Absolute Carnage #4

The penultimate chapter of Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman's 2019 symbiote epic delivers a cover that commands attention: a massive, black-armored figure — unmistakably Venom — is being consumed and overwhelmed by cascading torrents of Carnage's crimson symbiote, tendrils and claws tearing outward in every direction while fragments of other symbiote-clad figures are swept up in the chaos. JP Mayer's inking gives Stegman's composition a visceral, almost sculptural weight, and Frank Martin's deep reds create an atmosphere of total, suffocating menace. If this cover is any measure of what's inside, the situation for our heroes has never looked more desperate.