Folks, I’d like to apologize up front for this review of Venom. To put things into context, we’re going to have to make a deep dive into nerdery. I know! I can hear your eyes rolling from here. We’ll make this quick, I promise. In 1988, The Amazing Spider-Man #300 was published.* That comic book introduced Venom, an enemy of the wall-crawler. Built like a weightlifter and utterly vicious, he’s got the same powers as ya boi Spidey, along with extremely flexible morals. Totally unsurprisingly, the character was an instant hit, beloved by edgelords** before edgelords were a thing. But isn’t... Read More

The day my father died began the same way as any other day. The Earth turned, the sun came up. At the time, I was a hilariously mediocre college student, blissfully pissing away my higher education. That evening, my brother called. He told me that our father was struck down by a combination heart attack and asthma attack as he was on the way to the mailbox. Dead within seconds. Within the seconds between my brother uttering the words, “Dad died,” over the phone line, and my stammered response, the world shattered. The world was considerate enough to put itself back together again,... Read More