Venom Vol. 16

This volume collects issue #16 of the second Venom series launched in 2011, a single issue titled "Clemency," written by Rick Remender and drawn by Kev Walker and others. By this point Flash Thompson has joined the Secret Avengers as Venom, and the issue opens with what looks like a routine escort mission: aboard a high-speed train, transporting the captured villain Human Fly to the Raft, a prison at sea. Along the way, Human Fly tells his side of the story: he stole millions from the Kingpin to secure a way out for his nine-year-old son; if he does not return the money, the Kingpin will kill his child. He begs Venom to let him go and asks him to deliver a final letter to his son. Yet the train car holds conspiracy upon conspiracy. An assassin has slipped in among the guards, and the "guard" is in fact the Hobgoblin, hired by the Kingpin for a ten-million-dollar bounty on Human Fly's life. He offers Venom a deal: help kill Human Fly, then help him take down Crime Master and Jack O'Lantern. Flame swords, sonic shrieks, acid and acid wings turn the cramped car into a scene of brutal melee, while the Kingpin listens in from afar over the broadcast. As the train passes beneath a bridge, Venom bursts through the window on a motorcycle and knocks the Hobgoblin out of the car. In the end he must choose between "shooting the escaping fugitive" and "saving the guard about to fall," and that choice leads to the twist behind Human Fly's letter. This is a tight, self-contained action story that also sets the stage for the Savage Six arc that follows.