King in Black #1-5

King in Black #1-5

Originally released in 2020

Written by Donny Cates

Art by Ryan Stegman

Earlier this week, a trailer for Venom: The Last Dance revealed that the movie would include Knull, the creator of the symbiotes.  While I have my doubts that he'll be very prominent in the movie itself (Sony did something similar with Morbius, advertising Michael Keaton's presence in the movie when his only role in it was an apparently baffling/nonsensical post-credits scene - I haven't actually seen Morbius, so I'm going by what I've heard), he's not a character that I know much about.

The series starts with an invading army of symbiote dragons practically on Earth's doorstep.  As I'm jumping into an event that takes place about thirty issues into Donny Cates' Venom run, there are several changes to the status quo that I quickly need to catch myself up on, such as Eddie Brock having a son.

His son, Dylan, has some kind of mysterious power, and Eddie wants more than anything else to keep him safe.  However, Knull arrives on Earth demanding to see Brock, and when he's being vague about it, it quickly becomes clear that he's not looking for Eddie.

Dylan's power apparently allows him to destroy symbiotes, with him getting it from Knull's opposite.  Knull isn't a complex villain - he's a being of darkness, and he wants to snuff out all light. He had a good design, but his characterization is lacking.

Eddie's confrontation with Knull doesn't go well, resulting in his symbiote being removed, him being dropped from far above New York City, and ultimately being declared dead.  He was the main hope that the heroes had of stopping Knull, so this doesn't look great. Making matters worse is that Knull brings out his big guns: symbiote-possessed Celestials.

For whatever reason, Knull and his symbiotes lack Venom's traditional weaknesses of fire and sound, though they're weak to lightning instead.  Between Thor and Storm, lightning is something that Earth's heroes have in abundance, leading to some great moments for the two of them.

Ultimately, Dylan is captured, with Knull trying to get Dylan to join him.  Why he's doing this is unclear; maybe he wants to make it so the big threat to his forces is on his side, though that clearly opens him up to being stabbed in the back at a later date.

Eventually, the opposite force of Knull is revealed - the Enigma Force, the power source of Captain Universe.  With the help of the Silver Surfer, it arrives at Earth, possessing and reviving Eddie Brock.

This leads to Venom, with the power of Captain Universe and the ability to wield Mjolnir and combine it with the Silver Surfer's surfboard to make a giant axe, taking on the god of symbiotes Knull.  There are a few parts of that sentence that don't make a ton of sense, but it results in some amazing images.

With Knull defeated and seemingly killed (though it's kind of funny with him being thrown into the sun and disintegrated, I still have my doubts that he's really dead - that's comics for you!), the symbiotes are freed from his control. By rite of defeating Knull, Eddie Brock becomes the new controlling force of the symbiote hive mind - the King in Black.

This comic definitely feels like an event comic or a blockbuster movie - big, bombastic, style over substance but you don't care because the concepts and imagery are great.  Despite being a big crossover with a ton of tie-ins, the main series is ultimately about Eddie and Dylan, and they both have some nice moments both together and apart.  The villain, Knull, felt pretty paper-thin - maybe I missed the build-up to him in the main Venom series, or maybe his personality is expanded on in the tie-ins, but in the main story of the event, there wasn't much to go on.  Still, given that I read Venom's first appearance not too long ago, it's crazy to see how much he's changed between then and now, going from a vengeance-obsessed shoddy journalist to a loving father, with his desire to protect the innocent remaining but being handled in a healthier way.