Ultimate Spider-man #123 - Marvel

This whole issue is dedicated to . . . Eddie Brock. Honestly, this whole issue takes place from a park bench. Eddie's sitting on it, contemplating his life . . where he's been . . where he's going. Basically he's talking to whomever sits by him, or whoever shows up. In his civilian identity he looks pretty unassuming so . . nobody should suspect anything . . right? Ever since this costume took him over, it seems like he's been from one bad situation to the next. But he can resign himself with the fact that he doesn't remember everything that's happened when he's Venom. Well . . at least not most of it. And, although he feels as if things are out of his control, at the very least there's kind of someone always there to protect him. Sure it's selfish. It's for the symbiotes own well-being, but . . deep down he knows that no-one can mess with him. But then . . he came in to close contact with Peter again. When that happens . . he feels better than he ever has. He can feel the effect that Peter's presence has on the symbiont. He knows that the symbiotes happy, and he knows that the symbiont wants him . . maybe more than he wants Eddie. Which is really causing some conflicting feeling in Eddie's head. And, I guess, is where the root of his soul-searching is coming from. And to that, even as villainous as Venom is . . Peter wants to do nothing but help Eddie. When Venom confronts him in the museum, even as Peter's trying to protect the museum and it's visitors, he's trying to appeal to Eddie. "I don't know how you got here or where you've been . . . but I'll help you. Eddie, I swear I'll do anything to help you." And that's when the Wild Bunch comes after him. As were progressing through this book, you notice that the face of the person listening to Eddie's story keeps changing. I assumed that was to reflect the amount of time he was sitting here contemplating. Plus, I'm sure he told the story over and over again. But at the end we find out that as he's talking to them, eventually they piece together what he's conveying to them, and realize that he's the monster that attacked the museum. When that epiphany comes to them . . he has no choice but to eat them. Which is why the faces keep changing, he's gone through a small crowd of people during the course of this story. I absolutely love this book. I love the approach that Brian Bendis takes with these stories. Even this story, about Eddie, you find yourself appealing to the human side of his nature. At least until the end when you see that he's eating people. I also think that Stuart Immonen is doing an incredible job. Keep up the good work. After 123 issues you haven't let us down yet.