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Robbie Parry
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12186
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| Posted: 04 May 2012 at 5:12am | IP Logged | 1
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We see a lot of exaggeration at times - and not just with Venom. I remember seeing a Superman cover about seven or eight years ago, and rather than the bodybuilder or sportsman physique we've seen for decades, the Superman on the cover I saw looked like he'd been pumped full of air at a petrol station!
Even the Hulk can be exaggerated at times. The thing is, Superman, Hulk and Venom (to name just three) are impressive enough with the physiques/proportions they had, exaggerating their size doesn't make then any more impressive.
Edited by Robbie Parry on 04 May 2012 at 5:13am
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Paul Go
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Joined: 19 April 2004
Location: United States
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| Posted: 04 May 2012 at 8:28am | IP Logged | 2
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Larsen has stated that he didn't like the character, at all, so he exaggerated his feature so as not to be "bored" while drawing the character.
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Wow, that's professionalism for you.
I thought Venom was interesting at first, partly because it seemed to flow from the storyline of the symbiote fine. I quickly grew not to like the character though.
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Mark McKay
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Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
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| Posted: 04 May 2012 at 8:38am | IP Logged | 3
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QUOTE:
| Even if McFarlane didn't draw him with such a huge gaping maw, Erik Larsen certainly did... |
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Doesn't Erik Larsen draw everyone that way!? That's the thing about his style I dislike, is that everyone's mouths are so large on their faces.
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Garry Porter II
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Joined: 07 February 2011
Posts: 327
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| Posted: 04 May 2012 at 9:09am | IP Logged | 4
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Even the Hulk can be exaggerated at times.
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I agree. IMO, with the exception of some artists after Kirby, given the character's history, other artists generally tend to portray the Hulk's body proportions inaccurately....especially nowadays.
But, when it comes to Venom, I do not see him as "Venom". At least not his 80's appearances. Though McFarlane gave him the elongated tongue and over sized cranium and mouth, called him Venom, and claimed sole creation, I have seen this character simply as "the Symbiote"....at least throughout the 80's.
The Symbiote's "chapter and verse" appearances throughout the 80's was cool....even when it appeared with Eddie Brock. But, naming or nicknaming the Symbiote "Venom" and the overuse of the character in the 90's ruined it for me. And this became, at least to me, the worst thing that happened to a Spider-Man title IMO.
And, that pic at the top of this thread is an example of my aforementioned statement.
As for the perversion of the facial features up top: In the pic, concept wise, it represents Eddie Brock's physical transformation of his twisted, perverted soul.
Art wise, I think it is just artists trying to portray an evil version of Spider-Man(instead of just letting the public think the original Spider-Man is evil, which is a better idea imo).
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Robbie Parry
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12186
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| Posted: 04 May 2012 at 11:53am | IP Logged | 5
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Often, less is more. A good example is the character He-Man. Thinking specifically about the 1883 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE cartoon, He-Man there looked like a bodybuilder, but it was all in proportion. Nothing was oversized - and he still looked impressive.
The Hulk should be, in my view, a lot bigger than, say, He-Man, but it should still all be in proportion. Superman would be the same. If you look at how Mr Byrne drew Superman, it wasn't over-the-top, the Man of Steel had a physique which, at the time, was probably similar to the physique of an NFL star or wrestler. Yet at times Superman has been drawn with that "pumped full of air at a petrol station" look with an extremely big jaw.
With Venom - or any character - less is more. Is Venom any more impressive with a big head, longue tongue and lots of teeth? I don't think so.
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Eric Ladd
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 August 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 4506
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| Posted: 04 May 2012 at 1:34pm | IP Logged | 6
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I look at that image of venom the way I look at these images of Homer Simpson and Mario:
Cartoon characters brought to life
Novel and more and exercise in "look what I can do" than anything else. The huge jaw and tongue work because they are supposed to in a comic book featuring Venom. The moment you start trying to figure out the physics involved with comic book characters ....
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Keith Thomas
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Joined: 06 April 2009
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| Posted: 04 May 2012 at 2:14pm | IP Logged | 7
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That doesn't really look much like Venom to me.
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Garry Porter II
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Joined: 07 February 2011
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| Posted: 04 May 2012 at 3:24pm | IP Logged | 8
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The Hulk should be, in my view, a lot bigger than, say, He-Man, but it should still all be in proportion
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I agree Robbie, but personally, I will take the Kirby version of the Hulk's body proportions over almost everyone else and their interpretations. Which by the way is the main problem here....interpretation. This is how we got "Venom" from Todd McFarlane.
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With Venom - or any character - less is more. Is Venom any more impressive with a big head, longue tongue and lots of teeth? I don't think so.
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Robbie, a good example of what you say here is, I believe in a Avengers title of a few years ago, the Alien Symbiote had possessed Mac Grogan(Scorpion). This version was "less is more" imo. He was just Spider-Man in a black suit. But, I could still tell this Spider-Man was evil.
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Ronald Joseph
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| Posted: 04 May 2012 at 3:52pm | IP Logged | 9
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Well, regardless of what guys like Larsen and McFarlane did with him, it's pretty clear what Mark Bagley's vision was.
I'm guessing there was no real "rule" as to whether or not Brock (or the host at the time) was physically transformed while Venom. But it seems like something that should have been established.
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Stephen Churay
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| Posted: 04 May 2012 at 4:45pm | IP Logged | 10
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I originally thought the character was a cool way to end the symbiote
storyline. But, it never went away and got old real fast. If I understand
correctly, the current Venom is Flash Thompson and he looks a bit like
Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe so, the monster is gone and an assassin is
what the character is now supposed to be.
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Stephen Bergstrom
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Location: United States
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| Posted: 04 May 2012 at 4:51pm | IP Logged | 11
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Venom, I think, epitomizes the 90's in that he became the "dark, gritty Spider-Man," at least for a while when he was the "lethal protector."
My girlfriend at the time really liked the character. I thought he was fairly one-note and very quickly became overused. Like that's never happened before...
I was a little interested in this latest iteration, which has Flash Thompson as the new host for the symbiote, but it too hasn't done anything really appealing for me.
(Okay, I apparently missed the previous post, which essentially contains all my points. Honestly, I wasn't intentionally parroting.)
Edited by Stephen Bergstrom on 04 May 2012 at 4:52pm
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Armindo Macieira
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Joined: 15 October 2006
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| Posted: 04 May 2012 at 4:56pm | IP Logged | 12
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Well...
I like Venom, at least the original concept. Even with the teeth and tongue...
He was actually scary and powerful, like a dark, monstrous, version of Spider-Man. Unfortunately sometimes artists would get carried away and exaggerate a bit (a lot) and it could look silly.
G.I. Venom, on the other hand, seems plain ridiculous...
About the symbiosis, I think they become a whole new creature, at least when the process is complete, like in Brock's case.
Ultimate Venom seems more clear in that matter.
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Topic Closed)
