At the end of Venom: Space Knight, it appeared as if Flash Thompson would continue on as Venom, but when the character's new title kicked off today, he was nowhere to be seen. Instead, things start with the symbiote desperately searching for a new host, and that's where former Army ranger Lee Price comes in. Now a mercenary, he's hired by Mac Gargan (who was also Venom for a while) to assist in a sale to Tombstone's gang, but a firefight kicks off and it's then that the symbiote then leaps into action.
However, rather than returning to the Scorpion, it bonds with Lee. Interestingly, the symbiote appears to have developed a conscience and is horrified when Lee - who it believes will be a good man like Flash - ends up murdering everyone around him. As a result, Venom is back to being a bad guy whether the symbiote likes it or not, and that promises to add an interesting new dynamic to the new series.
This is an interesting move on Marvel's part, but will it work? Lee is a totally new creation and a far cry from the likes of Eddie Brock and Flash, so are readers going to invest in his story? We'll have to wait and see, but a villainous Venom is never a bad thing, and the conflict between the host and symbiote looks set to shake things up in a big way moving forward. What do you guys think of this decision?