Amazing Spider-Man Presents: Anti-Venom - New Ways to Live #1
Walking the streets of Manhattan, Eddie Brock thinks about how much he has changed. As Venom, he killed people who got in his way.[1] Now that he is Anti-Venom, he is now a hero but after his recently clash with the Thunderbolts he has now become an outlaw once more.[2] As he ducks into an alley, he finds his new friend, Jenna Cole, being harassed by a group of men. When they tell Brock to get lost, he appears to walk away without incident but
A short while later, these men take Jenna to the apartment of a local drug dealer named Darryl since she was asking around about him. Darryl tells them to calm down, pointing out that Jenna, nicknamed “Jenna the Junkie”, was a long time customer he hasn’t seen in a very long time. When she becomes interested in the pile of heroin that Darryl’s workers are packaging for sale, Darryl finds it amusing. Since she has come to buy a large quantity of drugs from him he asks her who she is picking up for. When she tells him that it’s for Stevey Slate, he becomes suspicious since nobody has heard from him in over a week and suspects he might have been killed.
When Darryl starts threatening her, Anti-Venom comes in and tells them that Stevey had to call in sick. After dealing with Darryl’s guards, Anti-Venom then approaches the dealer, unphased by the gun that he’s pointing at his head.[3] Anti-Venom easily disarms and restraints Darryl and orders him to tell him everything he knows about his suppliers, the Quinta Cartel. Darryl says the cartel has a house on Staten Island but nobody knows where it is, saying even the Hood is too afraid to go there. When Darryl then spits in Anti-Venom’s face, he can detect that he has hepatitis, likely from his prison tattoo. This makes Darryl laugh because he used to shoot up with Jenna all the time and suspects that she got it too. He keeps calling her Jenna the Junkie, prompting Anti-Venom to tell him that he cured her. Darryl finds this hilarious considering the look she got when she saw all the heroin on the table. When he starts hurting Darryl, Jenna tells him not to do anything violent in front of her, like they promised. Eddie insists that he wasn’t going to kill Darryl, and was just trying to scare him. When she runs out, Anti-Venom reminds himself that he’s done with killing and leaves Darryl for the police who are arriving on the scene.
As he thinks how pure and innocent that Jenna is, particularly after he used his powers to cure her of her additions, he is completely unaware that Jenna managed to steal some baggies of heroin.[4] However, she is quickly caught by someone who tells her that stealing from the Quintas is a very bad idea.
Later, at a house on Staten Island, Jorge Valdez — the leader of the Quinta Cartel — is connected via laptop to oversee the execution of some of his men who recently lost a lot of product. That’s when Eddie Brock comes waltzing in and as Valdez orders him executed, Eddie begins transforming into Anti-Venom. That’s when a shield comes crashing in, knocking out the armed gunmen. At first, Jorge thinks this is Captain America. However, the person who threw the sheild is none other than the Punisher, who adapted his own version of Captain America’s trademark shield. When the Punisher confirms that Anti-Venom is the same person who went up against Norman Osborn recently, he decides that is reason enough to spare him and begins mowing down the members of the cartel. When one of the men tries to shoot the Punisher, Anti-Venom is able to shield the vigilante.
Rushing outside, they find that one of the cartel goons has Jenna as a hostage. The Punisher is willing to sacrifice her since he sees her as nothing more than a junkie. Anti-Venom refuses to allow harm to come to her and tries to convince the Punisher that she is working with him. When Jenna calls Anti-Venom by his real name, the Punisher realizes that he’s dealing with Eddie Brock. Brock assures the Punisher that he’s changed since he was Venom. The Punisher pulls out his shotgun and as he tells Brock that he hasn’t changed, he fires a round into the back of Anti-Venom’s skull at point blank range.
Recurring Characters
Anti-Venom, Jenna Cole, Punisher, Quinta Cartel
Recurring Characters
Eddie Brock became Venom after bonding with the alien symbiote that Spider-Man brought to Earth and wore for a costume for a while, see Amazing Spider-Man #300. He later sold off the Venom symbiote in Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #5-7.
Eddie Brock’s transformation into Anti-Venom and his subsequent battle with the Thunderbolts happened in Amazing Spider-Man #568-573.
Darryl asks Anti-Venom if he’s suicidal and Anti-Venom replies by saying “not lately.” This is in reference to the time Eddie Brock tried to commit suicide in Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 2) #5. At the time, Brock thought he was dying of cancer. It’s later revealed in Venom (vol. 4) #11 that the cancer was faked by the symbiote who was trying to make Eddie more dependant upon the symbiote.
Anti-Venom cured Jenna Cole of her addictions in Amazing Spider-Man Extra! #2.
