The Amazing Spider-Man#345

The Amazing Spider-Man #345

Mar 1991 · Marvel

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★ Pre-first appearance — Carnage

About this Issue

Amazing Spider-Man #345 contains the pivotal origin moment of Carnage: the Venom symbiote breaks Eddie Brock out of Ryker's Island Prison, deliberately leaving a drop of itself behind in the cell, where it bonds with serial killer Cletus Kasady — planting the seed for one of Marvel's most nihilistic and enduring villains. While Kasady made his first cameo in the preceding issue (#344), it is #345 that delivers the scene collectors and historians recognize as the birth of the Carnage symbiote, making it the narrative ground zero for every Carnage story that followed, including the massive 14-part 'Maximum Carnage' crossover of 1993. The issue is also a bridge chapter in writer David Michelinie's ongoing effort to escalate the symbiote mythology beyond Venom, introducing a darker and more chaotic threat to Spider-Man's corner of the Marvel Universe — a creative decision that reshaped the tone of Spider-Man storytelling through the early 1990s.

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (VF) $9

CGC 9.8 $89

CGC 9.6 $52

CGC 9.4 $41

CGC 9.2 $41

CGC 9.0 $33*

CGC 8.5 $30*

Show all 22 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 $26*

CGC 7.5 $23*

CGC 7.0 $22*

CGC 6.5 $20*

CGC 6.0 $20*

CGC 5.5 $20*

CGC 5.0 $20*

CGC 4.5 $20*

CGC 4.0 $20*

CGC 3.5 $20*

CGC 3.0 $20*

CGC 2.5 none in existence

CGC 2.0 $20*

CGC 1.5 $20*

CGC 1.0 none in existence

CGC 0.5 $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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History

David Michelinie scripted the issue with interior art by Mark Bagley — who had won the 1986 Marvel Tryout Contest and was transitioning onto the flagship title — while Erik Larsen, the book's outgoing regular penciler, contributed the cover. The Carnage concept grew out of editorial constraints: Michelinie had planned to kill off Eddie Brock around Amazing Spider-Man #400 and cycle the Venom symbiote through new hosts, but Venom's runaway popularity with readers led Marvel to block that plan; Michelinie's solution was to create an entirely new, more unhinged symbiote villain rather than replace Brock. Artist Erik Larsen designed the human form of Cletus Kasady partly in the mold of DC's Joker, while the Carnage symbiote itself was eventually designed by Mark Bagley for its full debut in #361. The character was originally going to be named 'Chaos,' then briefly 'Ravage,' before the final name 'Carnage' was settled upon.

Trivia · 8 facts

Published with a March 1991 cover date; on-sale date January 8, 1991, by Marvel Comics.
Written by David Michelinie; interior pencils by Mark Bagley; inked by Randy Emberlin; cover penciled by Erik Larsen; edited by Jim Salicrup under editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco.
Contains the origin scene of the Carnage symbiote: the Venom symbiote breaks Eddie Brock out of Ryker's Island Prison and leaves a small portion of itself behind in Cletus Kasady's cell — the moment that sets up Kasady's transformation into Carnage.
Cletus Kasady's second appearance (his first cameo was in the immediately preceding issue, #344); he would not appear as Carnage until Amazing Spider-Man #361 (April 1992).
The issue also features Boomerang, Cardiac, Silver Sable, Justin Hammer, and Willie Lumpkin (Aunt May's new beau), woven into a main plot involving Sapirdyne Chemicals and a Justin Hammer double-cross of Spider-Man.
Erik Larsen designed Kasady's human appearance partly after the Joker; Michelinie originally planned to call the character 'Chaos,' then 'Ravage,' before settling on 'Carnage.'
Three print variants exist: Direct Edition, Newsstand Edition, and a Mark Jewelers insert edition.
Reprinted in: Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection Vol. 21 — Return of the Sinister Six (2016); the Spider-Man by David Michelinie and Erik Larsen Omnibus, Second Edition (2024); and pages 13, 14, and 22 only were included in the Carnage Epic Collection Vol. 1 — Born in Blood (2022) and the Spider-Man vs. Venom Omnibus (2018).