The best comic book covers of the week – 11 May 2020

Posted on May 11, 2020

3 min read

You think symbiotes, and you think of the biggest guns in the Marvel comic book universe. There’s the OG nemesis Venom, his red-headed bastard offspring Carnage and a whole host of other lesser-known symbiotes from over the years. They’re mostly dead, but for a brief time in 1993 there was talk of introducing a newer and even more gruesome antagonist to the slimy family fold.

Called Bile, this lean and mean dude not only had the proportionate strength, speed and agility of a spider, but also…eats eating habits. In case you’re not familiar with how spiders eat, it’s kind of gross. According to the Burke Museum:

Put a medium-sized insect in the web of a large orb weaving spider in the garden. You will see the spider bite the prey, wrap it in silk, wait for it to die, then begin to eat. As a first step in eating, the spider will literally vomit digestive fluid over the prey. Then the prey is chewed with the “jaws” (chelicerae), and the fluid is sucked back into the mouth together with some liquefied “meat” from the prey. The spider repeats this process as often as necessary to digest, and ingest, all but the inedible hard parts. What is discarded afterwards is a small ball of residue.

It’s not like you wanted to have lunch today, right? Anyway, the point of this national horrigraphic lesson is that Venom writer Donny Cates has an idea for Bile, one that would make the character canon and an actual threat in the Marvel Universe:

I’ve been thinking about that idea since I was a little kid when I first read that…..so….maybe!?? https://t.co/oQ5duibRYZ
— DONNY⚡️CATES (@Doncates) May 10, 2020

GAH! If you’ve been reading Venom then you know that Cates and his crew have a knack for really digging into the horror of the symbiote, while also making it metal. I can’t wait to see how this idea is given flesh. Wonderfully soft and digestive flesh, that is. For now, on to the best comic book covers of the week!