Venom #165
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeVenom #165 holds a permanent place in symbiote history as the first appearance — in cameo — of Sleeper, the seventh offspring of the Venom symbiote and one of the most narratively durable new characters to emerge from Marvel's modern symbiote mythology. Born in the closing pages of Mike Costa's run, the infant symbiote was left deliberately underdeveloped, yet proved compelling enough that subsequent creative teams built entire miniseries and event tie-ins around it, most visibly during the Absolute Carnage crossover. The issue also functions as an important hinge point in the larger Venom continuity: it concluded one era of Eddie Brock's ongoing story under Costa and immediately set the table — thematically and in terms of supporting cast — for Donny Cates's transformative 'Fresh Start' relaunch. That double duty, first appearance plus series-finale bridge, is what earns it genuine historical weight beyond a simple last issue.
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The issue concludes 'The Nativity,' a two-part story arc that Costa and penciler Mark Bagley were racing to finish under the pressure of Marvel's companywide 'Fresh Start' relaunch, which was already in motion and would bring Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman aboard for a new Venom #1 the following month. Costa's entire Vol. 4 run had been interrupted repeatedly by crossover obligations — Venom Inc. and Poison-X among them — leaving 'The Nativity' only two issues to introduce and resolve the symbiote-pregnancy premise. The creative team for the issue was Costa (writer), Bagley (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Dono Sanchez-Almara (colors), VC's Clayton Cowles (letters), and Ryan Stegman (cover), with Devin Lewis as editor under editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First (cameo) appearance of the Sleeper symbiote, the seventh spawn of the Venom symbiote, who goes on to become a recurring presence in symbiote-centric Marvel stories including Absolute Carnage and King in Black.
- Sleeper receives its first named appearance and full story role in the subsequent miniseries Venom: First Host #3 (2018), also written by Mike Costa with art by Mark Bagley.
- The issue is the final chapter of Mike Costa's Venom run (Venom 2016 series, #1–6 and #150–165), making it both a first-appearance book and a series finale simultaneously.
- Story arc: 'The Nativity, Part 2' — the Venom symbiote, secretly pregnant, must give birth while evading the Symbiote Task Force led by FBI Agent Claire Dixon and Mac Gargan (Scorpion), who want to bond the newborn to a government host.
- Spider-Woman assists Eddie Brock in escaping captivity, and the newborn Sleeper is ultimately placed in the care of Alchemax under the supervision of Liz Allan and Dr. Steven — a supporting cast Costa had developed throughout his run.
- Cover artist Ryan Stegman was simultaneously being announced as the incoming artist on Donny Cates's new Venom #1, lending the cover an editorial passing-of-the-torch quality.
- The issue was collected in the trade paperback Venom Vol. 4: The Nativity (Marvel, 2018), which also reprints Amazing Spider-Man #362–363 (1992) as a classic symbiote-reproduction back matter, contextualizing Sleeper's birth within the franchise's larger reproductive mythology.
- Full creative credits: Writer — Mike Costa; Penciler — Mark Bagley; Inker — Scott Hanna; Colorist — Dono Sanchez-Almara; Letterer — VC's Clayton Cowles; Cover — Ryan Stegman; Editor — Devin Lewis; Editor-in-Chief — C.B. Cebulski. Cover date June 2018, on-sale April 2018.
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Reprinted in Venom #4 (2018)
Key issues in Venom
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