Venom #1
Venom #1 (2017) is the opening chapter of the third volume of Marvel's ongoing Venom series and marks a deliberate tonal reset after years of Flash Thompson's heroic 'Agent of the Cosmos' era — it stripped the symbiote back to its menacing roots by bonding it to an entirely new, morally compromised host. The issue introduced Lee Price, the first outright villain protagonist to anchor a Venom ongoing series, which flipped the character's usual anti-hero dynamic on its head and invited readers to watch the symbiote struggle against a host it couldn't dominate. While the Lee Price arc was intentionally brief — a six-issue prologue to Eddie Brock's return — it served as the structural on-ramp for one of the most editorially ambitious Venom runs in the character's history, culminating in the celebrated legacy-numbered Venom #150 milestone and eventually paving the way for Donny Cates's era.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 13 grades ▾
More listings for this title
Where to buy
Read it digitally
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
The series launched in January 2017 as part of Marvel's 'Marvel NOW! 2.0' initiative, written by Mike Costa with interior art and cover art by Gerardo Sandoval. It arrived immediately after the 13-issue Venom: Space Knight run (featuring Flash Thompson), making it the fourth distinct Venom ongoing in roughly six years and reflecting Marvel's strategy of frequent relaunches to capitalize on #1 issue sales. The editorial team, led by editor Devin Lewis, consciously designed the Lee Price arc as a short, self-contained prologue — with Price described internally as a tactically intelligent villain who could seed future Marvel Universe conflicts — before pivoting the series to Eddie Brock at the legacy-numbered issue #150.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Lee Price (Earth-616), a disgraced Army Ranger-turned-mob enforcer who becomes the new Venom host — created by writer Mike Costa and artist Gerardo Sandoval.
- Interior art and cover by Gerardo Sandoval; written by Mike Costa; published January 2017 by Marvel Comics (cover-dated as part of the 2016 series, formally titled Venom Vol. 3 #1).
- Launched as part of the 2016 Marvel NOW! 2.0 line-wide relaunch, positioned as a direct successor to the Venom: Space Knight series starring Flash Thompson.
- Lee Price is depicted overpowering the Venom symbiote through sheer force of will — inverting the usual host/symbiote power dynamic and establishing him as a villain rather than an anti-hero.
- Mac Gargan (the Scorpion) appears as a supporting antagonist, connecting the new story to Venom's broader rogues' gallery.
- The series ran for only six issues under its original numbering (Vol. 3 #1–6), after which it was relaunched under Marvel Legacy numbering beginning with Venom #150, at which point Eddie Brock reclaimed the symbiote.
- The first-arc trade paperback was collected as Venom Vol. 1: Homecoming (ISBN 978-1302906023), containing Venom #1–6.
- The broader Costa run that began with this issue eventually introduced the Sleeper symbiote (an offspring of the Venom symbiote) and the crossover event Venomverse, and the Venom Inc. crossover which debuted Flash Thompson as Agent Anti-Venom.
Full credits
Reprints
↩ Reprints Venom #1 (2017), Venom #1 (2017), Venom #1 (2017), Venom #1 (2017), Venom #1 (2017), Venom #1 (2017), Venom #2 (2017), Venom #2 (2017), Venom #3 (2017), Venom #3 (2017), Venom #4 (2017), Venom #4 (2017), Venom #5 (2017), Venom #5 (2017), Venom #6 (2017), Venom #6 (2017)
Key issues in Venom
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.