Venom: The Mace #1

History

Carl Potts — a seasoned Marvel editor who had overseen the development of franchises ranging from the Punisher to Rocket Raccoon — stepped into the writer's chair for a string of Venom limited series in 1993–94, of which The Mace was his third. The series was edited by Danny Fingeroth with Mark Bernardo as assistant editor under editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco, and the physical package reflected the premium-format trend of the era: the issue shipped on a glossy interior stock with a multi-level embossed cardstock cover. The storyline picks up directly from Venom: The Enemy Within #3, situating it firmly within a tightly linked continuity chain Potts was sustaining across multiple miniseries that year.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First published appearance of Mace (Shigeru Ezaki), a cyborg mercenary and former weapon of the Sunrise Society — his planned origin story in Marvel Comics Presents #160 (co-created by Carl Potts and Barry Crain) shipped in June 1994, one month after this issue's May 1994 on-sale date of March 22, 1994.
• First appearance of Sam Felix, a member of Venom's San Francisco Underground City community, who functions as a plot catalyst in the issue.
• Beck Underwood — the civil-rights lawyer and key member of Venom's supporting cast, first introduced in Venom: The Madness #1 (1993, by Ann Nocenti and Kelley Jones) — appears here in a significant role, with her relationship to Eddie Brock central to the conflict that sets Venom against Mace.
• Written by Carl Potts with pencils by Liam Sharp, inks by Bill Reinhold, colors by Tom Smith, and lettering by Richard Starkings; cover art also by Liam Sharp.
• The issue is Part 1 of a 3-issue limited series; the storyline continues directly from Venom: The Enemy Within (1994) #3.
• The physical issue features a multi-level embossed cardstock cover printed on glossy stock — production choices characteristic of Marvel's mid-1990s premium format push.
• Mace is presented in this issue as a rogue agent fleeing the Sunrise Society — a techno-ninja organization — and possesses cybernetic enhancements including a cloaking field and infrared vision, wielding a signature mace weapon as his primary armament.
• All three issues of Venom: The Mace were later collected alongside Venom: Nights of Vengeance and Venom: Separation Anxiety in the trade paperback Venom: Separation Anxiety, and the run is also included in Venomnibus Vol. 1.

Cast · 3 characters

Full credits

Variants (1)