Venom… I remember when he first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man. Eddie Brock (the first Venom) had a big toothy grin like some kinda Looney Tunes character.

Then his face evolved developing fangs and a long, slobbery tongue and a penchant for eating brains. Venom then began sporting a huge, unhinged jaw. Made him look much more monstrous. But it made me wonder what happened to Eddie’s face underneath. Did his jaw unhinge? What exactly did this alien symbiote costume do to him?

Guess it would take a scientist to explain.

After years of being one of Spidey’s most insane enemies and a brief stint as a psychopathic, vigiante anti-hero, Eddie Brock died of cancer. The symbiote costume was auctioned off by mobsters and Mac Gargan (formerly the Scorpion) became the new host for Venom.

This suit (under Gargan’s “control”) has been going nuts making Mac a humongous, hulking mass of muscle as Venom or the lithe, slender form as “black costume” Spider-Man for Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers. I’ve found this new “Mac Gargan” Venom far more insidious and crazy than I think the original “Eddie Brock” Venom ever was.

I have been receiving several requests for Venom sketches at conventions. He’s a really fun character to draw. You can kind of forget about the man underneath (to a degree) and have lots of fun with the different design elements: the monstrous fangs jutting at different sizes and angles, the prehensile tongue, the jagged “Spidey” eyes. I like that he’s so much larger than Spider-Man. I feel it creates a great visual contrast.

So, I was at a convention recently and played around with this piece as a warm up. It gave me a chance to really go crazy with the rendering. I scanned it in a couple of days ago and thought I’d share it with y’all.

Drawn with Sharpie marker on artboard.

See this piece on my Facebook FanPage and my DeviantArt page.