from our heroes end. In fact, a new hero… villain… symbiote… is created to deal with the monstrosity that is ‘Mass Carnage’. We witness the birth of ‘Scorn’.My persistent gripe with Marvel comics to a Kindle platform is this, and maybe it will always be this: we can’t rotate panels horizontally in order to expand them, to make the art more vivid, to get a better feel for the whole panel as a single unit instead of its tiny, segmented parts. To achieve a whole pane of artwork one must zoom outward to full-page view, and then the panes are tiny and detail is lost in its minimization.SPOILERS:Carnage Pt. 1:Attending a technological expose hosted by Michael Hall, Tony Stark (Iron Man) intuits that Hall is above and beyond his techno-capabilities as he displays a prosthetic that appears beyond his acumen. Soon after exiting the conference Stark sees Doppelganger attempting to catch an armored truck. He calls in his pal Spider-Man. The two arrive on scene and find ‘Royal Blue’ and ‘Firebrick’ (2/5ths of Hall’s ‘Iron Rangers’) engaged in guard detail while Doppelganger cries ‘Mother’ in its death-throes. Dr. Tanis Nieves is wounded trying to protect the trucks cargo – the mutant ‘Shriek’, a being that emotes pain and suffering.Carnage Pt. 2Tracking down Dr. Nieves (3 weeks later), Spider-Man finds that she has been equipped with a new prosthetic limb! Apparently her contract was sold to Michael Hall and associates! We also here discover that Hall is responsible for the super-group consisting of: Royal Blue, Firebrick, Burnt Orange, Paris Green and Gun Metal. In fantastic tech-suits which are evidently powered by siphoning off the pain and suffering harnessed through a contraption in which Shriek is being contained, these five have harnessed the power Hall offers.Dr. Nieves prosthetic goes hay-wire, guided by a piece of the alien symbiote Carnage, she unwillingly slaughters the guards positioned at the symbiote holding station and acts as the instrument by which Carnage is unleashed; she is also the body he has chose to attach himself to. Hall’s five heroes abandon the fight they’re engaged in with Iron Man and Spider-Man to head back to Hall HQ’s.Carnage Pt. 3Following Hall’s hapless goons in their tech-suits to Hall Laboratories Iron Man and Spider-Man discover whom they’ve to fight – Carnage, the symbiote who lives to destroy, who loves to destroy, in the body of Dr. Tanis Nieves. A central part of this story is Carnage’s attempt to take over Nieves mind, which she is unremitting toward. However, Carnage is also looking for something… someone else.Shriek, during transport comes unhinged and in defense of doppelganger unleashes her powers on a few of Hall’s unsuspecting henchmen.Hall’s goons prove completely ineffective as Carnage suddenly sprouts wings and takes off to find, what the heroes presume to be Hall, himself. However, Hall divulges that when he’d found Carnage, he had also found Kasady. The arch-villain, complete with a prosthetic lower-half, lives! And it has been he that Carnage has sought!Carnage Pt. 4This one is probably the best installment of the 5 part series (the cover has Carnage clutching the heads of Iron Man and Spider-Man as they lie face down). However, because there was so much going on it was, not just seemingly, but actually rushed. Firstly, Carnage attaches itself to Kasady, abandoning Nieves but not without leaving her a ‘gift’ – it’s ‘child’ which Nieves later amputates from herself and which then a very jealous Shriek attaches to her own self as a third upper appendage before appearing at the end of the chapter to confront Carnage, further delaying his new mission: to find Michael Hall.Carnage’s fight sequences are extraordinary. The major fight he undertakes being against the ‘Iron Rangers’ (yep, they get a collective name in this episode – right before they all die). When Hall designed their suits he incorporated bits of the symbiote into them… bad idea, as Carnage breaks them in all kinds of ways and then assimilates all five, flesh, suits and all, into his being which is then aptly named ‘Mass Carnage’ (for he’s huge). He then squares off against Spider-Man and Iron Man – which is a completely forgettable battle, the only note worthy item being that Spider-Man probably should have ceased to exist (see cons before SPOILERS).Carnage Pt. 5In what quickly escalates into a knock-down-drag-out battle between ‘Mass Carnage’ with Shriek and Doppelganger on one side and Spider-Man and Iron Man on the other – it looks like it might be all over for our heroes. Iron Man has his suit punished to 35% power and Carnage leeches into his suits systems after Tony Stark tries to essentially short circuit the Hall suits which Carnage assimilated. In this episode, much like the last where Carnage had Spider-Man primed for the kill, he also has Iron Man pinned down, ready to end him… but Spider-Man distracts him with a ‘youuuu-hooo, over here!’ (pretty ridiculous).Meanwhile Shriek is causing the people to riot; Dr. Tanis Nieves is attempting to resist the symbiotes call – it wants in, it wants to rebind to its original host. Realizing that ‘somethings need to be put down’ Nieves accepts the symbiote and becomes ‘Scorn’. She then utilized Shriek’s powers to pulverize Mass Carnage. In ripping the suit open Spider-Man finds nothing inside – so it turns out that Kasady was controlling this Carnage via a tendril, with himself actually removed from the situation.So, while the city is safe, Kasady lives. And he’s plotting. Gotta find Michael Hall.

I wasn’t expecting a character to be half robot because he or she is was considered dead. I’m trying to not have spoilers written down. But, the violence and story was pretty good.

All my knowledge of superheroes comes from Wikipedia and movies. That being said I chose to read a comic and chose this one.I don't know much about Carnage, and after reading this I can still say the same thing.I loved seeing Spider-Man and Iron-Man (2 of my Top 3 faves) working together. My problem is that you didn't get to see Spider-Man or Iron-Man do their thing. The only thing Spider-Man did that would make him Spider-Man was NOT use his "Spidey-Sense" due to reasons. The only thing Iron-Man did was fly and talk to Jarvis. Iron-Man could've been replaced by any superhero and you wouldn't have to change the story.I wasn't a fan of this art style. Some things were highly detailed and others looked like it was filled in by Microsoft Paint.The ending was rushed, but coming from 5 chapters it's understandable. I'm probably going to buy the follow-up comic, I just hope it's better.

The story was well developed. It had a good play on emotional attachments to the characters and made you want them to give in to the desires. Definitely worth the read.

Never been a carnage fan but this was a good story. Could have gone without iron man in it. Worth reading

This is a great story to read if you're interested in the symbiote characters of the marvel universe. It's also a great story to read if you want the lead-in story to the newer Carnage U.S.A. storyline.That being said: the story was so-so. I'll admit I'm usually more of a DC than Marvel fan, so that colors my opinion here. The art is beyond comparison. I'm going to be seeking out more work from this particular artist in the future. It's very detailed without sacrificing creative impulses. And the symbiotes are terrifying to boot.Overall I'd recommend this if you're interested in the sequel, or if you like the symbiote concept. But if you're looking for a great story, or a universe-changing event, look elsewhere.

Zeb Wells brings us into the world of carnage! Not an origin story, but a coming back to life, sort of, and destroying as much as possible. Industrialist Michael Hall attempts to use the symbiotes to create the next gen armory, while saving Cletus Kasadys' life as well. After an expo of showing off this new invention, Tony Stark himself finds this new patent out of Halls league. Things get really out of control and Iron Man and Spiderman find themselves struggling to keep the city from being destroyed. Book has an in depth storyline, and fantastic art from Clayton Crain! I give this book 4.8/5 stars!

Alright story good drawing some action needed more action nice to get a new character see what happens next read it

Craines artwork is the selling point here, it's all CGI but he has a style that looks handcrafted and it won't age badly because he is so good, amazing artist and Zeb Wells a very underrated writer, one of the most underrated along with Cullen Bunn, both are masters of their craft, are they Grant Morrison or Jonathan Hickman level? No, but they are great non the less, enjoy the book all you symbiote lovers.

I'm not normally a fan of Carnage but this was a good story to read. It was a good way to pass some time

Like a lot of carnage graphic novels the artwork is top notch. Unfortunately the plot does let it down somewhat.

Great noval for my Favorite villain. The art is really diffrent and graphic. The story is awesome and any spiderman or marvel fan will enjoy

A murderer is on the loose and a new symbiote is born. One of the better stories about carnage, well worth reading