When Marvel Comics’ Venom debuted in the late ’80s I was not a fan. Sure, he made a good foil for Spider-Man, but I just didn’t get the appeal of the alien symbiote or Eddie Brock. It wasn’t until he was reintroduced in 2010 with a new host, reformed bully Flash Thompson, that I began to appreciate the character. Flash’s tenure as Venom lasted several years, and then much to my chagrin, Marvel brought Eddie Brock back. To me, Eddie was one of Marvel’s least interesting anti-heroes, but that all changed last year when the creative team of writer Donny Cates and artist Ryan Stegman launched a new volume of Marvel’s Venom series that cast Brock’s adventures in a whole new light. The series was no longer about an anti-hero. It was about a man caught up in a web of cosmic and psychological horror.

When I interviewed Cates before the first issue of the new series was released he described it to me as a “Lovecraftian action movie.” That’s certainly been the case. Over the course of the series’ 16 issues and several specials we’ve been introduced to Knull, the symbiotes’ ancient and malevolent god; learned that Knull and the symbiotes have been influencing things on Earth for a long time; and met a secretive cult dedicated to restoring Knull to his full power. Their method of doing that? Unleashing their murderous enforcer, the symbiotic empowered serial killer known as Carnage on everyone who’s ever worn a symbiote.

That plan comes to fruition on August 7th with the release of Absolute Carnage #1, by Cates, Stegman, and colorist Frank Martin. It’s the kick-off issue to an event mini-series that finds Venom, Spider-Man, and a whole host of Marvel Comics heroes and villains caught up in the murderous madness of Carnage and the Cult of Knull.

If that sounds intriguing to you, you can jump right in with the debut issue of Absolute Carnage. The series is designed as an entry point for new readers and a payoff for readers who have been with the story since the beginning. Here’s all you really need to know: Cates is especially great at telling horror stories (checkout my primer on his Redneck series for Image Comics that I also wrote for Bloody Disgusting) and Stegman’s art perfectly captures the emotional revelations of cosmic horror tales. Plus, he’s a master at designing shambling monstrosities.

For those of you who want to start at the very beginning though I have some good news! The first half of the Venom-Knull saga that Cates, Stegman, and their collaborators have been crafting is readily available for binge reading. And I’m going to give you a quick primer on it. The lead up to Absolute Carnage runs through Venom #1-16 (the series’ most recent issue) and several Web of Venom specials.

In the first special, 2018’s Web of Venom: Ve’Nam, Cates and artist Juanan Ramirez flash back to the Vietnam war for a Predator style tale that finds some familiar Marvel faces hunting cosmic horrors in the jungle. In the second special, Web of Venom: Carnage Born, Cates and artist Danilo Beyruth take readers deep inside the Cult of Knull. You see their master plan and how it connects to Venom’s spawn, Carnage. In the third special, Web of Venom: Venom Unleashed, by Cates and artists Kyle Hotz and Juan Gedeon, the Venom symbiote goes into action on its own and discovers more of Carnage and the Knull cult’s machinations. And in the final one-shot, Web of Venom: Cult of Carnage, writer Frank Tieri and artist Danilo Beyruth take readers inside a sinister small town that the Knull Cult has taken over.

All of those book are available digitally or as single issues from your local comic store. If you prefer to read your comics in collected graphic novel form you have a few options. Issues #1-12 of Venom are collected in two graphic novels: Venom by Donny Cates Volume 1: Rex and Venom by Donny Cates Volume 2: The Abyss. A single collection of the first 12 issues will hit stores in November. Venom by Donny Cates Volume 3: War of the Realms, which collects issue #13-16 and Cult of Carnage is slated for a September release. September also sees the release of Venom Unleashed, which collects all of the Web of Venom one-shots in one volume.

So if you like your Marvel superheroes with a heaping helping of cosmic horror, murderous madness, crazed cults, and shambling monstrosities check out Absolute Carnage and what Marvel has been doing with the Venom books. So far, the transformation of Venom into a horror hero has been a fascinating one and I can’t wait to see where the character goes next.