Amazing Spider-Man Presents: Anti-Venom - New Ways to Live #2

Jul 12

Jul 12 Amazing Spider-Man Presents: Anti-Venom - New Ways to Live #2

Realizing that Anti-Venom is actually Eddie Brock, the Punisher has responded to this revelation by shooting him in the back of the head at point blank range with a shotgun. This horrifies Jenna Cole — Brock’s friend — who is being held at gun point by a drug dealer working for the Quinta Cartel. She thinks Eddie is dead. The gunman tells the Punisher that he won’t shoot while he’s holding a hostage, however the Punisher has written off Jenna as nothing more than a junkie. Anti-Venom, who is still alive, hates it whenever someone calls Jenna a junkie and after pushing all the buckshot out of his head, attacks the Punisher. As the two fight, the surviving members of the gang flee in their van with Jenna as a prisoner.

Fighting inside the house, Anti-Venom disarms the Punisher and is about to kill the vigilante when he reminds himself that he’s changed. When he tries to get Jenna to explain to the Punisher how he’s change, Jorge Valdez — the leader of the cartel who has been watching the battle from a laptop — tells Brock that Jenna is his prisoner now and that she is being brought to his compound in Mexio. Looking at the video feed, the Punisher can tell exactly where Valdez is broadcasting from and promises to pay him a visit. Unafraid of the Punisher, Jorge dares him to come down and face him as he is Mexico and he has the resources to deal with someone he views as just a greaseball with a skull on his shirt. The Punisher quickly loses interest in listening to the taunts and puts a bullet through the laptop’s screen.

Telling Anti-Venom that he’s going to Mexcio, the symbiote says he is tagging along to save Jenna. The Punisher continues calling her a junkie and Brock asks why. When Frank explains that he caught her earlier with drugs she stole, Eddie insists that it must have been some kind of mistake since she had just helped him bust a drug den, insisting that he cured her of her addictions. That’s when the Punisher tries to use a flame thrower on Anti-Venom, however Eddie’s new symbiote is immune to fire as much as it is to bullets and he quickly disarms the Punisher. He threatens to snap the Punisher’s back, saying that he could go to Mexico in a wheelchair, but he’d rather they work together and go in the van instead. Soon, the Punisher and Anti-Venom are heading to the US/Mexico border with the Punisher’s asssitant, Henry Russo.

As they approach the broder crossing, the Punisher has Eddie to drop his symbiote so he looks like a normal person, promising he won’t try to kill him. However, when the border agent is busy looking over their fake ID’s, the Punisher attempts to stab Eddie, but his symbiote quickly comes out and stops the combat knife from reaching his heart. As they drive into Mexico, Castle admits that he lied when he promised not to kill Eddie.

Meanwhile, the van carrying Jenna arrives at Jorge Valdez’s mansion in the Rio Camundo Canyon. There, the cartel members are gunned down for failing to bring the money they were supposed to. Jenna is then invited inside for Jorge’s lawyer.

Later, the Punisher’s van arrives at a checkpoint, Eddie gets out to check it out. While he’s gone, Henry tries to convince the Punisher that Brock seems like a good guy. However, Frank doesn’t buy it and admits that the only reason he has Eddie along is because he could be useful, but fully intends to put a bullet in his brain the moment he lets his guard down. Inside the shack, Eddie finds a number of armed men who are standing around a ringing phone. Allowed to answer it, Eddie has a brief conversation with Jorge, who has Jenna — who has shot herself up with heroin — tells Eddie that she feels fine now that she has had some drugs. This infuriates Brock to the point where he turns into Anti-Venom and begins attacking the armed guards.